Starving, voracious hyenas unleashed in a land of sheep busy grazing. That is the picture that has transpired from the events of this week. As the chickens are coming home to roost, more and more evidence is coming to light and the muck is gushing out in large doses.

But first, let’s be grateful for small mercies: thanks to the obscene parties going on near the Ganga Talao, in the vicinity of the holy lake, we now know that there is a private parliamentary secretary called Rajanah Dhaliah. The man has been pocketing huge amounts of money by simply sitting and warming up a comfortable leather seat every now and then without the average taxpayer having heard of him. He also happens to be the one who, as director general of the State Trading Corporation, rescinded the Betamax contract, which cost the taxpayer more than Rs6 billion! Now you have a face, a name and a history.

But deer oh deer, when it comes to booze and venison parties, he was present in good company: that of the ragged looking minister Maneesh Gobin. The two hyenas, according to those who have decided to make revelations at the Very Independent Commission Against Corruption, allegedly left nothing behind at the Black Label party that was denounced: they gorged on meat, washed it down with swigs of booze until they could no longer walk to their cars, bribes were allegedly paid and each one took his share with a grin and asked for more, and some walked away with the carcass the next day! All this happened at the ranch of a convicted drug trafficker Gobin should have extradited four years ago to Reunion where a seven-year jail sentence had been handed down to him. Yet, in front of the MBC cameras, both Gobin and Dhaliah are the first in line to ‘pray’ at the same holy spot that they desecrate by every one of their moves.

And they dare look us in the eye and repeat that they are kas lerin mafia ladrog? How exactly are they doing that? By attending and encouraging their drinking orgies and rave parties? By giving them 250 acres of state land to expand their business? By taking bribes in exchange for turning a blind eye while our youth are being killed and families decimated? Or by taking photographs with the outlaws and legitimising their impunity? Is there no limit to shamelessness?

The hyenas are everywhere and are devouring everything on their way. Look at the Audit Report and you will come to understand how they operate. From a mafia in the Ministry of Health that dished out illegal contracts unabashed, to the parastatals where unprecedented losses (Rs10.2 billion of outstanding loans) have been clocked, everyone is having the chance of a lifetime to loot. To plug the hole, we borrow more and more money while kicking the can down the road. The Audi Report warns that our national debt has reached nearly an eye-watering Rs450 billion!

The muck must have pervaded the whole island for Cardinal Jean Maurice Piat to frontally take on the powers that be. He had been warning of an erosion of our values and institutions but his language had been couched in diplomatic speak. His lent sermon this time was plain, direct and unambiguous: our institutions have lost their independence, our police have lost the trust of the population and the authorities are responsible for this and for the youth dying of drugs and the tragedies suffered by their families.

Bravo, Cardinal! And shame on the so-called socio-cultural organisations that are always grinning their way to personal advantages. Forget about human rights, democracy and injustice. Even when it comes to defending the religion they are supposedly paid to do, they run for their funk holes every time that threatens the privileges they are brazenly enjoying at the expense of the gullible.

Shame on them. Shame on those who continue to support them. Shame on the sheep grazing on the crumbs and keeping silent. Time to pay back will come. It always does.