Mauritius 2026: The Year of Awakening or Disillusion?
As we approach 2026, Mauritius finds itself at a crossroads. After years of hollow promises and disputed governance, the country is facing unprecedented social and political malaise: rising living costs, scandals, paralyzing bureaucracy, and generational divides or an uncomfortable gerontocracy. In this report, four contributors analyze the major issues, thwarted hopes, and the risks of a lost year for both the economy and politics, as public opinion seems ready to judge and sanction the government's choices.
"The priority must be given to the economy"
If Jean Claude de l’Estrac, journalist, writer, political observer, and former minister had been Prime Minister, he would have declared 2026 "the year of the economy." His forecasts for the coming year are unequivocal!
The economy sacrificed on the altar of political squabbles
If I were the Prime Minister of this country, I would have declared 2026 the year of the economy. Throughout this year, the country has been distracted by all kinds of trivialities, such as repeated political squabbles, at the expense of the crucial question of economic development, which is practically absent from public debate.
During his end-of-year interview on Radio Plus, the Prime Minister congratulated himself on the very modest increase in the growth rate during the year, without specifying that it is completely insufficient given the needs and ambitions of the nation.
The top priority in the coming months is to get the country back to work by setting clear performance objectives. To achieve this, we need a strategy focused on two engines: strengthening existing economic pillars that show signs of weakness, and aggressively seeking foreign direct investment in new sectors.
Business climate: corruption, bureaucracy, and institutional paralysis
But first and foremost, it is essential to energize the business environment. Despite the rhetoric, the climate is not conducive: bureaucratic delays due to hyper-centralization of decisions; institutional incompetence; opacity; corruption. We cannot yet say that the announced "break" has been achieved, even if progress has been noted.
It also seems that it is high time for the country to have a full-time Minister of Finance. If the economy is to become our top priority, I do not see how a highly sought-after Prime Minister can bear so many responsibilities. Navin Ramgoolam must learn to delegate, including to his ministers. This was the great strength of Anerood Jugnauth.
Relief and disappointment
If I had to summarize the political year that is ending in two words, I would say relief and disappointment. Relief, for sure. The air we breathe is less polluted, speech is free, protesters are expressing themselves, the parliamentary opposition is fulfilling its role, although the Presidency must still show leniency towards the meager opposition in the Westminster spirit that makes the Speaker the protector of the parliamentary minority.
Disappointment. There are still too many actions that contradict, day by day, the promises of change.
Politics: The GM trapped by its promises
At first glance, 2026 might seem like a transitional year. In January, there will still be more than three and a half years before the 2029 legislative elections. Enough time to correct the course, as they say in politics. But for Shafick Osman, a doctor in geopolitics, this reading is misleading. 2026 risks being a lost year. "Three and a half years is long on paper. In reality, when a government has lost public trust in its first year, it is a structural handicap," he concludes.
A politically sterile year
In the end, 2026 is shaping up to be a year of zero sum. A government is struggling to regain lost legitimacy. A noisy but fragmented opposition. A disillusioned population, more attentive to private radio and social media than to official speeches. "Unless there is a major break, an internal fissure in the Change or an open crisis between Reds and Purples, 2026 will be a year without real political stakes," concludes Shafick Osman. Is it a wasted year? The geopolitics doctor leaves the question open: "In Mauritius, political vacuum is never neutral. It always prepares for the storms to come."