The way relatives of high officials at the Bank of Mauritius have been sneaked into cushy jobs they are arguably ill qualified for as revealed by l’express this week has exposed once again the dark under-belly of a society that cares precious little about fairness and meritocracy. This outrageous nepotism was made that much worse by the Bank going after those who are thought to have sounded the alarm on this scourge rather than those who are perpetrating it.

Nepotism – the practice among those with power and/or influence in favouring friends and relatives – is nothing new and it has reached pandemic proportions since 2015. Jobs in government and institutions where government has the upper hand, promotions and juicy contracts have become the exclusive right of those close to power. From Landscope to the Mauritius Duty Free Paradise, going through the Financial Services Commission, the State Trading Corporation and emergency procedures, you name it, connections and partisanship play a big role in it. Today, that situation is being exacerbated in the sense that we have a second generation of nepotism beneficiaries taking root in our institutions and paid for by our hard-earned money.

The problem I have with the practice of nepotism and its cousins, clientelism favouritism and patronage – all different forms of corruption – is threefold.

First, there are few things more morale-sapping and confidence-damaging than the injustice and lack of fairness that it entails. It basically means that potentially weaker candidates whose only qualification is their support for a particular party are hired, promoted and are disproportionately well treated while those who lack such a qualification either keep lengthening the unemployment queues or, if they are already in employment, see their career development being stunted as a result. Many of those who have managed to build an enterprise through blood, sweat and tears found out that they could not count on the Mauritius Investment Cooperation to fish them out of trouble. It has a clear list of candidates that it treats as a priority, irrespective of whether they fulfil the criteria or not. This creates frustration, a deep sense of injustice, alienation and a feeling of malaise. It is like being treated as a second class citizen in your own country. We have gone beyond the old saying, “It’s not what you know but who you know.” We are now into something like “It’s not what you know but who your neighbour’s parents know.” It is toxic!

Secondly, dishing out jobs or promotions on other criteria than ability and merit has created a system based on iniquity and is very costly for the country. We have seen how the ‘competent’ authorities reacted to the Wakashio disaster, for example. Add that to the black and grey lists we now adorn precisely because of the blatant nepotism we have cultivated.  

Thirdly, lack of meritocracy definitely lowers the standards across the board. Poorly qualified employees are not able to cope and the qualified ones who have been marginalised are not in a position to contribute or are not motivated enough to do so. So our standards start going down slowly but surely, at great cost to our quality of life.

But then again, remember that the organisation responsible for keeping up the standards is headed by Sandhya Boygah, a lucky lady for whom a post had to be created to circumvent her dire lack of qualifications. Or lack of standards, if you prefer.