ENDY JAY
It could not possibly happen often, yet it may happen as is the case now that right-minded persons must agree with Ramgoolam that we are at war, though with an invisible enemy that is causing havoc, disrupting many aspects of daily living, a war that requires astute strategies from those at the helm, a war experts (not the local ones) agree that can be won, but a victory that goes with a price in terms of guts and vision, provided those who must show the way know what has to be done, and, in relation to an on-going controversy, what ‘must not be done’, away from what a political observer qualified of late ‘gouverner en zig-zag’…
We have at the helm a group of persons, mostly neophytes manifestly lacking that flash of brilliance and perspicacity the hot seats they occupy require, however much academically qualified, who of late have shown their limits, their ineptness to face the prevailing unprecedented situations, in a series of disturbing contradictions, not to say cacophony, inability to measure up to emerging challenges, panic buying of some vaccines that are not recognized by many countries, purchased with the additional tax on fuel, dilly-dallying but never shy to talk tall that further exposed them to ridicule, and above all not anyone of calibre to lead. Remember who recently acknowledged we lack that high-calibre leader at this particular juncture. An admission the fantasy is collapsing?
To come back to Ramgoolam, in a well-written note – ‘le gars s’est assagi’ (?) or a well-orchestrated political tactic – he has made valuable suggestions in a language of a patriot* rather than a politician relating to measures we could have expected from those at the helm right from the start. But nevertheless likely to be ignored through vainglory, to come up with alternatives that may further expose that ineptness we have repeatedly witnessed of late, alternatives most likely prompted to them by the spin doctors and other self-proclaimed ‘experts’. We all agree that the prevailing situation warrants some bold and tougher measures to get the population to toe the line, to restrict unnecessary movements, to fully abide by the sanitary protocols – while brushing aside social distancing which no longer makes sense when access to, say, places of worship, some 30, 50 times more spacious than a 60-seater bus, is restricted to only a few, while in such buses people ‘asiz enn lor lot’, as it were. But certainly not restricting access to supermarkets only to the vaccinated. Go ahead with such a move and we may have a revolt on our hands, an upheaval likely to pale the street demonstrations we have seen of late, demonstrations one of the braggarts in a commanding position had the impudence to brush aside with a ‘mars kantite ki zot anvi’. Barring access to such basic necessities as food and drinks! ‘A hungry man is an angry man’, goes the saying.
Agreeing with Ramgoolam’s latest stand, when he showed a measure of insight he rarely displayed earlier, irrespective of motives, shared by many others I am sure, has no political connotation in these times of dwindling political diehards, while we may never rid ourselves entirely of sycophants and ‘roder bout’. Yes, the war against that rampant monster can be won, if only those in command show they have the mettle, with not much time left to turn things around. Do they? To conclude I hope the reader will allow me this digression to remind the disillusions that are gaining ground in the wake of COP 26, when, as a case in point, India and China have succeeded to have one of the final resolutions amended in relation to the continued use of coal to be ‘phased down’ instead of ‘phased out’, leading many experts to say the targets will not be attained whatever the target date. If coal is one of the main culprits that have triggered climate change, why only ‘phase it down’. We know where the conundrum lies. To illustrate, can we imagine a doctor advising a patient suffering from acute liver cirrhosis through heavy drinking to taper off from a bottle of liquor daily to ebb to a trickle by…2030! The resolutions voted at the end of COP 26 should easily enable the reader to understand why often in previous notes I reminded that ‘God will bring to ruin those ruining the earth’. I’ll leave the last word to Greta Thurnberg: ‘COP 26, only blah, blah blah…but we shall continue our fight’. Good luck!
P.S: *We may easily recall that, of late, while addressing selective audiences, Pravind Jugnauth had qualified his detractors ‘unpatriotic’. Hence, it is worth bringing to his attention what Theodore Roosevelt, former U.S. President, once declared: ‘Patriotism does not mean to be on the side of the President, but to stand up for the country’.