Rédaction Africa Links 24 with Johanne Prosper
Published on 2024-03-25 07:30:40
The Cabinet Meeting of this Friday coinciding with the birthday of the former Prime Minister and founder of MSM, advanced to Thursday, to make way for a series of events.
The express tender exercise of the Teeluck ministry was launched last Friday for the supply of 200,000 copies of a 24-page booklet, with delivery this Wednesday.
The Prime Minister’s Office planned to celebrate with grandeur the 94th birthday of the late Sir Anerood Jugnauth (SAJ), former Prime Minister and founder of the Militant Socialist Movement (MSM). It has been confirmed since Friday that this week’s Cabinet Meeting, which coincides with SAJ’s birthday, will be advanced. Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth will hold his weekly meeting with his ministers on Thursday morning. According to reports, all ministerial departments that need to prepare Cabinet Papers and other Cabinet Memoranda have already been informed of this decision.
Information that leaked over the weekend indicates that arrangements have been made for a program of tribute, in turn, by government members as well as the MSM leadership at SAJ’s samadhi at the SSR Botanic Garden in Pamplemousses on Friday morning to pay homage to the iconic party leader.
Although there has been no official indication in the past 48 hours, everything suggests that the government will also unveil a life-size statue of Sir Anerood Jugnauth at the Caudan Waterfront in front of Place D’Armes this weekend. In fact, for a few weeks now, passersby have noticed that the preparations for this monument are already visible on the site, including the plinth that has emerged.
This statue of the former PM will occupy a prominent place on the Port Louis waterfront, next to that of Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam. The statue in question will be slightly larger than that of SSR, according to informed sources, who also state that it will cost Rs 13.5 million to the Ministry of Arts and Cultural Heritage that commissioned it.
Meanwhile, the celebrations of SAJ’s 94th birthday leave room for controversy. The supervisory ministry launched a tender exercise last Friday for the design, printing, and supply of 200,000 copies of a booklet for this event. Bidders have until 1:30 PM today to submit their offers to the Teeluck ministry.
The tender parameters indicate that around 200,000 copies should be ready in less than 48 hours, raising questions about this Bidding Exercise. The chosen bidder will have to design and layout the 24-page booklet to be printed in color on glossy paper. Some wonder if this contract has already been awarded to a company and whether the current tender is just a smokescreen.
On his part, Labour MP Eshan Juman, who has previously raised concerns about shady practices in the tenders of the Ministry of Arts and Cultural Heritage, believes that this Modus Operandi of “announce a tender today, close it tomorrow, and award it on the same day” seems to persist. He highlights that the Audit Office had criticized this practice.
“If you need to print 4.8 million worth of color on glossy paper, the tender must be submitted by Monday and delivered by Wednesday. It takes less than 48 hours. Which printer can deliver that? If they haven’t signed a contract and are covering it up, they’re fooling people. Once the printing is done, they will finish the binding,” he said. He draws a parallel with the problems students are facing with textbooks. “It’s almost the end of March, schools still don’t have books, they have all sorts of problems. School children still don’t have books. Meanwhile, the ministry is launching printing tenders as fast as possible. They are fooling themselves. They are doing what they want,” he adds.
Read the original article(French) on Le Mauricien
