This is part of a special series of articles that analyse cabinet decisions that are published online every Friday when they happen. In this article, we’ll explore the keywords that come up most often in cabinet decisions for the period 2015 – 2021. That means analysing more than 300 documents and about than 450,000 words. An analysis of cabinet decisions from 2015 show a male dominated political structure despite numerous announcements to achieve gender equality. It also shows that being a political nominee is a pathway to higher office.
Male dominated Political structure
The first year of an administration is usually marked a flurry of political nominations. And that is no different for the year 2015. An analysis of the cabinet decisions for that year reveal that about 162 male nominations were made while only 25 females were nominated. Despite numerous government documents stating achieving gender equality as a priority target, it would seem that most nominees are still males by a large margin.
The graph below shows the mention of the term gender equality in cabinet decisions for the year 2015 to 2021. On average, the term is mentioned once for every two documents published (except suspiciously for the year 2019).
A further analysis of the words associated with gender equality and women reveal that empowerment is the term most often associated with these two terms, followed by violence and entrepreneurs.
A recent report by Statistics Mauritius shows that despite the number of domestic violence decreasing by 32% in 2021, women remain by a large margin the victims of domestic violence. 86% of reported cases had women as victims.
a large political structure
Secondly, the sheer number of main nominees amounting to 187 over the course of a year is a staggering number. Even then, in most cases, only the chairperson of the board is named in these documents. The 2015 documents reveal about 120 state entities on which government nominated people. That means that if every board is constituted of 5 people on average, that would amount to close 600 nominees.
If we make a distinction between MPs, Main Nominees (mostly chairperson as named in documents) and other nominees (not mentioned in documents), we can sort of see the layers of the political structure.
While not all of them receive a monthly salary and are most likely to be paid for attending board meetings, it reveals the larger network that accompanies the swearing in of a new government.
Thirdly, a rough average would be equivalent to around 40 nominees per constituency. In 2014, the winning coalition won 47 seats. That would mean roughly 16 nominees per MP.
All in all, the reality is that a winning coalition places more than 750 people in politically reserved seats.
Nominations
An analysis of names mentioned in these documents reveal that more than half of nominees are for the post of chairperson followed by Director and Chief executive. This shows the importance of cabinet decisions as a tool for governments to exercise their power on state corporations or state entities.
Roughly 35% of nominations were to various boards and councils. A roughly similar portion were to regulatory entities and authorities. The rest were to funds and semi-state companies.
Further to that, nominations on state entities is a pathway to becoming an MP or minister. Out of the 187 main nominees in 2015, at least 3 have found their way into parliament or on municipal councils in subsequent elections.
going beyond
Cabinet decisions documents remains a wealth of information into the priorities of the government at a certain point in time. The 2015 documents show a government aiming to quickly fill up positions on state entities. That exercise in itself, albeit not perfect, is a way for it to exert its power and reward political allies.
The second part of the series will look at the years 2016 – 2017.