Dear Honourable Prime Minister,
You are surely aware that since years I have been investing precious time and energy at enormous personal risk and cost to raise the alarm about the devastating impact the repeated flouting of basic governance values and the aiding and abetting clique culture have had on the national airline’s management/leadership and work/organizational ethics and performance. Not to mention the serious blow on the majority of dedicated employees’ morale and motivation of such an atmosphere and clannish culture at all levels.
An objective and anonymous climate survey among employees (including long serving MK employees now on retirement) and management personnel in the organization, including in MK subsidiaries, will surely reveal the inconvenient truth that many with whom you interact at the top will never dare bring to your attention. Maybe not to embarrass or distract your focus from your mission and other priorities as Prime Minister. Nor from fear-ridden employees about being victimized or losing on their career prospects. But having witnessed the selfish and self-serving game of clannish management and leadership ethics at MK under all regimes, I doubt that the acts and behaviours of key people through the power positions they hold at MK have much or hardly anything to do with safeguarding the highest, short or long term, interests of the company or even helping you in your duty and mission to know the true challenges and potential of MK in your mission to save the national airline and better serve the country. Tragically, the enduring clique culture and ubiquitous command and control style seem to have reached unparalleled proportion today, with that nebulous ownership/governance/line of command/decision-making structure under AHL and its CEO.
Air Mauritius has almost lost its soul, especially with the mass distress unleashed by the measures taken under the Voluntary Administration (though many warranted) during the COVID emergency. An airline is a highly people intensive service industry/world where emotional intelligence, empathy and compassion should prevail at all times. For external and internal customers, likewise in any decision-making, however warranted a tough decision might be. Like during the COVID and the decisions that were implemented/imposed on long serving 33 1/3 plus years employees under Voluntary Administration. Those forced retired employees in June 2020 are still living through a traumatizing experience ; so lacking was the human dimension in handling their abrupt departure from a company that they had served and helped build with love and commitment through all the thick and thin that MK has known in its evolution. Today, in an indiscriminate and indifferent manner, it’s as if these ‘builders’ of MK have been wiped out of the records. As if the arrogant indifference of the new masters in alliance with some inveterate opportunists was not enough, more salt is being rubbed on the wounds of the retirees by the unilateral undermining of the contractual rights and benefits of those MK pensioners. In total contravention of your concern and commitment to be a caring government, especially for pensioners, elderly and senior citizens.
You have been certainly briefed about my actions over the years to sensitize and help bring fundamental changes in the Governance, Accountability and Leadership culture at MK. Most of the time to no avail so omnipresent are the dark forces of internal politics, external interferences and clique culture.
The legitimate question on your part like with others is why am I so relentless in my calls for a better MK? It is simply because I love my country immensely and I am so grateful for what MK has given me and others of humble socioeconomic background over the years. My long years at MK and deep sense of gratitude have enabled me to see the darkest side of MK management and work culture, but foremost, the immense potential (human resources and experiences/high level expertise) that is so inherent in this state-controlled company. Sadly, never fully tapped and unleashed because of endless politickings, clique management, inconsistent reward system and self-serving leadership culture. Today, in the trail of COVID and Voluntary Administration’s decision/rescue plan, it is heartbreaking to see how many of such talents are whiling away time in despondency as retirees outside MK, at a time when MK badly needs the best of its people to ensure its recovery, stabilization and growth through smoother transfer of knowledge and competent succession planning at all levels of management and operations. Any average person wonders if a less drastic and ‘inhumane’ redundancy strategy than the one devised and implemented by the Voluntary Administrations would not have served better, both the recovery and long-term interests of MK and the dignity of those forced on early retirement in June 2020? Who will dare make that genuine evaluation exercise and bring remedial measures for the benefits of all stakeholders and aggrieved parties? In my view, it is still not too late to try.
One thing for sure, I do not belong to any political stable. I have consistently resisted any of my ‘fight’ being politicized or hijacked by opportunistic politicians or other self-serving agents. I have serious issues with how things are being done/run today in various areas, often surely due to the feedback/guidance you get at the top from people that are around you chanting that all’s well. But I also have the capacity to be realistic and see a glass half empty as being also half full. My measuring yardstick is not my personal interest, but how all decisions and actions are impacting the collective and highest interests of the country, or in the present case, on the long-term stability, survival and growth of MK to better serve the country. That’s why I voted with my foot for change in December 2014. I do not know where the likes of Ken Arian and other new converts were then! Your Intelligence services might probably help know that. But I know where I was then and where I am now.
I feel I am at the end of my marathon race on the endless turbulent MK runway. The takeoff seems so elusive in the face of so much indifference and arrogance to my far cries from the higher authorities. I feel to be running out of breath. So, in a last-ditch effort before I leave the battlefield to others, I would be grateful if you could grant me a meeting at your earliest convenience so as to expose my concerns about MK to you and share some alternatives that can help change the wrong fundamentals that are and have been undermining the real take off/sustainability of MK and the morale of its present and retired employees. I consider you to be the legitimate authority as Prime Minister to address my concerns as citizen. The rest is ultimately for you to assess and decide.
Thanking you in advance for an early reply
Yours Sincerely
Raj Ramlugun
Shareholder of MK and Citizen of the Republic of Mauritius
