Last Tuesday, in the National Assembly, Deputy Prime Minister Paul Bérenger looked across the aisle and barked at MP Adrien Duval in Creole:
“Assizer do bourik… Camaron… Guet sa malelvé la…”
Translation: “Sit down, you donkey… Shrimp… Look at that ill-mannered fellow…”
The insults were not whispered; they were captured on the official microphone, broadcast live on YouTube, and replayed on every social-media feed.
The Speaker, Shirin Aumeeruddy-Cziffra, suspended the sitting – but never once asked Bérenger to withdraw, never cautioned him, never referred the matter to the Committee on Privileges.
In short: she heard the slap and chose to stare at the ceiling.
That silence is more dangerous than the insult itself.
- A rule that is enforced only on the weak is not parliamentary decorum; it is political weaponry.
- When the Chair tolerates a senior minister calling a colleague “bourik”, it tells every back-bencher that decorum is optional – provided you are powerful enough.
- Creole, the mother tongue of 90 % of Mauritians, is once again reduced to the language of contempt, reinforcing the colonial myth that it can only be used to insult, never to legislate.
The Standing Orders are unambiguous: “No member shall use offensive and unparliamentary language.” (S.O. 48).
The Speaker’s duty is equally clear: intervene, demand withdrawal, and – if refusal persists – name the offender and have him escorted out.
Yesterday none of that happened. Instead, we got a brief timeout and business as usual.
If Parliament cannot protect an MP from open abuse, how will it protect citizens from arbitrary power?
If the Speaker cannot police a minister, how will she police a government?
And if we accept that seniority buys impunity, we might as well print two sets of rules: one on parchment for the powerful, one on toilet paper for the rest.
Mrs Aumeeruddy-Cziffra still has time to correct the record. She can:
- recall the sitting,
- require Mr Bérenger to withdraw unconditionally,
- enter the apology in the official Hansard, and
- refer the breach to the Committee on Privileges for sanction.
Failing that, the honourable course is the one she has always demanded of others: resign the Chair.
Parliament is not a family kitchen where elders hurl insults and children must endure.
It is the place where we forge the language of a common future.
That language cannot begin with “bourik” and end with silence.
- Baagh the Lion
