Since the 1980s, Mauritians have been brainwashed into believing that unless governments pick “winners” to bake the national cake, no prosperity will trickle down. To ensure the effectiveness of the process, citizens have been summoned to bear with the retreat of government “hands” from the marketplace and also with the loosening of social safety nets. There have been some feelgood flashes, but now that the dream sold to them is vanishing, citizens are waking up to a corporate republic where the “winners” picked take all, or leave insignificant crumbs for them.
As the sirens of doldrums crescendo to a haunting level, a multidimensional reassessment of our development strategy becomes a matter of survival. Quick fixes and half-baked measures have reached their moment of reckoning. So has the pro-growth propaganda whose mainstay is the expansion of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at all costs. GDP says little about actual (mis)allocation of resources. No wonder behavioural economics are such a hot research topic today.
King of Pain
There may not be evidence in all situations that influential politicians, business tycoons and media pundits conspire against citizens, but what is obvious is that toxic policies are crafted under their patronage. Nor should “trickle-down” economists go unscathed, even if for them, gratification is more likely to come intellectually. Nonetheless, no other colour matters more to networks of patronage than that of money. They unwittingly expose all the symptoms of vile neo-conservatism under the garb of liberalism.
As it is currently run, the economic and political game is rigged against authentic entrepreneurs and progressive citizens. What is shocking is not so much the cynicism with which local or foreign oligarchs and speculators manage to tweak policies and market conditions in their favour, but how casually the guardians of the State enable them. The betrayal is no stranger to the growing apathy of ordinary citizens.
It is foolish to expect change to come through the Hall of Shame that constitutes networks of patronage. Unless a sudden scientific breakthrough makes it possible to reignite the insular cortex – the tiny part of the brain related to the feeling of empathy – and to adjust the dopamine regulator to a risk-taking bias. Change will either come when the existing system collapses under the weight of its deception, or when enlightened members of the business world, civil society, the media, and the political class back grassroot initiatives that empower Mauritians to claim back their citizenship.
Pro-Market, Not Pro-Cronies
When citizens do not challenge unfettered capitalism, it turns on them dramatically. Capitalism works when it is guided by governments that are resolutely pro-market. That is, when they strive to create a level playing field where healthy competition and innovation thrive. The drift starts when the relationship between government officials and businessmen gets too intimate. Crony capitalism is indeed the main driver of the growth strategy that inflates bubbles after bubbles, even after they burst. Vision stems from leadership. If you fail to develop an inclusive environment where the goals are visible and the route to them is clear for all to see, then you are not a leader.
Mauritius is far from being a poor country. The problem is that wealth generated collectively is being captured massively by mightily connected business parties and government officials, separately or when their interests overlap in public procurement. The huge amount of dividends that continue to fly abroad, for example, speak volumes. As do the success stories of the preying Aid Industry, championed by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, and the Consultancy Industry, that boast of holding silver bullets capable of simplifying the real world’s complexity.
Transparency, the Road Less Travelled
Resorting to ideology to resist messianic posturing and dissent bullying is vain. An alternative system can only emerge through idea-rich and ideology-free activism. Instead of managing the structures, information flows and reward systems, our illusionary development strategy has badly polarised the country and left an unenvious legacy of world-beater in terms of diagnosed and undiagnosed prevalence of diabetes, drug addiction, road accidents and so on. Whereas in some areas, correction, prevention and repression will have to be evolutionary, in others they can only be revolutionary.
The overriding aim of political action must be to promote human collaboration that creates the trust on which both democracy and markets depend. A smartly trained, motivated, and informed population is our single greatest competitive advantage to meet today’s tremendous economic challenges. Without civic scrutiny, it is impossible to contain clientelistic relationships, where loyalty is traded for benefits. A new lifestyle is key to stopping national and household debt spin out of control. This cannot happen out of wishful thinking. It takes the creation of an environment that nudges people into a behaviour that contributes consistently to their own well-being and that of the natural world.
The following areas require urgent attention:
– Democratic platform: A dose of proportional representation (PR) is being suggested as a panacea to resolve our democratic deficit. But, what is the point of enacting the PR if it has to overpopulate the Parliament? Worse, if instead of delivering alternative voices, it turns out to be another public relations (PR) exercise for networks of patronage. At this stage, regulating electoral funding seems much more pressing.
– Business environment: The competition watchdog is a salutary move to deter economic rent-seeking. As long as it bites for real. Mauritius has a lot to learn from countries like Norway, Germany, South Korea and Switzerland in the way they energise small and medium-sized businesses. Today, their nimbleness rests on the inventiveness and vibrancy of that sector in the world market, rather than on endemic currency depreciation. Our capital market also needs to be less risk-averse, to say the least.
– Civic empowerment: The implication of the Freedom of Information Act goes deeper than the disclosure of information or records held by government bodies, it can inhibit rogue practices too. An Equal Opportunities Commission than breaks glass ceilings can help boosting citizens’ mojo. Moreover, the possibility of including class-action lawsuits and public interest litigation must be explored to unleash and safeguard citizen, consumer and (small) shareholder activism and rights as they permit efficient resolution of legitimate claims of numerous parties by allowing the claims to be aggregated into a single action against a defendant that has allegedly caused harm.
Merely introducing new mechanisms of control, legislation and tax incentives, however critical, will bring little relief if our institutional deficit is not addressed. We kid ourselves when we confuse means with end, and vice versa. The credibility of institutions is linked to citizens’ perception of the integrity of women and men representing them.
Without strong rule of law and leadership by example, everything is so bland and skewed. The prerequisite for a green Mauritius is a clean and lean Mauritius with discerning citizens.
