When the Armenian King Tigranes was first told that a Roman army was making its way towards him, the irate king had the messenger beheaded. The messengers got the point and refused to take bad news to the king. So sat the king, while war blazed all around him, listening only to empty flattery. In 66 BC, the Romans conquered Armenia. Centuries later, Sigmund Freud wrote that the unfortunate habit of kings to kill the bearers of bad news was to combat the feeling of being powerless by a final show of power. That might be why flattery has always been a companion of power.

One is reminded of this when one of the first reactions of the MSM to the allegations regarding the presidency was to come up with the idea of a press regulator. Again. The MSM has always had a weakness of the Tigranes kind. Under criticism in 1984, Sir Anerood Jugnauth tried to push through a law requiring publications to furnish a Rs500,000 guarantee that would have driven 20 newspapers out of business. With the arrest of 43 journalists later, the law was pushed through. Not content with that, the next year, the MSM tried to pass another law to make it a criminal offence to criticise the government or a minister. The government was forced to repeal both laws.

The fruit does not fall far from the tree. The inclinations of the father made themselves apparent in the son. In 2010, as finance minister, Pravind Jugnauth proceeded to ban newspapers and radios he did not like from his press conferences. Now as prime minister, our Tigranes is itching to emerge. Again.

The temptation is strong. In a little over two years, the Ministry of Finance has changed hands three times. The Ministry of Financial Services has done so twice, the previous minister going into the opposition and on the warpath while the new one faces allegations and is otherwise engaged in a war of words with the FSC. Vishnu Lutchmeenaraidoo and Roshi Bhadain are blaming each other for the BAI disaster – after lauding it as an example of the government saving the country. The presidency under attack for the Sobrinho episode. Criticism over the way Pravind Jugnauth himself ‘inherited’ the prime ministership, with his father keeping a firm hold on the police and security services. Losing the PMSD and his 2/3rds majority that allowed the government to play with the constitution willy-nilly. A Prosecution Commission bill that’s out in the cold. No economic miracle to speak of. And, as if that were not enough, the Supreme Court deciding whether or not to send the MedPoint case to the Privy Council. But, presumably, it’s the press that’s the problem. Head-chopping has a delightful simplicity about it.

Addressing the kings of old who thought that reality was contingent upon them hearing it, Shakespeare put these words in the mouth of a brave messenger addressing Cleopatra: “I that do bring the news made not the match”. Can someone send some Shakespeare and Freud to Government House? 

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