Karl Offmann - Political Career

Political Career

Offmann was a full-time politician from 1976 to 2002. His first unsuccessful attempt to join Parliament in 1976 did not deter him from his political pursuits. He became member of the Militant Socialist Movement in 1978 and was elected Member for Curepipe/Midlands after the 1982 elections. He remained MP until to 1995.

He served successively as Minister of Economic Planning and Development (August 1983), Minister of Local Government and Cooperatives (1984 – 1986), Minister of Social Security, National Solidarity and Reform Institutions (January 1988 – 1991) and as Government Chief Whip (1988 – 1991). From 1987 to 1991, he was General Secretary of the MSM which he helped to set up, and from 1996 to February 2000, he served as party leader.

One of his first missions in Washington (as Minister of Economic Planning and Development) was to convince the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to not press for drastic reductions in the Civil Service Staff and not do away with free education and free health services. The country has, above all, managed to maintain social cohesion and harmony. Today, 44% of the overall wealth produced goes back to the people in the form of free education and Health Services, Social Security and other social services like Youth and Sports, Women’s Rights, Co-operatives, Housing, Arts and Culture etc.

On 20 December 1995, the MSM was defeated in the general elections. No candidates were elected to parliament. The party was plunged into a state of confusion and turmoil. While most lost confidence in the party, Offmann kept faith in its future revival. During the next four and a half years, he drove home the fact that the leader of the MSM was lead the party to success and to victory in an election. Subsequent events proved him right: at the 2000 elections, the MSM regained control of power through an alliance with the Mauritian Militant Movement. After the victory, Offmann offered to stay at the National Secretariat to keep things going because most of the party’s top officials were in government.