Provisionally charged with giving instruction to commit a crime and conspiracy to fabricate evidence, Roshi Badhain, out on bail, surprises journalists present in court by announcing there and then his intention to join politics. Why not? The court yard is as good a place as any to announce such a decision and, if you are out on bail, you probably already have one foot in politics anyway.

Badhain refuses to say which party he intends to join – with Pravind Jugnauth standing right behind him, the suspense is unbearably excruciating! – and that decision belongs to him and him only. Not that it makes any difference to anyone’s life. However, if I could give him a piece of advice – which I’m not going to charge for this time – I would suggest that he join an opposition party – really anyone. Even Le Parti Malin will do.

This piece of advice by the way is free for anyone else willing to take it. As long as you are in the opposition, anytime you are collared by the police or you have to make an appearance in court because you have been caught completely fl at-footed, you can swat the accusations levelled against you with the line that “human rights are being rolled back” and claim that because you are a serious political contender, you are being harassed by your opponents through the police and the courts of law. Some well-meaning journalist may rush to relay the information, you will spring into the limelight and some mysterious organisation in dire need of making itself known might even give you its unconditional support. There! You are already a politician. I mean a hero and a martyr. If you have enough friends on Facebook, they will rope their ‘friends’ into a support group – sometimes without the ‘friends’ being aware of who they are supporting or if they are supporting anyone – and you soon find yourself with thousands of supporters and a lobby group.

In the middle of the brouhaha, nobody will ask themselves – or you – the question of whether there is any proof of your innocence or your guilt. Theseare secondary matters. It’s not – perish the thought – as if we were living in un état de droit where only a court of law is able to decide on your guilt or innocence. The only proof of innocence or guilt is the one the public wants to hear or not hear. This tells you all you need to know about justice and public opinion in this country.

I have seen this movie time and time again and it will not have a happy ending. No one is saying that our police are the best asset this country has. There are some nasty pieces of work there. Nobody is saying that Nitesh Ramdharry is an angel. He is not claiming that either. What we are saying is that – as citizens – we don’t have enough information to try other citizens no matter what their political colour is. Those who have the information should act on it: The Mauritius Revenue Authority should find out why receipts were not issued – oh, sorry, why those who handed out hundreds of thousands of rupees in fees somehow forgot to pick up their receipts – the courts need to fi nd out whether there is any circumstantial evidence which gives credence to Ramdharry’s accusations – like telephone calls exchanged between Bhadain and his client or with his cousin Yash Bhadain – which are damning. Those are the issues Bhadain should address. His political ambitions are neither here nor there. 

weekly@lasentinelle.mu