The Seychelles Financial Disaster & the Danny Boy Show

"45% i bon pou nou" 

The Seychelles Danny Boy Show is on the road again! Having returned from his trip to Paris in a beaming mood, Danny Faure could not help himself for the much craved airtime, to wax lyrical on the ‘tough’ negotiations he personally conducted (with his team) at the Club de Paris. Obviously conscious that James Michel is taking too much limelight, he has also found his moment of glory in his monthly press conference to update the people on how the sick patient is responding to the chemotherapy that he is administering.

It seems that the inexperienced, Cuban-trained Minister of Finance of Seychelles is starting to master the various terminologies of economics as this time round, he monopolised the whole press conference and only gave his technicians a few sound bites towards the end. In his usual authoritative, cocky and typical arrogant self, Faure went up the hill and down the coast several times in his attempt to paint a rosy picture out of the crisis that is staring us in the face. He even accepts that ‘45% i bon pou nou’! Is that a slip of the tongue which sums up their current political support in the country?

His young team has crunched the numbers and he is happy to report that things are on track. But Faure fails to convince when asked pertinent questions on the sustainability of his reform program. It seems odd that we will continue taking on loans when our primary objective is to get out of this quagmire by paying all these debts accumulated over the past years. In typical SPPF fashion, they know better. It is normal to keep on borrowing.

The Seychelles Finance Dream Team has yet to come up with a plan on how wealth will be generated in order for our country to meet its obligations. Keep borrowing to fill the holes is the modus operandi. Borrowing sustainably seems to be the best path out of this crisis.  With the Seychelles Governor of CBS Pierre Laporte relegated to the sidelines this time round, he rambled on about the economic model being conceived. Principal Secretary Afif was entangled in the ‘framework’ of how this ‘model’ will be executed. All this has to be taken with a heavy dose of a new ‘mindset’. These are currently the buzz words that are in fashion for the SPPF regime.

With the showboating taking centre stage, Danny Boy is enjoying his moment out of the shade. His musical chairs will end with the Finance portfolio and he is already contemplating the preservation of the Rene legacy by throwing his hat into the ring for 2011 and beyond. He is actively engineering the NYS Class of ‘81 movement as the platform to support his model and the framework that this new mindset will operate under. As he commented on the interest rate of the bonds, “9.125% I for lo nou!”