Download Citizen Concerns For Free And Understand Plenty Fast

Citizen concerns is the English version of Preokipasion Sitwayin, a book which I published last June and made available for free to drastically improve the level of debate in Mauritius. The best version is for the iPhone and other Apple devices but there's also a pdf version for all other phones and computers.

Enjoy the read and let us know how you found it.

Prayag Statements That Don't Survive A Fact-Check

 1. A budget is a country's moment of truth where illusions meet numbers (2026). Nope. The budget is a series of announcements some of which may not find their way into the Finance Act and fewer still implemented. There can also be a fair amount of creative accounting as we have seen in several of the budgets of the past 20 years. 

2. This year's budget more than ever will be a showdown between the reality of numbers and past practices (2026). The economic model of the recent decade of MSM rule is the same model implemented between 2006 and 2014 when Navin was at the helm.

3. This year's budget will say clearly what Mauritius can still afford, what it cannot finance anymore and what must be corrected before it's too late (2026). No guarantee about this as in last year's budget the BRP was deemed unsustainable but the government was planning 14 billion rupees into the construction of new roads when we already have way too many. It also didn't highlight the fact that the 15% flat tax and other unsustainable tax structures never delivered the 8% growth promise. And government didn't update the population on the renewal of the abusive IPP contracts.

4. For too long government has overspent with little regard to economic prudence (2026). The main problem of the last 20 years is the implementation of a low and for the most part flat tax structure which has basically ruined Mauritius. The economy is about 2.5X smaller than what the low tax structure was supposed to generate. It was not either exactly prudent to kill our savings culture so as to finance an unsustainable tax structure.

5. The cost of overspending has never been presented (2026). Since 2006 we've constantly updated the population on how they were being taking for a ride and how the unsustainable tax structure was ruining Mauritius. All of this was backed by numbers. For instance between 2006 and 2024 there has been a GDP shortfall of more than 6 trillion rupees.

6. The impact of overspending by government can be seen in the debt/GDP ratio, deficits and depreciation of the rupee (2026). For one the GDP is 2.5X smaller as expected so we need to take all ratios that use it with a big grain of salt. Budget deficits are also due to a drastically smaller economy. Trade deficits are the results of several terribly bad policy decisions. One such decision are the abusive IPP contracts that have pulled Mauritius down for more than 20 years.

7. We need to distinguish between blind austerity and budgetary responsabilty (2026). At the beginning of his toxic reforms Sithanen said that we need to make two years of sacrifice and then we'll be ok. Killing our savings culture is not what you would call a sacrifice. It's rather sheer economic suicide unless you're aware of an economy that thrives after its savings culture has been assassinated. As a matter of fact last year's budget was precisely that: blind austerity. You steal the pension of our old folks but at the same time you announce that you'll spend 14 billion rupees in the new roads. And you keep mum about the renewal of three abusive contracts but during 2025 you disconnect 21,000 subscribers from the CEB grid.

8. It's not about to abandon the most vulnerable or to destroy the welfare state (2026). This is precisely what has been going on since 2006. For a start have a look at how national income was distributed across the population for the five years which ended in 2012. And it looks as if you haven't heard what Jyoti Jeetun has been saying for a while. Namely that our public health system is a very heavy burden and that solutions will need to be found.

9. A state that spends without counting will end up not being able to help the most vulnerable (2026). The problem with the Mauritian state is that it embarked on a ruinous path since 2006 and this has caused some astronomical underspending including on our welfare state.

10. The next budget is going to be difficult but governing is not about buying social peace with public money (2026). Social peace is a top priority and all governments buy it with public money because having people rioting in the streets is not conducive to economic growth. Ask countries in the Middle East after the Arab Spring. Surely public money should not be spent paying a 35% return to IPPs that don't take any risks.

Jeetun Statements That Don't Survive A Fact-Check

 1. BRP is unsustainable because it represents 25% of the budget (2026). Whilst it's true that the BRP has been used as an electoral weapon in at least three general elections one must not forget that the economy is about 2.5X smaller than what the 15% flat tax and other unsustainable tax structures since 2006 were supposed to generate. So if we divide by 2.5 we get roughly a very manageable 10% which going forward will even decrease with an average management of the economy.

2. Our free public health system is a very heavy burden for the state so that we'll need to find solutions in the future (2026). Our public health system has for all intents and purposes crashed. Rs18.5 billion was set aside for it in the 2025/26 budget which represents only 2.3% of GDP. Seychelles budgeted 5% of GDP for the same item. Do the math. Don't forget that our economy is 2.5X smaller than what Sithanen had forecasted.

3. BRP targeting is almost inevitable otherwise there will come a time when there will be no money to pay any BRP to anyone (2026). Navin Ramgoolam has used the same argument which we've debunked again recently in Preokipasion Sitwayin.

4. Is this why I have joined politics and how will I look pensioners in their eyes (2026)? How did it go last year when people who were going to turn 60 did not get their BRP? You should also look in their eyes and explain to them why you think a crashing public health system is a very heavy burden.

5. It's a budget that sets the stage for growth (2026). Nope. We're going to be stuck in what for Mauritius are very low growth rates as abusive IPP contracts are likely not to have been renewed at reasonable terms because otherwise government would have used this information as a genuine selling point. There are also other factors preventing a much higher growth rate.

6. There are two ways of increasing the revenues of the state. One is to cut expenses like pensions, the other is to increase revenues through growth (2026). You likely meant reducing the deficit and eventually reducing the debt/GDP ratio. But there are more ways of reducing the deficit including introducing a wealth tax, reducing wastage, merging parastatals and selling participation in state assets. While we certainly don't want government to sell ownership in government assets, a wealth tax is overdue given the mess the unsustainable tax structure for the past twenty years has put Mauritius into. We can also reduce the deficit by eliminating the abusive IPP contracts as this will make our economy grow faster. Ask Germany about this point if you're having trouble understanding it.

7. We used to produce 700,000 tons of sugar a long time ago but now we produce 200,000 to 225,000 tons. We should be able to increase our sugar production (2026). Sugar weighs only about 0.5% of our economy which means that it's been dead for a long time. No amount of money will revive it. It did get a gift of Rs 5 billion in 2007. That was pure wastage.

8. The best way to help a poor person is to give him a good job. This will give him dignity (2026). And what exactly does stealing the BRP and throwing thousands into poverty do? Or concreting agricultural lands that puts him out of the real estate market for good?

9. Last year we were at the edge of a cliff. We took some difficult decisions. Today we can breathe a little better (2026). As we've shown several times there were plenty of things that government could have done to improve public finances instead of stealing the BRP of our old folks.

10. Two of the areas where lack of planning and investment has been severe over the past 10 years have been in water and electricity (2026). Not 10 years, but 20. Tell us how many kms of leaking pipes have been changed each year since 2005 and how much did the CEB invest in extra power generation over the same period? You're also awfully quiet on the abusive IPP contracts that have been killing our economy and international competitiveness for more than two decades. Three of them were due for renewal between December 2024 and September 2025. An update would be nice.

11. Mansoor who was in a room filled with brilliant minds of this country told us to target a 6% growth rate so that we can reach 4.7%-5% which in 2050 will get us to half where Singapore [GDP per capita] is otherwise if we target 4.7% we'll get only 3% (2026). Mansoor was a predominant figure of the Sithanen reforms which were supposed to get us 8% growth with a country-ruining flat tax of 15%. After 20 years of that poison we got only 3.3% average growth. So how come he's in that room packed with our brilliant minds? By the way can we have the footage of the deliberations of that group of people? Also it is quite surprising that you stayed in that room given that you don't master even the basic stuff. Speaking about Singapore, in 2021 it had a GDP per capita that was about 9X ours. Two main factors explain a lot of the abyss between the two tigers.

12. Government had options one being to increase VAT (2026). There was absolutely no reason to increase a regressive tax like VAT. As the premise on which our tax structure was flattened in 2006 was that we would get 8% growth but ended up with 3.3% it makes sense to make those who didn't deliver pay and that would be corporates and wealthy individuals.

13. The PM chose the option which is less painful for most people (2026). Can you remind us how many people benefited from the reduction in the fair share contribution in the 2025/26 budget? And while you're at it how many people have been affected by the cruel and completely unnecessary postponement of the age of eligibility for the BRP last year and the means targeting of the BRP in the 2026/27 budget?

14. We are making the national cake bigger and increasing GDP per capita (2026). We need to be careful in using GDP per capita as it suffers from the same problem of any average that is it says little on how the cake is distributed.

15. You can either make the same people pay more tax or make more people pay some tax. When you're making the cake bigger you're making more people pay some tax (2026). You're either lying through your teeth, unaware how the economy works, have not been told that the VAT threshold was lowered by 50% in the 2025/26 budget, oblivious to the fact that government had removed many people from the tax net in last year's budget or some combination of all four.

16. DFIs are not allowed to use a financial centre which is not investment grade (2026). Not too long ago you said on a radio show that a senior German official told you in a conference in Africa that they had stopped using Mauritius because there's a perception that we're a tax haven. Hopefully you understood that the German was trying to be polite because would you believe one second that they did not carry out a thorough assessment of Mauritius? And who's stupid enough to believe that we're not a tax haven?

17. We have to stay the course even if there's a lot of critics because we're doing what's good for the country something which the population will eventually realise (2026). The population has already realised that you're out of your depth and is looking forward to getting recall elections so that they throw incompetents like you out of parliament as soon as possible.

18. We need to export more so that there's less pressure on our rupee (2026). We should rather import a lot less. This is easy to do. We can legislate so as to force sugar estates to grow food instead of concreting agricultural lands. Especially given that our food security is as good as Saudi Arabia's.

19. We won't be able to get any growth as long as we have labour shortages (2026). There's a lot of unemployment and underemployment in Mauritius. If we provide opportunities to them we'll get a nice growth. We'll get an even better growth rate if abusive IPP contracts don't exist anymore.

20. I come from the private sector. If you don't bring results there you could be sacked (2026). Kindly explain to us what kind of results the senior management at the IPPs which have been ripping the population for more than 20 years with very abusive contracts bring month in month out.

Mansoor Statements That Don't Survive A Fact-Check

1. The real threat is AI. And we don't know how fast it's coming, because we have five fingers I say in about 5 years, it can be a bit less, a bit more (2025). So I guess horses think AI will be here in 12 months.

2. Unfortunately neo-liberalism has gone everywhere in the world (2026). No, there are several countries that follow other policies. Examples include the Nordic countries and many other European ones which have a strong welfare state. And he seems to forget that neo-liberalism was brought to Mauritius by him and his university buddy who gave him the post of Financial Secretary when an extreme version of trickle down economics was implemented with a 15% flat tax as from 2006.

3. There were no billionaires in the 1980s (2026). There have been billionaires since at least 1919.

4. We found Mao's cat that's good at catching mice (2013). Destroying our savings culture and generating growth rates that were much lower than the promised 8% hardly makes the case for Chairman Mao's feline being active during his stint as FS for almost eight years. 

5. Tax cuts have worked as government received more revenue and jobs were created thanks to a higher level of investments (2011). This contradicts his own circular where he said that revenues would fall till 2013. And it was obvious that the tens of billions of rupees of FDI we had received since 2006 did not prevent the creation of a massive amount of poverty. Plus if the reforms had worked why did Sithanen not get a ticket and not even run as an independent candidate? Besides other components of the infamous reforms killed our savings culture. Mansoor should also tell us how the average GDP growth from 2006 to 2011 compared with the 8% target. There was also calls for his contract not to be renewed and even be terminated.

6. Our water problem is one of management, not of lack of finances (2011). The water network has expanded significantly after the CWA was established in 1973 including watershed events like the coming into operation of the Midlands Dam in 2003. If everything was going on swimmingly why was the payment of the rice/flour subsidy shifted from the budget to the STC? And there was also the cancellation of the school-feeding program which cost peanuts.

7. Rama Sithanen is one of the most intelligent economists I have met (2010). You should meet more and different economists. Befriending a Rs5 coin might also not be a bad move.

Dawnlod Nu Liv Gratis Pu Konpran En Ta Zafer Mari Vit

Pu kumanse par palab ki pe fer depi 12 mwa lor kifer in kokin pansion vieyes. Apre, pu ki rezon system lasante piblik in krash. Nu osi met diyl Sagos dan perspektiv ki bizin. Ena osi en sapit lor reform elektoral. Antu 10 sapit pu met en ta linformasion dan lame sitwayin pu relev deba dan pei. En ta lekol kuyon pu ferme la. Nek gete u.

Meyer version (miltimedia) se lor u laparey Apple.

Version PDF.

Book Which Improves An Amazing Electoral System Published

The FPTP version that we use in Mauritius since 1967 has served us extremely well but during the past quarter of a century politicians have been trying to replace it with a mixed system which would be a complete disaster. The principal purpose of this book is to help prevent this calamity by critically looking at all the main electoral proposals since 2002. 

It also provides more than a dozen vital criteria to evaluate any electoral system or proposition and will therefore put the debate on electoral reform on a firm footing. The book which can be pre-ordered right away refines an interesting solution, backed by a thorough analysis of electoral data, we presented in 2014. Happy reading!

Yen Statements That Don't Survive A Fact-Check

1. BRP eligibility at 60 years was an anomaly that had to be removed (2025). BRP is an important component of our welfare state which keeps 1/3 of Mauritians out of poverty. If you postpone the age people start getting it you will create a lot of poverty and hardship just like the 2012 HBS showed us voodoo economics had – an extra 22,000 people became poor over the preceding five years – and slow down the economy because a lot of these monies are used to buy essential things which keep the economy healthy not villas 99% Mauritians cannot afford.

2. It's shocking to see that we spend 90 billion rupees in the budget on social security while spending only 20 billion on education and health each and about 10 billion in other sectors (2025). Our economy at the end of 2024 was 2.3X times smaller than what Sithanen said it would grow to when he introduced his ruinous 15% flat tax in 2006 so it's not a big surprise that several of our budget items are a lot smaller than they ought to have been. Granted the BRP increased a bit too quickly during the last 10 years but if the economy had grown as Sithanen said it would with a very unfair share contribution from the wealthiest and we spent the same shares of GDP as the Seychelles then we should have spent 3.5X more on education than what we've budgeted in FY25/26 (Rs80.1 billion instead of 22.8 billion) and 5X more on health or 93.2 billion (instead of Rs18.5 billion).

The Jag! Turns 20

So Elisa who thought I was quite opinionated asked me a question: "Why don't you blog?". I asked what that was and she gave me a rundown and after some time followed it up with an email with links to two blogging services, wordpress and blogger. I preferred the latter and published my first post OTD twenty years ago. 

Gid Pu Konpran Byin Revolt Sitwayin Kont Reform BRP

Tiena irzans?

ADC tiena plin lozasion pu dir lepep ki zot pu repus pansion vieyes a 65 an. Ala 11:

1. pandan 10 an ki zot ti dan karo kan

2. pandan kanpayn elektoral 2024 (sirtu port a port)

3. lor zot paz FB ek ban lezot rezo sosio

4. lor radio dernie 10 an

Padayachy Statements That Don't Survive A Fact-Check

1. Mauritius is in an economic boom (2024). His justification in August 2025 is that we've clipped growth rates higher than 5% for the preceding three years. The only reason we've clipped these growth rates is, as the following chart pulled from WTVF shows, that the economy has been rebounding from the nearly 15% contraction caused by Covid in 2020. We should also note that Mauritius has been one of the last countries in the world to get back to its pre-Covid levels of activity. 

Bérenger Statements That Don't Survive A Fact-Check

1. I'm the real father of the economic miracle (2019). Something Ramgoolam acknowledged in parliament a few weeks ago. The problem with this statement is that Bérenger was Finance Minister for only nine months as from June 1982 and alliance partners spent a lot of their time fighting each other which left very little time to hatch such a miracle. Plus Bérenger returned as FM between 2000 and 2003 during which time he presented not one but three budgets. We know what one of his colleagues had to say about the economy back then. And that there are problems with this notion of economic miracle.

2. Mauritius is the best managed country in the world (2003). That's what Bérenger repeated several times when he was PM. You need to wonder which yardsticks he was using to arrive at such a conclusion. 

Boost Your 2025 CFA® Prep Right Away

Download IA and QMLS on your Apple device and transform your CFA prep experience.

Ramgoolam Statements That Don't Survive A Fact-Check

1. Your shopping trolley was full when I was PM (2023 onwards). Depends for whom. Let's see what the data shows.

2. When we were in power we didn't allow pump prices to go as high as they did on world markets (2024). The APM indeed reduced the volatility in oil prices. But let's see what happened when they crashed during the Great Recession.

Book That Makes Mauritian Voters Smart As Hell Published

It's available in several locations worldwide since yesterday. The Mauritian diaspora will be able to understand GE2024 and politics in their motherland and elsewhere like never before.

Analiz Vin Mezir Far Lalians Ptr/MMM

Demokrasi, meritokrasi ek Law & Order

1. En vre reform elektoral avek omwin 1/3 fam kom kandida dan eleksion zeneral. Vre reform la se sirtu sa mari kuyonad azut en doz PR dan nu system FPTP ki meyer sistem elektoral dan lemond pu ras en mari zarm depi dan lame ban elekter ki permet zot avoy ninport ki manb lasanble national dan karo kan dan en eleksion zeneral. Li pu osi permet ninport ki dirizan parti/minis fer mari dominer ek lepep e kone ki ena fort sans li revin dan parlman e mem kom minis pu kontinie kraz lepep.

2. Eleksion Prezidan par en kolez elektoral. Nu pa bizin sa la. Sirtu pu le moman. Nu ti truve ki AGF ti fer an 2018. Mazin u si li ti ena plis puvwar.

Subron Statements That Don't Survive A Fact-Check

1. We have reached the end of a cycle so we need a new constitution (2023 onwards). Bérenger and Ramgoolam have reached an advanced age and are way past the date they should have retired from active politics. Ramgoolam hasn't been looking healthy for quite some time – and he's been an unmitigated disaster as PM when he was – while Bérenger is seeing at least one ghost in Parliament. Subron is now a pensioner. Our constitution has not aged one bit though. It's still a national treasure that will serve us well for the next 100,000 years albeit with a few overdue additions. Subron seems to be confusing the cycles that a typical human goes through with our awesome constitution that was built to last many centuries. It's like the Hindu numerals, they have not gone out of fashion for the past 2,000 years. I don't know of anybody who wants their smartphone to run on Roman numerals.

2. Our FPTP system doesn't allow any new party to emerge (At least since 2010). 

Sis Kolos Travayis Ki Pa Ti Pu Vot Pu Navin

Maurice Curé. Listwar Parti Travayis (Ptr) kumans ar li. En lorea kin al apran medsin langleter, kin develop en bon klientel parmi ban nanti kan lin returne an 1913 me ki pa ti ditu kontan, Selvon ek Teelock rakont nu, kot so pei ti ete. Li ti ena osi ban klian dan vilaz e sa fer li trakase move kalite pu lasante travayer ler li truv zot leta. An 1934 li dan Konsey Guvernmantal kot pu so promie diskur li deman reprezantasion travayer dan sa konsey la e rekonesans muvman sindikal. Sitiasion telman dan dife ki sis mwa pa gayn letan pase e ala li pe fer ban nuvo revandikasion: pansion vieyes e ameliorasion kondision ban travayer lindistri sikriyer. 

Lagazet tret li de kominist e li perdi dan eleksion Zanvie 1936. Me li pa dekuraze u perdi letan. Mwa swivan, 88 banane zordi, le 23 Fevriye 1936 li organiz en miting dan San de Mars ansam ek Moutou, Sahadeo ek ankor pu fond pli gran parti dan listwar Moris. Ban miting e rasanbleman Ptr se ban seans pu edik ban gro laful dimun vit lor ban zafer estra inportan pu zot byinet e pu kre en vag progresis. Curé viktim telman represion ki li fayit e demisione depi Ptr an 1941. En lot kolos lamem pu pran labar.

Analiz Sis Angazman Lalians Ptr/MMM/PMSD

1. Pu redon parlman so let dor. Phokeer se pa Vaghjee me lor sa 35 ekspilsion an 2023 la ena plizir ladan kot lopozision fin rod sikan (e komie ladan inplik en tekewe?). Anu pa bliye usi ki Navin ti ferm parlman pandan 9 mwa pu prodir en dokiman lor reform elektoral kot li ti fer ban rekomandasion konpletman debil. Bon sa pa eton nu ler nu kon nivo Ramgoolam.

2. Abolision FCC. Ranplase par ki zafer? Manier sitiasion pu kontinie deteriore akoz politik fiskal e ekonomik pagla ki Ramgoolam ti kumanse an 2006 e fin kontinie ziska ler si kontinie kumsa mem ban guvernman ki pu vini pu kontinie met tu kalite lalwa libertisid ziska sa eklat dan zot figir evantielman.

General Secretaries of the Labour Party

When Kalyanee Juggoo resigned as General Secretary (GS) of the Labour Party recently Arvin Boolell wondered whether with her 13 years in that post she hadn't been the longest-serving. I knew she did not. Indeed as Chart 1 shows, Kher Jagatsingh had been GS between 1961 and 1982 or for around 21 years. Furthermore, a quick Google search revealed that Kalyanee had served since 2013 so that she had been in that position for about 9 years.  

Chart 1. Kalyanee cannot be the longest-serving GS.

Gentle Elephant Already Back On the Podium

One-fifth of 

Humanity Freed

It's Friday 15 August 1947 and a huge crowd is watching Nehru raise the national flag of independent India at the Red Fort in Delhi for the first time. The subcontinent had been freed only hours before and the chief architect of this mammoth task was greeted just minutes ago with the loudest of roars. Almost. Gandhi is not in the Indian capital. He's in Calcutta hundreds of kilometres away after having accepted to serve as human shield for an infinite number of Muslims.