Politique

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Tools of the Leader of Opposition

in Mauritius
30 DÉC 2016 09:37

Par Rama Valayden

The functioning of our National Assembly is based on

the Westminster system type of Parliament. The term
‘westminster’ itself originates from the borough where
the House of Parliament sit in the City of London. Our
National Assembly is presided by the Speaker who
chairs the proceedings as per the Standing Orders of the
National Assembly. The Standing Orders of the National
Assembly take its sources from the traditions of the
House of Commons and House of Lords.

The Speaker is constrained by the Standing Orders,

traditions and also if in doubt by the Erskine May
Parliamentary Practice 24th Edition, which is known as
the Bible of Parliamentarians. The proceedings can go
as far back as per the time of the glorious English
Revolution. Note that our Constitution does not deVne
and set up the duties of the Speaker.(Vide sections 50,
31 and 32 of the Constitution).

The ‘Opposition’ as we understand it in our common

parlance is not found as such in our Constitution but
section 73 (5) deVnes Opposition party as a group of
members of the National Assembly whose number
include a leader who commands their support in
opposition to the government. Opposition according to
the Chambers Concise Dictionary, Opposition with
deVnes article ‘the’ before as ‘a political party which
opposes the party in power’. But our Constitution does
make provision for a Leader of the Opposition who shall
be appointed by the President of Republic (vide section
73(1) of our Constitution).

And it is important to underline that the Leader of

Opposition remains in O[ce even after the dissolution
of the National Assembly (vide section 73(3) of the
Constitution) until the time he/she is informed by the
President that latter is about to appoint another person
as Leader of the Opposition.

His role
The primary role of the Leader of Opposition in our
modern system of government is to shadow the
government (policies, absence of policies – act of
corruption – issues of international importance) on a
round the clock basis. What are the tools at the hands of
the Leader of Opposition?

Private Notice Question (PNQ) : The PNQ is a question

to any minister that the Leader of Opposition send to the
Clerk of the National Assembly by latest 09 00 hours on
the day the National Assembly sits, before the
proceedings starts. The PNQ is a device which has been
very well tooled by prior Leaders of Opposition. But
whether we like it or not Paul Bérenger has embodied
that post with his numerous PNQs. On the other hand
Navin Ramgoolam was more statesman in his job.

The big differences between PNQ and a PQ are: PNQ

contrary to PQ does not give much time to the
government to prepare itself to assuage the answers. If
the National Assembly is not on vacation it can force the
government to be proactive in order not to be ridiculed
for example requesting a member of the government to
resign (example the resignation of Hon. Dayal) or a head
of a parastatal body or a senior member of the executive
(example the suspension of DCP Seerunghen on the day
of PNQ of the Leader of Opposition). For the Leader of
Opposition to be allowed to put a PNQ he must not put a
question on the Order paper for oral answer. A PNQ will
always attract publicity thus triggering debates around
same. It is mainly a joust between the Leader of
Opposition and the Prime minister.

The Leader of Opposition must however burn the

midnight’s lamp for his PNQ,s as a badly prepared PNQ
can boomerang on him/her with its disastrous effects.
The government will anticipate what the PNQ will be and
will prepare different scenarios. I believe that the NSS
does help the government through its phonetapping…
That’s why Leaders of Opposition must be very cautious
on their use of mobile phones.

Ramgoolam, Sir Gaetan Duval and Bérenger were very

economical with questions which they did not know the
answers. So for PNQ’s to be used regularly the Leader of
Opposition must build a powerful network of contact
within the government and other centres of power or
decisions (be it Trade Union or NGOs). A Leader of
Opposition who has asked a PNQ only for the sake of
same will be surprised by the negative outfall. The
Leader of Opposition must know that his display will be
magniVed by the live coverage.

Parliamentary Questions: The Leader of Opposition

must not send PQ for oral answers as same will deprive
him/her of PNQ but make sure that the Whip of the
Opposition do the needful to always have a bagful of
questions for every sitting. The PQs must be sent or left
at the Clerk O[ce not later than 2 o’clock and not less
than four days excluding Sunday and Public Holidays
before the sitting.

The Leader of Opposition must always follow the set of

questions as the Chief Whip of government will use the
same tool for complacent questions.

The Leader of Opposition must know that PQ,s and

PNQ’s are not allowed on : Opening of a session when
the President of Republic is delivering his speech or out
of courtesy when a foreign President is delivering a
speech…(see the day late Abdul Kalam made his speech
in Vaghjee Hall), when the minister of Finance delivers
his Budget speech, on the day Vxed for Appropriation Bill
or a Supplementary Appropriation Bill by the Committee
of Supply

Supplementary Questions: Without homework there

can’t be supplementary questions unless you are a
‘clown’ or you have ‘Honourable clown’ in front of you.

Mastering of Standing Orders: I believe that a Leader of

Opposition must take time to study Standing Orders and
Erskine May rulings of the Speaker in order to be
e[cient. The present Leader of Opposition will surely
liaise with Hon. Bérenger or former Prime minister
Ramgoolam in order to make sure he is not committing
a ‘bévue’.

Petitions: Another tool in the hands of the Speaker is

Petition which has rarely been used by Leaders of
Opposition.

Press conferences: Leaders of Opposition can’t take

rest or make as if they have other businesses to attend.
Weekly press conferences is a must as every Friday
Cabinet sits and will take numerous decisions which
should be monitored.

The Leader of Opposition can’t delay his stand on the

grounds he has not been able to study the Bill or the
intricacies of the decision. He must be alert and fully
prepared. That’s why Navin Ramgoolam had a team and
a plethora of advisors around him.

Letters: The England Leader of Opposition will often

write press articles to express succinctly his views on
policies of major importance for the Kingdom(See
Jeremy Corbyn or even Neil Kinnock, Leader of
Opposition of England between 1983 to 1992). It is
therefore imperative for the Leader of Opposition to
have a working stand by think tank. With the adventof
modern communication tools a press article or a
posting on the facebook of the Leader of Opposition will
attract a lot of reaction.

Other tools that can be used by a Leader of Opposition

(non-exhaustive): Press communiqué, meetings with
speciVc groups (Trade Unions, Student Unions of
Colleges, universities, NGOs, clubs….), motion of no
conVdence on the government to pin down the
government in its failures, public meetings (including
forum on speciVc subjects such as food security, walk
out (must be used very very sparingly), boycott of
government activities or a speciVc minister for clear
reasons,

The Leader of Opposition have many tools provided he

is well surrounded. Numerical force within the National
Assembly is not enough to whittle down any
government in power. He must Vnd ways for all MNAs to
meet to discuss certain issues so that there is no
perception of division. He must strive to unite the
Opposition and don’t let any inch for the government to
divide to rule.

In the Westminster tradition, the Opposition is the

alternative government or the alternative Prime minister.
The present Leader of Opposition will be doing his job
under the expert gaze of the former Leader of
Opposition. There is no room for failure as it will be
equivalent of failing the Republic of Mauritius.

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Simon − ⚑
il y a 5 ans

This is very interesting. I think that we should start right

from the start, perhaps with the history of democracy
and how people need to participate, because quite
frankly, people do not understand their duties and
responsibilities and how to participate in the functioning
of democracy in this banana republic.
5△ ▽ Répondre
Simon > Simon − ⚑
il y a 5 ans edited

Polybius and Levy traced the Roman constitution to

the Roman choice of the Spartan constitution created
by Lycurgus. The attempt by Lycurgus to create a
government to balance the demands of the mass of
workers and those of the aristocracy had proved one
of the most durable in the ancient world. That
constitution served the Romans well until it was
broken under the stresses of great wealth, power and
the corruption that empire brought.
The framers of the US constitution were well aware of
the problems of the Roman constitution and
attempted to correct what they saw as Lycurgus’s
failure to balance his government with an
independent judiciary as well as a citizen army
subservient to
the government.
Today our judiciary is under threat, weakened by
partisan attack, and starved for constructive criticism
to modernise itself, it is failing in its task. The police
is also in trouble; no longer a citizen army, it is now a
professional force for members of the ruling class.
The safeguards to Mauritian stable and free
government are corroding under the same pressures
of power and wealth that undermined the Roman.
2△ ▽ Répondre

Moris − ⚑
il y a 5 ans

Ça me rappelle l'histoire " boites cotton" aprés le depart

du Pmsd en 2014.
Apres des longues années a se dorer au soleil de
l'appareil d'état ça va ramer dur notre Xavier, leader de
l'opposition.
Et en plus " il n'est pas aussi gentil qu'il en a l'air " et ça
il nous faut attendre fin Mars!!!
1△ ▽ Répondre
This Is The End − ⚑
il y a 5 ans

lovely article and we can see that being a Leader of the

Opposition is no piece of cake either !
I personally think it will be very difficult for XLD to
replace Berenger as Leader of the Opposition as the
former has been in Government for 6 of the last 7 years.
He has to be careful to avoid political rhetoric, and
subsequently contradicting himself in the process.
1△ ▽ Répondre
Filibuster > This Is The End − ⚑
il y a 5 ans

I don't think an OL leader should be judge by his

PNQ's only
I know that XLD will not be as good as PRB, but
being an OL is all about integrity as well , hopefully
he doesn't
let the parliament close for 9 months like his
predecessor to negotiate "sous tapie"
However thank you RAMA for giving us an
explanation about PNQ and PQ
2△ ▽ Répondre
This Is The End > Filibuster − ⚑
il y a 5 ans

Xavier should also know a bit of Bhojpuri unlike

Paul. It will help him to relate to certain sections of
the electorate that Paul never managed to
convince.
△ ▽ Répondre

L'Observateur − ⚑
il y a 5 ans

Nouler, nou paler, P.Berenger has been undoubtedly our

best Leader Of The Opposition so far.
1△ ▽ Répondre
Fantomas > L'Observateur − ⚑
il y a 5 ans edited

Cot fine arriver et avek ses quelques annees ki mo

encor ene devan mwa sil plait a Dieu mo bizin dire ki
mo pas ena oken objection ki PB vine PM -ou XLD
ou NCR ou A.Boolell-ou S.Mohamed ou
R.Bhagwan.Ene fois na pas met encor sa ban [....]la
pou diriz le pays.Merci.
△ ▽ Répondre
sunman > L'Observateur − ⚑
il y a 5 ans

the best and the worst i would say, considering his

infamous alliance with NCR in 2014!
△ ▽ Répondre
Mauritian Patriot − ⚑
il y a 5 ans edited

It is good to highlight the legal/administrative system as

it is. It reminds us how much of copy pasting of
strangers is involved and the heroes in parliament are
those who are good in managing consequences of copy
pasted materials often from the colonial master. Very
often they excel in fluency in the language of their
colonial master. In this way, the colonial master retains
the role of torch bearer in its ex colony! And the proud
MPs of the so called "independent" nation are good
"students" of the ex colonial power.

In post colonial countries, I think it is necessary for a

nation to set a constitution of its own in some ways to
honor the cause of independence for which they
struggled. Take domestic violence in our society for
instance: I get the impression that the husband is bound
to be wrong at all times. What do the laws state to
avoid/punish wives having affairs? I get the impression
that the law is dumb about it because it is a copy
afficher plus
pasted material which does not fit our society. If the
husband
△ ▽ Répondre acts, he is taxed violent and if he is victimized
by the wife then the society, including officers supposed
Quasi
to protect − ⚑
every individual, humiliates him by wondering
il y a 5 ans
"zom mem sa". Once a proper constitution is made,
"walk out (mustcan
independence be be
used very very
complete sparingly),"
and the country will
take a new breathe with constitution that fits the society
very poor recommendation from you, indeed it is an
and national heroes will be the ones who will shine with
abominable command by using the word "must" in this
intelligence used for debating national issues for
context when considering democratic values!!!!
national interest.
"“There may be times when we are powerless to
prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when
we fail to protest.” Elie Wiesel"
△ ▽ Répondre
jean chung > Quasi − ⚑
il y a 5 ans

If you keep running away from humiliation, it

becomes predictable and a lazy way out.
In Montreal, policemen have stopped wearing
uniforms for two years to protest against their
bargaining process. Now, it is no longer outrageous.
It has blended in the folklore.It looks almost stupid.
Let me assume that when you talk of injustice, there
is a whole range of perception and acceptability...
△ ▽ Répondre

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