As much as we’d like to believe that the essence of the Mauritian nation was born out of the struggle of those who fought for independence, our underwhelming time under British rule lives on. From the left-hand traffic to the unique love of English football, remnants of the past can be seen almost everywhere, including in politics.

Our parliamentary system is based on the Westminster system whereby members of the assembly are voted in at regular first-past-the-post general elections. Therefore, it is only fair that when we want to compare the work of our national assembly, the British House of Commons is used as a reference. While the scale of the two might differ significantly, their role is very similar.

It would not be far-fetched to suggest that one of the primary jobs of MPs is to sit in parliament and make sure that all dossiers are dealt with in an appropriate amount of time. In the 2014-2015 parliamentary sessions spanning over a year, the House of Commons sat for 133 days. British MPs averaged more than seven hours per day in parliament and nearly reached 1,000 hours at the end of the yearly sessions. Still, political observers argued that with all the issues at stake, this was not close to being enough.

Then there is Mauritius. The Alliance Lepep won the general election on 11 December 2014. As of 24 March 2016, the current regime has been in power for 470 days, which amounts to around 15 months. In this time, the MPs managed to fit 44 days — we are only so lucky — of parliamentary proceedings in their hectic schedules. In a bid to create their own vision of Mauritius, start the ‘second economic miracle’, reinvent the education system, build countless smart cities and ‘clean up’ the country, the government has only spent an astounding 9.4% of their mandate so far in parliament.  

In all honesty, that is hardly surprising.  For some unfathomable reason, several members of our political class have transformed into teenagers overnight. They share poetry and have war of words on Facebook. They feel misunderstood when all they want is a thrilling helicopter ride. They dream of Prince Charming on his white plane coming to save us with his riches. They answer the call of adventure and travel around the world in the quest of hedonistic pleasures. No wonder they don’t have time to sit in parliament to discuss the issues of the common man.

However, the previous government were not much better. In their first 470 days in power, they sat 46 times in parliament, which is only 0.4% more than the current government. With so many burning dossiers that need clarification, how can we afford that?

At the risk of sounding like a pushy parent, it might be time for our MPs to switch off their computers, tone down the social media addiction and get back to work!