Those who have already written Navin Ramgoolam’s political obituary will probably not get to read it out anytime soon. And for that, the former prime minister owes a thank you note to some eminent figures in the MSM government.  

Ramgoolam was dead and buried. Finding it hard to recover from the obscene wads of cash we saw tumbling out of his safes, he was abandoned by his friends and foes. Even his closest advisers were quick to deny that they had anything to do with him. As for those who at one point or another benefitted from his generous nominations and were instrumental in bringing him down, they were quick to run for their funk holes or even change sides and secure the same generosity from the current government, which was riding high and seemed invincible.

Then the spell seemed ready to be broken. The reason is very simple: the MSM went for the kill. The prime minister did promise to “lock Ramgoolam up” and, once the genie was out of the bottle, there was no way of putting it back in. And the entertainment provided by the government with the distinct help of our national broadcaster, was beginning to become stale.

Secondly, and more importantly perhaps, entertainment cannot be enjoyed on an empty stomach. The great Mauritian tradition of ‘manze pistas guet cinema’ [watch a movie while eating peanuts] had one missing ingredient – the peanuts. The handling of the BAI saga and the human drama which ensued in terms of job losses, added to the uncertainty of being able to feed one’s families, have pushed many to switch off their television sets and look at the film producers in a different light: In five months, there have been no new laws to regulate political party financing, no suggestion of a Freedom of Information Act, no law about the terms a prime minister can serve, no declaration of assets, no improvement in the accountability of our police force, no independent MBC and no – oh, no, Sir – transparency in political nominations. And then our MPs – who are paid from our hard-earned money – dashed off for a four-month vacation! Four months. That means nearly a whole year will have gone without a single law being enacted to reign in politicians’ excesses. And of course, the 25,000 jobs promised have remained just that – a promise. In fact, many of those who did have jobs have lost them or are no longer certain about being able to hold on to them, courtesy of a few cannons let loose and  a ‘cleaning’ frenzy which turned the whole country into a public laundry, with loads of muck splashing over our institutions and ourselves.

As all this was happening, the police showed even more zeal. The money earmarked for the day-to-day running of the Labour Party was frozen by the authorities, thus preventing the opposition from taking part in the municipal elections. This is what it took for Labour supporters – who had been hiding in shame – to come out in numbers in support of their party and their leader.  

So if ever Ramgoolam is brought back to power, he will have the MSM leaders to thank for saving his bacon. They are currently his best political agents.