🇲🇺 Rs 42.7 million bought 109 ministerial trips the public cannot audit

Rs 42.7 million bought 109 ministerial trips the public cannot audit

Cabinet ministers took 109 official trips abroad since December 2024, at a total cost of about Rs 42.7 million. That figure came in a written reply from the Prime Minister's Office to a question from Joanna Bérenger, the Fron Militan Progresis MP, who wanted the meetings attended, the length of each trip and the money spent on flights, allowances and other costs.

She got the total and little else. PM Ramgoolam's reply says daily allowances followed the rates in the Finance ministry's Circular No 10 of 2017, but it gives no breakdown for a single one of the 109 missions. Asked whether mission reports would go before the National Assembly, the Prime Minister's Office said ministers brief Cabinet on their return and will keep those reports private.

Parliament sees the total. The detail stays sealed. And the detail is the only thing that would show whether the money was well spent.

Mauritius wants to be the region's base for Waqf endowments

Mauritius should become a regional reference point for managing Waqf, the Islamic charitable endowments where an asset is locked in trust so its income funds good causes. That was Minister Shakeel Mohamed's pitch at the 5th AlBaraka Summit in London last week.

He said amendments to the colonial-era Waqf Act have already nudged it closer to international standards, and he leaned hard on transparency, ethics and governance as the selling points. Trust is the product. For a sector that lives or dies on it, those are not throwaway lines.

Campaigners want nature written into the Constitution as a legal person

Green NGO Eco-Sud is pressing the Constitutional Review Commission to write nature's rights into the supreme law. Its five proposals would amend Article 3 so nature counts as a 'subject of law' with a right to exist, be protected and be restored, not treated as property or a resource.

The template is Ecuador, the first country to put rights of nature in its constitution. Eco-Sud says the government already pledged this in its own programme, so the ask is to keep a promise, not make a new one.

Water shortage and curfews leave building sites stalling

Mauritius's builders are having a rough stretch. Project delays, water shortage and pricier materials are squeezing the sector, and last week's unrest piled on. Ravi Gutty of contractors' association BACECA says the trade turns over about Rs 350 million a working day, and every day at 10% below normal defers roughly Rs 35 million of work.

Days on, 10 to 15% of state services are still down

Need to renew or file something online? You may be out of luck. Between 10% and 15% of government online services are still down, days after a global security flaw nicknamed 'PHP2shell' pushed Mauritius to take systems offline as a precaution. Services are coming back in stages, officials say no data was lost, but not every counter is back up yet.

Shorts

Fall at Victoria Hospital hurts patient of 84 – Her daughter has filed a complaint after the 84-year-old was operated on the head following a ward fall.

Cancelled exams graded without a resit – Former minister Dookun-Luchoomun warns a pupil could lose a scholarship under the assessed grades route.

National Divali night set for 30 October – The main celebration runs at the Indira Gandhi centre in Phoenix, with a cultural show after the formalities.

Five Rodriguan youths win EU youth seats – They will carry Rodrigues' voice on the EU Youth Sounding Board, which advises Brussels on policy.

Human remains found by a Beaux-Songes river – Police opened an inquiry after the remains turned up in tall grass near a orchard.

Upcoming Events

Sat 31 Oct · Bagatelle Car Boot Sale
9am to 2pm at Decathlon parking lot

Sat 7 Nov · Mahogany Car Boot Sale
8am to 1pm at Mahogany Promenade

Sat 14 Nov · NASA Space Apps Challenge
2 days · Rajiv Gandhi Science Center

Thu 19 Nov · ThirdThursday Networking
9:30am to 11:30am at Middlesex Uni

30 years

The Caudan Waterfront has anchored Port Louis for that long, and it is marking the milestone with a Diwali Week from 3 November. What began as a harbourfront redevelopment now works as a yardstick for how the capital itself has changed.

$800 million

The Archdiocese of New York will pay that to around 1,300 people who reported abuse by clergy and lay staff, one of the largest Catholic settlements of its kind.

$4.2 billion

Audi is sinking that into a new plant for the US state of Georgia, its first full assembly site on American soil, part of a wider rush by carmakers to build where they sell and dodge tariffs.

Flu and mpox swamp La Réunion's emergency rooms

Just next door, La Réunion is straining under a double wave of flu and mpox. One hospital counted 199 emergency visits in a single week, enough to stretch staff thin and slow everything else down. The worry is proximity. What fills wards on the neighbouring island rarely stays put for long, and Mauritius has learned that lesson the hard way before.

Gabon switches social media back on

Gabon has lifted an eight-month social media blackout its regulator imposed in February, blaming online posts for stoking division.

Niger rations petrol sales after dark

Niger has banned petrol sales between 9pm and 6am so suppliers can restock, a nightly rationing as a fuel shortage bites.

Israel seals West Bank crossings after a deadly Hebron attack

Israel has launched a large operation across the West Bank and shut its crossing points after a gun attack in Hebron killed two of its soldiers. Troops pushed into several towns, the closures choked the daily flow of workers and goods both ways. Tempers were already high. Each round of this tends to harden positions rather than settle them, and the timing will not help.

Machado returns to Venezuela from exile

Nobel laureate María Corina Machado is back in Caracas after nearly a year away, vowing to keep pushing Venezuela's leaders toward fresh presidential elections.

US thins Mideast embassy staff over Iran threats

The United States has cut staff at several Middle East embassies after warnings of advanced Iranian plots to kill Americans.

Madrid hands its streets back to 1,400 sheep

Once a year, Madrid lets the flocks win. Around 1,400 sheep and goats filled the city centre on Sunday for the 33rd Transhumance Festival, which revives an old right for shepherds to drive animals along ancient routes straight through town. This year the parade detoured around a housing protest, which feels about right: even the sheep must work around the cost of living.

🙏 Merci, à demain! 👋

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