Allow me to make a few suggestions.

1. Humility as no.1 Mindset

For many decades, Mauritius was a leading nation in Africa and was considered to be the best in many areas. Not anymore. However, our politicians are still manipulating low grade statistical sources and reports to promote this false belief. Admitting the reality would be admitting that we have failed as a nation and that several countries in Africa have now surpassed us. This is the brutal fact and they need to accept it. The tide has reversed since at least 10 years, but our arrogant politicians refuse to admit it or do something about it. Most Mauritians have never been on mainland Africa (South Africa is not a fair representation of Africa) and they have been brought up believing that Mauritius is far superior – both economically and intellectually – than all of them. Mauritians must stop looking down on Africans. We have so much to learn from them. We need Africa much much more than they need us. In addition to promoting ties with India and China, government should be investing equal time and effort in building and maintaining close relationships with the real leading countries in Africa.

If politicians are responsible for the well-being of its citizens and proudly claim credit for improving the financial situation or citizens through subsidies and access to financial support from public funds. Then political leaders should be humble enough to feel equally responsible for the real social and economic challenges being faced by its citizens on a daily basis and its failure to provide world class education, long-term food security, decent healthcare system, efficient public service, and safety for all citizens.

2. Transparency as no. 1 Behaviour

“If corruption is a disease, transparency is an essential part of its treatment.” — Koffi Anan, former UN Secretary General

In my opinion, it is a fallacy to debate whether corruption is apparent or real amongst public officials. For argument’s sake, let’s consider our population of just over a million people. Amongst them, less than a dozen individuals are actually close enough to the decision-makers and the decision-making process to know how important decisions are made and understand the reason behind those decisions. Therefore, unless facts are shared publicly or available on official platforms, 99.999% of this population will form an opinion based solely on secondary sources, rumours and hearsay. This is what we call Natural law, i.e. human beings possess intrinsic values that govern their reasoning and behaviour.

When the population elects country leaders and decision-makers, they legitimately expect that public funds will be wisely spent by them to improve the quality of their lives. If over time, the decision-makers choose opacity and fraud scandals or allegations of fraud become rampant, then the perception will turn into a shared belief that (the people’s) money is being diverted into the pockets of corrupt individuals and that corruption is undermining the social and economic development of the country and their livelihood.

Crucially, the perception around any given situation lies solely within the hands of the decision-makers. What perception they wish to create is a matter of choice between opacity or transparency. That is why it is pointless to open a debate on whether the perception surrounding corruption is justified or not. Attempting to prove that the reality is different is in fact futile.

3. Diversity as no.1 Enabler

Mauritius is an African island country which was first discovered by Arab sailors in year 975, named after a Dutch Prince, later became a French territory and then primarily a plantation-based colony of the UK. Between 1834 and 1921, after the abolition of African slavery, half a million indentured labourers were brought mostly from Eastern India villages to work in sugarcane fields.

We are one of only 12 countries in the world who are full members of both La Francophonie and the Commonwealth. We are also one of the few countries in the world who celebrate and have public holidays for major Hindu, Tamil, Muslim, Christian, and Chinese religious festivals. We are naturally born with an openness and sensitivity to other cultures. Diversity is our DNA and we should be proud of it.

Politicians should STOP using our diversity as a means to divide us. Our human resources are our most valuable resources for economic development and the innate nature of our diversity is a rare and unique strength. Developed and advanced countries are struggling to even come close to embedding diversity as a policy. We should recognize and promote our diversity as our unique selling proposition to the world.

Having said that, the public education system in Mauritius from nursery to tertiary is not geared towards producing an adequate number of truly global citizens and people with a Global Mindset.

On the contrary, children who are lucky to benefit from private education turn out to be much more open-minded and better prepared to embrace and manage diversity. Some of the even luckier ones who can afford to pursue studies abroad are able to develop this skill but much later on. Meritocracy starts with equal opportunity for education.

What would REAL change look like?

At the doorstep of this probably life-changing decision, we should not be afraid to dream… for a real change.

• Humility of decision makers and those who are in a position of power and authority
• Fairness in treating people based on merit and competency
• Accountability and Responsibility of doing what you said you will do when you said it will be done and where underperformance is promptly addressed
• Transparency and effective communication of how and why important decisions are made