After the shameful resignation in September 2003 of the African-Mauritian Karl Auguste Offman as President only after 19 months in office in order to make way for Anerood Jugnauth, Mario Flore of the « Mouvement Mauricien Kréol Afrikin » (MMKA) must be dreaming for making a case for another African-Maurician in the name of Jean-Claude de l’Estrac to replace President Jugnauth when his presidency comes to an end in September 2008. [« Présidence de la République : Lavoix Kréol fait du lobbying pour Jean-Claude de l’Estrac », Défi Plus, 9th August 2008].

Corrupt deal
In a power-sharing deal, which became known as the Medpoint deal, between Paul Bérenger of the MMM and Anerood Jugnauth of the MSM, the two leaders agreed to share prime ministerial power on a 3 : 2 basis, with Bérenger as PM for the remaining two years if their MMM/MSM Alliance would win the general elections held in September 2000. Jean-Claude de l’Estrac was a strong supporter of this deal. Although the electorate knew about the deal, they voted for the MMM/MSM Alliance with Anerood as leader of the Alliance and as PM, if elected. It should be noted that voters vote for a multitude of reasons and there was no referendum on the Medpoint deal. In democracy, no leader can be elected in 2000 to take office in 2003. Deal or no deal, any PM can resign within his mandate. There was no obligation on Anerood Jugnauth to resign in 2003, and there is no law which could have forced him to do so based on the Medpoint deal.

Anerood Jugnauth resigned in 2003 because of his personal power-sharing deal with Paul Bérenger. In this sense, he kept his word for their mutual benefits and certainly not for the benefit of people. It was a perversion of democracy and decency. It was purely the politics of Zionism, which breeds upon the most corrupt of deals designed to perpetrate power amongst themselves.

Karl Offmann
Where does Karl Auguste Offmann fit in this corrupt deal? He was a member of Anerood Jugnauth’s MSM party which he helped to rebuild after its defeat in the General Elections of 20th December 1995 where no single candidate of the MSM, included its leader Anerood Jugnauth, was elected. Jugnauth regained power in an alliance with Bérenger in September 2000 after the Medpoint desperate deal was struck. When the Presidency of Cassam Uteem, the then reigning President, was due to end in June 2002, Karl Offmann agreed to become President until September 2003 when he would be replaced by Jugnauth further to the deal. President Uteem resigned in February 2002 on a matter of principle since he refused to give assent to the tandem Jugnauth/Bérenger’s Prevention of Terrorism Bill which was passed upon the orders of Zionists in the United States. On the 25th of February 2002, MPs voted Karl Offman President for 5 years and, as also required under the Constitution, he took the presidential oath for 5 years. However, this does not prevent the President from resigning within his mandate. But when Karl Offman took the presidential oath in February 2002, he did so under false pretences because he knew he would resign in September 2003 to make way for Anerood Jugnauth. This manoeuvre was in itself a violation of the constitution.

There is no law which could have forced the President Offman to resign in those circumstances had he decided to remain in office per the oath he took before the people and the authorities. I pleaded with Karl Offmann not to resign and to hold his head high for the people and for his own dignity [ref. « Président Karl Offmann : Garant de la Constitution ou garant de l’accord Medpoint ? », Star, Dimanche 3 mars 2002] Unfortunately, his corrupt subservient mentality got the better of him. Like a slave, he allowed his masters to walk all over him and the community he identifies himself with. Do Mauritians truly want another President in the same mould as Karl Offmann, this time, in the name of Jean-Claude de l’Estrac, as campaigned by the Mouvement Mauricien Kréol Afrikin (MMKA)? Who will ex-MMM Minister and pro-Bérenger Jean-Claude de l’Estrac be a slave for, if not for Paul Bérenger himself? As a politician and journalist, the African-Mauritian Jean-Claude de l’Estrac has always been a strong supporter of the French racist political concept of créolité and he has continuously suppressed views which contradict his propaganda, hence his affinity with MMKA.

Office of President
As it stands, the Mauritian President is ‘elected’ by the representatives of the people (MPs) by pre-arrangement, and cannot be regarded as democratic. The President is not elected directly by the people, and he holds no Executive powers. It appears to be an office for retiring politicians for their own prestige and certainly an office subject to political manipulation in a power game, such as the one engineered by Jugnauth and Bérenger in September 2000.

The Office of President replaced that of the Governor General who had similar powers as the British Queen. But, unlike the Governor General, the President does not report to the British Queen. For many, the office of the President is merely a colonial relic and a waste of public money which could be better used elsewhere in the public interest.

Like the British Queen, one major function of the President is to give assent to Bills before it can be enacted into law. He can only reject the bill once but not the second time round. In the UK, the House of Lords debate all bills and they have power to reject them until and unless the House of Commons invoke the Parliamentary Act. The assent of the British Queen is a mere formality, and she is a big waste of public funds too, especially for a country which claims to be democratic. What is this nonsense of Royal Assent before any bill can become law, when assent can be dispensed with in any case? The Royal institution is far from a ‘democratic institution’.

The Mauritian President is very much a loner and tends to act more from his prejudices in dissent, especially if he is of a different political creed from the ruling government. Anerood Jugnauth is a prime example of using his prejudices in rejecting the government’s nominations to replace his own nominations when he was Prime Minister. It is not possible to dislodge such a President unless, as provided under the Constitution, the government can muster 75% of the votes in Parliament when the Constitution was never voted in by 75% of the voters.

Conclusion
To all intents and purposes, the Office of President seems to be a device for the manipulation and perpetration of political power and a waste of public funds. Short of abolishing it, for which there is a compelling case, the government should outlaw the use of the Office of President as a political instrument through corrupt deals.

The government should also seriously consider the appointment of a woman President. An ideal candidate would be Mrs Indira Manrakhan, the courageous and fearsome Director and investigator at the defunct Economic Crime Office (ECO), who was so cowardly dismissed and ECO dismantled through constitutional amendment in December 2001 by the conspiring tandem Bérenger/Jugnauth of the MMM/MSM Alliance in government for investigating corruption allegations against the then MMM Industry Minister Jayen Cuttaree summoned to appear before ECO. Since 2006, Indira Manrakhan forms part of the anti-corruption team of the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) which was set up by the previous government to replace ECO.

M Rafic Soormally
London
10 August 2008

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