Well, that was a slap in the face of local democracy. In an interview in last week’s l’express dimanche, the minister of Industry, Cader Sayed-Hossen, went out on a massive limb saying that the population doesn’t really give a fig about municipal elections. With democrats like that, who needs dictators? Considering he owes his seat in parliament to a relic of colonialism, perhaps he’s not best placed to lecture people about what democracy should mean to them. Neither can his passage as chairman of the commission for the democratization of the economy be described as a roaring success. If anything, the man is living proof of the obsolescence of the Best Loser System.

Being the wannabe leftie fi rebrand he is though, maybe he’s just worried about the imminent wave of privatizations that is about to wash over the country. And so he should be, as should we all in fact. So yes, government and, in particular, the minister of finance, Xavier-Luc Duval, who makes no secret about his archly liberal leanings, believes that a raft of public institutions have to be at least partially privatized. Given how terribly they’ve been managed, one’s first reaction is relief. After all, how many casinos in the world actually lose money? The logic goes that private companies will inject a bit of vim, efficiency and meritocracy into these moribund entities. Nothing in our fruity republic is as it seems however. I hereby submit Exhibit A: Mauritius Telecom. Its strategic partnership with Orange has shown that such deals offer the worst of both worlds by combining the rapaciousness of a faceless multinational and the disdain for customer service of the public sector.

Scratch the surface though and it seems that something even more sinister is afoot, something that Naomi Klein wrote about extensively in her scathing book, The Shock Doctrine. The author begins by introducing us to the Chicago Boys, a clique of economists led by George Friedman, and the destruction they wrought in many a developing country, often with the help of repressive regimes.

The example of Chile in particular offers a chilling glimpse into what happens when free-market ideologues get the support of a bloodthirsty dictator to implement their dystopian reforms, including, of course, widespread privatizations.

The so-called Bretton Woods institutions were part and parcel of a process that resulted in gross human rights abuses. Naomi Klein posits that these countries were intentionally brought to their knees so that their populations would be more amenable to accepting this “economic shock treatment”. There’s a lesson for Mauritius in here. At first glance, it might appear that the companies being primed for privatization are simply paying the price for being the playthings of politicians. As such, they were run into the ground by a toxic blend of nepotism, corruption and incompetence. But what if their decline was part of a bigger plan? Just look how convincing the calls for privatization have come to sound. It’s uncanny! Government has become incredibly chummy with some of the aforementioned Bretton Woods institutions. The World Bank in particular holds enormous sway over our economic policy-making. And the siren call of privatization is music to its ears. The only weapon against such grey eminences is more democracy, not less. So we don’t need local elections Mr. Sayed-Hossen? Oh yes we do. More than you could ever imagine. But thanks for trying anyway.

Nicholas RAINER