Seychelles - State of the Nation 2009 or State of the NUTS?

James MICHEL delivered probably his most pathetic State of the Nation address a couple of weeks ago! He has finally come down from his cloud and abandoned the rhetoric of booms to paint a gloomy picture of the busts and disasters that lie ahead. As typical of any SPPF politician, it is always somebody’s fault and we have to be strong, resilient (that word again!) and ‘kosto’ to stare catastrophe in the face and deal with it! Even imitating Obama with his rallying call – ‘Wi nou pou travay’! 

This time around in 09, everything is about “us” when only a couple of years ago he was telling Seychellois who opposed his SPPF party’s communist ideals to “kile”, to get out the way and to let “Jj travay”.  How ironic that he is now begging all Seychellois to come together to help him get the country back on track, when it is he and Albert Rene and their mismanagement and corruption that have brought us a bankrupt nation.

We now see a rehashed speech of 08 that offers no optimism nor hope for the people of Seychelles who has ended up in a sinking ship that has been condemned to the bottom of the ocean thanks to the SPPF policies of the last 32 odd years. The poor ship has been torpedoed relentlessly and now the President is calling (for the first time!!) on national unity, togetherness, patriotism etc… to get us out of this mess and refloat (oops! sorry the rupee notes were lighter and floated first). However, the blame is squarely laid on the ‘tenpet ekonomik ki pe frap lemonn’.

Michel states that the IMF plan (which the Seychelles proposed to the IMF!) is sound and bearing the fruits and he ‘understands’ the hardships that the people are going through. So obviously he and his fat cats do not feel this hardship but they sympathise with the rest of us! How about doing these reforms 10 years ago Mr. President when the people were asking your government to do so? Obviously some personal agendas of getting rich fast amongst your entourage delayed the implementation of such reforms. Now that we are hanging by a thread, you revert to desperate measures. Why not call on the few who have hoarded the $2.4 billion to save us?

As usual, the President has a few ‘presents’ in his bag of tricks when he delivers this yearly address - to appeal to his grassroots supporter base. First, a series of new measures to help the needy and a new weight basket, since he is so sympathetic to their cause. Then a few cents off some basic commodities to finish the trick… but everyone was surprised to see that imported apples and oranges are part of our basic commodities.This must now be the grassroots fruits of choice today instead of mangoes, papaya, golden apples, the real fruits that Seychellois ate and enjoyed for years…I guess that’s what we call evolution of the SPPF party! 

The banks need to shape up as they are exploiting the situation Michel believes! But what he fails to tell us is that we are lucky the banks are sound and can still lend money to people… while his government is bankrupt. The banks operate according to government fiscal and monetary policies. So Michel has found a new scapegoat. And we need to be more ‘realis, responsab & resilan’ same three words from last year all over again.  Let’s ‘koste’ he pleads to everyone! What a two-faced monstrous farce from the man who uttered ‘kile’ when he was elected!

Diplomacy – Michel has placed a lot of emphasis on diplomacy as his regime seeks to get the international credibility that his predecessor lacked. Diplomats are received on a weekly basis in fanfare… the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is almost obsolete now that the President wants to be seen rubbing shoulders with all foreign dignitaries. He justifies his multiple trips abroad to putting Seychelles on the world map and championing our cause – the very same excuse he and Rene used to oust Mancham in the 1977 bloody (not bloodless) Coup d’Etat. And now the ultimate prize he brings home is that Seychellois will not require any visas to enter Europe! A decision made by the European community a few years back and extended to several other countries including Seychelles!

Democracy – How ironic that we have to be taking lessons in democracy from the same perpetrators of the Coup D’Etat! Michel now believes in a more ‘pluralist’ democracy where he will conduct district meetings (again) in this ‘grand exercise of democracy’. Never mind the treason of 1977.  Incidentally, there is hardly any mention of last year’s grand exercise for our constitution, which is the foundation stone of our democracy. Having played and toyed with the constitution at will, Michel now believes that we need to ‘koste pou nou esanz lide’! Now that he needs to garner all the support from every corner of Seychelles to rally behind his lost cause, Michel wants to set up a new high level forum between the leader of government business, the leader of the opposition and himself for monthly meetings. The perfect way to annihilate the opposition is to get them to rally behind a national theme on the surface (koste) while they play their party politics behind the scene (kile)…Gouvernay in touzour dan zot lanmen!  And thank God the SNP leader Wavel Ramkalawan in his response to Michel’s pitiable speech sent him packing along with a long list of issues that could be solved at the stroke of a pen.  Good on you Wavel…you should have told him to “kile and have an early election and let the people decide their own future”.

Productivity – Michel reckons that we need to be more productive in these difficult times. But what is government doing to encourage productivity? Local businesses are striving to make ends meet while foreign companies are given ridiculous concessions and tax free incentives with zero revenue coming into the country. As tourism takes a plunge, he comes in with a card up his sleeve. GST increase has been deferred until better times. The local Seychellois businesses (the only ones affected by GST as the foreign ones are exempted) should be grateful! This will surely help increase their productivity. And meanwhile, the army trucks are still rolling around Mahe wasting our hard-earned money, the Government vehicles are still carrying wives and girlfriends, the overseas shopping trips are still on, and corruption is worse than ever before in his own Government!

His vision in 04? – For those who have followed Michel’s rise to power when he assumed office in 04, he wanted to be judged by his actions and aspired to be the President for all Seychellois. But unfortunately this vision is still only a farfetched dream as he has continued to preside on the pillage of the country with all its corruption and graft that today we are faced with a ‘bold’ IMF recovery program that he is asking all the people to rally behind ‘pou lanmour Sesel’! He has continued with Albert Rene’s policy of divide and rule as this is best suited to keep SPPF in power. Yes Mr. President, the people will judge you by your actions or in your case, your inactions. Everyone is now seeing through this SPPF strategy. You have been forced into becoming a caretaker for an abandoned ship and time is catching up with you and your predecessor. All the rhetoric, pomp and fanfare (and imitations of Obama) will not provide you with this makeover that you crave. Unfortunately you are championing a lost cause…and the people of Seychelles has finally come to realise you are running on an empty tank and the only way out of this mess is to rid our country of the SPPF scourge.  The corrupt few can continue to move their money and hide them in projects and overseas jurisdiction such as their favourite British Virgin Island (BVI) companies; but eventually, the people of Seychelles will seek and find the truth.  And answers you will all have to give; just like Madoff just admitted his sins in New York city!

Remember? - In his previous ‘State of the Nation’ (S of the N), James Michel said that everything was ‘booming’. Sa pti bizou! A year later (2008) he tells us to be realistic, responsible and resilient ‘akoz zafer pa bon’. This year (2009) we are being hit by a world economic tsunami that requires more resilience. ‘Wi nou pou travay’ and we need all the solidarity we can muster to fight back this evil.  The previous Master Bater Latet (Albert Rene) told us time and time again in his many S of the Ns that ‘nou lekonomi i solid’ and we need to give a few more years and “ser sang”, while they continued to pillage… Now, ‘kapten in file…lanmans pwalon i tro so’! 

We are now into 15 years of our new constitution which was supposed to be a new ‘multi parti’ departure! But today, we have more of the same. ‘Plus ça change, plus ça reste pareil’.

Our S of the N can only be compared to the “State of the Nuts”!  And during his tenure, James Michel has contributed greatly to our country’s demise.  His State of the Union was shallow and empty, and he has insulted our intelligence.  We are really judging him by his actions and today, if he was to take an exam, the results would be a resounding “F” for FAILURE of gigantic proportions.  Maybe the new SPPF logo should represent: SPPF Party Progressive Failures!