Our national flag – the ultimate icon of our history – will remember and honour those who have fought to protect our democracy from dictatorial, autocratic tendencies. But it will equally remember those who have been sitting on the fence, salivating for any bones which can be thrown their way. At the expense of their dignity, their reputation and their place in the history of this country.

Drowned perhaps in the festivities of the season, we are living a watershed moment. It is similar in some ways to what we lived in 2014, when the population – as one voice – rejected two major parties and their proposed constitutional change in favour of political players who initially seemed to have no chance of winning.

In them, we pinned our hopes of a better tomorrow, a cleaner Mauritius, with more meritocracy, transparency and good governance. We believed a manifesto they themselves concede they have forgotten when they got into power and power got into them.

Instead of the positive developments we were hoping for, we were made to embark on a sordid journey of breathtaking acts of petty politics and an insatiable thirst for revenge to suit a narrow, selfish and self-centred agenda. 

While we were put to sleep with sweet talk, propaganda of the type that could teach Joseph Goebbels a thing or two, we woke up to the terrible reality that those we had trusted were nibbling away at our constitutional rights, one piece at a time. We watched helplessly as government put into practice its most revolting motto: government is government and government decides! The latest horror in this bad series was the new bill which came to be termed as the Persecution bill.

If it did not go through, it is thanks to men and women of courage in this country who bravely spoke out against it and will enter our history books as having fought tooth and nail for some sanity to prevail. The Bar Council, the Law Society, eminent lawyers who are used to courageously coming out against any signs of excesses but also some legal heavyweights, like Hamid Moollan, who came out of years of total discretion to weigh in on this very dangerous bill.

On this list of men and women who have worked towards preserving the independence of our judiciary, Xavier Duval stands out as one who has halted the country’s plodding journey towards Autocracy Land. His refusal to sign away our constitutional rights has saved us from treading on the same path as dictatorships.

Unfortunately, our history will also retain the names of some real sycophants who are prepared to sell their soul for a few inches of a ministerial seat. They are, as we speak, tripping over themselves and jostling each other to get to their aim. They will sell themselves very cheap and will sign anything as long as they get to their short-term ends. For the luxury of a few days of ruling without power, they are prepared to jump into a bin they have been spitting into for months. In that same history bin, they will make their entrance and the coming generations bearing their names will suffer the consequences. I dare believe, though, that there won’t be enough of those to send us back reeling to vengeful politics and the arrogance of tampering with the constitution.

My crystal ball shows a rewriting of the rules in parliament. Never again will we live the tyranny of the state the way we have lived it in the last couple of years. Never again will there be dangerous bills which are signed in incredible haste by docile koalas too scared to let go of their fickle branch of power. Never again will a dictatorial bill reach the State House which has become a real rubber stamp for all the dictatorial excesses. Because never again will the government say, ‘we have a ¾ majority, so we will butcher the constitution to suit our agenda’. If only for that, thank you Xavier! You have saved democracy. Some might even say you have saved this country!

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