Those who tuned into MBC1 on Saturday night would’ve been more than a little surprised to see the Chinese ambassador’s intervention in the context of the Chinese New Year. Heaven knows what government and its lapdogs at the MBC had in mind when they invited the representative of a foreign country to use the Spring Festival as an excuse to extol the virtues of her country.

And even though we’re rather used to religious and cultural events being used towards political ends (Navin Ramgoolam’s turn at Grand Bassin this year was a case point), Bian Yanhua’s speech raises its fair share of questions.

It seems that the Chinese are fi nally beginning to exert the sort of infl uence they expect in return for the billions of rupees they’re pouring into the country. Fair enough. After all, soft power is the new hard power. This becomes problematic however when we can’t even count on our own government to uphold the most basic tenets of transparency and good governance.

The fact that the terms and conditions of the Jin Fei contract have yet to be made public, despite the project’s myriad social, economic and  environmental implications is a monumental scandal in itself. Even other African countries where similar projects have gone up and which are not exactly models of good governance, such as Zambia, have made the contracts public. No wonder we score so well in the ease-to-do-business stakes; we’re so stunningly supine that businessmen can’t help loving us.

And, as we gradually start fi nding out more about the economic zone’s true vocation (heavy rather than service industries), the Mauritian population will increasingly become worried about the ramifications of this Faustian pact. It emerged last week that the planters who own some of the land where the Jin Fei mega-factory complex will go up are refusing to sell unless the authorities up their price.

Whatever their intentions are, these planters are contributing to raising awareness on an issue that will infl uence our lives for decades to come. It’s about time there was a concerted push to call for the contract to be made public. Civil society has rightly raised a stink about the incinerator and the hotel project on l’Ile aux Benitiers. Yet these two pale in comparison to what’s happening in Riche-Terre.

Government, of course, has the perfect riposte to any criticisms, however justifi ed they may be. Indeed, these super salesmen of the nation will simply accuse the project’s detractors of indulging in “China bashing”. If that’s the way they choose to govern, so be it. Yet the elections are coming and they may feel a little more inclined to listen to our preoccupations in the coming months.

What’s truly frightening though is that we’ve created a world where career politicians occupy so many positions of power. And it’s these people - who will do anything to obtain or retain power – we now depend on to solve some of the biggest problems the human race has ever faced, such as climate change, corruption, law and order, disease and poverty.

They’re simply not up to the task. The sooner we realise that the better. In the meantime though, we have a right to know about the Jin Fei contract. And now’s the time to demand it.

by Nicholas Rainer