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Let me first of all show you my cards re the latest installment in the Air Mauritius saga, now in Voluntary Administration: I am glad, because I long gave up fighting for lost causes.
And Air Mauritius has been a lost cause ever since politicians decided that the company now belongs to mari zot mama, and therefore felt they could take it in turns to appoint the most stupid bunch of pathetic, greedy individuals imaginable to 'run' it. Yes, they did run it, and ran it straight into the ground...
Before we land on some convenient scapegoats and apportion blame on various groups, we must accept the fact that there are no innocents in this terrible massacre of our National Airline. Those with different degrees of responsibility are, in no strict order of priority in this hall of shame:
1/ The trade unions, still shopping at Ah Kee Stores for their precious droits acquis even when the company is in the Intensive Care Unit. All sorts of demands and rights were extorted from the company despite the fact that thousands of citizens would have settled for the existing rights that these employees already enjoyed. But they kept pushing and pushing even when it was clear to everyone else that the wall had been breached.
A grossly overmanned airline company bleeding from every orifice was often asked by the syndikalis to open another orifice....and now, no one is guaranteed a job however much noise the syndikalis make.
What does the future hold for the employees?
I find it inconceivable that the new Air Mauritius will have more than half of its current workforce on its books. What will the syndikalis do? Nothing much, I am afraid. They now have very little bargaining power and can do nothing when faced with this choice: Either accept a retirement package with X number of days per year of service as compensation, or the company goes into liquidation where you lose everything!
2/ No company in the world can thrive when you have 1 manager for every 10 employees....and all of them on huge salaries that piss from a huge height on the anaemic nature of the company's finances. So, many of these 'managers' will have to go, esp those whose only qualification is a family link with politicians, or those blessed with a long tongue permanently on the look out for any orifice to lick.
3/ The extraordinarily obscene benefits enjoyed by many parasites at Air Mauritius:
a/ Reduced fares for staff and their family even AFTER they have retired.
b/ Free tickets FOR LIFE for board members, i.e. the very same people who have killed off Air Mauritius through their stupidity and greed. And at business class, siouplai, parski sa ban la vreman koir zot kk senti bon.
c/ Confirmed free BUSINESS Class tickets for Senior Managers and EVPs, and their families.
How the fuck can any airline survive with so many freebies being dished out, and so many idiots on extravagantly high salaries and perks?
4/ Our zourlanus, many of whom adopt their favourite reptilian pose of slithering on their stomachs in order to get a freebie from Air Mauritius. In return, they are expected to 'inform' the public with anodyne, quite pointless stories that do not tell us anything of value.
5/ Last but not least, in fact they are the main culprits: Our politicians. Politicians of all parties have treated our national airline abominably, and have used it as their preferred choice for employing absolute idiots at all levels at Air Mauritius.
Look at the Board of Air Mauritius of any year for the last 2 decades and you will see a bunch of numpties who know fuck all about either aviation or even management. Who in his right mind would employ someone like Mike Seetasipaki as a senior manager?
Or Bissoon Mungroo, a convicted fraudster? Or Prakash Montrou, recently convicted under POCA? or Dass Thomas, tea maker extraordiner, in the days of Navin Ramgoolam as PM? Or the chap from the Solicitor General's office who is on every board imaginable, usually companies that are both useless and which remain useless despite the wonderful advice of that zavoka?
It is this Board which appoints the DG, usually someone who the zourlanus will all welcome with open arms and with effusive praise over their "skills and experience", only for us to know within 6 months of the appointment that he is just as bad if not worse than the previous incumbents. People talk rightly about Megh Pillay as being a good egg, but I am still trying to discover any structural and beneficial changes that he has brought to Air Mauritius....
This voluntary administration is a golden opportunity for Air Mauritius to rise Phoenix like from its ashes and to reach the potential that was always there but which politicians have scuppered due to their greed and selfishness.
I notice Ramgoolam and Berenger are both waxing lyrical about the things that should be done now, and I ask myself this simple question: What exactly did you do as PM to prevent the rot from setting in when you were Prime Ministers. The answer? Fuck all. They too ensured that nou dimoune pou pran Air Mauritius, but admittedly not to the obscene extent we have seen since 2015.
When Sherry Singh was catapulted onto the Board of Air Mauritius with the brief to 'Transform' it, I knew that there was no way to transform Air Mauritius in its then set up; there was no way to reduce its incongruously large workforce or management without the unions threatening trouble. Now that the company is under voluntary administration, there is no board of Directors, no unions, and no workforce as such, so the ground has been cleared for the fundamental reforms that should have been undertaken a long time ago.
Pravind Jugnauth now has a golden opportunity to "reset" Air Mauritius to its default settings: It can reduce its workforce substantially because no foreign company will invest unless that is done. It should enter into negotiation with successful companies like Etihad or Saudi Airlines. Qatar Airlines is very successful too, but unfortunately it is on the wrong side of the Arab political divide. Same for Turkish Airlines. Forget Air India as it too suffers from the same problems as Air Mauritius re nepotism and maladministration, and is on the verge of bankruptcy.
Will Pravind Jugnauth do it? Or will he feel imprisoned by the nou bann he has nominated and placed at Air Mauritius and who have now become accustomed to a lifestyle their incompetence and uselessness do not merit?
If he wants to be a Prime Minister for the nou bann who voted for him, he will do nothing and let the accuntants make inevitably the wrong decision. If he wants to be a statesman and the 'patriote' he often tells us he is, then he will see the voluntary administration as a golden opportunity to give us a national airline we can be proud of. And once and for all, ensure that the politicians will never use Air Mauritius as if it was their own personal property in terms of appointments/nominations and gross interference in its day to day management.
Will he do it? He hardly has anything else to show as achievements, so putting Air Mauritius back on the runway would be a nice feather in his cap.
And Air Mauritius has been a lost cause ever since politicians decided that the company now belongs to mari zot mama, and therefore felt they could take it in turns to appoint the most stupid bunch of pathetic, greedy individuals imaginable to 'run' it. Yes, they did run it, and ran it straight into the ground...
Before we land on some convenient scapegoats and apportion blame on various groups, we must accept the fact that there are no innocents in this terrible massacre of our National Airline. Those with different degrees of responsibility are, in no strict order of priority in this hall of shame:
1/ The trade unions, still shopping at Ah Kee Stores for their precious droits acquis even when the company is in the Intensive Care Unit. All sorts of demands and rights were extorted from the company despite the fact that thousands of citizens would have settled for the existing rights that these employees already enjoyed. But they kept pushing and pushing even when it was clear to everyone else that the wall had been breached.
A grossly overmanned airline company bleeding from every orifice was often asked by the syndikalis to open another orifice....and now, no one is guaranteed a job however much noise the syndikalis make.
What does the future hold for the employees?
I find it inconceivable that the new Air Mauritius will have more than half of its current workforce on its books. What will the syndikalis do? Nothing much, I am afraid. They now have very little bargaining power and can do nothing when faced with this choice: Either accept a retirement package with X number of days per year of service as compensation, or the company goes into liquidation where you lose everything!
2/ No company in the world can thrive when you have 1 manager for every 10 employees....and all of them on huge salaries that piss from a huge height on the anaemic nature of the company's finances. So, many of these 'managers' will have to go, esp those whose only qualification is a family link with politicians, or those blessed with a long tongue permanently on the look out for any orifice to lick.
3/ The extraordinarily obscene benefits enjoyed by many parasites at Air Mauritius:
a/ Reduced fares for staff and their family even AFTER they have retired.
b/ Free tickets FOR LIFE for board members, i.e. the very same people who have killed off Air Mauritius through their stupidity and greed. And at business class, siouplai, parski sa ban la vreman koir zot kk senti bon.
c/ Confirmed free BUSINESS Class tickets for Senior Managers and EVPs, and their families.
How the fuck can any airline survive with so many freebies being dished out, and so many idiots on extravagantly high salaries and perks?
4/ Our zourlanus, many of whom adopt their favourite reptilian pose of slithering on their stomachs in order to get a freebie from Air Mauritius. In return, they are expected to 'inform' the public with anodyne, quite pointless stories that do not tell us anything of value.
5/ Last but not least, in fact they are the main culprits: Our politicians. Politicians of all parties have treated our national airline abominably, and have used it as their preferred choice for employing absolute idiots at all levels at Air Mauritius.
Look at the Board of Air Mauritius of any year for the last 2 decades and you will see a bunch of numpties who know fuck all about either aviation or even management. Who in his right mind would employ someone like Mike Seetasipaki as a senior manager?
Or Bissoon Mungroo, a convicted fraudster? Or Prakash Montrou, recently convicted under POCA? or Dass Thomas, tea maker extraordiner, in the days of Navin Ramgoolam as PM? Or the chap from the Solicitor General's office who is on every board imaginable, usually companies that are both useless and which remain useless despite the wonderful advice of that zavoka?
It is this Board which appoints the DG, usually someone who the zourlanus will all welcome with open arms and with effusive praise over their "skills and experience", only for us to know within 6 months of the appointment that he is just as bad if not worse than the previous incumbents. People talk rightly about Megh Pillay as being a good egg, but I am still trying to discover any structural and beneficial changes that he has brought to Air Mauritius....
This voluntary administration is a golden opportunity for Air Mauritius to rise Phoenix like from its ashes and to reach the potential that was always there but which politicians have scuppered due to their greed and selfishness.
I notice Ramgoolam and Berenger are both waxing lyrical about the things that should be done now, and I ask myself this simple question: What exactly did you do as PM to prevent the rot from setting in when you were Prime Ministers. The answer? Fuck all. They too ensured that nou dimoune pou pran Air Mauritius, but admittedly not to the obscene extent we have seen since 2015.
When Sherry Singh was catapulted onto the Board of Air Mauritius with the brief to 'Transform' it, I knew that there was no way to transform Air Mauritius in its then set up; there was no way to reduce its incongruously large workforce or management without the unions threatening trouble. Now that the company is under voluntary administration, there is no board of Directors, no unions, and no workforce as such, so the ground has been cleared for the fundamental reforms that should have been undertaken a long time ago.
Pravind Jugnauth now has a golden opportunity to "reset" Air Mauritius to its default settings: It can reduce its workforce substantially because no foreign company will invest unless that is done. It should enter into negotiation with successful companies like Etihad or Saudi Airlines. Qatar Airlines is very successful too, but unfortunately it is on the wrong side of the Arab political divide. Same for Turkish Airlines. Forget Air India as it too suffers from the same problems as Air Mauritius re nepotism and maladministration, and is on the verge of bankruptcy.
Will Pravind Jugnauth do it? Or will he feel imprisoned by the nou bann he has nominated and placed at Air Mauritius and who have now become accustomed to a lifestyle their incompetence and uselessness do not merit?
If he wants to be a Prime Minister for the nou bann who voted for him, he will do nothing and let the accuntants make inevitably the wrong decision. If he wants to be a statesman and the 'patriote' he often tells us he is, then he will see the voluntary administration as a golden opportunity to give us a national airline we can be proud of. And once and for all, ensure that the politicians will never use Air Mauritius as if it was their own personal property in terms of appointments/nominations and gross interference in its day to day management.
Will he do it? He hardly has anything else to show as achievements, so putting Air Mauritius back on the runway would be a nice feather in his cap.
