2010-08-23
23 Lions Called to Camp
Some 23 players of the national football team have been called to camp in preparation for the upcoming encounter against the Mauritius Island next September 4.2010-08-20
The First Hundred Days - Different Viewpoints, Different Perceptions
This week, our guests have been invited to comment on the first hundred days of the new government. One of them sees it as "forlorn and in sulky mood", another uses a nice sporting metaphor to introduce a hymn of praise for it. The others fall somewhere in between... and even add a touch of humour to the debate. 2010-08-20
Euro Crisis - Funding Private Deficits with Public Money
When Finance minister, Pravind Jugnauth, called a press conference Friday last to announce an Economic Restructuring and Competitiveness Programme (ERCP), he took everybody by surprise. The press, the opposition, the export processing sector, the tourist industry, the SMEs and the opposition were taken by surprise by this Rs 12 billion stimulus package, the third of its type since the recession broke loose, followed by the euro crisis. 2010-08-12
Tax Havens in Africa
At one point during our conversation, the phone goes dead. Much later, Rudolf Elmer, one of the world's most infamous whistleblowers and the former chief executive officer of private Swiss bank Julius Baer's Cayman Islands operations, would rattle off to me a list of possible intelligence services that might have been involved. 2010-08-13
Health Sector in Crisis - The Outsourcing of Surgery
The ministry of Health congratulates itself on sending more and more Mauritians for surgery abroad. While this is positive for the patients involved, it reveals a serious lack in the provision of health care, especially in the neurosurgery sector. 2010-08-03
Few Heads of State Attend Peer Review
While conflicts in Somalia and Sudan dominated the headlines, governance in Africa also came under discussion on the sidelines of the 15th African Union (AU) Summit, held on the shimmering shores of Lake Victoria at the luxurious Munyonyo Resort outside Kampala, Uganda. 2010-07-29
Treasure Islands - Mapping the Geography of Corruption
When is a tax haven not a tax haven? When Mauritius' Vice Prime Minister Ramakrishna Sithanen says so. 'We are a not a tax haven,' stated Sithanen, who is also the country's minister of finance. Ironically, Sithanen would go on to reveal that ring-fenced financial services (FS) - the legal and financial secrecy vehicles facilitating corporate mispricing and corruption marketed to foreign clients, especially India - accounts for 12.5 per cent of GDP. 2010-07-30
The Trial within the Trial
Last year, four youths were arrested for the rape of 49-year old Florise Sirop. They say that they were tortured into confessing a crime they have not committed. 2010-07-30
The African Peer Review Mechanism
As African leaders gathered between the numerous rolling hills and lush wetlands of Kampala, in the country of President Yoweri Museveni, Uganda, for the 15th summit of the African Peer Review Mechanism, Mauritius voluntarily submitted itself to Africa's home-grown governance monitoring endeavour. This summit was important in many ways, from opening up political space for debate, discussion and criticism, to legislative reforms and streamlining development efforts. The Country Review Report of Mauritius was therefore up for discussion. When the Prime minister received his first evaluation report card to bring back home to us, we could not help but reflect on the country which has already celebrated the 42nd anniversary of its independence. |
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