Now we know why Vasant Bunwaree couldn’t make a decision as to whether to open the schools or keep them shut on Monday.

And he did give a hint when he tried to untangle himself from the mess his ministry made of things in the early hours of Monday morning: “ I didn’t have enough information to be able to make a decision,” he said.

And why is that you think? It’s because our venerable meteorological service station cannot predict what the weather will be like in the next four or five hours – and I’m being generous. And do you know why that is? It’s because the meteo services don’t have a radar. So they cannot predict the weather.

Oh I’m sorry, that’s not accurate. We do have a radar at Trou-aux-Cerfs but it’s been out of order since 2008. Before that, it was working if a bit erratically. This settles the question of why “ Metéo Maurice”’ s weather forecasts are always off the mark.

Now would you like to know why we haven’t bought a new radar? Because it costs Rs 60 millions. And we don’t have the money. That’s why disasters happen.

Because they can’t foresee and thus can’t anticipate so they can’t govern. Hence they tell you that you must decide if your kid will stay at home or not. You, not them.

And that’s the minister’s job done as if you hadn’t elected him and his government to govern the country on your behalf.

Now you know we don’t have Rs 60 millions but we do have Rs 30 millions to party.

Oh I’m sorry, to celebrate. To celebrate the 45th anniversary of our independence.

We do have a billion to give to Singaporeans for them to make us the most hi-tech of ID cards. We have billions to invest in dubious road infrastructure and even more to pay for massive budget overruns incurred because of lack of planning ( I’m thinking in particular of the Caudan flyover and the waste water works in Baie-du-Tombeau). I could go on of course, except that I’d run out of my allocated space.

Oh I forget, the government is also spending a whopping Rs 60 millions to renovate the Anjalay stadium – a stadium that had been left to rot – just to be able to celebrate in style on the 12 th of March.

But if I may, what exactly are we going to celebrate on our country’s independence day? Besides the fact that we emancipated ourselves from the colonists and became masters of our own destiny for better or for worse? That we are today yet again in bondage, albeit of a different type? That the western colonizers have been replaced by Labour colonizers? For we all know that there’s a price to pay today if one doesn’t toe the master’s line. Institutions stop functioning when the Prime minister sneezes, his friends have taken the country and its resources hostage.

Is this what we’re spending millions to celebrate?