As announced in yesterday’s post, I was on the TopFM’s HardTalk show hosted by Habid Mosaheb with Kiran Ramsahye as the other guest.
We were supposed to review the main events in 2006. Both of us agreed that the constant decline in people’s buying power is the main feature of 2006. Inevitably, we discussed a lot about the local political landscape, the opposition’s ‘mauvais cinĂ©ma’, the people feeling betrayed by the government, the difficulties faced by our economic pillars, free transport, the mounting feeling of insecurity, corruption, etc.
We had a small disagreement over the free transport issue. Following one of the listeners’ statement about the fact that the people felt betrayed by the govt (he felt they had not respected their promises), I argued that the govt had in fact respected its promises but the feeling of betrayal stemmed from the fact that it had also made a series of decisions which had never been evoked in their manifesto. I also argued that, given the very difficult economic situation, it is ridiculous to maintain free transport for all and that this was a promise that could easily be reviewed. Kiran Ramsahye felt very passionately about this that promises should not be broken, that this was similar to SSR’s brave patriotic decision to provide free education to all…
I think he was also rather annoyed at the fact that another listener phoned in to say that Ramsahye is pro-Labour and is defending the govt at all costs…
Anywayz, I felt it was an interesting discussion (dunno about the listeners’ point of view though) although we did not have much time to cover all important events and issues of 2006. We probably spent a bit too much time on politics.. but at the same time as goes the saying ‘politics are the favourite pastime of Mauritians’. Maybe that’s what’s wrong with us: politics is a pastime, a game, not dealt with seriously and responsibly đ
aiaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
i’ve missed it đ
Haha politics.. soo spicy to talk about..
maybe a blog post on 2006 review đ
g u lokazion dekouT lemission…c’Ă©tait bien et vous vous etes bien debrouillĂ©, parfois c’Ă©tait un peu animĂ© surtout lorsque vous avez abordez le sujet ayant trait au transport gratuit, ou ce fut un match (2-1) tous contre Ramsahye, paskil est Ă©vident ko moment ou le gouvernement dit non au gaspillage de fonds publics…certains Ă©leves issues des familles riches bĂ©nĂ©ficient du transport gratuit alors ke c’est clair qu’ils ne le mĂ©ritent pas…C’est la ou le gouvernement aurait mieux fait de pratiquer la politique de ciblage….
Mais en gĂ©nĂ©ral ce fut un dĂ©bat tres interessant, car vous vous ĂȘtes attardez sur des sujets importants…( prix, law and order, politique etc)
Et finalement je salue habib mosaheb pour son intervention apres qu’un auditeur a accusĂ© kiran ramsahye de parti pris…habib mosaheb a bien dĂ©fendu son invitĂ©, hatt off
g vous souhaite une bonne continuation
a+
missed it too đ
completely agree wiz you on the free transport issue…
this cannot be maintained..
There is really an abuse of free transport in mauritius..
all this money cud be put to more effective use n give to people that really need it!
bein mo pas comprend kifer dimoune pe tire lizier lor transport gratis coumsa?? eski sel place cot sa government ena posibiliT economisE??
pou etudiant mo trouve li important.. mais pour vieux.. saaaa reste a savoir..
de toute facon.. apres ene degree universiT.. most of us pou alle travay et governement de toute facon pou tire sa jus as taX ar nou mem pou next generation etudiants!!
enVi economiSe cash .. mo penC ena banens nirportes dan prisons.. pe nourri zotte pou narnien.. zotte manze ene repas ki coute governement cher!!! tandis ki ena dimoune pe reinTe pou reussi gagne kitsoz pou manzE asoir..
kifer pas fer couma bannes chinois.. mette prisonier la peche lor bateau.??? fer sa banens cons la earn sa manzE and care ki zotte gagnE la!!
ena lotte place enkor si envi fer cash ou economisE capave..
Mais seems like transport gratis bothering lots of people….
(surtout those saki pas capave profit de sa _) đ
‘Transport Gratis’ is not really an economic problem. The transport companies should not complain as they make â7â figure profits after tax, along with the subsidies they receive. Whether transport is free or paid-for, people will still have to travel. It does not have much of an impact on the economy in general. The loss, if any, that it brings to transport operators is negligible.
I seriously think the government should make private car ownership more expensive in Mauritius. Too many people drive for no reason: going to the local shop, dropping their children at school; all these places can be reached in 10-20mins on foot. Yet people still drive, some people have 2 to 3 cars per family⊠so, we have to import more cars, import more spare parts, import more fuel. If the government wants to solve the traffic problem, and at the same time reduce CO2 emissions, then just increase car taxes, road taxes, put toll charges on the main roads and make people pay more insurance and tax if they drive old cars that pollute the environment. Then, offer more public transport facilities, give the tram project the go-ahead, make transport affordable and accessible. Idealist view on transport but it is achievable.
Buying power of people is decreasing because of inflation is up. It is up because the Mauritian Rupee is losing value everyday. Our exports have been increasing compared to last year, but our imports increased even more. This is one the cause of inflation rise.
But more people are starting to have credit cards in their pockets. Even if their buying power is decreasing, Mauritians will not give up on buying the things they cannot afford with their own salary. This society needs to realise it is sinking itself into debt. It cannot be blamed though because it is a materialistic society. However, I still donât understand why everyone in a family needs to have a cellphone? Just cut the cellphone of the kids in a family and the parents are definitely going to save a good Rs2000 at the end of the month.
The country needs foreign investment, more foreigners should be buying our Rupee with their $,ÂŁ & âŹ. But our society still lacks a lot of skilled people. Furthermore, many investors are still reluctant to invest because our proficiency in English & French is still very poor. So, where does our future lie? I wonder.
CNT is already thinking to become greener & cheaper to run: http://www.lexpress.mu/display_article.php?news_id=77884