Endy Jay
Never in the more than half a century of our sovereign existence have we witnessed what the present ruling incumbents are doing to this country, albeit, admittedly, we have known spells of weak or bad governance during that span of time that twice resulted in stunning 60-0 at the ‘time of reckoning’ that dented, as it were, the very essence of genuine democracy. It is presently the case where qualifiers of the like of ‘weak’ or ‘bad’ are no longer appropriate to describe a situation that has prevailed, persistently, for quite some time, more precisely since beginning of 2017 when we came to learn shortly afterwards the country was no longer ruled in the traditional manner of functioning democracies, but by a ‘lakwizinn’. An alien form of governance buttressed by an incredible dose of fawning, that plagued even some key institutions. Even ‘bad’ will not fit since we are witnessing things we have never known in our political history. And the foregoing said without the least intention to jump on that bandwagon that is gaining accelerated momentum as we near the next day of reckoning. This is not where I intend to proceed, while the incumbents continue to take full advantage of the ‘flaws of democracy’ (Sir Winston Churchill dixit).
While at regular intervals present-day rulers provide, almost as a rule, political Opposition, along with a host of editorialists, columnists and countless other voices that really matter and with no known political allegiances almost unlimited opportunities to fire broadsides at them, often with full heart content, only to attract (when they do not ‘zwe boure’ as is often the case in our highest platform of debate reduced to a macabre farce by the behaviour of the Leader of the House and Zorro, the penalty stopper) shaky rebuttals to defend the indefensible, another of their hallmark, dubious argumentations, hardly a fig leaf to cover naked buttocks.
While even if we were to limit ourselves to the latest in that list of infamous ‘deeds and deals’, the ‘Black Label Stag Party’, it is worth reminding it only came to the surface through whistleblowing. The opportunity thus for me to remind that Bible prophecy I have often quoted in previous notes, to wit:- ‘There is nothing hidden that will not become manifest, nor anything carefully concealed that will never become known nor come out in the open’. (Gospel of Luke chapter 8, verse 17).
The shrewd reader should have no difficulty to understand that the One who inspired the foregoing prophecy will use whatever means He chooses to ensure the outworking of same. And whistleblowing, as we are witnessing, must be one of those means, most likely the main one. It is difficult to imagine carefully hidden matters to come out in the open without a fair contribution of whistleblowing. And there must be local ‘Assange(s)’ and ‘Snowden(s)’ around, likely to bring out in the open other scandals that may even pale those already revealed so far, even the one that involved a jaw-dropping Rs700 million fraud dating several years back but with the enquiry still ongoing! And whistleblowers will certainly continue to manifest themselves whatever the risks, and above all whatever their motivations, either a matter of conscience or to settle scores!
As regard whistleblowing and its effects, it must be stressed, in all fairness, they cannot be limited to the local context inasmuch as when the prophecy mentioned above attains its ‘cruising speed’, in our present times according to Bible chronology, not only relating to scandals, it will have the potential of setting the planetary scene ablaze, the fitting curtain-raiser to the ‘Great Tribulation’. Here, I can easily imagine some readers frowning, even laughing up their sleeves. I can take it in my stride, albeit I could have written ‘rira bien qui rira le dernier’. But this is no laughable issue!
Furthermore, it makes sense to avail of this opportunity to underscore the tendency to target only ‘lakwizinn’ for all our woes, while we tend to forget the prevailing situation at the head of the State has been rendered possible by the supine surrender, by the second knives and other minions sitting on the Majority benches, of their duties and responsibilities as elected Members of the National Assembly. They are guilty not for the acts but for connivance through their silence. They share with the top guns the responsibility for causing the country to descend into the mire of a banana republic, and say what they like we are already there to a large extent. And the price to pay for some first-timers engaged in unqualifiable kowtowing for the sake of retaining the comfort and privileges of sitting on the right side of the Assembly, it will mean additional time to qualify for the hefty pension, if ever they make it. “First-timers, one-timers’? The smarter ones will understand.
To remain in the domain of reminders, I’ll invite attention to the words of one of the top guns of the main partner of the challengers, talking tall of the like of ‘early harvest, en attendant la ‘moisson aux législatives’, that characteristic hubris of the spearhead to lead the assault, which tends to give the impression they are in fighting ecstasy, ‘fin prêt pour la grande bataille’. Nevertheless, I stand by what I wrote recently in these columns to the effect ‘it would be daft to believe the synergy among the main Opposition forces will last. ‘Someone’ will throw a spanner in the works’. And that ‘someone’ is not limited to one person but may change depending on circumstances. Is it not already the case with the unconvincing ‘spoke in the wheel’? (And the ‘Bald’ could not have missed the opportunity to add his grain of salt :’Sa menaz politik a trwa-la fini kase sa’). Yet, what precedes is in no way meant to suggest ‘l’Alliance de l’Espoir’ is about to implode before engaging in ‘le combat du siècle’! Far from that. Mais attendons voir!
Also in terms of reminders, I wrote very recently that we must expect the Tsar to put up a fight with all the means at his disposal since the next time it will be more than retaining power. Losing power will be fatal for him and some sidekicks given the way they have ruled over the past years. Having accustomed us with methods that included blows below the belt, even drifting away from our democratic traditions, whenever situations warranted, we may expect ‘anything’ from ‘lakwizinn’ to beat the odds. Hardly can it be expected to remove some kinks in their behaviour. Could it be any local version of the Trump-orchestrated invasion of the Capitol that nevertheless backfired? Surprised? Come on, from those who pushed the impudence recently to flout head-on the sacrosanct principle of ‘separation of powers’?
To conclude one question addressed to anyone: Will a Jugnauth finally succeed to serve for a full five-year mandate? With persistent rumours afloat ‘election deryer laport’. Attendons voir!
