MMM-MSM IVplay…

From the ragbag

Whew! The Opposition masala saga which kept us hugely amused week in, week out, throughout 2006, before the yawns of boredom and irritation crept in that is, takes a breather! A brief reminder of Episodes I to VII, to fully apprehend what we might blissfully miss in the future:

Episode I: Following the electoral debacles of end 2005, the MMM leader, grand maestro and strategist of the disaster, announces that the MMM-MSM-PMSD bandwagon will continue, under his stewardship, its desultory meandering in the Opposition “karo kan”. Days later the MSM and PMSD, rather more sensibly, both announce a face-slapping decision to do “ménage à part” and touch base, at long last, with their own troops. Which troops, no doubt, make their private views plain to their own party leaders.

Episode II sees Mr Berenger (with 10 MMM seats against 12 for the MSM and 2 for the PMSD), scurrying to keep or grab the seat of Leader of the Opposition. The PMSD announces thereupon its decision to join the bandwagon of development and the Alliance Sociale, seriously putting in jeopardy Mr Berenger’s ambitions.

Episode III: The next episodes concern the burlesque of who speaks last at a common 1st of May assembly, and postures as de facto future imaginary PM. Left in an unappetizing twosome with Jugnauth Jr, Mr Berenger lashes out against Junior’s pretensions to be the last and therefore, the first!…Josie Lebrasse in Week-End echoes Berenger’s squeals “C’est insensé et du jamais vu!”… The insulting bestiary vocabulary is out: Snakes, frogs and our bovine friends get involved!...

Episode IV: Mr Berenger simultaneously plays a rabidly funny trump card in the personage of Uncle Ashock Jugnauth, with the secret hope that the latter, properly seduced, might grab one or two MSM defectors as dowry and thus bolster Mr Berenger’s ambition to retain the seat and prestige of Leader of the Opposition. The plot naturally arouses intense fury from Sun Trust and co. “Ménage a part” therefore extends to 1st of May gatherings, despite the acrimonious fulminations of Mr Berenger and his press coterie.

Episode V: Mr Berenger announces that he firmly retains the seat of Leader of the Opposition, proposing in the process to replace MSM Opposition Whip Soodhun by MMM “zoli garçon” Ajay Gunness, nominating a fully MMM Opposition front-bench and even enunciating future seating plans in the Assembly. But Uncle Jugnauth, having against elementary common sense succumbed to Berenger’s poisoned chalice, fails to deliver any prayed-for MSM “transfuges”. Mr Berenger, plot adrift once more, scurries hurriedly to hand in his resignation as Leader of the Opposition, fearing an ominous dispatch-rider from the Reduit state House. “Egoist” he vituperates against Jugnauth Jr.

Episode VI: “Ingrat, automate, sans coeur!”… retorts Junior. The MSM lets it be known that Mr Berenger’s yearnings for more PM-ship or, at worst, of a “Senior LEE KWAN YEW type of cabinet position” are unacceptably foolish and would most likely lead to another electoral disaster. « Comment croire que cette opposition qui passe son temps à offrir des bâtons pour se faire battre par le gouvernement va enfin commencer à travailler sérieusement ? », comments a flabbergasted J-C Antoine in Week-End. Exit Uncle Ashock from the MSM and the public bitching, now between an infernal trio, continues unabated…

Episode VII & ongoing: After the half-success of its congress, the MMM leader, at last accepting reality perhaps, sounds like offering the party up for alliance bids, wondering whether there are any takers, Alliance Sociale in mind obviously, who might generously overlook the evident wrinkles and the running mascara, the competency void, the “yes-bwana” culture and the warped identity resulting from thirty years of coustics and zig-zags…

Are there any objective reasons why Mr Berenger’s personal agenda and wishful prayers have to be met? True, there might at some stage have been reasons to argue the need for some across the board contribution against the foreseeable dangers and perils at the gate of the country. But the Alliance Sociale, with intelligent and proactive economic diplomacy, with an inventive radical approach to unleashing the investment dynamism and with the prospects for mega foreign direct investment projects, can feel legitimately optimistic and adequately poised to handle the country challenges. The team at the helm has, anyway, economic management credentials that are immeasurably different from the past regime. The early economic indicators and buoyancy are already back and can only gather momentum…

As time moves on therefore, the rhetorical question of support from an MMM Opposition that has only basked us in an indecent display of private ambitions cloaked in opportunistic demagoguery, looking singularly bereft and already obsolescent, is likely to fade into irrelevance. As for the MSM, were they to steer clear of basic economics and tiresome hectoring, they should be able to use Opposition time to develop a more constructive national perspective that can give them some missing maturity. Meantime the Alliance Sociale can concentrate on getting the upsurge of announced plans, projects and intentions implemented and place the country firmly on the road of growth and development, job creation, economic empowerment and social justice, while keeping, obviously, a firm lid on potential troubles within its own rank and file. It has an uncluttered two-year horizon to maintain the focus on entrenching the substantial progress already achieved.