No, this is not Tripoli. Though one may be forgiven for thinking it is, as images of the gross handling of Former Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam’s arrest spread like wildfire in all newspapers and social networks: crowds of what seemed to be rabble-rousing supporters of the current regime turning up at the gallows well before the police, to get a good view of the hanging of the fallen king and to heckle, vilify and taunt him. The mob turned increasingly menacing and violent before we were offered glimpses of a dishevelled, haggard and pathetic old guy being roughed up and shoved into a police car and snatched out of it when he reached the Line Barracks for questioning.

If this scene created a certain sympathy and if even some of Ramgoolam’s opponents expressed their anger at the way this episode was handled, sympathy began to quickly fade away when the MBC served us the dish of the day: cameras zooming in on wads of dollars, euros and rupees disgorging out of suitcases and safes (how they got this footage is a disturbing question). The sound was muted theatrically, leaving a lasting image in every viewer’s mind of the obscenity of a cash-stash found in the former prime minister’s house. As the screening was repeated a couple of times, the effect was complete.

Then the nation woke up to a worse realisation: that this could be just the tip of the iceberg. That if a raid in a former prime minister’s house could produce so much money at the drop of a hat, just how much more money may be hidden in other houses which would never be raided? The answer is – probably a lot. And the Swiss leaks confirmed our worst suspicions: Rs46.5 billion belonging to 81 people who were either Mauritians or people with links to Mauritius is in Swiss bank accounts! Many of the account holders have to be politicians from ALL parties.

The premise is simple: At every election, political party leaders receive lewd contributions by the bucketful, no questions asked. Not a single political party has yet agreed to enact a law to regulate political party financing. Oh no, perish the thought! That would prevent them and their families from personally benefitting from these dubious donations of gargantuan proportions.

This absence of legislation skews the functioning of democracy and of the economy and has the potential of exposing the political recipients themselves to obloquy and criminal proceedings. The businessmen who bankroll political parties with such humongous sums certainly do not do so for altruistic causes or for the furtherance of democracy. They distort and rig the rules of the economic game as they expect multiples of the amounts ‘generously donated’ in return at the expense of public interest. 

When the Sun Trust building came up in the heart of Port Louis in 1995, some called it Le Batiment de la Honte (the building of shame) and public opinion was livid for a while. Then we all went back to our usual business and political leaders went about their looting while looking us in the eye and talking about the sacrifices they make for the country. We have always known about these sacrifices. Today, at the startling sight of these mountains of banknotes, we know their extent.

What does this episode mean for transparency and good governance? Not much. We have shown to the rest of the world – in an unprecedented way – how corrupt some of our politicians can be but we may also have shown that we catch them only when they are in the opposition and when it suits the personal agenda of someone or some entity to do so. The perception of the lack of independence of the police has not been mitigated by this saga. Quite the opposite. It is a sad day for our country. No Mauritian should sleep until occult and illicit political party funding has become something of the past. Legislation in this area is long overdue.