tapijo

It’s rare for a finance minister to go live to try to explain to the population in general about the motives behind his fiscal regimes. The fact is that his policies (such as NRPT and interest tax, to name the most cited) are not unanimously accepted by members of the majority, and by some religious groups. The special counselor to the PM, popular for his “franc parler”, even went against the finance minister and mentioned he would be organising a meeting on this matter this week. After the tug of war between the minister of education in the first place concerning the closure of the Chitrakoot primary school, the special counselor went public against Sithanen’s policies in the 2007-08 budget. Quote: “li p vers dilo par bake alor ki mo p tire dilo par lamok”.

His intervention in the press both oral and written has prompted his revocation today morning following his meeting with PM on Tuesday. The PM restated his support to his finance minister and would not be tolerating that a counselor organise a public meeting against a minister.

The dream bridge! Once again, it is brought forward, and this time it seems that our PM is lobbying strongly for this dream to come true.  As for the earlier years, there was some preliminary studies, but it goes that far. There is a consensus that this time however things might be different.  The future will tell.  Should the bridge materialise, Port Louis’ landscape will change radically.

2 days before the budget speech! What to expect from this second year mandate? Rise in VAT?  The speech will be pronounced on the 15th June 2007, at 1630. What do you expect from this budget?

It’s one thirty in the morning and it is getting very early. I could not sleep so drop a couple of words here and there, till the sleep takes over. Budget speech will be delivered in some ten to twelve days’ time. In the meantime, while the minister of finance is busy preparing his dossier, our PM went to Hull to meet investors. Well in brief, he does not guarantee sunshine when they will be coming to dodoland, but what he did guarantee was the turquoise sea and the warm welcome of we folks (dixit Navin). Needless to say, there was broad coverage of his intervention at each of his moves.
Heard on the waves that the university of Hull will be offering three scholarships to Mauritius. Do not have all the details. Only grabbed that one will be for post graduate studies. I understand our PM graduated from Hull. Can this be a coincidence?

Revirement de situation concerning the resignation of Sithanen. Apparently the resignation is not a resignation. Christina posted a precise picture of the cinema played by our politicians.

The talk of the week is certainly the resignation of the vice prime minister and minister of finance. Minister Sithanen sent his letter to the acting prime minister, while the PM is abroad. His decision follows the appointment of Mr Bheenick as governor of the central bank. While he openly expressed his feelings to the PM against the decision to appoint Mr Bheenick, the PM has nonetherless decided to go forward in his decision. “La goutte d’eau qui fait deborder le vase” dit-on dans la presse.

Opinions diverge on the the decision of Sithanen. The media quote the JEC: “une catastrophe nationale” while the trade unions :”leve packet aller”. The stock market today morning suffers a slow down in the value of transactions traded.  Sithanen will meet the PM on his return from Paris next week, to discuss about his decision. In the meantime, it will be Vasant Bunwaree who will be acting minister of finance pending the appointment of a new minister of finance.