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Mauritius: Red tape prevents rapid decisions
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L'Express (Port Louis)
22 November 2007
Posted to the web 23 November 2007
Pauline Etienne
Port Louis
As the appointment of new mayors gets closer, there was a need to look at their real power or, in some cases, their regrettable lack of power. Some present and former mayors give their opinion.
The Lord Mayor, Reza Issack, regrets that some of the decisions taken by the municipal council like the purchase of bins for the amount of Rs 250,000 are overruled by the parent ministry.
Tomorrow, new mayors will be appointed in the five towns of the country to represent their constituents. Apart from a few die-hard political observers, not many Mauritians will show real interest in these appointments. Indifference has replaced the hope that their lives will change. And, obviously, one of the reasons is the fact that town residents do not really believe that mayors will change their lives or the often dilapidated state of their buildings. But mayors or former mayors themselves tend to pass on the bucket to the central government that wants to oversee all decisions.
"Local democracy should start at the level of municipal councils. I can't understand why a council that won votes of the inhabitants can't take decisions for these same inhabitants," the former mayor of Beau-Bassin-Rose-Hill, Deven Nagalingum, states. "All governments and political parties say they will give more powers and autonomy to municipalities but these are only fine words."
Chit Dhukira, a former town clerk of Beau-Bassin-Rose-Hill, reminds: "Local governments had a lot of responsibilities but the state nibbled them gradually. Today, it is true that there is a centralising trend." Jean Claude de l'Estrac, who was recently awarded the title of citizen of honour for his actions as a mayor in Beau-Bassin-Rose-Hill, expressed severe criticism against a "centralising government that holds to its prerogatives". He, however, made it clear that the "drift started long ago when the government of 1983 put an end to the funding of development projects of municipalities through the abolition of subsidies".
Need for more complementarity
Reza Issack, the outgoing mayor of Port-Louis, declares he "has room to move to quite a large extent" but he nevertheless regrets "some decisions that the ministry has overruled without giving any explanation. Such an attitude does not give any encouragement to the council". The recent case of the bins shows how discouraging such overruling can be. The municipality wanted to invest Rs 250,000 in the purchase of new bins for the capital but the ministry simply turned it down. "We then have political reproaches that we are not doing anything while the purchase of bins was really useful," the Lord-Mayor declares. We also remember the fuel episode when the Lord Mayor took the bus to his office everyday after his parent ministry decided to cut off his allowance.
For Reza Issack, the main problem is procedural. "Municipalities and district councils should be complementary and not show any dichotomy. I think that a permanent dialogue between the two institutions would help solving a lot of problems." "We can't always be given orders. We are adults and, if we want to go quickly, be productive, deliver and perform, then mayors need to have a greater decision-making power. Being a mayor implies a lot of responsibilities Why shouldn't we be responsible enough to take a decision?"
In Deven Nagalingum's opinion, there is another risk of leaving it to the ministry to decide. "The municipal council is close to its people and knows what their priorities should be. The ministry does not know the citizens' realities."
However, he refuses to blame the central government completely. "The ministry may try and tell you what to do but it is up to you to submit to its whims. There may also be a lack of will by the councillors."
Jean Claude de l'Estrac also mentions the councillors and municipal employees who "have given up their responsibilities". After insisting on the "indestructible, committed and passionate support of a team of councillors - the one, which we would like to see more often today", he wondered whether the present ones are also "seething with rage".
Deven Nagalingum is adamant that councillors have the choice to be more independent. "They can still put a test case to the Supreme Court if they have a problem."
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The ministry should clearly be there to make it easier for municipalities to implement new projects. But, obviously, this is not always the case. The strength of the local governments should be their rapidity to take action to make each citizen's life better but the red-tape brought by centralisation just prevents them from reaching this goal
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