FSM MAIDEN SPEECH 2010
Time 7.33 p.m.
Mr C. Fakeemeeah (Third Member for Port Louis Maritime & Port Louis East) Praises be to the Almighty God and peace be upon all of us. Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, let me take the opportunity to congratulate, first of all, the Bleu/Blanc/Rouge Alliance for having won the general election. In the same breath, I will extend my congratulation to the hon. Leader of the Opposition and his team and all Members of this House who have been elected to this august Assembly following the last general election. I would also like to deeply thank all my constituents and the public at large for putting their faith in electing me. I promise that I will not deceive them. Almighty God and the people will be judge. Let me also congratulate you, but before congratulating you, I have to congratulate the Leader of the House, that is, the Speaker, himself and then his Deputy. I hope that all of us, the FSM, the Government and the Opposition will work together for the interest of those who have elected us to be in this House. We must uphold our values, morals and constantly search for the truth. We must also stand firm against those who take an opposite view. Only then, we can strengthen fraternity; create better interfaith relationship in our beautiful, multiethnic country. Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I followed most of the speeches of hon. Members from both sides of the House and I feel it necessary to voice out that I have been impressed by the words of hon. Mrs Perraud, hon. Deven Nagalingum, hon. Dr. Satish Boolell and hon. Dr. Arvind Boolell, and I have also been inspired by what I have just heard. I must be thankful to hon. Ms Deerpalsing. Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, our people from all walks and background is expecting a lot from us. Let me make it clear from the outset that I am committed to such moral and values. I hope that we will all work as a team and I am convinced that we will make life better for everyone with the blessing of Almighty God who is the ultimate judge for our actions. Let us also not forget at all that our voters will also eventually judge us in the next election. For my part, I am prepared to the best of my ability to alleviate the sufferings of the people of Roche Bois, Plaine Verte, Vallée Pitot, Tranquebar and Mauritius as a whole. L’idéal, M. le président, serait qu’on s’y réfère à ces régions comme des modèles dedéveloppements socio-économiques, d’émancipation où règne la justice sociale, l’égalité des chances et la méritocratie. Mais, à la place, nous avons des stigmas qui restent encore et toujours. Malgré tous les discours et tous nos présences à l’échelle mondiale, nous avons, malheureusement, des régions qui restent en marge du développement et du progrès économique, des régions sous représentées au sein du gouvernement central, de l’administration municipale et au sein de la fonction publique.
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Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, my constituents certainly know the good job I have been doing for years. This has certainly been their appreciation translated into my election. I am not of those who practice party politics. I have to state that party politics without serving the people cannot and must not be our agenda. My simple presence in this august House is acting as a catalyst for change in favour of my Constituency improving the life of so many people. Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, my presence in this House is by no means an accident. I have always aspired to help everyone. We might say it is a weakness but I don’t think so. Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am humbled by the task laid upon my shoulders. I have not chosen to come to this House on my own. As it is for the alliance who won the election and for the Opposition, it is definitely the divine will. The Almighty saw the suffering of the people and has bestowed upon me the task of being the link between the electorate and this august Assembly. Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, as the leader of the FSM and my total independence from party politics should be considered as an asset to this House. It will allow me the freedom to speak my mind for the interest of the people and it will also allow me to enrich the debate in this House. Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I will focus on going back to basics and I believe that all of us here need, at some point, to return to our moral and values. Our National Anthem spells out many of such morals and values that the House must aspire to hold. We know that one of our foremost duties is to work for the interest of the country and our people. Only then can we say with pride: glory to our motherland, sweet is thy beauty and sweet is thy fragrance. Only when we create equality and a fair and equitable society, we will stand together and say: as one people, as one nation. Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, how can we claim to have peace when crime and disorder is becoming part of our daily lives? How can we claim to have justice and liberty when the poor and vulnerable of our society are chained to poverty? Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, we all here in this House, have sworn an allegiance and have asked God to help us all. The Presidential Speech ends and I quote – “I pray that the blessings of the Almighty may rest upon your counsels.” We just have to recall it. How then can God bless a country where we do not care for each other? Why do our people in this country still feel that we politicians care for money, power and influence only? Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would like to remind the House that throughout my life, myself and my party have struggled to further improve the life of the weak, poor and vulnerable of our society. It is by no coincidence that I am here representing such people in this House. As a Mauritian I feel really proud to hear the National Anthem every time it is played just like we had it at the beginning of this session. However, I believe that when we sing the National Anthem, we must commit ourselves to what we are saying.
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Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, our first Prime Minister had always struggled for peace, justice and liberty and certainly the current Prime Minister has the same vision. After all, dilo suive canal. I congratulate the Government in its quest for peace, justice and liberty by creating a new Ministry to cater for the poor and vulnerable. It met my deepest appreciation. I will give all my support to the hon. Minister and the Government in its quest to make Mauritius a land of peace, justice and liberty for us and generations to come. Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, when I meet my constituents and people from all walks of life and from all parts of Mauritius, they sometimes complain that they do not feel that there is peace, justice and liberty. Poverty is rife and growing. I visit people in Roche Bois, Plaine Verte, VallĂŠe Pitot and other pockets of poverty in Mauritius, how can we forget Dubreuil? I saw at first hand the suffering of our compatriots. How about poverty in Flacq, Rose Hill, Curepipe and Port Louis? Looking at all these, we come to one conclusion: our society is sick somewhere. The gap between those who have and those who have not is increasing at an alarming rate. We do not feel that our society is just and equitable. Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I have one battle in my life and it is to enhance the life of the poor and vulnerable. I am committed to it and that will be my mission. With the help of God and your support, we will, without any doubt, alleviate the suffering of the poor and vulnerable and we have to do it as we have been elected for it. Let us look at reality today, Mauritius faces an acute problem of rising poverty. I believe that this issue must be addressed both through structural, social adjustment policies which encompass education and training, accommodation, unhindered access to public services and equal opportunities in employment and through short and medium term approaches to support the poor. Government has set up a Ministry of Social Integration, signalling its will to take a holistic view in tackling poverty and social exclusion. The most recent Household Budget Survey 20062007 conducted by the Central Statistics Office showed that the proportion of households below the relative poverty line increased from 7.7% in 2001-2002 to 8% in 2006-2007. The number of poor households increased from 23,700 in 2001-2001 to 26,900 in 2006-2007. Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, the poor is often victim of unequal distribution of income in society. Poor families have a household income one third only of the national level. Most of that income is not even enough to buy their basic needs like food, water, cooking gas and electricity. From where do we expect them to pay for private tuition, rent and other basic necessities? Financial stress put additional burden on already depressed households. In addition, income generating opportunities to help the poor absorb the rising cost of living are very scarce. I look at my constituency and I know that there are no jobs being created. Indebtedness of poor households helps to keep them in the poverty cycle and may even have them locked up in dept trap. Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, poverty is not only about the deprivation of financial and material comfort. Cultural and intellectual deficiencies are very often the manifestation and the uses of structural poverty. Limited access to education keeps people on the side track of the socio Page 3 of 8
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economic development. Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, many heads of poor households never attended school. We also know that the education system previously and still at present does not favour the poor, of the 20,000 CPE candidates only some 2,500 go on to take the HSC examinations and one third fails the CPE exams. Let us ask this very basic question: what happened to some 17, 000 young adults? We cannot fail them again in our society. Low level education means low wage jobs, if they are lucky, some of those young adults end up taking low paid grade jobs. Otherwise, most are engaged in elementary occupation comprising mainly cleaners, street vendors and labourers. I know and believe the Minister of Education is working on revamping the educational system. I pray for him to succeed. I will still request the hon. Minister to cater for education needs of the poor households and also those living in the deprived areas. Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, poverty is not just about income, the Nobel prize winner Amartya Sen in his book ‘Development as freedom’ defines poverty and I quote – “The deprivation of basic capabilities that provide a person with the freedom to chose the life he or she has reason to value.” I urge the House to listen to it. These capabilities include good health, education, social networks, command over economic resources and influence on decision making that affects one’s life. Income is important because money allows a person to develop his/her capabilities, but it is only a means to live a valuable life. From this perspective, poverty is a condition with many interdependent and closely related dimensions, which can be summarised in three broad categories (a) lack of regular income and employment, lack of productive assets (such as lands and housing) and lack of access to social safety nets; (b) lack of access to services, such as education, health care, information, credit, water supply and sanitation, and (c) lack of political power, participation, dignity and respect. Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, we also know that poverty breeds poverty, and it is a vicious circle. Lack of opportunity forces our young to take drugs, commit crimes, and lead them to prostitution. In our society, our poor see gambling as a hope. We cannot allow this to go on. We cannot allow them to have such hopes; we can do better for them, and we have been elected to do it for them. Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, nous voyons une prolifération du gambling à Maurice, and it is worth saying that it is mostly the poor who gamble, in the hope that they can win a big jackpot to move out of poverty. Hon. Ms Deerpalsing knows the problem and voiced it out.
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Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, in our quest to improve the lives of our citizens, let us make the fight against poverty our priority. Let us take a holistic approach. Let us understand the causes of poverty, and then find solutions. Causes of poverty are regions specific. The causes of poverty in Plaine Verte, Roche Bois, Vallée Pitot, Dubreuil, Cité Beau Séjour are all different to each other. In addition to having a national policy against poverty, I urge the Government to look at region specific policies to alleviate. Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, the poor cannot hope if they feel in their inner self that there is no justice being done to them, if they feel that our public services and Government are not doing their duties well, and that resources are wasted. Let us look at the Audit Report. The Audit Report serves to prove how we are wasting our financial resources. The long awaited Audit Report from the Municipality of Port Louis is still outstanding. Is there something to hide? We must make our Government and public services more accountable. We have over 120 parastatals in all sectors of the economy. They include public utilities, infrastructure and transport, agricultural, industrial, financial, trading companies, and social welfare organisations as well. The budgetary burden of the parastatal sector has a major impact on public finances. This costs the Government some 3.4% of the GDP. We should ask this simple question: are we getting value for money? Most of us know the answer. We all know how the population feels about some of our parastatals. This can only infuriate the people. Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, since the election, there appears to be a lack of direction from the Government. Since 2005, our people in this country are expecting changes to their lives, as they have been promised. They feel let down till now. The lack of direction by Government, coupled with poor or no communication with the people, is very dangerous to my opinion and conviction. I personally fear that such frustration will soon be voiced out through social degeneration and religious disturbances. Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, the new Government has taken some very positive steps to alleviate poverty in its new programme by – (i) creating the new Ministry that we know; (ii) under the social housing policy, Government proposes to construct 10,000 additional units of housing for the lower and middle-income groups in the next five years. Furthermore, fully serviced sites will be developed to allow families to build houses on their own plots of land of 60 toises. Such initiatives are very appreciable, and will allow the poor to use this asset as collateral to improve their business; (iii) the new Dr. A. G. Jeetoo Hospital is being built at a cost of Rs2 billion. Some Rs0.5 billion is being invested in the renovation of hospitals and other health care amenities, and (iv) resources to the tune of Rs1.3 billion are budgeted over the next three years to upgrade primary and secondary schools.
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All these are very positive measures. Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would like to add some measures that will make a difference. First, let us ask: how can we reverse the cycle of poverty and help connect the financially challenged families to the mainstream of society? Micro entrepreneurship constitutes a key component of poverty alleviation. Government and the private sector, together with NGOs, can act jointly at grass root level of the community to create new business space. We all know the problem faced by the marchands ambulants. However, small businesses are extremely vulnerable to the slightest disturbance in the economic environment. They therefore, need some hand-holding. Support policies provided by Government have, at best, met with limited success. Poor access to finance and ill-designed financial support and inadequate markets or well structured markets are seen as the main pitfalls in the small entrepreneurship strategy. There is an urgent need to revamp our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Just because companies pay their 2% CSR, we cannot expect poverty to be alleviated. Companies should be encouraged to outsource some of their production and support services to micro operators. For instance, a garments company may outsource some minor works like assembly or simple packaging to housewives in the region nearby the factory. Once the products have been assembled, they are delivered to the factory, where a quality control could be undertaken. Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, let us revisit our democratic system. The fundamental principle in all aspects of our social life today is democracy. I indeed cherish the ideals of democracy defined as – “An ideal and practice of life, in which all members of society are always full of hope, enjoy life decently, work and study in the spirit of independence, creativity, harmonising the civic rights each of us has received with public welfare�. We should all make the effort to maintain true democracy that ensures the basic fundamentals: liberty, equality and happiness. We must also respect all human beings; we should also have respect for life and respect for the personality of that human. Such respect will eventually guarantee the freedom of thought and expression, and also many other fundamental rights. Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, our actual democratisation system can be summarised as follows:(i) the idolisation of democratic system and organisation; (ii) lack of respect for others, and (iii) lack of social solidarity among people, which is detrimental to our total social welfare. This is making everyone unhappy and frustrated. Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Almighty God will make us all accountable in his Divine court. We are all aware of the cosmic justice. We can only look at the effect of climatic change when we Page 6 of 8
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do not respect and we do not feel accountable to nature: earthquakes, fire, flood devastations and suffering. Accountability is what it should be. Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am convinced - this is my opinion - that by setting the Divine pleasure and accountability to the Divine as the objective of our life, the highest possible standard of morality could be furnished and this is bound to provide enumerable avenues for the moral evolution of humanity. It invokes the people not only to practice virtue, but also to establish virtue and eradicate vice; it wants that the verdict of conscience should prevail and makes morality reign supreme and ensures that the affairs of life, instead of being dominated by selfish desires and petty interest, should be regulated by the norms of morality. Mankind, Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, is squarely confronted with many serious problems and crisis today. Most people are well aware of such worldwide problems as the possibility of a nuclear war, a very real energy crisis, overpopulation and shortage of food without forgetting the threatening economic ongoing crisis. At the domestic level, there are problems of degeneration in many fields such as education and the sharp increase in immoral gambling et la délinquence. We will not be able to enjoy true happiness and peace unless and until these problems are solved. Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, today we are called in this House to play our role in modern politics, whose purpose should be the advancement of the welfare of the people of our nation. We have the important task to manage power with nobleness and also to show the people the ideal way of political participation. Therefore, I appeal to our reason to understand that we have been elected by the people to do the job and so let us do it together in the true spirit of reconciliation. Let us seek to cultivate a deep moral sentiment through our personal example. I will take this opportunity, Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, to ask the Government to review the power given to the media. We are all aware of the issue facing Government and a certain press. All of you know the recent case involving a person whom I was trying to help. I have experienced a lot of injustice by the manipulative press. Our justice system here is based on innocence until proven guilty. The press has a different motto, you are guilty first. The Prime Minister intends to come with new media legislation. I wish him good luck. We form part of this category of Mauritians who will always be powerless before that press. Serait-ce une question que nous sommes mal-nés, ou d’un préjugé institutionnalisé ? Why is it that when it comes to others nothing is published or aired in the media? It is my feeling and I feel that this is the case. Even President Barack Obama thinks that this is so. In his book, the ‘Audicity of Hope’, he says “Si en grande partie grâce à la chance ou au hasard, j’occupe aujourd’hui une position qui me protège de la plupart des plaies et bosses que le Noir moyen doit endurer, je peux quand même réciter la litanie des petits affronts qui m’ont été infligés pendant mes quarante-cinq années d’existence : les vigiles qui me suivent lorsque je fais mes courses dans un grand magasin, les Page 7 of 8
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couples blancs qui me lancent les clefs de leurs voitures quand je me tiens devant l’entrée d’un restaurant et que j’attends le voiturier, les policiers qui m’ordonnent sans raison apparente de me garer le long du trottoir’’ All these are words of Mr Barack Obama. I take comfort, Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, that even if I was boycotted by the press, my people never lose faith in me. We stood stronger even with steadfastness. Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, we all in this House must comply in our duties to make Mauritius a better place where there is real peace, justice and liberty making money becoming powerful and influential in society cannot and will not – I pray will not be our aim. We must all make the fight against poverty our priority. This will take time, but time well spent for our children will certainly be rewarded by Almighty. Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, let us first understand the causes of poverty. We have this habit of believing that we understood poverty but, in fact, we don’t. Poverty is not just about money. It is about people, it is about what we see and feel happening around us. It is about opportunity. It is about access to services. It is about justice. It is about hope. It is about dignity and respect. Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, ultimately it concerns all of us. I urge the House to work together in the quest to make “Ile Maurice c’est un plaisir” and not “Ile Maurice c’est l’inégalité”. Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, the electorate of my constituency has said that this year must be different than all the rest because they chose to listen not to their doubts or fears, but to their greatest hopes and highest aspiration. Together we have marked a historical journey with the beginning of another, a journey that will bring a new and better day to Mauritius, this beloved country. May Almighty God bless all of you. Thank you.
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