We were in a very lonely position when, as early as December 2012, while talk about the 2000 Remake was in full swing, we stated:  “I wouldn’t advise you to put your money on it. I certainly wouldn’t put a penny down.” If you took us seriously, you must have taken your winnings to the bank and quit the game. A wise decision!

The reason we were able to advise you to keep your cool in the middle of the announced tsunami is because we have been through this so many times and heard political leaders say one thing with an apparent conviction the sincerity of which you’ll find hard to doubt only to sit in the same place the very next day, look you straight in the eye and tell you exactly the opposite, without even blinking. 

So, we went through the tsunami, the ‘cooling off’ period, the loveless reunion and now we are back to a second ‘cooling off’ period and, by the looks of it, thousands of people are even going to be deprived of the traditional briani and cheap rum on May Day!

Where are we heading from here? A re-union of the two long-term lovers whose hearts had never stopped beating for each other?  By the looks of it. Naturally, a few disgruntled militants who still believe that political parties are democratic instances showed up at yesterday’s MMM politburo meeting to show their disagreement as they see Bérenger’s stance as a betrayal of the MSM, particularly Sir Anerood Jugnauth who resigned from the comfort of the presidency to lead the promised tsunami. And the MSM has indeed been rehearsing the role of the victim – a card they will play to the full, thus pulling at the heart strings of the population.

But let’s be fair: the whole idea of the remake was based on the assumption that some sort of tsunami would shake the very foundation of the government. So, leaving the presidency was a choice Anerood Jugnauth made and a promise he was not able to deliver. Having left the State House to jump back into the trenches of the political arena out of his own initiative, SAJ will find playing the role of the victim at this stage rather undignified.

In this game of alliances and misalliances, there are no heroes. And certainly no victims. Politicians hop in and out of bed with each other with a shamelessness that would make bawdy houses look like a pastoral care setting and those working in them like nuns. So their unions as well as their divorces leave us cold. Nobody asked us for our opinion about the wedding. We have no opinion that they care to hear now. It was clear from the beginning that not only was there no love in the relationship between Jugnauth and Bérenger but there was not even any reason behind it. One is entitled to wonder whether Bérenger enjoyed the game while it lasted and whether Jugnauth actually believed in it.

As from tomorrow, we will be taken on a similar ride as before except that the protagonists will be different. Their conversation later today, before they meet the journalists will probably sound a bit like this: “Oh, dear, it’s so nice to be together again! As for those (fill in obscene word for stupid, gullible people), who gives a (fill in another dirty word) about them?” “Yes, it has always been you! What were you saying about that (four-letter-word) second republic?” Then they will come out and talk to us about the interests of the country. As they have always done.

weekly@lasentinelle.mu