Scandal as Mauritius marks big day
MAURITIUS celebrated its 50th year of independence on Monday with fireworks and entertainment, days after a financial scandal forced its president to announce plans to resign.
The Indian Ocean island, beloved by tourists, switched hands between the Dutch, French and British before attaining independence in 1968.
Thousands of residents attended a ceremony celebrating the country’s 50th year of independence, with Indian President Ram Nath Kovind designated guest of honour, while Indian helicopters took part in an aerial display and troops also participated in a parade.
The ceremony, in which 400 artists took part, came after Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth announced on Friday that President Ameenah Gurib-Fakim would resign after becoming embroiled in a financial scandal.
Gurib-Fakim, the only female head of state in Africa, has been accused of using a bank card of an NGO to make personal purchases and will step down on an unspecified date. “The president told me she would resign and we agreed on the date,” Jugnauth said. “The interests of the country come first.”
When Gurib-Fakim, 58, took the honorary position of president in 2015, she became the first woman to do so in Mauritian history. A scientist and biologist of international renown, she has been under pressure since the Mauritian daily L’Express published bank documents showing she had used a credit card given to her by the London-based Planet Earth Institute to make thousands of dollars worth of personal purchases. The NGO is funded by the controversial Angolan billionaire Alvaro Sobrinho, who is being investigated for fraud.
Announcing Kovind’s visit earlier, Sanjay Panda, Joint Secretary (Indian Ocean Region) in the External Affairs Ministry, said it was in tune with India’s increasing focus on the Indian Ocean region.
He said the diaspora linkage was a very important part of bilateral ties with Mauritius – home to a large number of ethnic Indians – mostly descendants of indentured labour taken from India to work in the sugarcane plantations there.
Panda said there has been an improvement in India-Mauritius ties since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit in 2015. A double taxation avoidance deal has been signed and a $353 million economic package agreed. – AFP and IANS