Blog: Strong Institutions and Not strong Men

"Africa needs strong institutions not strong men" said President Obama during his African tour in Accra, Ghana. Africa also needs good governance, accountability and transparency. How happy and proud every Mauritian must have felt on learning that our country occupies the top position in Africa as per the Mo Ibrahim Index on all scores.

This has not happened by accident. We have started building strong institutions under the leadership of Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, supported by stalwarts like Sir Virahsamy Ringadoo, Sir Harold Walter, Sir Guy Forget, Sir Abdool Razack Mohammed, Sir Satcam Boolell, Sir Kher Jagatsingh, Sookdev Bissoondoyal and of course Sir Anerood Jugnauth. But above all, it was the vision of SSR and the Labour Party.

SSR had opted for a democratic form of government on the Westminster model. Such a democracy in a multicultural, multiethnic, multireligious society required strong and credible institutions with independent-minded persons with integrity at their head. Only such institutions could maintain peace, stability and ensure sustained development.

Democracy also means free and fair elections by universal suffrage, that is, one man one vote, although a voter in Mauritius has three compulsory votes in a three member constituency and two in the two member constituency in Rodrigues. Since 1967, the electoral commission has organised free and fair elections regularly. Nobody has pointed a finger at the Electoral Commissioner and his staff. In fact, at proclamation of results the winners and losers have all thanked and congratulated the electoral commission for successfully managing the elections.

Labour has won in all five general elections alone or in alliance, MSM four and MMM two in 1982 and in 2000 in alliance with MSM.

I have personally interacted and known quite a few electoral commissioners. They have all been highly competent and men of integrity. Now that the MMM is pushing for electoral reforms, I take the liberty to remind its leader that it was his obsession to have his fingers on power in 1982 that caused the split in the MMM and the creation of MSM. Its own Prime Minister, Sir Anerood Jugnauth won four elections.

A near simple calculation could have shown that MMM could have stayed in power during all that period. Perhaps still in power. Its leader should beware of walking on the road of electoral reforms where angels dare not thread.

Our democracy is based on the doctrine of separation of powers among the legislature, executive and judiciary. There is also power sharing between the President who is the Head of the State and the Prime Minister who is the Head of Government.

Quite a few institutions are set up by the constitution and appointments made by the President on the recommendation of the Prime Minister. The President is not bound to follow the recommendations of the PM. In fact, he has not done so on a couple of occasions but by and large there has been consensus and all appointees have done honour to their position.

The Khamajeet affair has shown that no political interference is tolerated in the PSC, DFSC, LGSC, commissions which take care of appointments and promotions in the civil service, the police force and the local authorities. The Prime Minister has reiterated that although he has the powers to give directive of a general nature to the Police Commissioner, the Police Commissioner runs the day to day affairs of the force independently. It is also a matter of pride that our police force has in general maintained law and order during all political campaigns. And all the political parties have congratulated the police for their role. Besides, the force has been able to successfully  deal with the rotten eggs within its ranks.

As far as the judiciary is concerned, it showed its independence when it released ex-minister Soodhun on bail in spite of police objection. It also lifted the objection to departure of Dr. Joomaye, a prominent MMM member this week. He is free to travel anywhere.

At his press conference last Saturday, the PM reminded that the court had also dismissed the case brought against him by government to make him lose his seat when he was leader of opposition. The court has qualified the attempt as "colorable device".

This makes me wonder why so much fuss is being made about the investigation being carried out by ICAC. ICAC has the power to investigate and submit its report to the DPP. The DPP in his own judgment can decide to prosecute or not to go ahead with a case. And it is for the court to decide if the accused is guilty or not. The Prime Minister has said that he never interferes with institutions. Should we not feel proud that  institutions like ICAC can act against ministers, arrest them on arrestable charges and bring them to court and that it is for the court to release them on bail?

The office of the Director of Audit is another institution which functions in all independence. It examines the accounts of government and all statutory bodies. Year in year out, it brings reports showing the shortcomings without any fear. It has also always been managed by very competent staff.

Even before independence, SSR had set up the Bank of Mauritius to regulate the banking sector. Later, SBM, SICOM, FSC were created. All these institutions carry their business in all independence and according to set rules and regulations. Can we imagine any minister or even the PM or President just going into banks and taking bags of money? Or all the gold and foreign exchange at BOM? Impossible.

Of course cases of human frailty do exist. But these institutions are strong enough. Even the massive fraud at the MCB and the death of a man in its vault have been managed without causing much damage to the sector.

But the most sacred institution remains our Parliament. It is presided by the Speaker. All Speakers appointed since independence by different parties have done honour to the office. Only a few days back the Chief Whip of the Opposition met the Speaker to discuss media coverage of the proceedings of the House and other matters. After his meeting he declared that he has full faith in the Speaker.

Does all this mean that everything is perfect? Do we live in a perfect world? Of course not. All institutions are as good as the persons who head them. Rightly or wrongly, fortunately or unfortunately, it is the men in power, power given to them by the democratic system who are responsible to appoint chairmen, members of board, MDs and CEOs in the civil service, parastatal bodies and other government institutions and government owned companies. The question is whether the right persons are appointed in the right place. These days there is no shortage of competent and qualified people. In order to face the challenges of this global world, government has an excellent opportunity to strengthen our institutions. We already have strong leaders, we need strong institutions.