Why have expatriates on the MPC?

By N. Unyaye

Two expatriates have been appointed as members of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) and this has met with a lot of criticisms from many quarters. Such an appointment begs the following question: Do we not have competent and expert Mauritians to fill this position? Or does the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and Economic Development (DPM) not deem any of our fellow Mauritian citizens competent enough to be appointed on this Committee? If this is the case, then we have only our education system, our politicians and advisers to blame.

I am sure that after 44 years of Independence, if we had called for an expression of interest, there is no doubt that we would have got the cream of the cream of economists, accountants and others who would be fully aware of the history of Mauritius, its background, culture and specificity (which is so often mentioned by our politicians!) and other factors of relevance in our local context.

I do not think we would be asking too much as taxpayers from the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and Economic Development to give us the criteria/reasons for selection of the above members on this Committee (which in all fairness would warrant payment of a fee for attending the Board Meetings), and whether there was a selection exercise or it was just “jobs for the boys/girls for service rendus”?

Furthermore, taxpayers would be very keen to know what is the value-addition of these two expatriates on this Committee. I am informed that they give their views by way of video conferencing and other IT facilities. If they have to come to Mauritius to attend these meetings, who pays for their expenses and air tickets? Would the DPM care to enlighten us on the terms and conditions of this nomination on the MPC? Based on the premise that we do not have enough competent people in Mauritius, I believe we should go the whole hog: go for expatriates as Members of Parliament, Cabinet Ministers as well as President and Prime Minister – it will be in the best interest of all our citizens and above all taxpayers for it will result in huge cost savings in the form of:

Travel/ per diem allowances to attend conferences, seminar to upgrade their knowledge; Huge salaries and allowances; Banquet d’Etat every now and then and other lavish dinner parties at every opportunity that arises…

Will the government ever care for its people by giving them their due recognition and to have recourse to expatriates only in cases when local competencies are not available?


* Published in print edition on 13 April 2012

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