Democracy and Political Governance Chapter 3 the right to basic services like refuse collection, drainage and road works, environmental care, preprimary schools, and parking spaces. Each local authority has established a citizens’ advice bureau, with a desk officer, to receive complaints. Each bureau must process them favourably within a fixed period. These agencies seem to be working very well. They receive and handle complaints and get feedback from the media on how they are performing. Mauritius has introduced programme-based budgeting (PBB) to all government programmes in order to ensure accountability and good governance. It also uses the Performance Management System in local governments. Local governments allow people and nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) to participate. Village councils work with NGOs. Their elected representatives, in turn, channel their concerns to the councils. There is continuous consultation with NGOs in council meetings, which are open to the public. Radio stations and newspapers hear the concerns of residents and channel them to the councils. There are no designated representatives or fixed quotas on councils for, say, disabled persons, the youth or women. However, the councils allocate grants and budgets to organisations that support these vulnerable groups. 141. However, local governments face challenges. The powers of local authorities are limited, despite the provisions of the law. An example is that important sources of funding are channelled through other authorities instead of through local authorities. Local authorities lack funds to fulfil the mandates assigned to them under the local government law. The central ministries are doing work that, in principle, they should have devolved. The credit always goes to the national government. Local authorities lack legal advisers and have to hire them for some aspects of their work. Women in politics 142. 94 The CRM notes that an effective democratic state is one where all citizens are able to participate fully in the social, economic and political spheres of society. The role of women in politics – particularly as candidates and political decision makers – is an additional and important litmus test on the extent to which a country is truly democratic. Unfortunately, the reputation of Mauritius as a leading democratic country is somewhat tainted by the country’s remarkably low levels of participation of women as candidates and decision makers in politics. Table 3.5 summarises the distribution of women candidates across parties for the 2005 general elections. 664 candidates competed for 62 seats in Parliament (which includes four seats allocated to the four ‘best losers’.) Chapter 3 Democracy and Political Governance Table 3.5: Allocation of women candidates by political parties in the 2005 elections Party No. of women candidates Percentage of total Mouvement Militant Mauricien (MMM) or Mouvement Socialiste Mauricien (MSM) or Parti Mauricien Social Démocrate (PMSD) 10 17 Alliance Sociale 6 10 Lalit 14 24 Other parties 20 34 Independents 9 15 Total 59 (of 664 candidates) 100 Source: Electoral Institute of Southern Africa (EISA). Election Update 2005. 143. Mauritius is still far from achieving the 50 per cent female gender representation required by the SADC Declaration on Gender and Development (of 1997 and updated in 2005). However, the CRM learnt that Mauritius has not signed this declaration and is therefore not bound to follow it. Supremacy of the constitution, the rule of law and the Bill of Rights 144. The CRM notes that its respect for the supremacy of the constitution and the independent functioning of national democratic institutions has earned Mauritius a good reputation as one of the truly democratic states in the world. Mauritius fully respects the constitutional provisions about democratic institutions. National security, law and order 145. These remarks should be read together with what the CRM said at the end of the findings under objective 1 on interstate conflict. Here, the CRM will make two remarks – one on the police and the other on the army. 146. There is one interesting finding about the work of the police. This is that, in a number of cases of alleged police brutality, where the NHRC decided that there were elements of police brutality or breach of human rights, the government has compensated the families of the victims without waiting for the outcomes of civil proceedings. 95