Mauritius ranks 57th out of 180 countries on the corruption perception index of 2021, an index managed by Transparency International. Corruption comes from the Latin word ‘Corrumpere’ which means ‘destroy’. Corruption destroys. It erodes trust, weakens democracy, hampers economic development and further exacerbates inequality, poverty, and social divisions.
In my last blog, I used Singapore as a point of reference for how a unified national identity can perform miracles for the country and its people. If you did not get a chance to read it, you can find it here – https://girishramjuttun.com/2023/02/02/identity-crisis-in-mauritius-who-are-we-really/
I will continue to use Singapore as a point of reference for inspiration given some similarity in the pre and post-independence era of both island nations.
In the same corruption perception index, Singapore ranks 5th out of 180 countries. If a unified Singaporean identity was the first and foremost investment Lee Kuan Yew, the founding father of modern-day Singapore made when he started out building Singapore, the second most important investment he made was in putting in a place a zero-tolerance approach to corruption. That zero-tolerance to corruption was the second foundation stone that we see the Singapore of today built on. Mr Lee once said, ‘corruption, which we regarded as a cancer, must be eradicated as soon as detected’.
There are many types of corruption from grand to petty corruption, conventional and unconventional corruption, public and private corruption however this article will focus on political corruption in Mauritius.
Political corruption is nothing new. It is a global epidemic and one that makes it extremely hard to experience real progress and real progress starts when we lift from the bottom, when we strengthen from the weakest point. Political corruption undermines that philosophy. Let me explain how.
Think about this for a minute. If a river source is poisoned, how can the lower part of that river be expected to be free of that poison? The same principle applies for corruption. If the top is corrupt, that corruption will seep through every part of the structure as gravity forces its descent. It can be argued that political corruption is the seed of all other corruption because the state, where individual power of every citizen turns into collective power, is where power is at it’s greatest.
The Mauritian context – Primarily two types of people who want to become MP’s
Exercising that political power to its potential, including the power to corrupt requires someone to become a government Member of Parliament (MP) of the National Assembly. There is a reason I make this point. There are primarily 2 types of people who seek to serve the public in Mauritius. There is the first type who genuinely cares about their community. They are social activists. They are social workers. They help their communities by advocating on their behalf. They are at the forefront of change and progress in their local communities. They are well loved and popular with that community. These people will become involved in national politics in one of two ways. The first is that they recognise that if they want to further improve their local communities, there is no more powerful place than to do it at the level of national politics. The second is that they get recruited by the bigger political parties who see them as vote winners and as people who have the potential to win in their local constituency.
The second type is those people who seek personal power and personal enrichment from becoming an MP. Being an MP, especially a government MP, can be very financially rewarding. As the gatekeepers of the public purse, MP’s are custodians of billions of rupees and can make decisions that will impact the public purse in many ways. Most people are trying to improve their standards of living and while some of us work a job, some run businesses, some invest in assets, some join politics.
It did not use to be like this
We must remember that this is a fairly recent phenomenon. In the past, people joining public life were making the ultimate sacrifice. They left a life of privacy and comfort to become servants of the people, hence public service. Politics or rather public service used to be one of the most noble forms of service, and the most impactful too. People like Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln and in our own backyards, Dr Maurice Cure, Guy Rozemont, the Bissoondoyal brothers and countless others did not join public life to enrich themselves. They joined public life to fight for a cause, to help improve justice, improving fairness, improving humanity. They are people who come from modest backgrounds but who had a deep belief in a cause worth fighting for on behalf of the greater good.
The glorification and specially the personal enrichment that comes from close association with political power is a more recent phenomenon that comes from the greed that animates humanity.
Becoming an MP in Mauritius
To become an MP one’s best chance stands with being part of a bigger political party. If you have been agitating to be offered a ‘ticket’, meaning that you have been given the opportunity to represent your party in your constituency, you are in a trickier position than if you were head hunted by the party because it costs millions of rupees these days to run an election campaign
As time has passed since independence, the cost of running a successful election campaign has been increasing immensely (I need a better word to express how crazy that cost has been increased). In Mauritius, as we know, our election campaigns are corrupt, filled with short term incentives for people to vote for a particular party. They can come in the form of cash, goods, promises of a job or other promises etc… Parties recruit agents who are responsible for campaigning for votes (think poster boys and the likes). These agents form base camps known as ‘Baz’ and need to be attended to in many ways including being fed, being paid for their work and importantly, being promised something in return if their party was to form government. These ‘Baz’ cost sizeable sums of money to run.
Election campaigns costs have also increased as baby boomers have aged. Baby boomers is that group of people born at that point in time where the world’s population, including that of Mauritius, increased exponentially after the World War 2. They remain one of the most important blocks of vote for any political party to win enough votes and form government in Mauritius and as such, are a critical part of any election strategy. A sizeable portion of baby boomers who are now past the point of active employment, are prone to short term incentives such as a sponsored day at the beach, or free food and transport to public meetings held by those parties and as such, have increased the cost of running a successful election campaign.
Add blatant corruption such as cash incentives and goods to the need to maintain those ‘Baz’ to the need to appeal to expensive baby boomers to the increased cost of marketing such as posters, billboards, radio and tv ads, social media spend, public gathering costs etc… and you will start getting a feel for why it costs many millions to run a successful election campaign.
Where does the money come from to run such campaigns?
The problem of political and specially election campaigns and how they are funded is not unique to Mauritius. In fact, it is a global phenomenon. The fairness of the political system in the US for example has been hijacked by big businesses and powerful lobby groups who through large political donations have bought themselves considerable political power. Jurisdictions such as United Kingdom, Norway, India, Russia, Brazil, Nigeria, and Sweden have considered legislation that would create publicly funded elections[1]. Some countries have improved transparency around political donations and capped how much donation can be made.
In Mauritius, the problem of political donations has been making the news intermittently over the last few years. To come back to the question of campaign funding in Mauritius, there are 3 main sources of funding. The first is the party itself. A party could have a financial ‘war chest’ at its disposal, specially if it has been in government given the lucrative nature of such a period. The second is business. Businesses will usually fund political parties as an investment. In many cases, businesses will fund both major parties in a two-party system. Businesses that make political donations expect a return and that return will come from when the party that business backed wins government through lucrative government contracts. The third source of funds will come from candidates themselves. This is the focus of the article as this is a big part of the seed of political corruption. This is where candidates who have been agitating for a ‘ticket’ come unstuck. As part of the deal of obtaining that ‘ticket’, they must contribute personally to the campaign. It is often rumoured that a ‘ticket’ with the major parties can cost a candidate up to Rs 5 million. Let’s assume that this is at the higher end and let’s take Rs 100,000 as what they have to contribute personally.
The seed of personal corruption
We will look into how businesses corrupt the system and what can be done about this at a later point. For now, let’s have a look at how a government MP can become corrupt very quickly and what can be done about that.
So the aspiring MP, let’s call him Gary (I am choosing a neutral name), who campaigned for a ticket and is asked to contribute Rs 100,000 to the election campaign. Remember the two types of MP’s, the one who is a social activist at heart and the other who seeks power and financial gain through the political process. The one seeking power and financial gain will see the Rs 100,000 as the investment to enter the arena. If elected and worse, if he or she becomes a government MP, that person will corrupt the system in the most damaging of ways.
The saddening part is for the social activist at heart, Gary in this case. To raise the amount required to enter, Gary will either dip into his savings, potentially money they had reserved for something else or borrow money, from a financial institution or from family and friends. Gary is now elected and even better, he becomes a government MP. Gary is financially at least Rs 100,000 worse off from having decided to enter a life of public service not withstanding how personally taxing it is on his personal life and his family who he gets to see a lot less of and who is having to put up with Gary now being a public figure and prone to personal attacks from those opposing him other personal interests. Gary still enters parliament with a burning desire to bring positive change to people he represents but one day one of the uncles who lent them some money is in need of a political favour. The uncle asks Gary to help secure this taxi licence that he has been after for a while. He is indebted and is expected to return favour. Can he refuse? And by not refusing, did he not engage in corrupt conduct?
Now imagine, a business owner, Hiro, who knows Gary and is aware that he spent some money to get into politics. Hiro has become aware and is interested in a Rs 10M government tender from an area of government that Gary can influence. He offers Gary a compensation of Rs 100,000 in return for the contract, reminding him that he was out of pocket that amount and that money was purely to return him to a point of no net loss, as a friend.
This Rs 100,000 is partly made up of savings Gary had kept aside for home improvements and his children’s education and partly money he borrowed family and friends and that needed to be repaid at some point in time. He was being offered the opportunity to plug that loss immediately. What does Gary do? His mind rationalises. He thinks, ‘Its ok, I will only do it once. I will only plug the gap for what I had to spend and will never every take easy money again’. Gary accepts the ‘help’ and in return helps the businessperson wins the government tender.
We ask for meritocracy and fairness from the tree of corruption and inequality. It is like expecting apples from an orange tree. It is ignorance at best, insanity at worst.
Gary has just had a taste of how easily the could make Rs 100,000. Two months later, the same businessperson comes across another government contract and comes to Gary offering him another Rs 100,000 for help securing the contract. The mind has already tasted this once. He guilt trips Gary telling him that ‘You deserve a break’. Take the family to Europe in December. You have been working so hard and have barely had time for them. Take this cheque and take the family on a break’. The mind rationalises once more. It knows this process now. It is not new anymore. It is the same process a butcher goes through when butchering an animal. The first animal is always the hardest and the most traumatic. Every other animal after the first one is easier as the mind has already rationalised. Gary agrees to take the money. Gary now becomes better at this. He starts getting known as an ‘easy to bribe’ MP. He starts attracting more money. With money comes greater influence within his party. He slowly starts climbing the political ladder. By the 3rd year, he becomes a government minister. By the last year of the term, Gary has taken millions in bribes without even realising how deeply corruptible he had become and how much damage has been done along the way to what initially started with good intentions.
Most people don’t enter public service with a corrupt mind. The problem is the system. A system that the greedy have worked out and are using the loopholes so liberally that it’s become systemic. The system must be upgraded. It is full of malware and viruses attacking it from all angles. It is being white anted. On the outside, it looks fine. The structure is still standing with a few gaps here and there. But on the inside, white ants has already eaten it up to a point where it could collapse anytime.
An upgraded system
The problem is clearly systemic. Unless the system is upgraded and those weaknesses strengthened, a fairer and more meritocratic society will never truly emerge.
If we can agree that corruption in Mauritius is systemic, it gives us a better chance to counter it. People are corruptible, however there are ways that our corruptible nature can be kept in check.
In my view, it starts with firstly removing one of the primary reasons why the soil of corruption is so fertile and that starts with
- Ensuring people who have their community’s and country’s best interest at heart are not required to personally contribute to be able to serve. No one pays their employer to obtain a job. Why should people who want to serve their countries have to? This first step will ensure that the spotlight is focused on finding those entering politics for personal gain.
- Improve candidate screening. This is a critical step in a fight against corruption. The candidate selection process must be significantly improved and heavily scrutinised. Before a candidate is given a ‘ticket’, they must undergo a very through interview. That candidate could potentially be on their way to occupy one of the highest offices of the land which is good enough reason for a heavily upgraded recruitment process. The objective is to single out and deal with those trying to enter politics for personal or financial gain.
- Change the law to make corruption at the highest levels of government a crime of the highest order punishable by very heavy prison sentences, possibly life sentences and scale the penalty down as the power and importance of the office as well as the monetary value of the crime reduces. It is only when a strong deterrent will be in place that behaviour will change.
- Make the ICAC fully and possibly, constitutionally independent fashioning it in the same way as the Sydney ICAC which successfully prosecuted the premier of New South Wales for receiving a bottle of wine worth $2000 which he did not declare in the register of interest, leading him to resign his position. Legislate to ensure the ICAC can hold public hearings. I would go even further and propose that we look to position a highly efficient ICAC office between the public procurement office and shortlisted service providers so that those bids can be heavily scrutinised for irregularities and possible corrupt practices.
- Reward whistle-blowers. Currently whistle-blowers experience significant fear of reprisal. Not only is it desirable that whistle-blowers be given an environment free of retaliation for highlighting possible corrupt practices, the balance should be titled further to reward whistle-blowers for successful prosecution of those engaging in corruption.
We must realise that unless the state, not the government but the people, through the mechanism of the state, is going to take a zero-tolerance approach to corruption, the custodians of the state i.e., the government of the day, be it the legislature or the executive, may not necessarily be tempted to replace the system that has kept them in power.
So how do we go about creating a system that is a lot less corrupt and more importantly, has been able to close the loopholes on the contributors to corruption?
We could start by how we raise funds to run an election campaign. If we want a cleaner system where businesses and the wealthy are not buying political influence and that we have a more level playing field with a government dedicated to lifting from the bottom without the kind of hinderance and political interference that they experience today, we must raise funds differently, and this is possibly where the Mauritian diaspora could be of help.
The Mauritian diaspora and the power it holds
The Mauritian diaspora is a very successful diaspora that has established itself in many advanced countries such as England, France, Australia, Canada, Italy, Ireland, Belgium etc… By and large, the diaspora, as economic migrants, are successful and are able to help.
In many ways, the diaspora also has a duty of care towards the motherland. The diaspora is aware that the state, not the government, but the people of Mauritius have invested heavily in them to get them to a point where they were able to leave the country. In my case, the state funded my education until I was 19 before I decided to go to Australia and I realise that I have a duty of care to the motherland. Like me, there are thousands of other diaspora members who understand this critical role that we play in the future of Mauritius. If the diaspora was to incognito fund a majority of an election campaign and the party they fund would be successful at an election, for the first time, that party would be indebted to the people and not to the businesses or the wealthy individuals that usually make up a large portion of political donations. The diaspora should receive a right to vote against the help that it is providing.
The funding must be anonymous, and it must be capped. The party receiving funding should not know who has contributed, to avoid having to return favours and funding should be capped, again to avoid having to return favours from large doners. Doing this will ensure the party is engaged in working for the people without interference from lobbies.
The youth vote is the key
The Cost Per Vote (CPV) must be lowered. If we assume that the CPV at the last election was Rs 1000, and that the election campaign costed Rs 250M for the major parties, the upgraded system must engineer a system that elects candidates at a much lower CPV. The best way this could be done is through the youth. The cost of reaching and converting the youth is much lower than doing the same for baby boomers. The youth will volunteer their time and will need very little in return for their time and dedication. The problem is that the youth traditionally refrains from voting in Mauritius and makes up the highest proportion of absent voters from the 25% of people who don’t vote on average in an general election in Mauritius. The problem is not that they are lazy or disengaged or not interested, these are symptoms. The real problem is that no one has heard them or cared for their voice yet and if the upgraded system is going to reach the youth’s heart and energise them, the CPV for that vote bank will drop significantly, leading to a much more efficient cost-efficient campaign. This will also allow for funds needing to be raised for a successful election campaign to be much lower than traditional parties due to more efficient marketing and outreach campaigns.
There are many ways we can bring a cleaner political system to Mauritius however we must start by believing it is possible. In this article, I have offered a few of my ideas of how this could be done but there is so much more that could be added to this strategy.
I am a believer in an upgraded system that can offer the next generations a very different Mauritius to the one we know right now and if you share that passion for Mauritius and Mauritianism, I encourage you to follow me on my Facebook profile at https://www.facebook.com/girish.ramjuttun where I am going to post a different article every Thursday. I also encourage you to share this article if you have found it interesting, subscribe to the blog where you will be notified when new articles appear.
The standard you walk past is the standard you accept.