First of all I wish to associate myself with the previous speakers who have paid glowing tributes to the efficiency with which this conference has been organised. We are also touched by the warm hospitality which has been so lavishly showered upon us right from the time we have landed in this beautiful city of Tunis Carthage. This is in the tradition of a city which has found itself at the crossroads of history at the very dawn of our present civilization and which remains until today a living incarnation of man's determination to fight injustice.
On behalf of my Party and in the name of the Prime Minister of Mauritius, I wish to thank you Mr. President and through you the Destourian Socialist Party for inviting us to participate in this important conference on Planned Development and African Ways to Socialism. We are also appreciative of the initiatives taken by your party under the dynamic leadership of H.E. President Habib Bourguiba who is today a source of inspiration and strength to all political fighters on the continent of Africa.
It gives us great pleasure to salute our comrades who are today representing the liberation movements of Angola, Namibia and Zimbabwe. It is the cherished hope of one and all that soon they will take their rightful place in the comity of nations and begin the stupendous task of raising the quality of life of their peoples which has been decimated by years of oppression. Let them know that we are all one with them.
Since the opening of this conference we have listened with great interest to the statements of our friends describing their experiments in planned development. We have also enriched ourselves by sharing the knowledge of how they are chalking out their path to socialism on the African continent.
In Mauritius, Mr. President, the Mauritius Labour Party is the oldest and largest political party today and it is due to its determination under the leadership of its leader, our Prime Minister, that we have been able to achieve political independence in 1968 and to make of socialism a living and meaningful political creed for our people. As you are aware, we are an island of not more than 720 square miles with a population of about 900,000 but we are today one of the ten largest sugar exporters of the world.
When we became independent in 1968, we were faced with grave socio-economic problems which could have triggered the disintegration of our society. Our reserves were almost depleted and sugar prices were at the lowest; it was selling at ₤13 a ton on the world market and the cost of production was above ₤25 per ton. And as you know sugar has always been the mainstay of our economy: even today it brings us more than 90% of our foreign exchange earnings. In addition to this desperate economic situation we were faced with a large army of young unemployed people. In fact the unemployment rate was at 20% of our labour force.
It was in those circumstances that we started economic planning in the post-independence era in Mauritius.
After studying the situation carefully we decided upon a wholly unorthodox approach to planned development. We decided that employment creation should be our basic objective and that a rise in GNP should be the consequence of our objective and not the other way round. We took the view that a rise in GNP accompanied by large-scale unemployment would be meaningless in national terms.
When we became independent the features of our economy were frightening indeed: we were a monocrop economy; the population was increasing at about 2.7% per annum; sugar prices were depressed; unemployment was rife and we had no other raw material or natural resources; and the people's expectations were high especially from a party and Government which had led them to independence. Such was the magnitude of the task with which we were faced.
Having decided that our strategy for development would be employment creation the choices confronting us were clearly the following:
(a) to diversify our economy and also to diversify our agriculture;
(b) to check the population growth;
(c) to meet the immediate challenging problem of large-scale unemployment;
(d) to raise the necessary external assistance to finance our plan and at the same time to build up the capacity to execute the plan projects.
With gradual improvement in sugar prices in the early 70's it was not difficult to raise assistance for our first post-independence economic development plan. Through a series of bilateral and other arrangements we were able to build up the executive capacity for plan implementation. In order to meet the immediate unemployment situation we created a series of development projects which were not strictly economically viable but were socially productive. Those projects were designed to mitigate the urgent social situation created by unemployment and to create the proper atmosphere which would permit long-term, meaningful development to take place.
By introducing a vigorous programme of planned parenthood we have begun to tackle the population problem and economic diversification has taken the form of industrial processing. We have created an Export Processing Zone which offers a series of incentives to foreign investors and it has become a well-known success story by increasing our foreign exchange earnings and by making a major dent in the unemployment problem.
Today, after eight years of independence we have the feeling of having got over the initial difficulties of underdevelopment and are well poised for a major economic breakthrough.
Unemployment, although it remains our number one problem, is receding and the population is now growing at the net rate of 1.6% p.a. We have almost 100% literacy and primary education is absolutely free; what is more, all children of school going age find a seat in a government primary school. The government health service is free for every Mauritian and the programme of electrification covers 90% of the Island.
In order to avoid any kind of imbalance between urban and rural development, we have launched a Rural Development Programme which aims at improving the quality of life of the rural poor by increasing their incomes and by improving the physical environment of the rural areas. In specific terms this means improvement of roads, educational and health facilities, better water supply, electrification and income generating activities like co-operative farming and kindred pursuits.
Mr. President, this is part of the story of planned socialist development in Mauritius. But we are not here only to exchange ideas about our individual development experience. We are also here to examine in a global manner the fate of planned development in Africa within the context of socialist objectives. And in this we do not only have to consider and evaluate our own actions but to consider and assess the political and institutional parameters within which we can operate freely. We must recognize that very often our development becomes lop-sided by externally imposed constraints; at times our parameters become unreal because as a result of the education which the leaders of our society have received outside our own borders, there is an attempt to introduce, almost blindly, institutions which are alien to our people.
This to my mind, is one of the most challenging problems of the developing world.
All of us who are present here have a common objective and that is to raise the quality of life of our people who for centuries have been exploited in a way which has no parallel in the history of man. And we have also all agreed that the path towards such an achievement is that of socialism. But what kind of socialism are we after? Are we going to be prisoners of dogmas and creeds which have been handed over to us by our former rulers? Here lies a kind of invisible motivation which leads us unconsciously to a deep crisis of faith in our developmental efforts. And this in turn leads to either a loss of identity or to the acquisition of a borrowed identity which prevents the emergence of the genuine African personality.
We in Africa have to avoid postures which can lead to a crisis of ideology in our societies which will surely slow down the pace of our development thus prolonging the agony of our peoples. On the one hand, we have to ensure that we do not introduce in our society a kind of socialism which in the name of equality and egalitarianism will enslave our peoples for generations to come. On the other, it is the duty of socialist parties of Africa to watch that wide and provocative disparities of wealth are not imposed upon the working class in the name of free enterprise.
Whichever path we choose, there remains a greater challenging problem to all of us: our peoples are in a hurry; they have been waiting for far too long. It is in this specific area that to my mind there is much scope for cooperation between socialist parties of Africa.
That is why I take the view that this conference has been organised at the right time. It is a beginning and let us hope that in the future it will pave the way for greater collaboration between peoples and parties who have pledged themselves to wage war against the greatest scourge of humanity which is poverty.
Mr. President, we are meeting at a time when two-thirds of humanity are living below the breadline. On the continent of Africa the number of people who are denied the basic necessities of life may be much greater but irrespective of these figures, the fact remains that such problems of absolute poverty constitutes the greatest challenge of modern times. Poverty is a central problem which has many depressing and degrading facets namely, inadequacy of food and housing; lack of educational and public health facilities and overpopulation. It appears that these facets feed and thrive upon each other and thus our task is rendered much more complex and difficult. Our countries have been exploited and impoverished and upon the ruins of our plundered countries an iniquitous world order has been built. Since we were kept backward we have been denied the benefits of the agricultural and industrial revolutions which took place outside our continent. Today we are determined to catch up and it is this common purpose which has brought us all together.
But engaged as we are in this overwhelming task I suggest that we do not lose sight of new developments which are taking place around us and which could well become the foundation of a new form of colonialism which has already begun to raise its head.
I wish to refer to the fact that the resources of our land mass are rather limited and are likely to last for a known limited number of years. Therefore, mankind will have to turn to the seas. It appears that the major powers have already identified the areas of the seas where a wide range of invaluable materials are available. Most of us, if not all of us, in Africa have neither the means nor the technology of going into this kind of venture but I want to suggest that African socialist parties should take an active and keen interest in this matter. This is as urgent as it is important. If we miss this opportunity we might find that by the turn of this century we shall have been enslaved once again before we have had the time and the means to fulfil our pledge to our own people.
Speech at the Conference of African Socialist Parties, Tunis, 3rd July 1975.
Copyright Succession Keharsingh Jagatsingh
On behalf of my Party and in the name of the Prime Minister of Mauritius, I wish to thank you Mr. President and through you the Destourian Socialist Party for inviting us to participate in this important conference on Planned Development and African Ways to Socialism. We are also appreciative of the initiatives taken by your party under the dynamic leadership of H.E. President Habib Bourguiba who is today a source of inspiration and strength to all political fighters on the continent of Africa.
It gives us great pleasure to salute our comrades who are today representing the liberation movements of Angola, Namibia and Zimbabwe. It is the cherished hope of one and all that soon they will take their rightful place in the comity of nations and begin the stupendous task of raising the quality of life of their peoples which has been decimated by years of oppression. Let them know that we are all one with them.
Since the opening of this conference we have listened with great interest to the statements of our friends describing their experiments in planned development. We have also enriched ourselves by sharing the knowledge of how they are chalking out their path to socialism on the African continent.
In Mauritius, Mr. President, the Mauritius Labour Party is the oldest and largest political party today and it is due to its determination under the leadership of its leader, our Prime Minister, that we have been able to achieve political independence in 1968 and to make of socialism a living and meaningful political creed for our people. As you are aware, we are an island of not more than 720 square miles with a population of about 900,000 but we are today one of the ten largest sugar exporters of the world.
When we became independent in 1968, we were faced with grave socio-economic problems which could have triggered the disintegration of our society. Our reserves were almost depleted and sugar prices were at the lowest; it was selling at ₤13 a ton on the world market and the cost of production was above ₤25 per ton. And as you know sugar has always been the mainstay of our economy: even today it brings us more than 90% of our foreign exchange earnings. In addition to this desperate economic situation we were faced with a large army of young unemployed people. In fact the unemployment rate was at 20% of our labour force.
It was in those circumstances that we started economic planning in the post-independence era in Mauritius.
After studying the situation carefully we decided upon a wholly unorthodox approach to planned development. We decided that employment creation should be our basic objective and that a rise in GNP should be the consequence of our objective and not the other way round. We took the view that a rise in GNP accompanied by large-scale unemployment would be meaningless in national terms.
When we became independent the features of our economy were frightening indeed: we were a monocrop economy; the population was increasing at about 2.7% per annum; sugar prices were depressed; unemployment was rife and we had no other raw material or natural resources; and the people's expectations were high especially from a party and Government which had led them to independence. Such was the magnitude of the task with which we were faced.
Having decided that our strategy for development would be employment creation the choices confronting us were clearly the following:
(a) to diversify our economy and also to diversify our agriculture;
(b) to check the population growth;
(c) to meet the immediate challenging problem of large-scale unemployment;
(d) to raise the necessary external assistance to finance our plan and at the same time to build up the capacity to execute the plan projects.
With gradual improvement in sugar prices in the early 70's it was not difficult to raise assistance for our first post-independence economic development plan. Through a series of bilateral and other arrangements we were able to build up the executive capacity for plan implementation. In order to meet the immediate unemployment situation we created a series of development projects which were not strictly economically viable but were socially productive. Those projects were designed to mitigate the urgent social situation created by unemployment and to create the proper atmosphere which would permit long-term, meaningful development to take place.
By introducing a vigorous programme of planned parenthood we have begun to tackle the population problem and economic diversification has taken the form of industrial processing. We have created an Export Processing Zone which offers a series of incentives to foreign investors and it has become a well-known success story by increasing our foreign exchange earnings and by making a major dent in the unemployment problem.
Today, after eight years of independence we have the feeling of having got over the initial difficulties of underdevelopment and are well poised for a major economic breakthrough.
Unemployment, although it remains our number one problem, is receding and the population is now growing at the net rate of 1.6% p.a. We have almost 100% literacy and primary education is absolutely free; what is more, all children of school going age find a seat in a government primary school. The government health service is free for every Mauritian and the programme of electrification covers 90% of the Island.
In order to avoid any kind of imbalance between urban and rural development, we have launched a Rural Development Programme which aims at improving the quality of life of the rural poor by increasing their incomes and by improving the physical environment of the rural areas. In specific terms this means improvement of roads, educational and health facilities, better water supply, electrification and income generating activities like co-operative farming and kindred pursuits.
Mr. President, this is part of the story of planned socialist development in Mauritius. But we are not here only to exchange ideas about our individual development experience. We are also here to examine in a global manner the fate of planned development in Africa within the context of socialist objectives. And in this we do not only have to consider and evaluate our own actions but to consider and assess the political and institutional parameters within which we can operate freely. We must recognize that very often our development becomes lop-sided by externally imposed constraints; at times our parameters become unreal because as a result of the education which the leaders of our society have received outside our own borders, there is an attempt to introduce, almost blindly, institutions which are alien to our people.
This to my mind, is one of the most challenging problems of the developing world.
All of us who are present here have a common objective and that is to raise the quality of life of our people who for centuries have been exploited in a way which has no parallel in the history of man. And we have also all agreed that the path towards such an achievement is that of socialism. But what kind of socialism are we after? Are we going to be prisoners of dogmas and creeds which have been handed over to us by our former rulers? Here lies a kind of invisible motivation which leads us unconsciously to a deep crisis of faith in our developmental efforts. And this in turn leads to either a loss of identity or to the acquisition of a borrowed identity which prevents the emergence of the genuine African personality.
We in Africa have to avoid postures which can lead to a crisis of ideology in our societies which will surely slow down the pace of our development thus prolonging the agony of our peoples. On the one hand, we have to ensure that we do not introduce in our society a kind of socialism which in the name of equality and egalitarianism will enslave our peoples for generations to come. On the other, it is the duty of socialist parties of Africa to watch that wide and provocative disparities of wealth are not imposed upon the working class in the name of free enterprise.
Whichever path we choose, there remains a greater challenging problem to all of us: our peoples are in a hurry; they have been waiting for far too long. It is in this specific area that to my mind there is much scope for cooperation between socialist parties of Africa.
That is why I take the view that this conference has been organised at the right time. It is a beginning and let us hope that in the future it will pave the way for greater collaboration between peoples and parties who have pledged themselves to wage war against the greatest scourge of humanity which is poverty.
Mr. President, we are meeting at a time when two-thirds of humanity are living below the breadline. On the continent of Africa the number of people who are denied the basic necessities of life may be much greater but irrespective of these figures, the fact remains that such problems of absolute poverty constitutes the greatest challenge of modern times. Poverty is a central problem which has many depressing and degrading facets namely, inadequacy of food and housing; lack of educational and public health facilities and overpopulation. It appears that these facets feed and thrive upon each other and thus our task is rendered much more complex and difficult. Our countries have been exploited and impoverished and upon the ruins of our plundered countries an iniquitous world order has been built. Since we were kept backward we have been denied the benefits of the agricultural and industrial revolutions which took place outside our continent. Today we are determined to catch up and it is this common purpose which has brought us all together.
But engaged as we are in this overwhelming task I suggest that we do not lose sight of new developments which are taking place around us and which could well become the foundation of a new form of colonialism which has already begun to raise its head.
I wish to refer to the fact that the resources of our land mass are rather limited and are likely to last for a known limited number of years. Therefore, mankind will have to turn to the seas. It appears that the major powers have already identified the areas of the seas where a wide range of invaluable materials are available. Most of us, if not all of us, in Africa have neither the means nor the technology of going into this kind of venture but I want to suggest that African socialist parties should take an active and keen interest in this matter. This is as urgent as it is important. If we miss this opportunity we might find that by the turn of this century we shall have been enslaved once again before we have had the time and the means to fulfil our pledge to our own people.
Speech at the Conference of African Socialist Parties, Tunis, 3rd July 1975.
Copyright Succession Keharsingh Jagatsingh
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