Akilesh Deerpalsing has been to the Independent Commission against Corruption (ICAC) and Roshi Bhadain might follow. Their crime? Recruiting political agents into the Financial Services Commission when they ran it. Heavens! It’s like prosecuting a fish for being wet. Apparently, the news is sufficiently shocking for the ICAC to start an investigation and ‘leak’ the details in dribs and drabs to the press. But surely, if the ICAC is so concerned about this kind of hanky-panky in the public sector, surely they should be investigating every ministry and parastatal body which are rife with political nominations and always have been. Why just Bhadain? Why not all the other ministers that are all equally guilty? Does the ICAC not know this is how the public service has been functioning for decades? Or is it once again being utilised by the government that wants to neutralise a political opponent. Remember, this is the same ICAC that just recently was only too eager to jump on the MedPoint grenade on behalf of their boss, Pravind Jugnauth. The irony is delicious: a politically appointed Navin Beekharry is investigating Bhadain for making political appointments while he was minister!

This is not the only dog and pony show in town that stretches incredulity. Take the way that the MedPoint scandal has been spun.  Clearly using Rs144 million of taxpayer money to buy a run-down clinic was part of a bargain struck between the Labour Party and the MSM in 2010. But instead of looking at the obvious, the people are being fed two incredible cock-and-bull stories. Think about this: the MSM wants people to seriously believe that despite Pravind Jugnauth bowing out of the decision to buy MedPoint, for some inexplicable reason, Ramgoolam was just itching to give Rs144 million to a company in which Pravind Jugnauth’s sister just happened to own a 23 percent stake. Whatever be his other faults, it’s unlikely that Ramgoolam holds the fortunes of the Jugnauths so close to his heart. This is not to say that Ramgoolam’s story is any better. Why, after Pravind Jugnauth, ostentatiously declared his interest in the case and briefly stepped out of the cabinet meeting, did the rest of the government decide to buy MedPoint? What was Ramgoolam, the all-powerful prime minister at the time doing, twiddling his thumbs? How was a mere finance minister able to push a prime minister into such a dubious agreement? And why on earth did Ramgoolam only criticise the deal when it came out in public? The obvious answer is that both men knew perfectly well what they were doing and both did not hesitate to act against the interests of their people: one because his family’s interests trumped the public interest and the other who saw this corrupt little bargain as a small price to pay for clinging onto power. Now all this quibbling is about which little technicality can be used to bury the whole thing. 

Neither man will admit to anything simply because neither man will be asked about it. That’s because the people that are being so ill-served by them, broadly speaking, fall into two categories. Either they don’t think about it because they are party fanatics or are simply adherents of the ‘lesser evil’ theory who will read virtues where none exist so long as someone else is in charge. The second category is those that know but will not say anything because it might cost them a little slice of corruption of their own. Ramgoolam and Jugnauth know that a dog with a bone in its mouth cannot bark. 

For more views and in-depth analysis of current issues, Weekly magazine (Price: Rs 25) or subscribe to Weekly for Rs110 a month. (Free delivery to your doorstep). Email us on: weekly@lexpress.mu