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2-04-2015, 17:17

Mauritius: Ramgoolam, Seewoosagur, Government of

On March 12,1968, Mauritius gained its independence as a state within the British Commonwealth. Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam (1900-1985), a British-educated Hindu doctor who for many years had enjoyed a broad base of popular support, became the country’s first prime minister, heading a Labour-led coalition that found itself governing a country with deep-rooted economic problems.

During the 1960s, and to the detriment of economic reform, Mauritius had been preoccupied with the immediate objective of obtaining independence without provoking ethnic conflict or installing a Hindu-dominated government. Despite the recommendations of two 1961 reports, which noted the urgency of reducing population growth rates and encouraging economic diversification, little had been done to these ends: unemployment was high and rising, and the economy remained singularly dependent on sugar. The workforce was poorly trained, and the well-educated white-collar sector was emigrating, fearful for its future in an independent state. In 1970 Ramgoolam drew up a plan that called for sustained economic growth and established the basis for this growth, the Export Processing Zone (EPZ).

The EPZ aimed at attracting foreign and domestic capital for an industrialization program. It provided an attractive package, offering tax relief, government subsidies, and credit facilities, with promises of good infrastructure and the placing of no restrictions on capital transfer. The government promised a competent, cheap, and reliable labor supply, which the Mauritian public education system was able to supply, and from 1971 to 1975 the economy boomed.

Although the EPZ, based principally on textiles, was clearly a success, it was dependent upon the health of the sugar sector. During several years in the early 1970s while world sugar prices were extremely buoyant, Mauritius produced several bumper crops, and the resultant profits fuelled EPZ growth. Sugar profits also funded investment in the tourism sector, and in services, they also provided increased government revenue, thus permitting improvements to social services and infrastructure development.

Mauritius’ continued status as a developing country attracted substantial development aid, particularly in view of its stable government and its potential as a development success story. In 1972 its close relationship with France led to the country being invited to join OCAM, the association of former French colonies in Africa. Aware that imminent British membership of the EEC would remove the privileges Mauritius enjoyed in the British market, Mauritius accepted OCAM’s invitation and became the first Commonwealth state to obtain preferential access for its exports to the European Community, several years before the Lome Convention.

Despite economic success, the Labour Party faced opposition. Poor economic conditions, high unemployment, and low wages in the late 1960s had led to the formation of the left-wing Mouvement Militant Mauricien (MMM) in 1969. Led by Paul Berenger, a young radical who had spent 1968 in Paris, the MMM rapidly established itself as a force to be contended with. Appealing to the youth to renounce communalism and take up the class struggle, the MMM won a by-election in the strongly Hindu constituency of Triolet in 1970 and went on to further victories in the 1971 local elections.

In late 1971 the MMM backed striking workers and began preparing for the 1972 general election, but Ramgoolam invoked emergency powers under the Public Order Act, claiming the country could not risk social unrest. Political meetings were banned, trades union activity severely restricted, the MMM newspaper shut down, and a number of MMM leaders, including Berenger himself, were arrested. The 1972 election was postponed until 1976, and although its leaders were released from prison, throughout the period Ramgoolam maintained restrictions on the MMM.

If Ramgoolam could justify his actions by pointing to the economic boom, it proved to be unsustainable. Rapid growth had fuelled inflation and a demand for imports; in the mid-1970s sugar prices collapsed and the rise in oil prices led to a worldwide economic downturn that did not spare Mauritius. Exports slumped and although the GDP continued to grow, the rate of growth had slowed, unemployment was increasing, and external debt was on the rise.

By the 1976 election, Ramgoolam realized that the MMM could no longer be ignored and all restrictions were lifted. Both Labour and the more conservative Parti Mauricien Social Democrate (PMSD) attacked the MMM as Marxists, raising the specter of totalitarian rule, but the MMM had toned down its rhetoric and, in Aneerood Jugnauth, had found a candidate who would appeal to Hindus. The election was closely fought, and the Labour/PMSD coalition clung to a two seat majority, the remainder having been won by the MMM.

Throughout the late 1970s the economy continued to suffer and in 1979 the government was forced to appeal to the International Monetray Fund (IMF) for help. A structural adjustment program was put into place, including curbs on public sector spending and a devaluation of the rupee. It is to Ramgoolam’s credit that the government maintained its commitment to social welfare policies, including free education and health care, during this period.

The IMF program eventually had the desired effect, but too late to save the government. The Labour Party was facing increasing criticism, particularly from within. A splinter group led by Harish Boodhoo launched accusations of corruption (two ministers were forced to resign in 1979), nepotism, and incompetence among the aging leadership, who were seen to be out of touch with the population. The MMM backed a general strike in mid-1979, while Boodhoo’s insistent probing led to his expulsion from the Labour Party. He established the Parti Socialiste Mauricien (PSM), which formed an alliance with the MMM to fight the 1982 general election, thus guaranteeing the MMM the Hindu vote.

Both the Labour Party and the PMSD realized they had little chance of winning in 1982. The economy had yet to feel the effects of the structural adjustment program and serious cyclones from 1979 to 1981 had exacerbated the effects of a 21 per cent unemployment rate, falling foreign investment, unstable sugar prices, high inflation, and a 5 billion rupee foreign debt. The MMM presented a more moderate image than it had done in 1976; the alliance with the PSM reassured Hindus, while Berenger went out of his way to court the private sector, especially the sugar estates. The election was a landslide victory for the MMM-PSM alliance, which won 62 per cent of the popular vote and all sixty available seats.

The 1982 election effectively marked the end of Ramgoolam’s political career, and he was appointed governor general shortly thereafter. Despite the poor performance of the later years of his government, Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam is respected as the father of modern Mauritius. His role as a leader not only of Hindus but of all Mauritians, with his emphasis on dialogue and moderation and his perseverance in building a modern welfare state with a nonaligned foreign policy, won him friends and admirers both in Mauritius and abroad. It is without doubt due to his personal skills that Mauritius not only achieved not only independence but did so as a stable and harmonious democracy.

Iain Walker

See also: Lome Conventions, The; Mauritius: Nationalism, Communalism, and Independence, 1935-1968.

Further Reading

Addison, J., and K. Hazareesingh. A New History of Mauritius. London: Macmillan, 1984.

Bowman, L. W. Mauritius: Democracy and Development in the Indian Ocean. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, and London: Dartmouth, 1991.

Dommen, E., and B. Dommen. Mauritius: An Island of Success. A Retrospective Study 1960-1993. Wellington: Pacific Press, and Oxford: James Currey, 1999.

Mannick, A. R. Mauritius: The Development of a Plural Society. Nottingham: Spokesman, 1979.

Mulloo, A. Dr. S. Ramgoolam: His Life, His Work, His Ideas.

Port Louis, Mauritius: Swan, 1980.

Selwyn, P. “Mauritius, the Meade Report Twenty Years After” in African Islands and Enclaves, ed. Robin Cohen, Beverly Hills: Sage Publications, 1983.

Simmons, A. Modern Mauritius: The Politics of Decolonization. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1982.

Wellisz, S., and P. Lam Shin Saw. “Mauritius” in Five Small Open Economies, ed. R. Findlay and S. Wellisz. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993.



 

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