I never thought I’d say this, but I hope the government’s inaction and delay of any form of action, which resulted in the ecological, environmental and economic disaster that the Waksahio triggered, is due to their incompetence, irresponsibility, criminal negligence and total ineptness at handling any situation. I sincerely do because the alternative is much, much worse.

While the prime minister, Pravind Jugnauth, was claiming on the BBC that, as a country, we were ill-equipped to deal with this kind of disaster, Top FM was displaying an array of highly sophisticated equipment and a source was explaining that none of it had been used. We know this equipment was acquired by the previous government in 2011 after the Angel 1 shipwreck. In the meantime, a benevolent hacker, who got into the prime minister’s Twitter account, sent an SOS to President Macron, to which the latter responded positively – something the authorities perhaps didn’t think about or deem fit to do. Thank God we don’t have just law-abiding citizens in this country!

I am giving all this explanation to give the head of government a way out by attributing everything his government has failed to do to incompetence and lack of foresight. I know we have become the laughing stock of foreign experts, foreign governments and the international press. Pleading incompetence is still the best we can hope for.

“The best he can hope for is to go down in history as the most incompetent and negligent prime minister independent Mauritius has ever had. That would at least save him and his government from being guilty of more sinister acts.”

The Financial Times goes as far as saying, “There is talk of cover-up. Why was a vessel designed for short overhauls allowed to enter Mauritius sea and allowed to come so close to the reef?” The newspaper qualifies these questions as “awkward and difficult” and concludes with “The dithering and slow response by the government gives it a sinister look.” And the journalist asks a very pertinent and indeed worrying question: “Who is behind this disaster?”

Part of the answer to these disturbing questions comes through other questions asked by an ordinary citizen, Bruneau Laurette, who, equipped with clear satellite pictures of the whole incident and some other troubling facts, shows on Top FM a taxi boat roaming around the Wakashio and going to Rivière Noire – an area where there are several tagged hotels. What business did the taxi boat have going to the Wakashio?

Bruneau Laurette sarcastically hypothesises that it was perhaps delivering lobster for the birthday party held on the ship but, jokes apart, the questions about what the ship was carrying, who was on the taxi boat and who took delivery of what are legitimate. Our safety and security depend on it. A full-fledged inquiry has to be carried out to shed light on this whole tragic event. The prime minister can no longer hide from journalists or deny them access to his press conferences and continue to use the MBC to feed us blatant lies, unchallenged, and blaming bad weather and hence God for his own failings.

The population is now in a terrible state of shock and sadness. As citizens are licking their wounds, it is unlikely that they will continue taking it lying down. I don’t know if the prime minister’s advisers are engaged in the same blame game and feeding him more lies, but the population has had its fill. Take it from me! It needs quick answers and the best he can hope for is to go down in history as the most incompetent and negligent prime minister independent Mauritius has ever had. That would at least save him and his government from being guilty of more sinister acts.”