Abortion, contraception and arson were the main contents of the menu. Added to these were private television, the MBC, safety in our lagoons and road construction.

Paul Bérenger proceeded with his usual smacking operation with his PNQ at the National Assembly on smuggled rosewood from Madagascar lasting for more than 30 minutes.

Where to draw the line between the private and public life of a Prime Minister whose bungalow was the scene of a larceny? It is more than a year now that the whole truth of what really happened in the bungalow of Dr Navin Ramgoolam on 3 July 2011 is not being revealed and that police enquiry is still ongoing.

Tuesday’s sitting of the National Assembly did not provide any new information on the sale of Med Point clinic by Dr Malhotra to the State, for the launching of a geriatric hospital, for the sum of around Rs 144 million.

The head of government of the Republic of China, Wen Jiabao sent a message of congratulations to the head of government of the Republic of Mauritius two weeks ago to mark the 40th anniversary of the start of diplomatic relations between China and Mauritius.

It took the Acting President of the Republic Mrs Monique Ohsan-Bellepeau, more than two hours to enumerate a list of good intentions the government plans to realise in the coming three years, with many of them coming again as repetitions. The only surprise came when it was announced that in the near future it is most probable that we have a President of the Republic elected by Referendum rather than elected by the National Assembly.

The first sitting of the second session of the fifth National Assembly will take place on Monday 16 April 2012 at 3.30 p.m. On the agenda: Proclamation of the opening the ‘Second Session of the Fifth National Assembly’ which will be followed by the election of the Deputy Speaker and the Election of the Deputy Chairman of Committees. During the last session it was Prithivirajsingh Roopun and Kumaree Rajeshree Deerpalsingh who held these portfolios respectively.

The first sitting of the second session of the fifth National Assembly will take place on Monday 16 April 2012 at 3.30 p.m. On the agenda: Proclamation of the opening the ‘Second Session of the Fifth National Assembly’ which will be followed by the election of the Deputy Speaker and the Election of the Deputy Chairman of Committees. During the last session it was Prithivirajsingh Roopun and Kumaree Rajeshree Deerpalsingh who held these portfolios respectively.

The tug of war between Government and the Civil Society on whether to have a Media Commission or a Freedom of Information Act has been going on since 2010.

Do we have a frustrated Civil Service? A clear indication was given when the President of the Republic underlined that Civil Servants “have to wait about 6 years to get a promotion. One or two years can be understood not 11 years when some of them are pensioned off and even some have passed away. How can you get good services when civil servants have no job satisfaction? A frustrated civil service cannot be productive,” he exclaimed.

The next round of the tug-of-war between Dr Navin Ramgoolam and Sir Anerood Jugnauth has as backdrop the National Assembly. In one month’s time, will Ramgoolam consolidate his majority or will there be major political development that will take citizens to the poll again? 

After nearly half a century (44 years to be exact) since Mauritius became independent, the population is still in search of nationhood. Our Republic is still in the making and the sense of belonging to a motherland is far from being universally achieved.