LALIT denounces the new Immigration Bill 2022 on three grounds that we will enumerate one-by-one
25.07.2022
But let us begin, firstly, by drawing attention to the fact that the MSM government has been, on purpose, “attracting” the rich to come live here. Then this same MSM comes up with a new arsenal against the very people it “attracted”. In particular, the MSM government has sought to attract those who invest over Rs17 million into IRS villas, Smart City schemes, etc. It has also vied to attract retired people living off wealth from abroad. It has attracted students who attend profit-making universities that have been given permits by the dozen. It has laid bait for ex-pats to come and work in highly paid cybercity work. It has lured highly skilled expats to come “work from home” here. And it has given permits for bosses to bring over thousands of ordinary factory, bakery and construction workers. All of the above as “residents”. The very rich have even been offered “Mauritian citizenship”, in exchange for money invested. They are somewhat like a new form of colonizer, living as they do in “colonies” that are “gated” and separate from society, and being “above” the rest of us. For example, they talk openly about “the locals” and living “on the island” (as opposed to “in a country”). They can walk around our streets; we cannot walk around theirs. The poorer workers, many from Bangladesh, are, in sharp contrast, the weakest and most exploited of us all. In addition, they are the most vilified – by racist, xenophobic attacks of the most violent and irrational type – quite openly, even in the Press and on Radio, and in political parties’ campaigns. They are accused even of falsifying the last general elections, not unlike Donald Trump’s “rapist Mexican illegals” who supposedly stole the elections in the USA from him.
Now, this same MSM Government that has welcomed all the oligarch investors, the rich ex-pats galore, as well as “importing” (yes, they often use this word) very poor workers in search of a slightly better wage, is bringing in a new repressive law in order to supposedly simplify and “strengthen” existing legislation, on the one hand, and prevent marriages of convenience to Mauritians, on the other. Whatever the pretext, this is yet another repressive MSM bill.
Three objections
Before launching into our three specific objections, it must be said that the existing laws are already draconian. So, we have broader political work to deal with in the future! And much of this will only be able to be dealt with in the context of a massive internationalist movement against petty-nationalism. But, for now, let us examine the three types of objection to the changes in the present Bill.
1. The Bill is one of a series of Bills and Acts that usher in more repression. There were the amendments to ICTA that make it a criminal offense to “annoy” someone with a social network post, and then there were proposed further amendments to ICTA subsequently withdrawn after protests. The Quarantine Act, supposedly to protect us from epidemics, has outlawed strikes in the port and airport. The new repressive laws are part of a wider movement towards a police state: the police are arresting people for minor offenses and for political motives. Torture in the investigative branches (CID and MCIT) is now publicly exposed. The Police Commissioner has just come on TV and erroneously announced that permission must be sought from the police in order to hold a demonstration. In fact, the Public Gatherings Act says the police must be informed. The onus is then on the police to, within 48 hours, object. But the Commissioner has his own repressive interpretation.
In general, the new Immigration Bill will thus clamp down on all citizens and residents. All manner of administrative powers are given to the Prime Minister, as Interior Minister, to act outside of any judicial purview. And so the MSM continues to make the executive erode the powers of both the elected National Assembly and the Judiciary.
To our alarm, in the new Immigration Bill 2022, includes the amendment to, inter alia, the Mauritius Citizenship Act, at its section 11, by adding the following new subsection, if you can believe such a clause is possible to propose:
“(8) Notwithstanding subsections (5), (6) and (7), the [Prime] Minister may, in his absolute discretion and without giving any reason, deprive any person of his citizenship of Mauritius, if he has reliable information and is satisfied that it is in the interest of defense, public safety or public order.” (Our emphasis)
So, we turn to Section 2 on interpretation, we read, “’citizen’ means a person who is a citizen of Mauritius”. The Mauritius Citizenship Act being amended by the new Bill itself has no definition of “citizen”. So, in its present drafting this is the most draconian anti-citizen law imaginable. You might argue that we should read the amendment within the context of Section 11 of the Mauritius Citizenship Act. There are two problems with this wishful thinking. Firstly, in all its other sub-sections, one after the other, the Mauritius Citizenship Act specifically states, again and again, a clear reference to “a citizen of Mauritius who has acquired citizenship by registration or naturalization under this Act ...” This amendment is thus in sharp contrast. Secondly, you might be on an airplane out of the country before you could even bring up this point.
It will, if passed in this form, mean that all Mauritians, but in particular any with dual citizenship (which has become quite the fashion) will be in jeopardy. There is still a provision that the Prime Minister must be mindful of: he cannot just declare someone “stateless”. So that is why we say Mauritians with dual citizenship, like Mauritians by registration or naturalization, are most at risk. But the repression is general. There is no recourse to the courts.
2. There has been a long tradition of Mauritians, in various ways, using forms of piracy or fraud against foreigners. The most naive kind is known as the Mauritian-skipper-and-French woman scam. The tourist gets to know the skipper. She then returns to Mauritius every year and they go out together in his old pirogue. Eventually she buys a new pirogue and motor, puts it in his name, expecting to be treated once a year on holiday. After a year or so the skipper announces to her that he has sold the boat and motor. The more shark-like scams are by Mauritians who open “shell companies” – as an ex-Minister once did – and get foreigners to invest together with them in it. The ex-Minister then whispers a rumour into the ear of the Prime Minister who expels the “foreign investor”. The ex-minister keeps the money. In Week-End of 23 July, we can read a story that may be of this kind: a French man who has clearly been hounded out by a pincer action between the pirating of his bank account and a trumped-up ICAC investigation. What this new Immigration Bill does is it adds more power to the already “super-power” of the executive that is vested in the Prime Minister to act beyond any judicial purview. This obviously kindles all manner of piracy.
It may even be a driving force for attracting “foreign investors”, much like the driving force for some contracts is the “commission” paid by the big western multi-nationals to the local politician.
When companies as big as Omnicane have had their real estate “bought up” by the Mauritius Investment Corporation – the big, secretive government dispenser of capital – this kind of modern-day piracy can be expected to flourish. This is true, especially, if we imagine it existing in connivance with some at the Economic Development Board. Both the MIC and the EDB are government entities with the opacity of private companies. This is idea for piracy.
3. The Immigration Bill is clearly an attack on freedom of Mauritians to marry who they want to, and an attack on the family as an institution. In 1977, we in LALIT and the Muvman Liberasyon Fam, together with La Ligue Feministe that Shirin Aumeeruddy Cziffra led, took the then Immigration and Deportation Act to the UN Committee on Civil and Political Rights Committee and won our case. It was both discrimination on the grounds of sex, and an administrative threat to the family as an institution. After the MMM-PSM came to power in 1982, the law was amended and spouses won the right to residence in Mauritius upon marriage. Now, when a Mauritian marries a non-Mauritian, with the new Immigration Bill, there will no longer even be automatic residence for the non-Mauritian spouse. They will get a “permit” for two years, and then, only after four years can they apply for citizenship, which the law says can be left suspended, literally forever – with them getting only an extended “permit” and no rights. The decision is in the hands of ... the Prime Minister. This is clearly against the right for every Mauritian to marry the person of their choice. As for the suffering that will be inflicted on children when the Prime Minister declares one of the spouses an illegal immigrant and puts them on a flight out of the country, it is unimaginable.
Conclusion
We call for both a stop to selling citizenship, and even just residence, to the rich from abroad, and we call for all workers from abroad to be given the right to vote after working and residing here for three to six months. They work here, and they pay taxes here, VAT being the main source of government revenue, so they should vote here. This way the xenophobia can be reduced. This way those that pay taxes are represented in accordance with an elementary principle.
The problem of “maryaz blan” just to get residence is not a widespread problem – though Jugnauth pretends it is – and it can easily be addressed by other means, such as creating social and economic conditions to prevent Mauritians not being so desperate as to marry someone this way.
LALIT, 24 July 2022
