What people look forward to
The Mauritius Times’ editorial rightly commented last week that the people look forward to a government that will not only not repeat mistakes of past political parties in power. They want to see actions being undertaken having a positive bearing on their overall social and economic prospect and that of their future generations.
They will judge whether this is actually the case when concrete actions and decisions are implemented by the new government. They will applaud if those actions overhaul the fundamental social and economic infrastructure in a manner as to respond effectively to the many constraints that have been obstructing progress. They will applaud especially when new grounds are broken to consolidate the future success of the country and that of its citizens.
Surely, the people are not interested in members of the government indulging in gimmicks intended for the gallery or in personal feuds with previous holders of public positions. They expect the new government not to put emphasis on flimsy matters at the cost of dealing with impending issues calling for urgent attention.
The latter would include: adapting our labour force to the technological challenges of the emerging world, finding better markets for a wider variety of our local productions in both goods and services, improving the creativity and productivity levels of our workforce by constantly retraining it for the new environment, efficiently integrating the country with a fast changing global market, driving an edge so that our producers can penetrate and uphold their presence in promising new markets, introducing ever-renewing innovation in local production by attracting the right investments and the best entrepreneurs into the country, keeping the country clean, safe and confident about its future, ensuring that our most efficient resources stay in the country and give the best they can in fostering the country’s future development, supporting meritocracy at all cost and all levels in both the public and private sectors. This is of course not an exhaustive list.
Pursuits such as this cannot happen without the appropriate leadership. The country will need this ingredient the most in all fields of its undertakings. We will need to signal it clearly to all that we will not bend the rules for the sake of temporary conveniences or private benefits. The people can see results of political actions when these impact directly on their livelihoods and will not be fooled by rhetoric. A new style of political leadership will, at this critical turning point in country’s history help it to reinvent the country’s social, economic and political apparatus, lock, stock and barrel, short of which we will risk stagnating where we stand today.
* Published in print edition on 23 January 2015
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