The leaders of the Regroupement de l’Espoir held a press conference this morning. Xavier-Luc Duval explained that “the situation on the economic front is extremely serious in the country”. The situation of households, according to him, has considerably worsened since 2019.
For Xavier-Luc Duval, many Mauritian families are “in great distress because of the cascades of price increases and the unemployment rate, which is about 94,000″. He explained that opposition politicians, social workers and economists agree on one point: “the worst is yet to come”.
The opposition leader blames the government for the situation. As the situation will get much worse, he added, the Platform of Hope is calling for early general elections. “We need a new team in power. A team that will take the necessary decisions,” he said.
Bérenger : Everything is the fault of the government
Paul Bérenger accused the government of being responsible for the recent price increases. “Everything is the fault of the government. It is the government who put the two-rupee tax on fuel and decided to increase the price of oil. It is also the government that is responsible for the depreciation and devaluation of the rupee,” he said. For Paul Berenger, it is that “same government that is responsible for the price increases who now comes with subsidies”.
Just like Xavier-Luc Duval, the leader of the MMM also called for an early general election.
Paul Bérenger also spoke about the Social Contributions and Social Benefits Bill which will be introduced in the first reading in Parliament this Tuesday. He stressed that the Minister of Finance will be piloting the bill.
For him, the government has come up with this bill quickly for one main reason. “It wants to bypass justice. First, there is the case of the private sector challenging the Contribution Sociale Généralisée before the courts. The government is changing the name with a bill. Second, there is the election petition of Suren Dayal challenging the election of Pravind Jugnauth before the courts,” said Paul Bérenger
