- Tensions are rising within the Flacq District Council following the dismissal of Devianee Matabadul as Chairperson of the village of Bon-Accueil and the election of Devina Ramphul
- This Power Shift” has as a backdrop the actions of Kavindranath Seetohul, recently dismissed as Vice-Chairperson of the DC of Flacq and tolerated by some in power
The political situation on the ground in the East seems to be in turmoil again during this election campaign period with the turbulence accentuated for the Militant Socialist Movement (MSM). The crisis gnawing at the Flacq District Council since the end of last year has been rekindled with turmoil shaking the Bon-Accueil Village Council. Indeed, the tension has risen a notch since the Village Social Group decided to dismiss Devianee Matabadul from her position as president of the Bon-Accueil village. This step, started since the end of last month, is also contested by the main person concerned before the Supreme Court where she accuses Kavindranath Seetohul, who was recently dismissed from his position as Vice-Chairperson of the Flacq District Council, after a motion of censure, of having orchestrated her dismissal. What raises eyebrows in Matabadul’s case is the speed with which Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Regional Administration Anwar Husnoo ratified the dismissal and gazetted the vacancy left by Devianee Matabudul, within five days.
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The councillors of the Flacq District Council deplore the speed with which the revocation of the Bon Accueil councillor was approved while in the case of Kavindranath Seetohul, the supervising ministry had taken no less than two months to accept the motion of censure. Devianee Matabadul was in fact revoked by the Village Social Group on 22 July and the Flacq District Council was informed seven days later, on 30 July. Already on 2 August, the Bon-Accueil village council under the presidency of Devianee Matabadul had validated a motion of censure against Kavindranath Seetohul, close to Minister Deepak Balgobin, thus removing the person concerned from his status as District Councillor, representing the village of Bon-Accueil on the Flacq District Council. This motion against Seetohul was supported by councillors from his party, notably Pallavi Rawoo and Ramanand Keeroo. In the space of a month, Kavindranath Seetohul, who is very often at the forefront in MSM functions, was dismissed twice, as Vice-Chairperson of the Flacq district council and also as District Councillor.
With the dismissal of Devianee Matabadul gazetted on August 3 by Anwar Husnoo, the election of a new chairperson of Bon-Accueil village took place last Friday during which Devina Ramphul was elected as the new Chairperson. Since last Friday, the feeling within the Bon-Accueil village council is that this political turnaround within this village would be that the MSM would be losing ground to the Labour with close associates of Labour now at the head of the council and this, in a crucial period of election campaign. In the meantime, since the vote against Seetohul on August 2, the Village Social Group has taken sanctions against Pallavi Rawoo as well as Ramanand Keeroo. As of yesterday afternoon, both were still in office as councilors for Bon-Accueil village, their dismissals apparently not yet validated by the supervising ministry.
The maneuvers against Devianee Matabadul as well as those against the duo Rawoo and Keeroo are now being challenged before the Supreme Court. The former president of the village of Bon-Accueil has indeed, through Me Pazhany Rangasamy (solicitor), requested that her revocation as village councilor be invalidated and that her seat be declared vacant. She also requested that the Supreme Court declare that the meeting of her party, the Groupement Social Villageois, be canceled because, according to her, it “was held by an improper quorum through the malicious acts and doings…” of the other councilors of her party.
This political crisis is expected to persist over the next few days with the Bon-Accueil village council now having to choose who will represent the village on the Flacq District Council. On the ground, at least in the Flacq/Bon Accueil constituency (No. 9), this regional tension is starting to take over. Some councillors are talking about pressure or even blackmail that would be in place “pou pa sanz kouler politik”. Lakwizinn of the Prime Minister’s Office is also monitoring the situation, it is understood in informed circles, a member of the Prime Minister’s Inner Circle, Pravind Jugnauth, trying to play the calm in order to avoid significant and unexpected collateral on the sidelines of the legislative elections.
To be continued.
