The Mauritian Diaspora is the key to unlocking a new, cleaner and upgraded political and societal system in Mauritius

Last week I thought that this week’s article would be about Maha Shivratree in Mauritius. I celebrated Maha Shivratree after 21 years. On my way to Mauritius, I was so excited to be here at this time of year because it had been such a long time since I had the opportunity to celebrate this special night. Finally, I ended up not going to Grand Bassin. With all due respect, like many, I was so disenchanted by what I witnessed from where I live in La Caverne, from the chaos, the lack of respect for others, the intimidating nature of the pilgrimage, the anger, that it made it almost impossible for me to make my way to Grand Bassin. It never used to be like this back in the early 2000’s. Something deeper than what we can observe has changed. I prayed at home and went to the temple on the night of Shivratree. For days I could not put into words what I had experienced and I still cannot. Hindus believe Lord Shiva to represent the totality of life. He represents everything. He is the most beautiful, but he is also the ugliest. Likewise, he is a great ascetic, and also a family person. He is a dancer, and he is also absolutely still. Gods, demons and all kind of creatures in the world worship him and maybe this year was the year when he showed his most challenging side, challenging us to introspect and rethink the path we are on.

On another note, I wanted to conclude the blog from last week. In it, I proposed that after a stronger Mauritian identity, the second most important priority is to tackle corruption specially in the political sphere by injecting clean money into the funding of election campaigns. I also proposed that a way cleaner money could be raised is by reaching out to the Mauritian diaspora.

I have come to realise that the reason we operate in a system prone to corruption is because Mauritians have always had tolerance for corruption. In a conversation someone told me, ‘You know, the Labour government was corrupt and stole money from the public purse, but it was not as much as what is happening right now’. It is something I had heard a number of times before, but this time I realised that we have tolerance to corruption inbuilt into us. I realised that we in fact expect corruption. We expect politicians to enrich themselves while in government, and it is that expectation that creates the kind of fertility for corruption to take place. I realised that corruption is actually a mindset which then turns into a practice. If we want to reduce corruption in Mauritius, we must first change our expectations. We must not applaud or tolerate a government that only kept 5c in the rupee of value that it created, nor 4c or 3c. The only way out of a corrupt system is by having zero tolerance to corruption.

I spoke to a number of young Mauritians asking them to nominate their top 3 concerns with the current system and they all stated corruption and the need to tackle it as their most pressing concern. Another few also highlighted a weakening democracy as an ongoing concern. Tackling corruption remains to me the most foundational issue we face as a society, after the need for a more unified Mauritian identity. If we can agree on this, we can look at what must change to bring about cleaner system. In last week’s blog, I advocated for the diaspora to contribute towards an election campaign as the diaspora’s contributions would be a cleaner and less conditional source of funding compared to the current funding which currently comes from

1. A candidate’s own funds which creates an expectation of recovery of those funds if they get elected and therefore starts a cycle of personal enrichment through corrupt behaviour. Over time, this is also what creates the widespread idea that politics is a ‘get rich quick’ scheme.

2. Big business looking to buy influence by funding election campaigns

3. Corrupt money from opaque sources such as drug lords and gambling kingpins

Where I was not clear in the last blog is that the diaspora should fund a new movement that commits to a zero-tolerance approach to corruption as well as improved transparency from the start. Clean money will quickly become dirty in traditional parties or in more recently created parties that started off in opacity around their fund-raising models.

The problem remains how much it costs to run a successful election campaign and if there is no transparency in how funds are being raised for election campaigns, traditional corrupt sources come in as the answer. The moment they are the source of funds, it becomes impossible to beat corruption in the political sphere as the party is locked in having to return favours of those who have funded these campaigns.

I have been asked by some, why should the diaspora do this? I believe there are two fundamental reasons to this. Keeping it to first generation Mauritians leaving Mauritius, the moment we are a diaspora, it means that we have lived in Mauritius for some time. In my case, I have lived in Australia for 20 years now, but lived my first 20 years in Mauritius. In those 20 years, I attended a public primary school, then a public secondary school. The state of Mauritius through its taxpayers funded my studies until I took the decision to go overseas for further studies. I also enjoyed free healthcare and many other state funded services. This in my view, creates built-in debt to the state of Mauritius that many members of the diaspora recognises.

Secondly, many in the Mauritian diaspora left their hearts in Mauritius and took their minds to their country of adoption. In a Facebook post yesterday, a member of the Mauritian diaspora asked, ‘How many days in a year do you think about Mauritius since you left the country?’ She then answered, ‘for me it’s every single day, and it’s been 35 years now’. Most people who commented said the same thing. It is true for me too. The diaspora yearns for a better Mauritius as first and foremost, it is the motherland. It is also where a lot of our family members still live and are still doing it tough, and that keeps us engaged, specially when we experience an upgraded system wherever we chose to go.

In my mind, the Mauritian diaspora is the key to unlocking a new, cleaner and upgraded political and societal system in Mauritius.

P.S What I offer in this blog is only my view based on my experience. My intention is only to start conversations around things that I believe we don’t talk enough about. Please feel free to share your own views, support or criticise the ideas offered, as a healthy debate is how we will start upgrading the system.