Had we not been talking about the criminal wastage of public funds, we would have laughed our heads off at the theatrical revelation of the prime minister, Anerood Jugnauth, in parliament on Tuesday. Talking about the over Rs19 million paid by the ICTA to Kailash Trilochun, MSM member and brother-in-law of Minister Nando Bodha, for one single case, he innocently – perhaps naively – blurted out, “I was shocked myself!” He even added, “They (whoever they are) told me that several members of the Trilochun Chambers worked on the dossier and that the money was going to be distributed among them. They (the unknown culprits again!) told me it was a complex case”!

This revelation, that the prime minister allowed the country to lose Rs19 million of public funds – paid upfront even before the case is over – is absolutely stunning! And, since the money has already been paid to the blue-eyed lawyer, there is no harm in being shocked.

You will recall, that not so long ago, Rs3 million (seems like petty cash now) was paid to the same lucky lawyer through the Road Development Authority, the organisation falling directly under his brother-in-law’s purview.

Draining the public purse has become a national sport. Asked about ministers’ ravenous appetites for wasteful foreign trips – 184 in just over a year with one single minister gobbling up Rs10m in only one year – the prime minister’s son, minister of finance and leader of the MSM, had also naively admitted that “there were perhaps excesses!”

Then the same minister of finance must have been shocked to realise – a couple of days after he had presented the national budget in which he allowed some Rs2.7 billion to finance Heritage City – that the Heritage City project is a useless, wasteful project and that the consultant is unknown. For months now, the leader of the opposition has been shouting himself hoarse about the consultant’s credentials. For months, we have been writing one editorial after another calling the bluff of the most egocentric minister this country has seen. For weeks, we have been inviting experts who explained why Heritage City would be the biggest crime this government could commit against this county and warning that the spoilt child has to find another toy to play with other than public finances. It is only today, thanks to the fearless Sanspeur – that the toy has been snatched away from the spoilt child. Millions have already been paid to the lucky consultant. More millions are still to be paid.

This outrageous practice carries on brazenly when public debt has topped the alarming figure of 65% of GDP, in an economy stuck around 3% and while the MRA hounds ordinary taxpayers, who barely make ends meet, to pay for these excesses.

And every time the opposition asks a question, the government is shocked by its own answers. Shocked by the enormity of finding out what the opposition already knew. Shocked, in other words, by its own incompetence. I wonder if you and I would get our salary at the end of the month if we were shocked by how poorly we discharged our duty. But government is government and this government is a hell of a government!

For more views and in-depth analysis of current issues, subscribe to Weekly for as little as Rs110 a month. Free delivery to your door. Contact us:touria.prayag@lexpress.mu