“PERHAPS THIS EPISODE DOES NOT HAVE ANY HEROES – ONLY ACTORS, SOME OF WHOM TRIED TO LOOK LIKE HEROES IN A GAME WHICH HAS BACKFIRED”

Compatriots, rejoice! Maurice Allet is finally back on our shores. He first visited Finland – at the expense of the taxpayer – and took the opportunity to visit the countries of his choice. What he has brought us back from Finland, we dare not ask but when he got back from enjoying the good weather in Europe, he headed for the VIP lounge like any other important personality. Whether he expected to be nabbed by the police there and then is diffi cult to tell but that they did nab him is commendable. The population expected them to send the message loud and clear that no one is above the law. And they did.

But now that the powerful guys who were allegedly involved in the Varma saga are all being asked to account for their deeds like any other citizen, perhaps it is time to take a step back and put this whole episode into perspective.

Yatin Varma is today a defeated man. As a politician, he has been relieved of his functions. As a professional, if convicted of perverting the course of justice, he stands to lose his right to exercise as a lawyer – sounding the death knell of a superbly flourishing career. As a friend, no longer flushed with power and success, he must by now be very lonely. As a player, he has lost all his cards.

Equally, Reza Issack has lost all the prestige and advantages associated with a PPS position and has been silenced for a long time – something which must be very hard for one who craves media exposure.

For Maurice Allet, it is a question of time before he says goodbye to all the holidays paid for by the taxpayer as well as the junketeering some political nominees excel at.

We could have joined the mob and started shrieking, kicking and spitting – you know, the way the crowds used to behave in the Middle Ages when they were watching someone being hanged. That would have earned us some very positive comments from those who love to gloat over the demise of the powerful. The ones who pelt bottles and shoes at those they had given absolute power to as soon as this power has been lost.

We opt for braving the tougher path by shedding some light on human nature and the recent past of an ex-attorney general turned the subject of all the political gossip columns through an unfortunate set of circumstances. We have, in the process of justice, lost an attorney general who has worked hard and helped write some very positive laws into our constitution, some of which now allow women to lead normal lives. We have lost a good and outspoken PPS – though some may say his acts of ‘honesty’ were calculated. For Maurice Allet, the less said, the better.

Above all, we would like to invite some reflection about what may push a perfectly intelligent, sociable, reasonable man to commit alleged acts of violence. What does it take to turn an affable human being into an alleged offender?

Equally, one has to move away from the black and white dichotomy and ask the same question about the Jeannot family. What does it take to turn an apparently nice and decent family into third grade schemers? What turns on that instinct in us?

The Varma/Jeannot tragedy tells many tales, none of which is pretty. But in our vilification as well as in our glorification of people, we have to be measured. Perhaps this episode does not have any heroes – only actors, some of whom tried to look like heroes in a game which has backfired.

weekly@lasentinelle.mu