Mauritius Sugar Industry - Restructuring Part 1

Dear Children, grand children, family and friends,

A set of coincidental circumstances took me last Wednesday night to a grandiose gathering. Had I known where I was going, I would have taken my camera. You could have seen pictures of the age old most famous Mauritius Police Band playing on the verandah of this Colonial day’s home set amid sugar cane fields.

This trip back in time for a present day small peon like me stirred up old feelings. And after a brief conversation I had with one of the guests, I could not resist forwarding the following to the local press.

As John F. Kennedy once said, I am here looking for what I can do for my country…

Dear Editor,

I hope that my reflections prove timely, helpful and worthy of publication.

Yours truly,

Louis Leclezio.

Down memory lane…
Has much changed?

Over the past weeks there has been much discussion about adequate compensation for all concerning the restructuring of the sugar industry.

Two recent remarks caught my attention. “Should the Government ask the sugar industry for 2000 acres only or should Government ask for 10,000 acres?” Likewise on the subject of IRS, Government also recognized that rules need to be reviewed urgently. Otherwise Government could end up being “Le dindon de la farce”.

Those two remarks sent me down memory lane along the ways of the past.

Fernand Leclezio, our father, is remembered by some for having set the foundation in the forties for three of the four sugar mills that will survive the crucial present restructuring. He is also remembered fondly by some past Government members. In an interview with l’Express published on Friday November 21, 2003, Sir Satcam Boolel was asked:

Quels sont les chemins que vous avez croisés au cours de votre carrière et qui restent pour vous des références ?

Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, Sookdeo Bissoondoyal, Bickramsing Ramlallah et aussi Fernand Le Clézio qui était un avant-gardiste. Je le rencontrais souvent. Il avait une grande ouverture d’esprit. Et puis, il y a Guy Rozemont. Si je ne l’avais pas rencontré, je ne serais sans doute pas dans le Parti Travailliste.

Today the sons of Sir Seewoosagur and Sir Satcam are following in their father’s footsteps. With continued vision they are leading our country on a voyage to an ever better exemplary land.

Today, my brother, my sisters and I best remember our father for setting the foundations to better housing and better living conditions for labour. Back in the mid fifties Government did not have to ask him to do so. He gladly did so of his own free will. Way back then, Government and F.U.E.L. got together to develop ‘Happy Village’ with all its social activity centers, recreation fields and shopping facility.

Two old pictures dating back to the fifties testify to the ‘revolutionary’ or should I say counter revolutionary housing our father laid the foundations to.

Has much changed…?

I recall that way back then other sugar millers complained bitterly about our father. Some even went as far as to accuse him of being a communist. Others simply blamed him for doing the right thing and setting a commendable example. They argued that he was introducing a precedent within the industry. That his worthy efforts would turn out to be very costly to the rest of the industry. They feared that labour across the island would now come to expect equal housing standards from all other millers and they claimed that they could not afford it!

Today, our Government takes to heart the welfare of all Mauritians. So, it is asking over and over again for a fair deal for all through the restructuring process. Is the sugar industry hearing? If so, what will be the noble, fair, just and equitable final answer from that industry?

Today, we further ask: Are those within the sugar industry who are benefiting most from our father’s vision, leading that industry with the same open mind and open hands that characterized our father? Are they continuing the journey along a visionary path for the fair, just and equitable benefit of all Mauritians?

Indeed, the members of the industry would not even have to reinvent the WEAL in order to bring the West and the East together in an Association that Lasts. They should merely, follow the example originally set in the fifties. (More to come in a future column on a possible present day fair restructuring involving acreage – Is 2000 acres a mere snack?)

Interestingly enough, on May 9th, I was at a reception that gathered Honourable members of the Government, honourable members of the EU and members of the sugar industry. Back stage, I was helping Jacqueline Dalais of 'La Clef des Champs' (purely coincidental name) provide palatable snacks to the hungry crowd. For a brief moment I ventured among the guests. A lady guest said to me: “The sugar industry desperately needs a visionary like your father to day”. Does that lady have some uncanny vision or was it wishful thinking on her part?

Had I had a glass in hand right then, I would have raised it high to the fathers of our great nation and to those who are still walking in their footsteps.

“It is in giving that we receive.” (St. Francis.) Our father often reminded us that when we die, the only worthy goods we get to take with us are those we gave away.

Fernand & Louis Leclezio.