Monday, February 27, 2012

The Seychelles Column - By Christopher Gill

Air Seychelles Needs Real Competition

The famous "Air Seychelles" brand - gone forever

The recent surprise sell out of Government of Seychelles interest in the national air carrier Air Seychelles, has exposed the very deep rifts that exist in the Air Seychelles failed business model.

United Arab Emirates (Abu Dhabi) Takes 40% Interest and Control 

Abu Dhabi - Air Seychelles new headquarters

Most are knowledgeable of the 40% interest the UAE Abu Dhabi-based carrier Etihad has taken in Air Seychelles. Many have called this a national shame for Seychelles. It is a shame. Etihad Managing Director has said that after the acquisition: “Etihad is not considering any other acquisition because its plate is now full with the purchase of Air Berlin and Air Seychelles”.

Etihad - Savior of Air Seychelles or the beginning of the end for Air Seychelles?

Indeed the Etihad plate is full. It has also negotiated full control of Air Seychelles, in spite of the ex-national air carrier having only One (1) single Boeing 767-300 that can do international flights. Etihad has placed its own CEO and Chairman at the helm of Air Seychelles and they even control the domestic segment of the Air Seychelles company. Here is where our problems start and I will propose solutions.

Domestic Fare Hikes Outrageous!

Air Seychelles Domestic Service - plagued by bad management,poor customer service & high ticket fares

Last week Air Seychelles hiked air fares between Mahe and Praslin from SCR 512 (US$ 36) round trip to SCR 1,600 (US$ 112) round trip. The lower rate was a local residential rate, while tourists were already paying the higher rate in hard currency. Now the highway robbery rate applies to residents purchasing tickets under some sort of code. This new rate is not only outrageous, it is ridiculous. In Europe one can purchase a ticket from Heathrow to Spain for GBP 20 (UK Pound Sterling).  Most of these domestic flights are empty or operate under 50% capacity.

Even Minister of Transport Joel Morgan had no clue the price hike was on the way. Poor Minister Morgan, kept in the dark by his own Frankenstein creation.

Minister Morgan - In the dark and out of his depth as usual

In the past Air Seychelles advertised over Twenty (20) flights to Praslin per day. Today, we are lucky if Air Seychelles runs Four (4) flights per day to Praslin. It is doing close to what Cat Cocos does. But the boat carries over 500 people on two trips. Air Seychelles can carry 80 passengers on Four(4) trips. Do the numbers and you will know the loss of market share for Air Seychelles over the years.

The fast and sleek "Cat Cocos" Catamaran Ferry - Excellent, affordable service

Service Is Just Plain Bad

The other common gripe with Air Seychelles domestic for years now, has been that service is just plain bad. It sucks. It is a bad experience. Delays on Air Seychelles are common. Flight cancellations are a regular event. The front desk check-in clerks treat you like you are baggage yourself and rude is a polite pronoun for many of them.


In spite of being advised by management to be polite with travelers, the system they are tasked to run, is patently flawed and they too being human, run out of patience when faced with reoccurring failure of Air Seychelles ability to deliver good service at a fair price.

Cat Cocos Beating The Plane To The Ground

The other inter-island option for travelers is Cat Cocos. They run a more efficient check in service than Air Seychelles domestic. They are even more professional and handle your booking much quicker. On the route, you are offered a choice of seating classes, food, beverages, and even in route DVD and CD entertainment. Even better then Air Seychelles, the seats are clean and laundered regularly. Leatherette seats are available in Lazio class and they do recline. When one takes the delays of inter island Air Seychelles into account, you get to Praslin on Cat Cocos in about the same time as taking Air Seychelles, but it is much cheaper. An economy seat runs for SCR 169 (US$ 12). A Lazio Business seat with food and drinks, cold towel, a smiling hostess and reclining seat costs just SCR 285 or (US$ 20).  If you take ten (10) trips, you get one free.  On Air Seychelles, you can take 1,000 trips, you will not even get a coke for free, but you will be guaranteed one thing: before the 1,000 trip, the ticket price will go up and so will your blood pressure.

Competition Will Clean Up This Mess

A plethora of bad reviews has plagued Air Seychelles for years now. We complain to management, they do nothing. Today, even management does not know what to do.

Rajiv Bissessur (Mauritian) and David Savy - Air Seychelles former incompetent management team

Air Seychelles Domestic is now run out of Abu Dhabi. It is a reality and it is a pure shame. To clean up this mess which is having a detrimental impact on Praslin and La Digue islands as possible destinations for guests, the time has come for the private sector of Praslin, La Digue, Mahe, Bird Island, Denis Island and other SEYCHELLOIS entrepreneurs to come together and create another airline company to make inter island flight feasible and functional with realistic pricing and rekindle the “Seychellois Spirit” service. This is the only solution at this point to rectify a non-responsive Air Seychelles, to the problems we have been facing with its operations for years now. The recent callous price hike is simply the straw that broke the camel's back.

Make Public Share Offers Raise Capital For new Planes

To push this along, business leaders need to group and act. Make a public offer to raise capital to buy new planes and deliver excellent inter island service from Mahe onwards. The company should be 100% Seychellois owned and we can leave Air Seychelles in the hands of James Michel, Sheikh Khalifa, Joel Morgan, David Savy and of course Etihad. We can even call it “Seychelles Airways”, and put an end to this madness that is hurting our tourism industry and the entire inter-island community, which even includes misguided Communists as you all know.


After Seychelles Airways is off the ground, let us go find the right plane and expand with direct flights to our core market which is Europe, and let us take back our tourism industry with a renewed “Seychellois Spirit”.

As President Obama said 4 years ago:

"We can do it, and yes we can!"

Seselwa Unite!

Sesel Pou Seselwa!

May God Bless All Freedom Loving Seychellois!

248 comments:

1 – 200 of 248   Newer›   Newest»
Anonymous said...

Hey Gill,

Do you know how many millions of dollars Quantas has lost in the last quarter of 2011?.

And Gill, what is stopping you from putting a syndicate together to compete with Air Seychelles' inter island flights?.

Are you not one of the Hot Heads that professes to be the "movers and shakers" of the Seychelles Business Communities?.

Why did you not heed FAR's State of the Nation Address when he implored....begged the Seychellois to invest in their own Country?.

One Man by the name of Joe Albert did and his success with one of his Business in Kat Kok......errhhh Kat Koko has come home to roost and you Gill of all people is talking about his success.

And Gill, someone mentioned something about the contents of your "teurmos".... Is it really prune juice to keep you keeping on?. Ki deal Bougla?.

And last but not least Gill, what is your problem with Minister Morgan?. Are you so pissed-off that he is pli malin ki tou sa bann donneur-grenn boycotters ex politicians put together?.

And Gill are you aware of ETIHAD Stadium in Victoria?. They can invest in Air Berlin but as far as you are concerned, they cannot invest in Air Seychelles?.

TIKLO i dir ou bez go and suck on an egg you insignificunt "floor crosser".

Anonymous said...

Tiklo, go f yourself as you are a total idiot.

Gill has hit the nail on the head once again. Sa voler David Savy and his Mauritian thief counterpart took Air Seychelles to the cleaners and now Michel has handed the head on a platter to his favourite Sheik's airline. Mismanagement, fraud, bad customer service have been rewarded with a job at DCA for David Savy, while Rajiv and his wife took their stolen millions back to Mauritius, similar to what Samoosa Judge Allear did a few years ago. Michel is the devil in disguise and has dropped his pants for Khalifa one more time. The man is a buffoon and always will be despite all the so called margin meetings in London. Wonder if the Queen asked the idiot if he still hated the British that he ousted them from Seychelles after the coup detat. Please Star bring back State House anytime now as 2012 promises to be another year of karikatir kot white house. By the way Tiklo, dir nou si Liz Bastienne yne fini gagne piti sa zako Michel. Ou sir y pa parey en fes arab?

Anonymous said...

Costa Concordia's sister ship 'adrift off Seychelles after fire'

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/seychelles/9108902/Costa-Concordias-sister-ship-adrift-off-Seychelles-after-fire.html

Anonymous said...

Do you reckon the comandante is already in State House for a photo-opportunity with James Michel ?

Anonymous said...

Tiklo
It is a complete fialure by Pp thugocracy,it shows that C.-Marx economic principles have no place in modern ecnomy.

Fo years now ,Tiklo,mulit-millions of dollars of Tax payers money were throwed in the comapny to keep it afloat,but becuase of mis-amanagment,bad stragety,bad audits,corruptionour Airline is now in the bitch.

Last year million was given to David Savy(30 millions) as a bailed out ,what did Savy do with it?Instead of investing in the Airline he built a mulit-million building as if this was the most important thing to do.Nor do we know how much money this building really costed?But what one can say when look at this building is that in any case it has costed that much money given to David Savy.But since Pp does not keep audits,no records of transaction,no controlled no one can say how much money David invested and how much he stolen.Nor have David Savy now ,multi -millionaire has never been questioned on his dubious mangement and challenge on all those faked figures he gave us.

it is time to clean up the mess Pp has created and the best way we can do that is by regime change.

Jeanne D'Arc

Anonymous said...

Who would have thought that we would come to be associated with Costa Cruises and Costa Concordia, except those who believe in the curse of Parti Lepep ?

I hope the association in the public's mind is short term. For the sake of our floundering tourism industry, if nothing else.

Especially when you consider that Parti Lepep is already botching the rescue mission.

Who thought that 1,000 people could be safely transferred to Desroches (no port for the ship to dock and with less than 50 hotel rooms) and then transferred 230km to Mahe in planes that take 15 people at a time ? That was a recipe for disaster.

Perhaps it is not surprising Parti Lepep put forward this expensive wheeze. Some people were going to make loads of money from the rescue.

The other curse is that the accident has happened at a time when hotels are almost full because of invited non-paying Carnival guests. At any other time, other than Easter/Xmas, we would have easily put up 1000 people while preparations are made for them to be flown out. Think about hundreds of people milling at the airport while frantic efforts are made to find them accommodation for 2-3 days.

It is being reported that the Costa Allegra's engine has been repaired and is now travelling to Mahe under its own steam. Fortunately, the passengers who can't be accommodated in hotels can stay on the ship until they can be flown out or whatever plans the unfortunate Costa Cruises have for them. Parti Lepep was only going to make a bad situation worse.

This is the government that makes good things bad, bad things worse and worse things worst. Let's not forget that.

Anonymous said...

Seychelles, Costa Cruises, Stricken cruise ship, Somali pirates reminders and tourists in distress making world headlines. Are we doomed under Parti Lepep ?

Anonymous said...

Tiklo-

Read the article you are a bad reader.

For the top spokesman for PL communist, you need to sharpen up a little.

The article calls for a syndicate as you suggest for inter island domestic. Even a cartel will do right now.

It can be worked on to save Praslin and La Digue from PL idiot ideas.

In due course, we will solve all the problems PL Communists have created.

Seselwa Unite!

Sesel Pou Seselwa!

Christopher Gill
Leader
Seychelles Freedom Party

Anonymous said...

Beam me up Scotty !

James Michel will deliver the State of the Nation Address tomorrow evening. From past experience, we know he does not mean Seychelles.

And on Tuesday there will be the reply by the Leader of the Opposition being impersonated by David Pierre.

I guess David Pierre would rather spend the weekend frolicking in the carnival than preparing a speech that no one will take seriously because he is a fake opposition.

Or perhaps the carnival moves to the one-party national assembly from Tuesday.

Anonymous said...

Cartel ? You cannot be serious.

A cartel is "an association of manufacturers or suppliers that maintains prices at a high level and restricts competition".

Anonymous said...

Cartels do not have to keep prices high. They can drive prices down.
They do not have to be manufacturers either. They can be investors from an industry.

Lively up yourself.

Sesel Pou Seselwa!

Anonymous said...

Accept it. You are ignorant and SFP Is full of ignorants, rather than try to re-invent definitions of words.

Anonymous said...

In business, cartels do not drive prices down. That would defeat their purpose. What is the purpose of SFP, if it has not been defeated by the ignorance of its handful of members ?

Long live SNP !

Anonymous said...

Long Live SNP

You seem to want to kill your party with your lack of knowledge.

A cartel can do whatever it wants if it exist.

Long live logic which goes beyond dying SNP.

Seselwa Unite!

Sesel Pou Seselwa!

Anonymous said...

Remind us where you got your law degree. Is it an honorary one ?

Anonymous said...

Beam me up Scotty !

As the country's top diplomat, Jean Paul Adam, who seems to be spending his time tearing his hair off, was less than diplomatic when he told us that we can travel freely to 74 countries. But not 75, because Sheikh Khalifa's UAE refuses to allow us in without a visa. Some love affair this is turning out to be.

Alix in Wonderland !

SONA is due in a few hours. We usually can hardly recognise our country in Michel's state of the nation address. This year he will find himself talking to a one-party national assembly and that should tell him that the country has gone backwards since his last address. He should wince every time he turns left to look at the leader of the opposition placed there by a corrupt court of appeal. One thing is certain -- the speech will have been written by someone who was shit-faced at the time. Enough to drive the rest of the country to the booze tonight.

Pissedoff said...

Money can buy anything in the western world...even a law degree
or a pilon license!

Konmela tou kouyon kinn viv dehors en pe letan i avoka mem si mon piti 10 ans i ekri pli byen ki zot!

Pissedoff said...

I meant pilot! Hi! Hi!

Pissedoff said...

Si vous etes Clair D'Lune alors moi je suis l'aimable Lubin...
et je ne veux pas ta plume!

Anonymous said...

Why couldn't any of the mandarin-speaking Parti Lepep's supporters translate that chinese label on the chemical tins ? Maybe not a good idea. As they do not know their cartels from their cartye.

Anonymous said...

As there is no "c" in Kreol, that should be "kartye".

Anonymous said...

...as in "Dan kartye Jeanne D'ark"

Anonymous said...

SONA 2012 so far. Usual upbeat words and fancy phrases. But the delivery is definitely downbeat and flat and very boring. It seems like even Michel does not believe what he is saying.

Anonymous said...

You can tell he did not write the speech. He is stumbling with the selective statistics.

Anonymous said...

Usual half truths.

Anonymous said...

Not much in "bilan 2011", as he spent most of his time on his re-election and scam national assembly elections.

Anonymous said...

Bashing the usual targets: young employed on welfare and bankers

Anonymous said...

Bashing the usual suspects: young unemployed on welfare and bankers who do not follow government diktats. Bring back rule by decree !

Anonymous said...

Is that it on combatting Somali pirates ? OMG !!

Anonymous said...

If he says "empower" one more time, I will not be responsible for my actions.

Anonymous said...

Come to think of it, S*T*A*R* spelt backward is in fact R*A*T*S.

Two guesses who the Leader of the rat-pack is?....It is no other than Totof the King Le Ra himself who professes to be the gran Savant with un pa en avan and Kat pa en arriere.

And if Totof had any brains, he would be bloody dangerous.

Anonymous said...

He is struggling to read. Much throat clearance.

Anonymous said...

"adapte avek lintelizans". New one on me ! Shit-faced speechwriter.

Anonymous said...

"Bwarer" in the community ? Who do you think wrote your speech ?

Anonymous said...

Drug traffickers to be jailed on an outlying island, Marie Louise. Good riddance to Parti Lepep kingpins !!

Anonymous said...

Good news at last !! Restrictions on early morning sale of alcohol ! Will it apply to everyone ? Will we get a better SONA next year ?

Anonymous said...

I am about to doze off. Wake me up when he has finished.

Anonymous said...

Child abusers to be jailed on Marie Louise prison. What about cradle-snatchers ?

Anonymous said...

Much kite-flying. He should have brought one along. Not much substantial policies.

Anonymous said...

Work hard for Seychelles ? How about working hard on your SONA ! This one is pathetic.

Anonymous said...

Teasing us again about public service reforms as last year.

Anonymous said...

For a moment, I thought he was going to sack all his under performing ministers on national television and appoint new ones. Teasing us about a cabinet reshuffle ?

Anonymous said...

Durg dealers qwill be jialed on the outter island,sound good.But what program does Pp has in place to treat them,help them psychologically get back in the normal world?It seems Pp thinks by putting them far away from their families would help society and thus the problem solved.Drug addicted can be better treated according to experts whne having their family supports,it has a psychologically effect on the victims.What program does Pp has to distoxicate those innonce victims of Pp's escobars?Tell us Pissedoff?

jeanne D'Arc

Anonymous said...

Will not tolerate corruption ? You can say that again.

Anonymous said...

Some 50 minutes of drivel so far.

Anonymous said...

Blaming international crises.

Anonymous said...

Getting interesting. Ministries to be restructured.

Anonymous said...

Wot no names ? Minister-less ministries on the way.

Anonymous said...

Finance to be taken away from VP and put with Industry.

Anonymous said...

Ministry for Tourism and Culture.

Anonymous said...

Morgan's empire to be dismantled. New ministry for internal affairs and transport.

Anonymous said...

He did mention musical chairs earlier on in the speech.

Anonymous said...

Reduce dependence on expatriates. You don't say. How will we cope ?

Anonymous said...

A ministry to bust welfare scroungers.

Anonymous said...

You know I said it was getting interesting. Scrub that hard. No names being given. Boring, boring, boring.

Anonymous said...

A ministry for education and, well, ministerial thumb-twiddling.

Anonymous said...

The minister for foreign affairs will continue to get enough time to pull his hair out. I am assuming blue-eyed boy is staying put.

Anonymous said...

What will VP be doing ?

Anonymous said...

He is answering my question about VP -- a number of boring jobs by the sounds of it. Is he being side-lined ?

Anonymous said...

He keeps defence, legal, drugs etc. He takes on youth (the getriatric).

Anonymous said...

Changes to make chums ministers by the sounds of it.

Anonymous said...

More harangue of civil servants.

Anonymous said...

I think he is coming to the end, hurrah !!

Anonymous said...

You can tell, because the platitudes are increased.

Anonymous said...

Now the rumour mill. Which ministers are for the chop ? Is Sinon taking on Finance as well ?

He was supposed to provide answers. Not raise more questions about his government.

Anonymous said...

Let's hope he does not sing that song.

Anonymous said...

No he did not. He just read the lyrics. Patrick Victor's song.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for nothing, Mr President !

Anonymous said...

Feel free to boo, as they go for the traditional cocktail party to last until next Tuesday when the one-party national assembly resumes.

Anonymous said...

Now SBC will repeat that boring speech ad nauseam over the next few days. Beam me up Scotty.

Anonymous said...

Thank God, Michel did not burst into songs. He is a bloody teaser.

Anonymous said...

In the section on 2011 national assembly elections, he seemed to be apologising for David Pierre's presence in the national assembly. Apologies accepted.

Anonymous said...

Why is Faure being relieved of Finance in the middle of an IMF program ? Michel was Minister of Finance as VP and as President. PL infighting ?

Anonymous said...

A ministry for oil ? Counting our chickens, eh ...

Anonymous said...

Maybe IMF has asked the butcher to put in place a person that understand modern economy and the terminologies of economy.IMF wants to see someone who can count not the copy of the butcher aaaan illeterate in economy.

Jeanne D'Arc

Anonymous said...

Parti Lepep is fighting over money over the stricken Costa Allegra cruise ship. Foreign media are reporting angry words being exchanged in the middle of the Indian Ocean.

While St Ange tells the BBC that the Seychelles tugs and the French ship towing the Allegra are working together (St Ange says the tugs are "pushing" the cruise ship), Morgan is telling the foreign media a different story.

Morgan is accusing the French trawler of delaying the ship by 12 hours and refusing to give the job to the tugs which Morgan says are faster. Morgan is implying that the French trawler are on a nice little earner and does not want to give it up.

Morgan is reported by CBS news to be apparently accusing the French boat of acting out of financial considerations. As if Parti Lepep does not.

Meantime Costa Cruises has apparently told CBS news that Morgan is wrong and Allegra is not being delayed.

As Parti Lepep has consistently changed the arrival time of Allegra in port, it seems they have got their calculations wrong and blaming other people.

The job of dropping supplies on board the Allegra went to Zil Air.

Michel announced this evening that Morgan is losing half of his ministry. Perhaps it is also time for him to be moved on. Especially if St Ange is to join the Parti Lepep government. One turncoat at a time please in the government.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57387660/official-seychelles-cruise-ship-delayed-at-sea/

Anonymous said...

Michel does not know how to deal with the new opposition politics. His usual rantings and ravings at the opposition were missing in his speech.

He could hardly rant and rave at the opposition. He can't really criticise his Parti Lepep opposition in the national assembly in the form of David Pierre.

Had he criticised the opposition, he would have drawn attention to the REAL opposition outside the national assembly.

Anonymous said...

Morgan should in fact thanks the Frnch fishing boat for rushing on the scene to do the job of our government.Secondly,If Morgan thinks that it is too slow,than Why he did not from the very beginning used his little monkey Common Sense and simply ordered the Skipper of the French Fishing Boat to sial to the nearest outter islands (which would have taken a few hours only not Days)Disembarked them there and fly them to Mahe.A few hours after the inccident the passengers would have long reached firm Lnad on Mahe.The ship itself Pp could have then tugged it as long as it wishes even years if he wanted.

The incident shows PP Why we have benn saying to him and pointed out the importance of having a peramanet Naval Base in the region-Not only to fight piracy,but also to conduct rescues,fighht against illegal fishing,illegal oil spilling,illegal drug trafficking,and also in cases of emergency on any other islands in the region the govenremnt could react rapidly,effectively,more profesional than now.

The incident as said before is promoting our Beautiful land as A CNN anchor siad this morning to the whole ,something PP,SNP ;MORGAN have never achieved.BUt if Pp would have taken the initiative to tug the baot to the nearest coral island then transport them by Air ,it would have beenantoher promotion ofor our small country of how effective,rapid and professional we are .Pp failed to do so for they cannot think ,instead of thinking to find the most effective solution they fighting of who to be the leader,who knows best,while in fact none of the two are effective.Let the Coast Gurad Commander do the job donkeys and go figght each others in private.

Jeanne D'Arc

Anonymous said...

Well Before the Butcher could crticize the Oppsotion for the oppostion he had what SNP and Dp ,two stooges parties of which he consult their leaders on what criticism he was going to sheeled them with in order that they can then react against just to give the people that they were real oppostion while they were in fact working for PP.Since Bernard Georgwe has amde it public that SNP is a LOyal oppostion party to PP and it would be difficult for RAm to pretend otherwise.

The butcher knows that SNP and NDP could no longer save his ass and with the present of SFP the best tactic he found is to pretend not to speak about the oppostion with the hope Seychellois would forgot there is an oppostion.

The butcher difinitively know that SFP is more an dangerous enemy than an army,so if he could at least make the public forget on SFP for him is a success though he knows it won't be long the way SFP expose both PP and its Sotoog parties SNP and NDP.


Jeanne D'Arc

Anonymous said...

Lannen travay dir -- unless you are the president, vice president or a minister.

There will be 5 new ministers to share existing workload. But the old Social Development and Culture ministry has been total disbanded. A net increase of 4 ministries, although admittedly Land Use and Housing was a separate ministry until May last year when Dugasse legged it. In any case, a net increase of 3 ministries in less than one year. Who's working hard then ?

Vice president has offloaded Finance, so that he can provide support for the president. Sounds like job-sharing in preparation for another "pas baton".

3 existing ministries will have less responsibilities.

Home Affairs, Environment and Transport becomes just Internal Affairs and Transport.

Education, Employment and Human Resources becomes just Education.

Investment, Natural Resources and Industry becomes just Natural Resources and Industry.

Danny Faure keeps Information Technology and Public Administration only. That's less responsibilities than Joe Belmont had before he too legged it.

The only new substantive ministry is that of Finance, Commerce and Investment.

The other new ministries are ministry-lite really. Tourism & Culture, Environment and & Energy and Employment & Human Resources. Talk about being under-employed ! How can they seriously tackle able-bodied people who rely on welfare when ministers are themselves on some sort of glorified welfare for little work ?

Jobs for the boys and girls ! They have the nerve to criticise those who choose not to work and draw welfare benefits instead. What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.

This is the biggest cabinet in the history of Seychelles and one of the biggest in the world per capita. Folie de grandeur continues.

With a one-party national assembly, there will be no problem getting the supplementary budget for ministerial salaries and perks through.

Anonymous said...

Ministers being increased by 50%, from 8 to 12. Scandalous.

Anonymous said...

Alain St Ange should now know what it takes for the real press to descend on Seychelles -- a disaster not a carnival.

The well-known foreign media have arrived in force to cover the arrival of Costa Allegra.

Little known reporters have arrived to cover the carnival.

Anonymous said...

St Ange the poor does not know where to get started.In an interview two days ago ,he told a French TV that"i am having probelom to sort out how to accommodate all those stranded passengers for all hotels,guesthouses etc...are completely full,it is the high season at the moment"In other owrds St Ange is ssimply saying he cannot handle the stituation.
What are the Alterantives?Keeping in mind that it is an emergency situation and that the passengers priority is to get off the ship as soon as possible i think they would not neccessary complain should he offered them less comfrotable rooms than that of five star hotels and would be happy to be able to relax themselves after this long endevour.Well what about those house complexes(on Perseverance island i think) we usually use to accommodate athelets particiapting in the INDAIN OCEAN GAME.I am sure the will kae do without complains to any offers in this emergency situation.

Jeanne D'Arc

Anonymous said...

Is James Michel the most expensive and least productive president Seychelles has ever had ?

Anonymous said...

correction Pisedoff:I am sure they will make do

Anonymous said...

I can see Alain St Ange using the 1000 people on Costa Allegra to show how he has broken tourist arrival records again !

Anonymous said...

He has already broken the record. On French Tv he said arrival hits record high thus there is no single room avaiable.Confusing isn't it?No Seychellois have ever since any one single five star hotel at complete occupancy,but how St Ange get these figures is just a miracle.In a communsist system even crooks can make miracles.

Jeanne D'Arc

Anonymous said...

The state of the nation is that we need more ministers, according to Michel. So he is going to appoint 5 new ministers.

Anonymous said...

Michel told us that rotating ministers who failed is normal and needed.In democractic society ministers who failed are sacked not promoted.The butcher that a minsteral position is a live acquisition .
I did swa JUDAS coddling with the butcher like a little child who needs to be breasted by his mother,probably he was begging for a minsiterial position.Should the country is an economic mess and livng on foreign loans be increasing personal in ministry?We cannot operate our Int .Airline,nor the dmonistic fleet,we cannot pay back a single cent of our debts,etc..etc..etc is that a time to increased personal in the goverenment?TThe people they should serve are fight on a daily bases to make ends meet while PP enjoy themselves with tax payers money:should the ogvernemnt lead by example donkeys?

Jeanne D'arc

Anonymous said...

Is this a post about the issues or do we talk about the price off eggs in China!! Let us comment on the issue at hand!

Anonymous said...

Morgan is squabbling with the French trawler over money for towing Costa Allegra, yet Parti Lepep is wasting money on creating 3 new ministries for jobs for Parti Lepep boys and girls. Despicable. The money squabbles have reached the international media.

Anonymous said...

He repeated his allegations about the delay on SBC today, despite being flatly contradicted by Costra Cruises. Is Morgan trying to get Costa Cruises in trouble for not giving the towing job to Parti Lepep, given that some passengers are bound to sue the company ? He will then spend his time in court in Italy and US giving evidence. Good thing then that ministers' workload is being greatly reduced, while others are being exhorted to work hard or to go out and look for non-existent work. Only ministers will get paid for taking on non-existent work.

Anonymous said...

Well my question to this donkey is if you wanted things to be faster.why has he not ordered the captain of the French fishing boat to sail to the nearest coral island in the region wirth AIRSTRIP which is Assumption ,it would have taken a miximum of 4-6 hours to get there and from there they could have been transferred by planes to Mahe and this could have been accomplished less or at least 24 hours after the inccident.

Moreover,The >French fishing boat should be thanks for doing a job that our governemnt could not delivered faster.Just imaging the time it would hacve taken for our tug boats to get there ?Instead of saying thanks Morgan keeps complaining.Why just shut up dog and let preoffsional namely the Coast Guard commander get the job done.

Jeanne DÂrc

Anonymous said...

Isn't Morgan supposed to be the brightest one in the cabinet ? How come he is looking stupid ?

Anonymous said...

The French trawler should give us the rope that they used to tow Costa Allegra, so that we can use it to flog Morgan.

Anonymous said...

The problem is that Parti ministers are not used to dealing with independent journalists, the sort who ask searching questions and will pursue scandals unlike SBC journalists. They lack the skills to handle foreign journalists who will not cover up their scandals. They do not know what to say and what not to say to journalists looking for juicy stories. St Ange had the same problems with the sharks incidents.

It beggars belief that Morgan told the foreign media that there were blazing rows in the middle of the Indian Ocean between Seychelles Coast Guard and the captain of the French trawler, and to add that the French were motivated by money.

Then St Ange damaged his credibility by telling the BBC that the report of squabbles at sea were untrue and everything was lovey-dovey, with the French trawler pulling Costa Allegra and Seychelles tugs pushing it.

Foreign press had descended on Seychelles in the expectation that Costa Cruises would botch the rescue -- the real story they were looking for -- given that misfortune is afflicting the company.

Anonymous said...

... Parti Lepep ministers

Anonymous said...

Morgan wants to look smart:He also wanted to steal the show by attempting to finished the line at the front on the french fishing boat captain.He wanted to see our tug boats leading the show for the finish line then he would have been the star and all interantional presses would have run to him to praise him.He acted like a Fregate bird ,he let the seagull dive,catch the fish then ,do all the job then he can steal the fish form the seagull without doing any effort and proclaimed that hît was him who did all the hard efforts.

A Communist mentality.

Jeanne D'Arc

Anonymous said...

It takes not good publicity and strategies to get cruises ships to our shores but a accident.The point here indicates that wihle Muaritius,Madagars are having almost of cruise ship landing to their shores Seychelles is not at all having or denefitting as much as the other countries in the region.The Costa ship was in fact not coming to Seychelles ,it was not opart of their intinery.Thus this means that there is a real job to be done by Pp thugocrats to get our tourism industry in better shapes and Pp should start asking the question why Madagar,Muaritius but not us?Probably all lies in good managemnt ,strategies,and a good dose of common sense.

Jeanne D'Arc

Jeanne D'Arc

Pissedoff said...

Gill you and Isaaq make people sick!
Normally when a country as small as ours is faced with a situation like this or any other crisis all political parties puts their differences aside and rally behind the government for the sake of national unity. Shamefully and unfortunately this is not the case with SFP. You and Isaaq are no better than a couple of parasites ready to destroy akin to two half starved parasite infested vultures waiting in the sidelines to home in on the carcasses and devour dead meat. You are the whores of politics no different to terrorists bringing shame and disgust to our nation. Whatever the situation might have been with Costa, the French Trawler and our tugs, at the end of the day it is Seychelles that’s in the limelight and all eyes are on us to see how we as a nation can handle this kind of situation. This was a test of our resolve and resources given the fact that our president was not long in London with other regional leaders looking for a solution to deal with the current bane in our ocean.
Seychelles would be a better place without the likes of you and Isaaq because with citizens like you we don’t need enemies!

Anonymous said...

Lets hope the marriage between Air Seychelles and Etihad work out, because most airlines, once taken over, often collapse.

Although interesting and it has good intentions, to create another domestic airline company in Seychelles right now is not viable. The local economy and govt policies are not stable enough. The risk is too costly and high.

Anonymous said...

Passengers off the Costa Allegra complain of intolerable conditions on board, with only bottled water, fruits, ham and bread.

It makes you wonder whether things would have been better for them if the ship had broken down near a more developed country like Mauritius.

Parti Lepep's one-party state retarded the development of this country and we have been playing catch up for the last few years. Our shortcomings in a crisis were laid bare for all the world to see.

We were reduced to squabbling over salvage money with a French tuna trawler.

Parti Lepep is disputing the French captain's account on the towing dispute. The thing is that Parti Lepep government has lied to us constantly that we cannot believe anything they say.

Pissedoff said...

Kouyon from that distance what did you expect the passengers to be served from a helicopter, hot food?
The didn't even have a working kitchen!
Why don't you put your mouth to better use than talking nonsense!

Anonymous said...

Pissedoff
You ahve got yet!Admiral Morgan should have simply ordered the fishing boat captain to siial to the nearest coral island in the religion and from there we could have flown them to Mahe.The whole mission would have last not more than 24 hours and whole would have been surprise of our profesionalism and they would have been making extra publicity free of charge for us.Why did none of PP Admirals,Generals failed to even think about that Pissedoff?For they are little idiots playing smarts but when put a problem to them they just donot have the moral capacity to come up with something.

Jeanne DÂrc

Anonymous said...

You have not get it Pissedoff!

Anonymous said...

The lack of ability to provide hot food is just an example of how under-developed we are under PL. Bet you Mauritius has the infrastructure to provide them with 3 hot meals a day at short notice in open sea.

Anonymous said...

Ethihad would sheell out dollar in Air Seychelles for sure not becuase they need it nor becuase they can make it porfitable but simply becuase it belong to Khalifa and the latterun wanted in our country would probably do anything to keep the company afloat just to please us and hopefully hoping that we fall in love with him.

Jeanne D'Arc

Anonymous said...

Fortunately we have our natural beauty to make up for PL's failure to develop this country.

Anonymous said...

The funniest thing in all that is for years now PP has been publicizing our country aborad without much success becuase they did not have any strategy and the Ministry of Tuorism wwas ans still under Michel an idiot:the inccident have made our country better known around the world and when one think of what it would have cost us should we have made those world publicity probably would have never been able to pay for it.But unfortuantely instead of PP using this opportunity to better present themselves they are making bad publicity of our country to the world.Morgan could not had the idea to diemebark the passagers on a coral island than transfer them by air,Morgan could not even provided a basic service to supply the ship with hot food you could imagine then how diffifcult it would be for thosde donkeys to be us out of the mess they created.

Shmae of you donkeys!The buthcer should dissolve his failed governemnt immediately and call for fresh election as soon as possible:it time for change!

Jeanne DÂrc

Pissedoff said...

1000 people landing on a coral Island waiting to be flown to Mahe? How many planes able to land on that airstrip would be used? Even if we had the accommodation for the 1000 people, a week from now we’d still be flying them to Mahe and you’d still be opening you fat ugly mouth criticising the fact that they should have been left on board their ship and be towed to Mahe!?

Anonymous said...

It is a quetion of coordination.And how does planes land on our Interantional Airport?Do they land or start together or there is a coordination by the Control Tower of who will land and when?Well if the govenrement after landing them find that it would take let say a week to get them out only by air then it could have been combine with fast boat.For instance,Cat Co Co could have been rented for this emergency purpose and even that would have impede our own local service, Seychellois would not have complain for they would have understand that this does not happen everyday and it is in fact an emergency situation which i am convinced they would have supported totally.

Pp failed to deliver the best solution in the eyes of thw world fixed on us.Instead of using the situation and turn it into a profitable advancetage Morgan wasted his time complaining about the French ship tgugging Costa and fighting with St aNGE ON WHO WILL TAKE THE PRAISE instead of using in full all the possibilities and facilities to make it a success which would have been praised worldwide.

Jeanne D'Arc

Pissedoff said...

Sending the tugs and the helicopter patrol was the best decision! The French trawler should have been forced to give way to the tugs they were in our waters and under our jurisdiction. The only reason this was not done was because we didn't want to create a scene as the passengers were already distressed without having to add to that out there but the port autorities and coast guard should charge them for obstucting a rescue mission and confiscate their trawler until they have answered to the charges!
Not even the French embassy can intervene in a matter as such!
They should be fined heavily!

Anonymous said...

Pissedoff said...
1000 people landing on a coral Island waiting to be flown to Mahe? How many planes able to land on that airstrip would be used? Even if we had the accommodation for the 1000 people, a week from now we’d still be flying them to Mahe and you’d still be opening you fat ugly mouth criticising the fact that they should have been left on board their ship and be towed to Mahe!?


DIDN'T PARTI LEPEP WANT TO DISEMBARK THE PASSENGERS AT DESROCHES UNTIL IT WAS POINTED OUT TO THEM IT WAS A RUBBISH IDEA ???

Pissedoff said...

At least they listened unlike those idiots at SFP who still believe that it could have been done!

Anonymous said...

This question should not even be posed.One can calculate the distance of ther chosen island the itme it would take for a fly to get there ,then one can calculate how much time would be apporpraite to send the next one.Just like domestic flgihts On Praslin.You could have also send the planes on standby on antoher ocral isllnd nearby.Option there was if just PP monkeys would have just used thier little brains.

Shame of those monkeys.

Jeanne D'Arc

Anonymous said...

Hi There, Any update on James Michel son the drug dealer in Singapore ?
Read that is sending dealers in Seychelles to Marie Louise Island. He has to be very careful because his son's accomplice in Singapore are the ones supplying drugs to Seychelles.
Got some concrete information about those deals, but has to verify and will share them to you all soon.

Pissedoff said...

What's there to verify if they are concrete?

Anonymous said...

That's why Parti Lepep is soft on drug dealers.

Anonymous said...

Parti Lepep ARE the drug dealers.

Anonymous said...

Michel gets off scot-free (so far)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17254544

Anonymous said...

He will got out scot-free but there is no guarantee it would last forever.

Sooner than latter he would have to face reality and my peice of advice to him is be careful of those olive branches?

Jeanne D'Arc

Anonymous said...

Of course i could have been done ,your problem is PP did not have the idea.

Jeanne D'Arc

Anonymous said...

Now that we have been told it is NORMAL for cabinet ministers to play MUSICAL CHAIRS and the new ministries have been announced, what's the delay in announcing the names of the ministers ? Surely the national assembly's response to the state of the nation address will make no difference to what Michel wants to do.

The government is now a LAME DUCK, with ministers not knowing what their next job will be. Ramadoss is preparing himself to join the cabinet -- the first foreigner in the cabinet since decolonisation. Parti Lepep can't find any Parti Lepep sympathiser who can run the health ministry.

Whether Michel will appoint those who have massaged his ego or his neck, dyed his hair, tasted his food or checked his blood pressure, he should put existing ministers out of their misery and name names for his cabinet which will be as incompetent as previous cabinets. Danny Faure must be a wuss if he is happy with his demotion and the current arrangements.

Michel has dithered long enough. He promised a new cabinet even before the May 2011 presidential elections. It is time to stop the dilly-dallying. Michel is a halfwit.

Anonymous said...

Gill pou minis leformasyon.
Isaac pou minis laviasyon
Johnny pou minis san portfey (akoz i toultan touni e zanmen ennan en sou)
Tall pou lanmbassader Nation Zini

Anonymous said...

That is the butcher definition of new Seychelles a soviergn country run by foreigners or in which Foreigners are kings and the native third class citizens.Michel is an anti-Seychellois and should be removed by all means as fast as possible beucase if we donot hang this donkey we are poised to end up like ther FIJIANS whose country was taken from them by Indian refugees.There is no foreigner country in this world who will accept the nomination of an illegal foreigner in a high office of a soveiregn country of which his not part and even residing illegally for RAMADOSS after ending his GOP contract was just gifted our passport and made Seychellois against our constitution and any rule of the country.We asking all seychelleois to take a firm stand against the nomination of a foreigner in our instituions and ask for RAMADOSS to be sacked and deported to his country of origine India.He is not a Seychellois and should in nay case be holding a ministerial post in our land.There are hundreds of qualified Seychellois who can better perfrom the job than a foreigner refugee to the like of RAMADOSS-note there is not trace of n any native Seychellois in our country^s history with the name of RAMADOSS.This guy should be removed at the head of our health ministry as rapid as possible otherwise we will have to forced him or excute him.

Seychelles Pou Seychellois not for Ofreigners.Free our country from Pp neo-colonialism now.

Time for regime change.Time from a revolution in order that we can execute all those konkeys and thier foreign supportors.Get rid of RAMDAOSS now nd that by any means _by a bullet,by firing on him,but brutalizing his family,by going for him in his palace,by any means .it is time for actions and strong actions ,like Gadhafi,Mubarak,Ben Ali and so on .only force can make those monkey understand therefore do not hasistate to put a bullet in RAMDOSS ass.

Jeanne D'Arc

Anonymous said...

Seychelles Nation today. You do have to wonder how much more arse-licking James mancham is prepared to do to satisfy his greed.

Anonymous said...

Ramadoss speaks neither English nor Creole. He should make a good Parti Lepep minister.

Anonymous said...

Pissed off .. ki ou pe dir ? I hope you are happy now..byento Ramados ki pou tir zanpoul dan ou vye fes.

Anonymous said...

Difficult to find carnival photos online. Just a handful here and there. STB is sleeping on the job.

Anonymous said...

David Pierre's speech met with stunned silence in the national assembly. Parti Lepep too ashamed to applaud one of their own.

Speaker Herminie was cruel when he drew attention to the silence and urgeed Pierre to bring more people to the assembly next time. Not so long ago, Herminie pledged to eliminate the opposition.

But where is Pierre going to find more MNAs for PDM ? Up Herminie's ample buttocks ?

Already, the leader of the opposition in the national assembly was a creation of a corrupt court of appeal. Does Pierre then have a choice -- go back to the Court of Appeal for more or ask Herminie to bend over ?

Anonymous said...

Pissed Off-

Only dictators choose their citizens and dare compare them to enemies.

It is undisputed, that you Communists are your own worse enemies.

I have said nothing about the Costa matter because I have been busy doing other things.

Having said that, Pissed Off, the standard of social decorum which you set in your gibberish nonsense is acceptable when one deals with issues grappling a society in a democratic context.

Today, neither you Pissed off , or Michel or and other Communist for that matter, can claim to be leading a country under a democracy.

Michel is an autocrat. He is a dictator. He has shammed elections and shamed Seychelles in the process of securing power for the sake of power. SPPF PL has stolen every election, and has been funded by foreigners in every election.

Most recently, it has even ventured in fielding it sown opposition, tampered with the administration of Justice, and delivered Seychelles its own "Leader of Opposition", by Court of Appeal judgement.PDM is a fake party with a fake opposition pretext. Even Pierre's speech was a fake speech a collection of ideas from articles I have written in the past. This is a disgrace, and deserves no respect from myself, Isaac, or any SFP member.

The Seychelles will undergo great challenges in the future, unless you give us Democracy, we will obstruct your power over our people and effect political defiance against the PL as it sells our patrimony.

SFP will not cooperate with the non delivery of Democracy in Seychelles, no matter what crisis we face.

Seselwa Unite!

Sesel Pou Seselwa!

Christopher Gill
Leader
Seychelles Freedom Party

Anonymous said...

Without opposition to insult in the national assembly and David Pierre not seen as real opposition even by Parti Lepep, it was interesting to see Marie-Louise Potter turn her attention to her own government's failings.

She has suddenly discovered that town planning under Parti Lepep has been a disaster and a mess and she singled out the Providence industrial estate. Who do we blame ? Albert Rene or James Michel ? She does not have the courage to say.

What did she mean when she said that "bann kinn bles nou dan lepase, prezan oule travay ek nou" ? Was she referring to David Pierre's treachery ? Again she has no courage to spell it out. Good thing we can decode her insults to David Pierre and Jane Carpin.

Anonymous said...

Without opposition to insult in the national assembly and David Pierre not seen as real opposition even by Parti Lepep, it was interesting to see Marie-Louise Potter turn her attention to her own government's failings.

She has suddenly discovered that town planning under Parti Lepep has been a disaster and a mess and she singled out the Providence industrial estate. Who do we blame ? Albert Rene or James Michel ? She does not have the courage to say.

What did she mean when she said that "bann kinn bles nou dan lepase, prezan oule travay ek nou" ? Was she referring to David Pierre's treachery ? Again she has no courage to spell it out. Good thing we can decode her insults to David Pierre and Jane Carpin.

Anonymous said...

Evry one understands restructruing or reinventing politics as learning from lessons of the past and present and transfroming the current politcal culture of oppression,corruption and so on into a geniune future democratic civic culture.It means the climate of silince ,represion,deliberation and debate and devergent viewpoints.Th butcher again fiailed to do the right thing and nothing shows that he would never change.Thus since he cannot change by himself we would have to somehow do it ourselves.

Time for change!
jeanne DÂrc

Anonymous said...

5 more ministers to be appointed soon. 3 more government ministries.

Marie Louise Potter calls this "leaner government". Does she know what she is talking about.

That's not lean. That's fat.

Anonymous said...

Ahmed Afif resigns immediately as Principal Secretary for Finance. SBC says he is going into the private sector. Don't they all say that when they have had enough of Parti Lepep.

More turmoil in the Finance ministry with Danny Faure having been sacked as Minister for Finance.

James Michel's re-organisation of government ministries is in turmoil.

Anonymous said...

Probably does not like the one being lined up as the next Minister of Finance and being passed over. His brother is Cabinet Secretary after all.

Anonymous said...

Marie-Louise Potter supports the new re-organisation of ministries where ministers will have less to do.

She says "MULTI-TASKING" is bad.

Like David Pierre, she likes to pepper her speech with English phrases which they have no idea what they mean.

Anonymous said...

Another Principal Secretary, Olsen Vidot, is jumping the sinking ship.

Are they jumping or being pushed ?

Anonymous said...

5 new ministers.

2 new principal secretaries.

And counting.

Anonymous said...

Listening to Joel Morgan today, he sounds like a man fighting to hang on to his ministerial privileges.

How many turncoats can there be in the next Parti Lepep's cabinet ?

Anonymous said...

Morgan is like a bernacle sticks to a sinking ship.Comic exhortation to demand attention.

Jeanne D'Arc

Anonymous said...

Didn't we say that Michel will return with Somali pirates from his London sojourn ?

Foreign press have divulged that the US will offload 15 Somali pirates following that meeting "in the margins", i.e. corridor, of the London conference on Somalia at Lancaster House. Joel Morgan has been hastily scrambled to explain the little deal that Michel has forgotten to tell us about.

Bad idea for Michel to loiter in the corridor of Lancaster House for photo-opportunities for Seychelles Nation.

Anonymous said...

Lopozisyon i kraz lopozisyon.

David Pierre is decrying the lack of unity in the opposition. Whatever the man is on, I will kill for some.

Anonymous said...

Pierre is using STAR BLOG and Reality BLOG for his speech.

Then after he says what he reads, he eats his fingers in front of PL.

Seselwa Unite!

Sesel Pou Seselwa!

Anonymous said...

Pierre is using STAR BLOG and Reality BLOG for his speech.

Then after he says what he reads, he eats his fingers in front of PL.

Seselwa Unite!

Sesel Pou Seselwa!

Anonymous said...

Pierre looks confused and disoriented.It is true that the oppostion namely SNP;NDP are not doing what they should suppose to do i hope RAm and Voclere think twice and do the right thing for the country namely Unite the oppostion.Pierre is in confusion probably because he was expecting a promotion as minister ,now that he realized that he will stay and continue to play the stooge role,he wants to play the spriritual leader of the oppostion.But we must not forget that it was the same Pierre who together with Charpin help PP dissolved the Assembly and he went on to create a fake party NDP to bring confusion and division inot the opposition.He hopes by attempting to play the good guy we would accept his party as legitimate aand forgive him for his crime.we will not do that.Oppostion must in any way accept Pierre as member of oppostion,He might well being send by his master the butcher to pretent to be part of the oppostion just to fake when election come thus divide the opposition to favoured PP.Keep in mind this saying"once a criminal always a criminal.God did not save Judas after he betrayed him , So why should we do it?

Jeanne D'Arc

Anonymous said...

Liberty House is in chaos, with the Finance ministry losing both the minister and principal secretary at the same time. It seems there is some discontent at the impending ministerial announcements. No wonder Michel is scared to make the announcements. He has handled it very badly. Perhaps there will be more blood on the carpet. After the sacking of Danny Faure in the state-of-the-nation address, ministers are dreading the phone calls from State House to confirm the rumours of their demise. Those who are itching to get into the cabinet would do well to remember the humiliation that current ministers are going through as Michel botches the ministerial re-organisation.

Meanwhile, Liberty House, which is supposed to be the home of the country's finances, has been reduced to acting as the backdrop to the carnival's opening ceremony. That is the true abject, regretable and sorry state of the nation under James Michel. Not that you would have worked that out from the pitiful speech last week.

Anonymous said...

These resignations are very sudden. It is hard to believe that if Michel knew they were coming he would not have announced them when he announced the reforms in the state of the nation address.

The politicisation of the civil service, especially the roles of principal secretary, is coming back to bite Michel in the arse. Normally apolitical PSs are expected to work with whoever is appointed minister. PSs should not expect to be made ministers.

Anonymous said...

Hopefully SFP et al will embrace the new PRESIDENT once the reshuffle is anounced!

L'homme sans nom.

Anonymous said...

Michel must be mortified by these resignations which are clearly intended to humiliate him, even though the disgruntled resignees do not dare express their beefs on SBC. Michel has been spending too much time trying to split the opposition, by enticing those who are motivated by greed such as St Ange and Pierre, that he forgot to keep his own house in order and look after PL sympathisers.

Just weeks after Guy Adam walked the plank and took a vow of silence, we have 2 principal secretaries resigning in one day.

One resignation in one day is misfortune. Two is pure carelessness and incompetence by Michel.

He should resort to those days when he used to keep people in line by brandishing his pistol. No one believed he was bluffing.

Anonymous said...

This is a sign internal conflict,division within the PP.It seems there are some who just cannot take in and accept the way the butcher is destroying our country though at first they collaborated.Things are become so messy that they no long want to be scapegoats of the butcher's failed policy,illegal sell out, and so forth.I hope more will follow soon thus dilegitimized the butcher .Pp is disintegrating ,as for us we will keep the pressure,continue to expose it until it gets to the bustbin of history.

SFP determination and insistance is bearing fruits Pissedoff.

Jeanne D'Arc

Anonymous said...

The only internal conflict ke pe pase se dan ou boyo sanmem zis ou come out with shit all the time!

Anonymous said...

Nicolas Sarkozy says France has too many foreigners

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17280647

Anonymous said...

We do as well. Soon we will ship out all fabrikes and Gill will captain that ship and isaaq will be first mate!

Anonymous said...

It is high time the Afifs redeem themselves and stop serving Parti Lepep.

They came from the Maldives, fleeing persecution and seeking our protection.

They went on to be one of the most prominent families slavishly serving the bloodiest and most murderous dictatorship in the history of Seychelles.

If they had no choice before, they do not have such an excuse now.

Anonymous said...

Ministers just been announced.

Mitcy Larue (health), St Ange (tourism), Rolph Payet (Environment), Laporte (finance), Lionnet (land use and housing)

Anonymous said...

Shamlaye and Athanasius sacked.

Anonymous said...

Edith Alexander (employment)

Anonymous said...

Others -- no change

Morgan (home affairs and transport), meriton (community development, social affairs, sports),
mondon (education), adam (foreign affairs), sinon (natural resources and industry)

Anonymous said...

It shows the dearth of talent in Parti Lepep, even had to appoint an opposition turncoat.

Anonymous said...

So Ahmed Afif does not want to work with Pierre Laporte and feels slighted by Michel, hence why he walked out on the government.

Anonymous said...

Why did Minister Sinon sound as if he was crying on the 6pm news ? He must be very depressed.

Anonymous said...

There is no logic to the creation of a ministry of finance separate from the Vice President's office, apart from the desire to clip Danny Faure's wings and political ambitions.

In the middle of an IMF economic programme, the country has lost both the minister for finance and the principal secretary, as Michel takes more risks with the country's progress. He is the man who in just 2-3 years bankrupted the country and had to call in the IMF and seek debt forgiveness.

Anonymous said...

Now James Michel knows why Hillary Clinton found a few minutes to talk to him at the London conference on Somalia.

It was to find a home for 15 Somali suspected pirates caught at large by the US.

Now the news is going round the round that Seychelles is the home for Somali pirates.

If the Americans hadn't made the announcement first, Parti Lepep would have kept quiet and pretended that the pirates were caught by the Seychelles Coast Guard. As it is, Parti Lepep made the announcement the day before the Americans flew in the pirates and more than two weeks after Michel agreed to accept the suspected pirates.

Morgan told us (a big fat lie) that Seychelles would only accept pirates caught in Seychelles' waters and that was government policy. Now he is struggling to explain his government's decision. Now he tells us it does not matter where in the world the pirates are. They might be outside our economic zone today and can be inside our economic zone tomorrow. Why did Parti Lepep have the policy in the first place ?

Anonymous said...

.. round the world

Anonymous said...

No surprises. None at all. Not after almost 8 years of James Michel.

Anonymous said...

Was James Michel drunk when he made these appointments ? Has he lost his marbles ? Does he think no matter what he does Parti Lepep supporters will vote for him ?

Anonymous said...

Is Peter Sinon sounding disappointed on SBC because he did not get the Finance ministry ?

Anonymous said...

The President will propose 3 new ambassadors to the National Assembly;

1. Marie Louise Potter
2. Bernard Shamlaye
3. Erna Athanasius

The President has thanked former Ministers Bernard Shamlaye and Erna Athanasius for their hard work in the public service, saying that he believes they will continue to contribute towards the development of the country in their new roles.

The President has appointed Marie-Antoinette Rose as the new Leader of Government Business in the National Assembly, after the departure of Marie-Louise Potter from this post.

Ambassador Ronny Jumeau has also been named the Ambassador for Climate change issues.

New Principal Secretaries

1. Principal Secretary for Environment and Energy- Wills Agricole
2. Principal Secretary for Finance, Trade & Investment - Steve Fanny
3. Principal Secretary for Health- Veronique Laporte (the former PS, Bernard Valentin is moving to independent consultancy services)
4. Principal Secretary for Transport- Terrence Mondon
5. Principal Secretary for Employment & Human Resource Development- Veronique Bresson
6. Principal Secretary for Natural Resources & Industry – Michel Nalletamby ( although the person remains unchanged, the portfolio of industry has been added)
7. Principal Secretary for Community & Sport-Denis Rose ( although the person remains unchanged, the portfolio of Community has been added, and Youth removed)
8. Acting Principal Secretary for Land Use and Habitat - Yves Choppy- (the position is temporary until the necessary law to enact the creation of the Project Planning and Implementation Company, of which he will be CEO. The PPIC will also absorb the Seychelles Land Transport Agency).
9. Principal Secretary for Culture- Benjamine Rose

New Special advisers

1. Special adviser to the Minister of Environment and Energy - Didier Dogley
2. Special advisor to the Minister of Education – Mr Selby Dora
3. Special adviser to the Minister for Natural Resources and Industry - Antoine-Marie Moustache
4. Special adviser to the Minister for Foreign Affairs- Jeannette d’Offay
5. Special adviser for Culture to the Minister for Tourism and Culture- Raymonde Onezime
6. Special adviser on Community Development to the Minister for Community Development, Social Affairs & Sports - Dan Frichot
7. Special adviser on Social Affairs to the Minister for Community Development, Social Affairs & Sports РMarie-Jos̩e Bonne

Anonymous said...

The new cabinet of ministers has been announced and Seychelles Nation has splashed their mugshots on its front page. As State House made the announcement late on Wednesday, it would appear that the state-run newspaper had prior notice of the announcement. Even SBC was spooked by the late announcement for its 8pm news and it was chaos in the newsroom. Instead of leading the 8pm news, the new cabinet ministers news was relegated to the rear end of the news bulletin. Perhaps rather fittingly, given the composition of the cabinet.


Trust Parti Lepep to hail the new cabinet as a victory for women on International Women's Day. It is nothing of the sort.

The fact remains that there are just 3 women in a cabinet of 12. This is hardly a cause for celebration after 35 years in power. Even then, it seems that James Michel has to scrape the barrel to find women in Parti Lepep to appoint. The current dubious appointments are no tribute to women in Seychelles who make up 50% of the population. Of the 6 new ministers, only 2 are women.

It is still an incompetent government and it would have hardly mattered to the country if 50% of the ministers were women. But at least it would have achieved gender balance and Michel would not be seen as a hypocrite when he talks about appointing women to key positions.

It seems this is still a country where, to succeed, you need to be a man, preferably a white man or those of Michel's off-white complexion who think they are white.

Anonymous said...

The poor must have been under hard drugs influence.Of course he wanted to have people under his helm who he can controlled and as stupid as himself.The one thing that is clear in the butcher's recylced gorvenement is that we are boomed to fall deeper in the messy situation Pp has created.

Jeanne D'Arc

Anonymous said...

It is preposterous that Michel cannot find more than 3 women to join the cabinet. It is more a case of lack of qualified women in Parti Lepep, the sort that we see on display in Freedom Square for election rallies. Parti Lepep thinks that its women are good only for rolling their unwashed arses in Freedomm Square and yelling.

Michel had to look outside Parti Lepep for competent women. He will not do that, unless he can find opposition turncoats like St Ange.

He leads a male-dominated cabinet (75%) which shows no advancement for women in public life, while trying to con us that there are women in key positions.

Anonymous said...

I think it shows how disconnected the butcher is to reality.Our country is in a mess,the important thing that he should has done is put in place professionals,experts,to help start cleaning the mess he created instead of trying to abuse and use women as politcal puppets.

Jeanne D'Arc

Anonymous said...

The talented people are outside Parti Lepep. The only way Parti Lepep government will use these talents is if these people sell their souls. No self-respected talented person will do that, unless you are an Alain St Ange. Now he is not just in charge of tourism, he is a full-fledged member of Parti Lepep and has to defend Parti Lepep, past, present and future. Is it worth it for a man to ditch his morals and principles for a ministerial job ? The late Karl St Ange did not think so. His egoistical offspring is disrespecting his memory. Everything about the man tells us he can live with that.

Anonymous said...

The 2 new ministers Idith Alexander and Mitcy Larue have been appointed because they are women, not because they will make competent ministers.

Michel could hardly have just 1 woman in the cabinet, while going round the world and bragging about achieving UN Millennium goals.

But the fact that only these 2 could be appointed shows that Parti Lepep have failed women in Seychelles, to the point that there are no competent women to appoint as ministers. Michel will do well to reflect on this on International Women's Day. Michel and parti Lepep should stop treating Seychellois women as sex objects and perks for his male cabinet.

Anonymous said...

This cabinet reflects James Michel more than it reflects the nation:

-- too many fuckwits
-- too many traitors
-- too many whites/fair skins
-- lack of qualified people
-- poor gender balance
-- poor racial balance
-- too many failures
-- too many yes-men and yes-women

But it perfectly "encapsulates" the Nouvo Sesel.

Anonymous said...

can someone please confirm the resignation of Danny Faure please .. its not clear when i read the blogs

Anonymous said...

Danny Faure is still vice president but no longer minister for finance.

Anonymous said...

Again, sacked ministers are made ambassadors while they wait for the country to open high commissions and ambassadors for them.

Shamlaye and Athanasius were taken from their civil service posts to be ministers and are now without proper jobs. Quite clearly, Michel is saying this was a mistake. They may have been brilliant civil service managers but poor ministers. But who the hell is Michel to pass judgement on people who are much better than he is ?

I always thought Michel appointed Shamlaye at a time when he was trying to impress the Chinese government. I was afraid that he might appoint Ramadoss this time to placate the Indian government over Michel's invitation to China to open a military base in Seychelles.

Also, Michel is repeating his mistakes. We see again civil servants being made ministers, e.g. Christian Lionnet. Would he have been made a minister if he had a black face ? I doubt it.

There are only two people with the speaking skills to defend Parti Lepep policies. They are Alain St Ange and Joel Morgan, both opposition turncoats and will always be seen as traitors for the rest of their lives. Where's Parti Lepep's talent ? Michel used to accuse SNP of being a party of "grand blancs". But where is grand-blanc St Ange today ? Michel is flattered when a grand-blanc is massaging his big ego.

Anonymous said...

It was just 2 days ago that Marie Louise Potter was saying Parti lepep was prepared to work with "bann kinn bles nou dan lepase". But I bet she wss not expecting those people to be made ministers while she becomes an ambassador without an embassy.

Michel has created 3 new ministers and 3 new principal secretaries. The country's workload has not increased. More salaries to paid out, plus all the paraphernalia that come with the job.

It is a total waste of money by the man who once bankrupted the country and had to call in the IMF.

For the amount of work that the cabinet of 13 will be doing, their fat salaries smack of welfare benefits.

They will be badly placed to urge young people to go out and find poorly paid work to get off welfare benefits.

Anonymous said...

I am surprised the chief of traitors Wavel Ramkalawan was not appointed as Ministers (on 11 there are 2 ex SNPs).
V

Anonymous said...

He prefers his role as stooge opposition leader ,it is easier,no responsibility,nothing to do and at last he pocket a minister's salry plus all the perks and pension.What is better then that.He loves his stooge role and he does not want anything else.

Jeanne D'Arc

Anonymous said...

Mitcy Larue a minister this old crow is unqualified. What a shame to put her incharge of health.
She is going to order more Panadol in order to kill us all.

Anonymous said...

As District mamanger she could not even ensure aspirine stock for Praslin's hospital.Our health system under PP communist system is already in a mess, Mitzy will delapidate it soon,we would have to consult marabou,use "grigrir" traditional herbs to treat oursleves..

Jeanne D'Arc

Anonymous said...

It seems that Alain St Ange has written an eTurbo news press release on his own appointment as minister. Who is more vain him or Michel ? Anyway, nice to see him acknowledged that his treachery of the opposition has been recognised by Michel.

Anonymous said...

I remember her being a creche teacher on Praslin. Does she have a degree in politic or some sort ?
Maybe her personal one that she has shared several times. The old boss should be happy, cause he made the recommandation. Finally everything is paid. Mit you cannot say that I got it for free, that's the final payment.

Anonymous said...

Is Alain St Ange is taking a break from the tourism fair in Berlin to write press releases on himself ? In fact the only reports on his appointment on the internet are by his mate, Wolfgang Thome, and eTurbo news. Puke !

Anonymous said...

We will then read in Seychelles Nation on his return that his appointment has taken the world by storm. The sort of stuff that that idiot Michel is likely to believe.

Didn't Seychelles nation and SBC tell us that Michel met Clinton in London to discuss his letter to Obama ? Nothing was said about Michel discussing and agreeing to take on 15 alleged Somali pirates at the time. Which of the two was more important to inform the Seychellois people about ?

Anonymous said...

Now he will have a whole ministry to promote Alain St Ange and not Seychelles.

Anonymous said...

What does a full time Tourism Minister do, if not a waste of money and Michel presiding over the biggest and most expensive cabinet of ministers in the history of Seychelles ? St Ange will continue doing what he was doing as CEO of STB and Elsia Grandcourt (with her 18 months apprenticeship) will continue to be St Ange's side-kick.

I do not see St Ange concentrating on tourism strategy at home and foregoing the limelight and the overseas business class/first class travel abroad. It will not happen.

Why does Mauritius attract 1 million tourists a year and Seychelles struggles to attract 200,000 ? Even Reunion, a French department with little marketing, attracts 500,000 but mostly French ones. In fact a little research shows that Mauritius had fewer than 20,000 tourists in 1970. They have come a long way since then and we have come a short way since then.

The answer is that we have spent too long trying to dupe tourists into thinking that overpriced holidays are good for them. Tour operators and hoteliers over-price accommodation and tourism services to make quick bucks and the government are taxing the industry to death. Tourism employees are paid a pittance and many resort to copying their employers by stealing off tourists. The key stakeholders are slaughtering the goose that could lay the golden egg. Tourists are voting with their feet. Appointing a full time minister for tourism is not going to change any of that.

Anonymous said...

And what exactly is the “Seychelles Brand” ? It is Michel's latest creation and is so esoteric that only Michel and St Ange appear to understand what it means. St Ange pretends he does but I would not put any money on it.

If it was supposed to set the Seychelles destination apart from other destinations and to get Seychellois involved in the industry, as Michel says, then they have a funny way of going about things. Take the carnaval de Victoria for instance.

The 2011 objective of the carnival organised by St Ange was to boost Michel's re-election chances by having a 3-day knees-up for the voters. After that, it was supposed to attract tourists to Seychelles. Those who believed St Ange’s protestations that he had not authorised Michel to implicate him in his political campaign might want to think again.

The truth is that the carnival (presumably an essential element of the Seychelles Brand) will entertain tourists who happen to be in Seychelles at the time. It is foolish to think that tourists will flock to Seychelles before Lent each year to enjoy the "carnivals of carnival", especially when they can see the star attraction, the Notting Hill team, in London on a much bigger scale. The carnival is even failing as entertainment for tourists who are in Seychelles at the time. How many European faces did you see watching the floats last Saturday ? Hardly any. There were more European faces (and more) on Beau Vallon beach that afternoon. Perhaps tourists will prefer resources spent on maintaining cleaner and safer beaches to a carnival.

Anonymous said...

But the biggest indication that the Seychelles Brand is already dead in the water is that, as acts of folly go they do not get any bigger, Michel wants to be seen as the leader of the Indian Ocean region. A carnival for the region is the big idea. Carnaval de Victoria is dead. Say hello to Carnival of the Vanilla Islands.

The 2012 carnaval de Victoria was co-organised with Reunion where it has been redubbed as the carnival for the Vanilla Islands. Attempts to rope in Mauritius failed, but Michel and St Ange are not giving up.

Michel and St Ange now want to market the region and not just Seychelles. The argument is that the Caribbean is a successful tourist destination because tourists are not aware of the individual Caribbean countries. That's what St Ange said on the radio the other day. He obviously has not seen Jamaica marketing its tourism industry in Europe, with the help of famous airlines such as Virgin.

So, Michel and St Ange will market the Indian Ocean region (e.g. Vanilla Islands Carnival) and will leave it to tourists to decide which Vanilla island to choose. This is like asking tourists to go to Maldives and Mauritius which are much cheaper than Seychelles. It sounds like the duo is planning the funeral of our tourism industry. SHTA will presumably start complaining when occupancy rates start to fall.

If Reunion is co-organising the carnival (assuming Mauritius does not join the folly) and is paying part of the cost, why would they allow future carnivals to be held in Victoria only ? Even Didier Robert must have noticed the lack of European faces watching the carnival and that the carnival has limited ability to attract tourists to Seychelles or Reunion for that matter.

Anonymous said...

Seriously, the appointments are an insult to people with any common sense, the IMF, the Parti Lepep, all tax payers and Seychelles.

Are these the only people that Seychelles has to offer?
A musical chair of headless, self gratifying, egotistical, inexperienced and corupt individuals?

Next time I see these ministers and other appointed political officials go by in their duty free car, and listen to whatever committee they just formed, or see 10 of them go on a half day field trip to see a road, Im going to laugh.

Pathetic.

Wonder how the other hard working civil servants who actually have the experience feel? Now that they have been overlooked, are they still going to vote yes?

And by the way, I thought the Gov dof the Cental Bank was supposed to be independent and impartial? Nice status and political appointment for him. He really lost the respect of many people.

I could write forever on the pitifull mess of a govt...

Anonymous said...

Meant to say:

I could write forever on this pitifull govt with no sense of direction, integrity and purpose.

Anonymous said...

Reply to last comment-

I believe the more accurate view is Alain St. Ange has been promoting James Michel, not necessarily just Tourism, which when all things considered, he has not done a good job in my view.

It does not make sense to promote Tourism in Europe, place banners on London Taxis, and lure the French Market, then pull out direct flights from the same market that Seychelles promotes.

Example, if the Paris route was losing money, could we not cut 4 flights a week to 3 flights or 2 instead a a full on pull out from our main market, and sell out of Air Seychelles, our "ex- national" air carrier.

In defence of St. Ange, he may say, " I had nothing to do with the pull out and sell off of Air Seychelles".

But.....James Michel did, and Alain St. Ange promotes James Michel on a full time basis.

The long and short of it, is now we have 4 flights a week from Etihad using a A320 with 150 seats out of Charles De Gaulle. Then the french market hubs if they come, and hop on a Airbus 319 with about 120 seats to Seychelles.

Air Seychelles ran a 767-300 with 268 seats.

People of Seychelles, the worse is upon us and it will get worse before it gets better, because we have opportunist that celebrate failure, to promote themselves.

A real patriotic Seychellois, would expose the failure, no matter what, if, and, or but!

Seselwa Unite!

Sesel Pou Seselwa!

Christopher Gill
Leader
Seychelles Freedom Party

Anonymous said...

What is that fool Louis d'Offay doing ? As I said before SHTA is complicit in the demise of the tourism industry. A bunch of no-hopers, with more money than sense.

Anonymous said...

Air Seychelles deliberately made bankrupt ,an annual expensive Carnival that does not serve its purpose.Instead of spending millions on a Carnival that izts outcome is a lost,why does PP use the money by put in Air Seychelles that our airline can restart at least one route to Europe?I guess it would benefit our tourism industry better than a deficitary Carnival.We bankrupt PP,we have an astronomic debt you created,our public services are delapidating,it is time to save not throw our money in the toilette.

The failure of our tuorsim industry under Pp is obvious,St Ange thinks he is running a CARTEL,he like a headless chicken running amok,agitated and taking decision for the industry.....like taking a dump.With hotels occupancy rate at free fall ,there is cuase for severe alarm.

It is imperative that our tourism officials come to reality and stop those fictious strategies:Listen to professionals in the industry,consult them,work with all stakeholders only together we can find solutions on how to deal with the problem.

Those greedy and hungry power individuals like St Ange and cronies are not doing anything than killing the industry.No clear and long term strategy,National Ailine the main transportation means to bring tourists to our shores bankrutped and gifted to Khalifa,nothing show any betteremnt of the industry as long as we have those headless at the helm of the industry.

The country needs a thinking tank to seriously think of how to get the industry out of Michel and St Ange' mess.The two evil twins just do not have the solution.

Jeanne D'Arc

Anonymous said...

Im replying to Christopher's reply of my post regarding the ministerial appointments.

In reference to Etihad and the various aircraft types:

Its true that the ammount of total seats to Seychelles may have decreased (this needs to be confirmed) but one needs to look at the total sales distribution and potential that Etihad has. Its seems quite obvious that Etihad has more destinations and marketing, so the opportunity to bring more passengers is greater. Whereas Air Seychelles didnt have the pockets or reach for this. Yes Air Seychelles may have had more seats, but were they filling up? obviously not.

In any case, im not supporting the move by Etihad , but the changes at Air Sey should have happened internally a while back. Industrial experts should have been brought in with more accountability.

Which brings me to St Ange. This guy really needs to get a job at a tabloid magazine like OK, The Sun, Equirer etc.... He is so egotistical and loves the limelight. The only thing the i and many others want to know, where are the numbers? To me, promoting someone is based on concrete results and not photographs and self written articles. We are now in March..did the end of year tourism numbers come yet? which by the way means nothing without the proper revenue and cost allocated to them. I wrote a while back that St Ange was the wrong choice to even lead STB, let alone a newly trained x-cabin crew.

At the end of it all, these appointments really show the lack of proper direction and leadership . Some of these Ministers would only be junior staff in real world govts. I wonder if they can hold an intelligent conversation , let alone move Seychelles forward.

I enjoy reading these discussions. They add more value when less ridicule, swearing and foul language is used.

Cheers

Anonymous said...

I think St Ange boxed Michel into appointing him. St Ange got his friends, especially from overseas, to meet Michel and to praise both St Ange and Michel. Michel is too thick.

The 2012 carnival was spoilt by Aussie MC Aaron Heslehurst. His attempts to whip up the crowd into excitement with his effete voice failed. The average Seychellois in the crowd did not understand what he was talking about. Another St Ange's big idea bombed, apart from allowing him to make pompous claims about an "international" carnival when most international floats and personalities have to be paid to attend either by Seychelles government or their own organisation.

But Heslehurst used the occasion to flatter James Michel. Who told him it was important to fawn over Michel ? Must have been his "good friend" St Ange because it is not the sort of thing Heslehurst would have done at a similar event in Australia or UK, where flattering the Prime Minister would have seen him booed off the stage.

Michel has psychological flaws -- he needs to be constantly buttered up. And enterprising foreigners visiting us have picked up on this. St Ange has been at it since day one.

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