Look, I know this happened last week but I really didn’t want to pass up the opportunity to comment on it. For, it was a lovely surprise. The prime minister, Pravind Jugnauth, out of the blue, decided that journalists can, after all, help him in the fight against drugs and corruption. So he extended an olive branch to the media in the form of a meeting to which even l’express was invited. Fancy that!

The endearing family photo, relayed by the Government Information Service, of media representatives and even journalists side by side with their loving prime minister was heart-warming. What exactly happened to turn the anti-patriotic demons, hitherto hated and shunned to welcome allies overnight? How can those who were accused of being in bed with drug lords now be trusted to fight a war they were on the wrong side of? How come publications that have been boycotted for years have suddenly become reputable enough to associate with? Why now?

The cynics will immediately attribute this change of heart to the rise of the opposition coalition. Up to now, the government has been treating this country as their own private property and its people as undeserving of any consideration, safe in the belief that they will be in power forever. Suddenly, something seems to have shaken them out of their arrogance and complacency. And some of the themes likely to bring the government down are incompetence, drugs, corruption and its cousin – nepotism.

But, as my readers know, I am not a cynic and I admire the ease and innocence with which those invited ran to the rescue of the government, extending a handshake that might pull it out of the water of drugs and corruption where it is drowning. So, without smiling to the cameras or contributing to the GIS photo album, I would still like to join this surge of solidarity and contribute my two-penny worth to the debate on drugs and corruption, two ills that have multiplied manifold in the last few years.

In this debate, we don’t have to reinvent the wheel. When you look at the countries that have succeeded in curbing drugs and corruption, Singapore is the first that jumps to mind. Their method? Send the right signal: no matter who you are, if suspected of being involved in either, you will be dealt with appropriately. No one, no institution, no minister, no god can save you. Perhaps we could start there.

One of the biggest drug/corruption cases in this country is the Franklin axis. Franklin and his enablers were killing children, numbing breadwinners, starving families and driving some to despair for years and would perhaps have continued to do so had the Reunion police – not the ones we are paying to protect us – not exposed him and informed the Mauritius authorities of this trade. Even then, the authorities here allowed him to carry on. Until Bruneau Laurette denounced him and Franklin came out to ‘defend’ himself.

Since then, the press, particularly l’express, has been denouncing the stag and black label party and pointing towards politicians within government who are not only encouraging this trade but also participating in it by giving state land, allegedly against payment of bribes, to drug dealers and allowing them to carry on with their killing business undisturbed.

The prime minister reacted by springing to the defence of his colleagues, pouncing on the press, ill-treating journalists, intimidating reporters and accusing them of being involved in the drug trade themselves.

Dozens of other cases were denounced by the press even before the kind primeministerial invitation: 135 kilos of heroine found in gas cylinders. The accused: someone who seems close to government. Ninety-five kilos of cocaine found in the tractopelle which brought Mauricio that was inaugurated by the prime minister himself. And the revelations made by Vimen Sabapati! None of these cases was discovered by our police. We had to rely on the police in Reunion, luck or accident. None of the culprits or accused has been punished!

So why not start by holding those responsible to account? Repeating meaningless words like ‘kas lerin mafia’, catching some hapless peddlers and taking photos with the press and school children will do nothing to change the ghost of drugs dogging the MSM. Only actions might. Act!