Guy Who Left Behind At Least Three Pairs of Oversized Shoes is 90

Kher Jagatsingh who was born nine decades ago today left a massive legacy. We look rather briefly at some of his accomplishments and offer clues as to how he managed to do so much so fast. 

He left a job in the colonial civil service to co-found The Mauritius Times at 23 (see timeline). That’s a pretty daring move if done today. Just imagine in those days. But the voracious and curious reader that he was obviously had other plans and a big part of these was to serve his country to the best of his abilities.

These initially took the form of a series of battles in his weekly to retaliate against all forms of injustice and to steer national debates in a direction that was good for Mauritius. One such battle was the “Down With PR” campaign so that Mauritius ended up with a far superior electoral system, the FPTP system. 

KJ was quickly noticed by that team-builder extraordinaire, one SSR, and he was soon standing as an LP candidate in the general elections of 1959 to taste his first electoral victory. SSR must have been quite impressed by his protégé to have the 28-year old as Secretary-General in such defining times two years later.

After an electoral setback in 1963 he returned to parliament after the oh-so important 1967 independence elections and was sworn in as Minister of Health. That was a crucial time to be in charge of that Ministry. The demographic bomb – a topic he wrote extensively on – was being defused. And going through his speeches in that period – a good example is when the SSRNH was inaugurated in August 1969 – leaves us with the unmistaken impression of someone who thought very deeply about public health.

His next stop was a five-year stint at the Ministry of Economic Planning & Development ending in 1976. KJ again used his beginner’s mind to look at economic development and pioneered a new approach, launched the much talked about RDP and in the process, we learnt from Manou Bheenick’s excellent 1999 Memorial Lecture, transformed the ministry into a superministry.

World Bank President Robert McNamara 
and KJ shared the view that bean-counting
 has little to do with development.

The Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs was KJ’s final cabinet position. Everybody knows who implemented LP’s 1976 electoral pledge for Free Secondary Education. What may be lesser known is who put it in the manifesto.

The then 45-year old considered it his biggest challenge yet. Many schools were built, the MIE produced schoolbooks that were more suitable for the 10-year old nation and several components of the education sector were integrated into a coherent whole to help push Mauritius to greater heights.

Widely considered as the best Education Minister Mauritius has had, his hard work in that capacity has been acknowledged by many players in the sector and his interesting ideas are still being looked at.

His excellent work has been recognised by many.

Kher Jagatsingh has lived a very meaningful life. He took on the mighty, educated the masses and strengthened the Labour Party with his off the charts organisational skills, charm and intelligence before delivering solid performances in three different ministries at junctions that were crucial in the history of a young nation. A non-negligible part of this impressive track record can be traced back to the fact that he and his biggest fan, the great leader of the LP, happened to be on the same wavelength on most national issues. These included progressive and sustainable taxation, the FPTP system, the importance of a good welfare state and the necessity of building great teams so as to be in the best possible position to handle difficult problems.

But a lot of his success came from working on himself, travelling extensively, meeting the great men and women of his time (Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Chou-En Lai and l’Abbé Pierre during a 17-month 1950s trip), not letting too much schooling get in the way of a first-rate education (a precious perspective in these times of disrupted schooling), putting in long hours and staying very humble and empty. 

Keeping the fan base happy.

SKJ with his comrade-in-arms and fellow pillar of
the Labour Party, Sir Harold Walter (on the right),
in the VIP Lounge at Plaisance Airport.

Petals of Dust which gives us a good
idea of how much KJ loved his fellow
compatriots was published in 1981.

Dis Plas Kot Bizin Komisyon Danket

Byin bizin komisyon danket dan sa ban plas swivan la parski sa fin kut nu estra ser kom pei ek ena ladan fin mem fer nu koste ek fayit. Bizin komisyon danket pu nu sosyete konpran kin arive ek ki nu met ban zafer an plas pu ki zame sa pa arive ankor. Dayer Ptr ti propoz en Economic Offenders Act dan so manifest electoral pu eleksyon zeneral 2019.

1. Linpak flat tax 15% Sithanen lor sitiasyon mari katastrofik dan ki Moris retruv li. Dapre se ki ti pe dir dan kanpayn elektoral 2005 ek apre (li pu zener en krwasans 8%) GDP Moris pu 2020 ti bizin 914 milyar rupi. Tiena COVID-19 an 2020 non? Pena problem anu pran prozeksyon GDP pu 2019, 837 milyar rupi, pu kav tir COVID dan diskisyon. GDP aktyel pu 2019 ti 498 milyar rupi. Donk zis pu 2019 mank 339 milyar prodiksyon domestik (pu gayn en lide, pandemi fin kut nu 100 milyar rupi GDP an 2020). Ant 2006 ek 2019 ti mank 1,780 milyar rupi GDP u 312 fwa sa 5.7 milyar ki fek pey Betamax la. U preske 18 fwa seki pandemi fin kut nu an 2020. Ava bon osi kone kisana in profit plis sa striktir taksasyon insutenab la ek ban lezot desizyon insanse.

2. Kifer sevings fin ekrule dan Moris kumsa ek an plis zame li fin refer? Zame fin ariv sa dernye swasant an malgre ki plizir gro siklon in deza kraz nu lekonomi ek nun travers dan de sok petrolye. Sevings se meyer indikasyon rezilians en lekonomi ek en ingredian esansyel kreasyon larises. Ala en perspektiv istorik https://youtu.be/YrGd0kKcOZI.

3. Linpak ban kontra IPP lor Moris (kalite ler, lanvironman, konpetitivite, stratezi, etc). Navin Ramgoolam ti truv zot abizif ek an Novam 2007 li ti dir ban morisyin ki sa pa kav kontinye ek ki li ti pu sanz so non si li ti pu les sa ban kontra la kontinye abiz lepep. Mem lepok Paul Berenger usi ti truv ban randman ki ban IPP ti pe fer ek sa ban kontra la tro elve ek ti propoz en randman 10%. Kav sa si ti tro elve. Resaman Ramgoolam fin kalifye kontra Betamax de ‘an bon e di form’. Li a kav vin fer nu konpran kuma tu sa ban kontra IPP la diferan ek parey. Berenger usi kav vin eksplike.

4. Pert ejing Air Mauritius. Zame nun kone kin vreman pase. Purtan MK in perdi buku kas. Par milyar. Par kont ti tan buku deklarasyon sirprenan. Komisyon danket ava ekler nu. Li kav usi dir nu kifer nu konpayni aviasyon otan dan difikilte zordi ek egzamin ban dezisyon kuma Air Corridor ek asa avion.

5. Pert ejing STC. Byin drol sa parski STC ti ena en Automatic Pricing Mechanism a lepok e donk li pa ti ena pu fer ejing. Bizin kon tu ban detay lor la i konpri ki kalite kontra finansye ti servi. 4.7 milyar rupi ti perdi ladan.

6. Leta nu system sante piblik. Avan Covid-19 pasyan dializ ti pe pas buku mizer. Apre plizir fin desede resaman. Ena en komisyon danket lor la me ena plizir lot problem ki revin a la sirfas konstaman. Li pu bon konpran byin parski nun truv rol mari inportan ki nu system sante piblik fin zwe pu gard nu vivan dan pandemi ek pu konpran kifer otan pasyan ankor bizin al swiv tretman deor. Ti bizin osi kone ki ban politisyin u zot fami ki ena kik lintere dan ban system sante prive pu evalye ban konfli dintere reel u potansyel.

7. Leta nu lanvironman (i konpri kalite ler nu respire). Bizin konpran ki fin ariv nu lanvironman depi lindepandans. Pe kup montayn, tuy sovsuri par milye, kup en ta estra zoli pye, prodir tro buku dese ek nu fin vin mari vilnerab sak fwa gayn de gut lapli.

8. Tentativ privatizasyon CWA ek CHC. Bizin rant an detay ladan. Bizin ran piblik rapor labank mondyal lor sekter dilo pu lepep konpran kifer ti pe rod don kontra afermaz en konpayni prive. Bizin kone komye kas konpayni la ti pu gayne sak fwa lapli tonbe. Ek kone kifer in les sa zafer la dren nu ban lenerzi nasyonal pandan otan letan. Mem zafer pu CHCL.

9. Lev pake reste. Bizin kone ki egzateman ti arive an fevriye 2007 ler minis finans ti pe rod fer santaz ar promye minis akoz nominasyon guverner labank Moris. Eski nu pei ti rul san minis finans pandan plizir zur ki en zafer ki pa sipoze arive?

10. Inplikasyon proze politik lalyans Ptr/MMM an 2014. Ek sirtu ki bizin fer pu elimin/redwir sa kalite risk la.

World Bank Not Shutting Down Yet, Publishes Another Sloppy Report Instead

The Country Economic Memorandum (CEM) for Mauritius that came out recently is typical of the dumb reports that the World Bank (WB) dishes out non-stop. Skimming through it immediately brings back to mind Lee Kuan Yew’s famous observation:

What Harry Said 

About the WB

“The World Bank report’s conclusion are part of the culture of America and, by extension, of international institutions. It had to present its findings in a bland and universalizable way, which I find unsatisfying because it doesn’t grapple with the real problems. It makes the hopeful assumption that all men are equal, that people all over the world are the same. They are not.”

The WB is a controversial institution that should be closed for the good of humanity as it has messed up several countries. Or at least converted into a food court where falafel can become a reality with a good enough circular migration programme. Take Indonesia for instance. Sebastian Mallaby reports on page 190 of his excellent The World’s Banker – trade unionists and other progressive voices in Mauritius should definitely grab a copy – that the first thing that James Wolfensohn, the WB President at the time of a 1998 trip to Indonesia, told Dennis de Tray, its country director, was “You’ve really [expletive deleted] this country up”. 

What the World Bank 

is Particularly Good At

Definitely creating famine. Like in Malawi. Google up one 2007 New York Times article (Ending Famine, Simply by Ignoring the Experts) and you’ll find out about another big poop nicely summed up by Jeffrey Sachs as “the donors took away the role of government and the disasters mounted”. The CEM wants to do that too. It has “priority actions that could be launched immediately under the FY21/22 budget to kickstart the process”. That’s interfering with our sovereignty if you ask me and it’s serious enough to get the local WB office closed down. It’s a lot worse than the episode with the WHO representative at the beginning of the year. The other thing is that we’ve been told that the CEM has been crafted by 20 experts. Experts in what? Massive Economic Poop? Thanks, but no thanks. Been there, done that with Bretton-Woods Ali (Mansoor) who told Mauritius back in 2006 after getting the job of Financial Secretary from his university buddy and toxic bean-counter that he would be adapting the practices of the WB that have worked elsewhere to our country. 

Driving Public Finances 

Over a Cliff is Another Core WB Skill

This essentially took the form of an extreme version of trickle-down economics that was supposed to generate GDP growth rates that would oscillate around 8% by slashing already-low corporate and top income tax rates to 15% flat. As expected we never got 8% growth in any of the last 14 years ending in 2019 which is before COVID-19 started creating trouble. In fact and as the chart shows we didn’t even get 7% or 6% in that period (the average being barely above 4%). No wonder then that 67-year-old Sithanen has been out of parliament for 11 of these 14 years (79%) and that too because we didn’t have recall elections back in 2006 (we unfortunately still don’t and PJ would make his first serious bit of history by adding them to our constitution). 

Good At Killing Savings Too

We know what happened to our savings after bank interest was taxed, double-digit inflation was created and our rupee was rapidly depreciated in the first few years of Paglanomics. According to recent and conservative calculations the savings missing between 2006 and 2019 exceed 1 trillion rupees.* That’s a million million rupees. Speaking about a trillion rupees did you know that according to Sithanen/Mansoor trickle-down policy our GDP was supposed to cross that threshold by the end of this year? Without COVID-19 national output would have been around Rs557 billion. In other words there would have been a GDP shortfall of nearly half-a-trillion rupees for one year. And it would have got worse every year as long as we stood on the wrong side of compounding. All of this obviously makes the job of our Finance Minister really simple. 

Padayachy’s Easy Decisions

Bring back corporate taxes to at least 30% which is roughly where they were before bean-counters started messing up Mauritius really badly with their economic snake-oil (aka WB best practices). So that we defuse the debt bomb and government doesn’t sit on its hands (while keeping busy with unnecessary distractions like the annoyance law and the ICTA proposal) and ruin the country along with its world-famous environment. Introduce a wealth tax. Very large dividends of several hundreds of millions of rupees should be taxed at 95%. End the wealth-destroying depreciation of our national currency and the corresponding bean-counting with the SRF. Solve real problems. There are quite a few of them. Don’t confuse wastage with GDP/revenue shortfall. By the way, there’s wastage in the private sector too. Or screw-ups with reforms. And...

Solidarity Never a 

Substitute For Sustainability

When tax rates were 70% public finances were sustainable and we built a decent welfare state. Still there was plenty of social work that was going on because we were a left-for-dead country and the economic seas of the 1970s were quite choppy. These were done in an era with no social media. Plenty is still being done away from spotlights. But the current tax structure is simply not sustainable. No amount of solidarity can make up for that. Unless an expensive villa, a bundle of hard currencies, an optional dialysis machine, cleaner air, upward social mobility, a respect for nature plus a million of other things is delivered along with each food pack. There was already Rs1.8 trillion of GDP missing between 2006 and 2019. It’s way better for the 10% richest households (and for everybody else) to get 27.8% of a larger cake like in 1991/2 than 31.2% of the smallest of cakes that’s incompatible with nature like in 2012. Which is why in 2011 wealthy French saw their dreams come true: pay more taxes. Wealthy Germans had asked for the same thing two years earlier. 

Jagatsingh, S., Budget 2021/22, Republic of Mauritius, Analyst Report, forthcoming.