Where is the Law and Order that was proudly promised by L’Alliance Lepep during its electoral campaign in 2014?
Mr. the Prime Minister, with all due respect, your government seems to be inapt to tackle the alarming surge in crime rate in the country and consequently, the people who had pinned their hope on and voted for L’Alliance Lepep are now living in constant fear. Your predecessor, now the mentor minister, made Law and Order his ‘cheval de bataille’ during his electoral campaign in 2014. With firmness and determination, he vowed to hit very hard at those who terrorise the population and proliferate drugs in our society. He even went further and promised to restore death penalty and to use it in the case of atrocious crimes. In fact, his strong conviction to bring security in the country not only won the hearts and minds of the people at home but also generated support from Mauritians living abroad. Moreover, he gave assurance to foreign investors and the thousands of tourists who visit the island every year that Mauritius would become an attractive and safer place to be.
The inability of the previous regime to combat the disturbing rise in crime rate in the country had undoubtedly, contributed to the heavy defeat it suffered at the last general election. Similar to what SAJ told the population during his electoral campaign, he also promised to be tough and pitiless with those who committed serious crimes and even vowed to bring back death penalty. Unfortunately, it was just an empty promise in which the people gradually lost faith and at the end it cost him dearly, at the last general election.
Mr. Prime Minister, we often hear about crimes such as robbery with violence, assault, hold up, mugging on tourists and vol à l’arraché. The situation in the country is alarming and is in fact, worse than in the time of the previous regime which you had vigorously criticised during your electoral campaign.
It’s really beyond one’s belief when one realises that a small island with a population of 1.3 million, has a terrifying rise in crime rate; moreover, we have a government which is unable to reinforce law and order and stop those handful hooligans, out there, from committing felonies.
Recently, the population was horrified by various crimes where the victims were subjected to some barbaric acts and savagely murdered. Unfortunately, these sorts of crime are not doing any good to our country’s image abroad, more particularly among the tourists who are looking for a safer and peaceful place to spend their holidays.
Mr. Prime Minister, maintaining law and order is as essential as providing a good education system and proper health services to the nation. Unlike you and your ministers who are protected by bodyguards and police officers round the clock, Lepep Admirab is vulnerable to all sorts of violence and lives in fear. People are losing hope in your government and they feel that the police is not doing enough effort to provide security in the country. Some of them want to see tougher laws, harsh prison sentences and even death penalty to those who terrorise and kill innocent citizens. They want to live in a safer Mauritius and go along their daily work or business without having their minds preoccupied with what may happen to their old mothers and fathers whom they have left at home. They want to see high risk areas such as bus stations, marketplaces…, where offenders operate freely, are secured by surveillance cameras and the continuous presence of police offi cers.
I still remember what SAJ said in Ebène about death penalty: ‘En faveur de la peine de mort mais tout le monde, au sein de L’Alliance Lepep, n’est pas d’accord’.
Mr. Prime Minister, with all due respect, when SAJ promised to bring back death penalty during his electoral campaign, he knew quite well that his partners would never give him their support on that issue but he still went ahead and told the population, if need be he would reintroduce capital punishment. He even recognised that the present situation in the country is worrying and said, ‘se enn laont, nou pe vinnplis ki zanimo’; I strongly believe that the interest of the people comes before that of his partners if he is really a man of good principles.
Mr. Prime Minister, I strongly believe that you should act now and make law and order the priority of priorities otherwise, your government will suffer the same humiliating defeat which the population gave to your predecessor at the polling stations in 2014.
Mr. Prime Minister, Donald Trump wants to make America great again and I think you should try to make Mauritius safe again.