Wednesday, July 8, 2009

The Seychelles Column - By Christopher Gill

Central Bank Moves To Legislate Confidence in Seychelles Rupee

After floating the Seychelles Rupee in November 2008 and finally allowing bureau de change offices to compete with commercial banks, the Central Bank of Seychelles, headed by Mr. Pierre Laporte, has now passed legislation in conspiracy with the Ministry of Finance to attempt to legislate confidence in the Seychelles Rupee, before the market does.

The proposed new law, passed by the National Assembly and likely to be assented into law by the President of Seychelles, requires all tourism businesses in Seychelles to now charge clients in Seychelles Rupees and not in hard currency. The law has the effect if put in practice, to force businesses all over Seychelles to take Seychelles Rupees as legal tender, whether or not they have any confidence in the currency. Establishments cannot set their own rates and must follow Central Bank Rates, a significant departure from liberalization of currency activity.

In theory, the visitors will change their Euro and US Dollars at a currency trader bureau or at a bank, at rates set by the Central Bank. But bureaus and banks set their own rates. The market will as well, in case Mr. Laporte missed that slight fundamental detail when concocting this dubious piece of legislation that will be bound to set the reform program Michel has embarked on back a few more years.

The most damaging part of this legislation is the fact that the tourism industry as of November had started to bank money earned into the banking system, which has helped the Central Bank increase its reserves from an all time low of $12 Million (less then one days supply of money for imports) to a whopping $75 Million (about 4 weeks of imports). This represents a significant turnaround, when balanced against a severe downturn in receivables (-40%&-25%) from the fishing industry and tourism industry in 2009.

Because the tourism industry was slowly gaining confidence in the banking system which includes the dubious Central Bank of Seychelles that does not have the best track record, this new legislation will undoubtedly threaten the viability of the seed of confidence sown in November 2008 by Mr. Laporte himself.

Mr. Laporte Ask Why?

Mr. Laporte may ask why is confidence threatened with the new legislation? Mr. Laporte has a tendency to have lapses in understanding monetary policy. He had one of those lapses when he was the Foreign Exchange Controller at the Central Bank of Seychelles under Mr. Francis Chang Leng before he left to join the IMF, out of sheer stress over the lapse.

As Foreign Exchange Controller, it was Mr. Laporte himself, who administrated seizures of hard currency an individual would possess without necessary documentation. It was Mr. Laporte who would recommend prosecution to the Attorney General’s office. As fate would have it, today, Mr. Laporte himself, is tasked with returning some of those monies at today’s rate, no interest paid for the use of the money, to the victims of that preposterous Foreign Exchange Control Act.

Unfortunately, one Chinese gentleman that had his money taken, will not have it returned, right Mr. Laporte. Or is this another lapse of memory?

To Erode Confidence Is A Sign Of Desperation

Last November, Mr. Laporte told us that tourism industry could trade hard currency and set rates in the same. When trading, currency rates would be set by the establishment. Guests were free to accept rates or free to take their money elsewhere. This a partial insight into the functionality of the Free Market system. The consumer is free, to spend his money, where he/she is happy to.

As payments are made, they enter the banking system. Hotels for example, secure their hard currency investment, by accepting the same in kind for services. The new proposal was working. Banks receive hard currency, because no retention scheme exists. Business can make up their investments in the same. Government can increase its reserves to stabilize and meet obligations, and have something when it rains. Something is always better then nothing.

80% of what makes a hotel is in hard currency

Under the new law, tourism establishments which have been created through hard currency investments, will now simply recoup profits and capital investments through risky Seychelles Rupees remittance. This a dangerous precedence that will cause more FDI flight from our shores.

While Seychelles Rupee is legal tender, it is not a legal tender of confidence. The new French Ambassador should be made aware of that, after all, his country has played a significant role in nursing the socialist leftist state Rene ran for years, that led to the loss of confidence in the Seychelles Rupee.

Hence, the Ambassador should be happy and willing to settle his bills in Euros. If he pays in Seychelles Rupees, then it should be at the rate the establishment sets. If he is unhappy with the rate, he should take his business elsewhere and complain about the establishment if he has been treated unfairly, there is no need to make a fuss over a simple matter. After all, we are not in Paris, this is Seychelles the measure of tolerance in a leftist state is much higher then free Paris. As a consumer, the French Ambassador is free to spend his money where he chooses too. I defend him in that regards.

Mr. Laporte will say, “you can convert your Seychelles Rupees into hard currency”. Well, this is where London Bridge comes falling down for Mr. Laporte and his financial reforms. He takes us now down a dangerous river of many hazards financially.

In reality, we cannot convert our investments back to hard currency. If you take a composite of the total local investments and FDI over the last ten (15) years in Seychelles, you will exceed the total reserves of the Seychelles Central Bank hands down. In fact, the total current reserve is less than many single hotel developments. If Maia was sold tomorrow in Seychelles Rupees, the Seller would wipe out the Central Bank if he presented his Seychelles Rupees for US Dollars. Same for Silhouette Labriz or St. Anne Beachcomber and a number of little projects under 25 rooms.

To test Mr. Laporte’s intellectual integrity in his new legislation, take a walk to a local commercial bank on Monday, ask your banker for US$25,000 and see what he says. Will your banker honour the published rates or will he say the board rate is an indicative rate and if you want that much money you must pay a higher rate. Basically, some managers are playing a black market role as it is.

The next day, ask the manager for US$200,000, which is not much for a little tourism business (a couple of outboard engines and some new kitchen equipment). But an amount like this is too much to entertain for your commercial bank. Immediately, the manager will start making phone calls. He will tell you the Central Bank requires a high deposit so he cannot help so quickly. The lesson is this: the Seychelles Rupee is not convertible. With the new legislation, the Seychelles Rupee will not become convertible. Why, why Mr. Laporte ask?

Because you cannot legislate confidence in a currency. Simple. Confidence must be earned the hard way. We must work through the problems and build confidence in the Seychelles Rupee over time and encouraging those that hold hard currency it is right and good investing to place the money in Seychelles.

The Central Bank can do that by offering favourable interest rates for hard currency deposits as it does for Seychelles Rupees. It is the reverse of the mop up operation conducted since November.

You see Mr. Governor, in an economy, goods have value according to the supply of the goods in relation to the demand for the same. This is called the Law of Supply and Demand. It applies to goods and to currency as well. Your currency must be legal tender in practice not solely by legislation. “Legal” means recognized by the jurisdiction, and “Tender”, infers precious, important or of great cherished and respected value, like a baby or infant when referred to as “tender”.

Politeness aside, this is a tall order for the Seychelles Rupee today, Mr. Laporte is aware of that.

Lack of confidence in a currency does not change when placed under chains of compliance legislation. The more you legislate, the more you increase risk and enhance value of a good or currency in limited, finite supply. As you do that, you will make hard currency more expensive against a Seychelles Rupee.

As hard currency becomes more expensive, your fixed and fiddled rates will be mindless when compared to the real market rates, set by the same.

The variance between the two rates is where the black market will frolic, thanks to this dubious legislation.

Beach boys will want Mr. Laporte to be President. We will be back to the horse and pony show again. Tourist will be harassed daily hour by hour. Do you remember what that did to the industry?

Currency is used as a symbol that represents a determined value that is accepted by the general public. A currency will be accepted in exchange for goods and services if and only if, the currency is perceived to retain the value being parted and imparted. If it is not, the Seller will simply ask for another denominated currency that he/she perceives to be an acceptable mode of exchange for his/her goods and services.

Unfortunately, the Seychelles Rupee has not achieved this level of confidence in the market place yet. Look at the Treasury Bills rates. They opened at 32% and a mere six month later, rates are down to 12%. This is not a sign of confidence. The variance shows Mr. Laporte created artificial value to simply take money out of circulation to reduce the black market activity. He has passed the results of this exercise off as new confidence in the Seychelles Rupee. It is not.

The size of the Seychelles economy in Seychelles Rupees does not correspond to the hard currency reserves. The disparity is indicative of the lack of real value of the Seychelles Rupee and indicative of the real confidence in the Seychelles Rupee. There is little confidence.

Imagine now, that every car dealer starts selling cars in Seychelles Rupees. What will Honda or Toyota do with all those Seychelles Rupees? They of course will not accept the currency. These manufacturers will tell a dealer to convert the Seychelles Rupees and send them US Dollars. Where will we get all those Dollars when your reserves are fledging in spite of not paying any debts this year?

Black Market Will Come Back

Anytime the Central Bank creates anomalies in the financial system by mismanagement and improper monetary policy that is not in step with market forces, the black market weed will spurt its little head out of the ground. This is right where Mr. Laporte has now taken us.

After this dubious ill-thought out legislation takes effect, the Black Market will be back knocking on the doors of the Central Bank to give it a little competition. Unfortunately for Mr. Laporte and the Central Bank, that is exactly what we all do not want to happen. But it will, because your policies are again out of sync with market forces. Policy must be set within the realities of the market. You cannot successful legislate market realities. Rene tried that for years and failed. Now, you are doing the same as Aboo, Weber did to please Rene.

Now that the Black Market will creep its way back before the year ends, Mr. Laporte, is it acceptable for a Governor of the Central Bank to receive an annual bonus of SCR 1 Million from the Ministry of Finance each year, when the Central Bank Act does not make any provisions for annual bonuses?

Does not this annual bonus compromise your independence per se, which may cause you to implement legislation like the new amendments that will erode confidence in the Seychelles Rupee, all with the objective of helping the Government come up with some hard currency to pay its obligations, when it cannot come up with sufficient good ideas on how to earn the money to meet the January 2010 deadlines. Recall well your words to the people October 31, 2008, on launching of the Reform, “for the Reform to work, the tourism industry must continue to succeed”.

When a cowboy is riding in the desert, the worse thing he can do is shoot his horse, because it drinks water!

May God Bless All Freedom Loving Seychellois and Our Beloved Seychelles!

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Seychelles Comedy - State House Anytime Now

Bridging the Divide

With the Per Fondater having his one hour airtime to try and portray his legacy and clean up his image, people are simply not buying into all the lies. Now at the head of a floundering Parti Lepep, the Seychelles President finds himself holed up in his State House surrounded by his faithful Secretary of State (SOS) JP, the comforting presence of the pretty Slavic Press Secretary and the phalanx of Honda Silver Wing waiting to whisk the president to the next appointment on the agenda. Oops, it’s the English River district meeting…better go discreet with a few tinted-screen Jeeps and some dark-sunglassed Rambos…

JenPa: Good morning Sir! Independence Day was a great success as you made the effort to finally come down and pay your respects on this auspicious day. The flag raising ceremony and the new rendition of the ‘Koste Seselwa’ was the highlight. It was great to see you mingling in the crowd with Wavel the Opposition Leader, Ton Jim and Marylou. It would seem that this occasion finally brought everyone together. Ton Jim was feeling joyous and was singing and dancing away in his fancy hat. Sir, that man seems to be sp happy all the time, as compared to the grim-looking Ton Albert.

Mr. President: Yes indeed JP, it was a great idea to have this ceremony. I am hoping that I can now be able to bridge this divide between our people. The old man should have done this a long time ago. But he has too big an ego and wants to be the only one in the limelight. There has been too much suffering and next year we cannot let Zonm Lib remind us of that. We will call the 18th Constitution Day and really celebrate the 29th June as the true birth of our nation.

JenPa: The timely arrival of the US warship was another boost as they helped us further celebrate the occasion with a cocktail on board. The Americans are the nation to emulate Mr. President. We are now calling upon them for many things and most of all the battle with the pirates, and maybe even a small navy base on one of Glenny’s IDC islands. In the early colonial days we had the corsairs and pirates like La Buse and Hodoul. Today we have one as a judge and our democracy seems to be flourishing. As great American folk singer Bob Dylan sang: “Oh the times they are a changing”…

Mr. President: Indeed they are JP. I am fortunate to start reviving this close cooperation with our American friends. I recall when I was leading the call of ‘Yankees Go Home’. We were making our rapprochement with our communist friends at that time. We were being blindly led towards a totalitarian regime by Albert, but I was so young and naïve back then JP, and I could not even think for myself. But today I can see where Mancham was coming from. He was after all our best foreign minister and I intend to emulate him.

JenPa: I agree Sir. He was bringing in the capital investment to develop our country. With the arrival of the airport, we were on our way. I gather that the country was flourishing by the time we took Independence and tourism was taking root with plenty of hotels which are still around today.

Mr. President: Yes, but our chief architect of our modern society wanted to see a redistribution of everything from land to businesses. He was against the Arabs at that time, especially Adnan Khashoggi. And today, we have Prince Talal and loads of other Sheiks and princes. Even his closest entourage like Francis, David and Glenny have their own little Kingdoms. Like Parti Lepep, some of them have been re-baptised our islands with new names like Zil Pasyon, Zilwa, Miska and God knows what. By the way JP, did you see the nice little program on the ‘Per Fondater’ recently?

JenPa: Yes, it seems that Onezime is not up to the task and they had to go dig up old Marie-Claire from La Misere as if she could see a bit clearer through this tainted legacy. Sir, these appearances by the old man is not helping our cause of bridging the divide. We do not have to resort to all of this controversial past, because digging up old dirt could bring us new troubles, especially those dead ghosts of opposition people who disappeared. Ton Albert even admitted that some people died by accident on the day of the Coup D’etat, which kills the old fact of the bloodless coup. So my advice to you Sir, although I know you played a big role in the revolution and you are still one of his favourite apostles, is to “de-koste” and pretend to be your own man, especially since the next election is just a couple of years away.

Mr. President: I had only thought of Mancham as the apostle of national reconciliation. Perhaps we should ask him to join our team of advisers. We now have a press secretary full time and we can do with a wise man. We need a sage JP, an old wizard who can bring back some of the magic to our country and cast a spell on our people to make them forget the real history of Seychelles. And I am sure that we can get Ton Jim to be that sage advisor, especially if we give him back the SMB supermarket building which we acquired from him. He can also take time in updating and correcting Danny’s commissioned book on the ‘Modern History of Seychelles’. By the time he gets to Chapter 4 on the coup d’etat, we will be in the next elections and we would have straightened out our economic mess.

JenPa: Sir, speaking of next elections, the Jeux Des Iles announcement by smooth-talking Minister Meriton last week was another coup de grace. Just imagine, our own Indian Ocean Olympics right here in Seychelles, and using the l’Ile Perseverance housing project as the village for the athletes. Boy, think of all the parties for the youth, and right after you can announce the 2011 election dates. The people will have forgotten all their troubles if we win a few gold medals, and we must give them all free burgers and keep the booze flowing all night long. SNP and DP will never know what hit them!

Mr. President: Ah, JP my son, you are catching on fast. And to think that Albert thought I was the slow one…

JenPa: Great visionary thinking Sir. Just simple, pure genius. Ton Albert claims to think ten years ahead but you seem to be a lot more forward thinking. With the Jj Spirit apparatus already in full gear, we can have the party renamed into “Parti Lazenes Lepep” – like it used to be done in the one party state days with the young pioneers, NYS etc...

Mr. President: You have to give it to him my son. Back then, he was such a convincing person, and he had real thick skin like an old Aldabra “torti”. But since he ate so many of them, now he looks like one…(chuckle..chuckle). Now in his old days, he is trying to absolve himself of the mess he created and all problems that I have inherited. But I agree with you. The key now is to dissociate and distance myself from him.

JenPa: We need to dissociate on one end and associate on the other. The heavy burden now has to be lifted from this people who are crying out for peace and unity. We need to be able to make peace with ourselves Sir. There is nothing wrong with repenting. This is what they did in South Africa when apartheid was dismantled. Even Mugabe has agreed to cohabitate with Tsvangirai. We need to move ahead in the same spirit with a new mindset.

Mr. President: I will have to convince all the others who are trying to take a more communist approach to be united. I am for a free market capitalist system and this is what is best for Seychelles. As long as we do not have to make our assets the dirty linen of the century we are safe. I don’t know about you, but I am enjoying the trappings of the position that Mancham and Albert have been fighting for all their lives.

JenPa: Sir we have taken the capitalist road indeed! We have sold off what Ton Albert has nationalised but we still cannot make up the money for the $800 million we have in debt. The old man is still living in his dreams. We now have to pick up the pieces while he shows off his gentle side. People are now asking to see more of this telenovella. They want to see the 10 acres. You remember the ‘Rann sa dis’ and the ‘Ti-Frans, ti-frans ou mem sours tou nou soufans’ days when he professed that he had ‘tres peu de sous’?

Mr. President: Yeah that was stupid Ogilvy who dared to parade a cow in Victoria, and he had forgotten what we had done for him over the years. Today he is back in our camp begging and I think I will give him the prisons to look after. He has some good tactics at handling ruffians, and wife Maryse can help us pull in a few more votes out of the health departments.

JenPa: Sir we should not go that route again. Remember when we had his old army sidekick Bonte running Long Island? Do you remember the weekly escapades? I suggest a more credible alternative Sir. Maybe we need to seek the help of our Irish friends once again.

Mr. President: JP, to be honest, I’m starting to have enough of this Irish connection. This was Orderly’s idea so that he could get his regular supply of his favourite Irish whiskey. Look at the Police Department. These Irish have done absolutely nothing, even with their fat salaries. I think we have to strengthen our ties with the Yankees. If we play our cards right, perhaps Obama will get our defaulted bonds and all the money we owe Lehman Brothers written off. Or maybe he can give us a few millions like he gave Tsvangirai a few weeks back.

JenPa: Sir, as per my assessment, the Lehman’s fiasco rests squarely with Chang Leng and our people are asking for you to prosecute or at least get him to give the money back. Now that the sausage has burst, we have to face the consequences. IMF is tightening the screws and soon they will be enquiring about the missing millions. They are starting to open up the books and some of those white elephants are in for a slaughter.

Mr. President: We are in the stage of the elimination process JP. I have already briefed the sweet little press secretary on this. The old man is going so we allow him time to fire his parting shot. We need to look ahead from now one. No more lonely Misel as he wants me to be. I need to surround myself with a buffer zone. This is why I am facing the people in all the districts with my whole team.

JenPa: Indeed Sir. I never realized how terrible our Government services were until I heard all these people complaining in every district we have visited. The civil service is a total disaster Sir. The people are right in demanding that things are put back on track. There has been a laisser-faire attitude for far too long, while the bid chiefs were filling their pockets and building houses and flats and flying off to Dubai in first class.

Mr. President: I know JP, this cannot continue. This is why I am pushing forward the ‘leve Debrouye’ mindset. Our people need to work as we cannot afford to keep giving them handouts like the Per Fondater used to do. The people now want us to give some of the money back but the “kof” is empty.

JenPa: Yes Sir. I believe that the “kof” is now full of papers on the assets declaration. Perhaps we can ask Leka to open those envelopes that now sit in the Central Bank vaults.

Mr. President: Not a chance my son! We cannot let the people see the assets of our top civil servants as there would be a revolution if the truth came out. We now need to focus on getting our banks to start lending people money. Without money they cannot make things happen. We need to look into another trip to Doha or Abu Dhabi pretty soon. Now that the Plantation Club deal is done, we need to see some more commitment from the ‘shisha boys’.

JenPa: The place is apparently up and running as the biggest party hotel in the Indian Ocean. Gorgeous girls are flown in regularly and the entertainment seems to be hot. We really need to get invited to some of those wild orgies Sir. Some guys just seem to have all the fun.

As he contemplates another trip to his favourite part of the world, the President’s eyes light up with the thought of young nymphs from the far corners of Arabia... He needs to learn more about how they tap into this oil business…and yes. Soon, very soon, he will announce that we have discovered oil. Now that will unite our people for sure. The old dictator will be gone, and he will become the ruler for life of this little kingdom of sandy beaches…Sheikh James Alix bin Michel… ahhh, who needs “blue gold tuna” when we can have black gold oozing out of our oceans! Oh, those young gorgeous girls will be belly-dancing for me…

Monday, July 6, 2009

The Seychelles Column - By Christopher Gill

Communist Hero Pulls out the Dog and Children to Rewrite and Fake History!

Most recently, the foremost communist leader of Seychelles France Albert Rene took full advantage of his state-controlled SBC-television station to reveal to us another plot in his attempt to cleanse his wretched, troubled soul and alter the course of history in Seychelles.

This time, Rene was not plotting to take control of a newly born island nation state that had just shed its colonial roots through a peaceful transition called Independence. But rather, after committing treason as the country’s first Prime Minister through his pre-meditated bloody June 5th 1977 coup d’etat, after dragging our country through his illegal one party state dictatorship for 15 plus years, after scamming a number of elections through illegal handouts of state money and victimization of the opposing party members, through his abuse of power and victimization of ordinary citizens, his ultimate goal this time around was to fake success and fake the reality of 35 years of complete and utter failure. Rene has set out to rewrite history, and his final plot intends to fake us into believing that communist Rene is a smart visionary and the founder of modern Seychelles. Well, our history will prove that Rene is neither and he already knows it.

The Movie Plot

As SBC and Party Lepep Cuban trained reporters made the pre-planned rounds through Rene’s home, a camera shot in the living room, a couple minutes in the kitchen to see the master chef cook up a little fish with his maid overlooking the effort in case his white shirt catches fire, then an interview with wife Sarah and the children, we cannot but feel great pity for his family, for they have now inherited the pressure of all his bad deeds and catastrophic failure at running the Seychelles economy.

It was indeed a pathetic attempt to deceive the Seychellois public once again, with well-thought out quotes such as “the great mind... one who thinks ten years ahead of every one…the thoughtful, generous person…the great scholar…a caring father…the cool and calculated leader who worries over affairs of State House and our country….even after retiring from the same”.

This is the man Rene would like us all to remember. A false fallacy if there was ever one!

But as “le deluge” sets upon us, his family must be completely perplexed after initially thinking they had such a smart visionary in their midst, only to learn from Reuters and the most recent IMF report on Seychelles that the Rene-communist vision has materialized to complete failure as Seychelles enjoys the worse credit rating in the world. Let alone a bankrupt, unsustainable economy!

On the other hand, Rene and his clan are not bankrupt. The cameras on SBC give but a hint of the vast wealth accumulated over the 45 years. A stroll through town is another hint. A trip to the other islands, a visit to Australia adds additional evidence of accumulated wealth by the clan, while poor Seychelles suffers under bankruptcy.

Rene telling MNA’s under orders to never utter the word “BANKRUPT” will not make us solvent anytime soon. Mr. Visionary Architect-Economist has led Seychelles to financial disaster of monstrous proportions. This is his legacy and he knows it.

It is because of this legacy of failure, that he now needs to face us in front of a camera to show the personal human side of a dictator, trying to coax us into believing he is this great hero so that we can forget about his mismanagement of our country and his great failure to navigate Seychelles to financial stability as his clan enjoys.

The perfect example of the split personality Jekyll & Hyde psychopathic mind rests in the modern history of Seychelles. Who is Jekyll and who is Hyde? I leave that to the reader to decide. If you are clueless, ask our first founding President, James Mancham for a hint.

The interviews with Rene will not remove the IMF administrator from our midst, and this financial watchdog will be here long after Rene has departed our beloved shores. His children will share the burden with our children, to mop up the mess and repay all the debts he has created with his madness.

It is a shameful legacy indeed when one reflects that when he hijacked the Nation on June 5th 1977, our Central Bank had 385 Million Pound Sterling in reserves and the Seychelles Rupee was convertible all over the world.

Today we have over US$ 820 Million in external debt, and our reserves sit at around Pounds Sterling 20 Million while interest continues to add up. Enough for a couple weeks of fuel and rice imports at best.

Fear Not The Failure

Those of you who still fear, stop wasting your valuable energy and simply accept the fact that we have already failed under Rene. Do not be fooled to think that Rene has answers for us, as he never did. Now he only attempts to numb our nerves as our suffering increases. He continues to target the illiterate, feeble-minded and weak hearts amongst us. He banks his ideas on stupidity rather than the intelligent mind. He counts on the fear factor as all tyrants do. Rene is no liberator. This is no 1960’s Catholic priest-in-training and this is certainly no saviour of Seychelles.

He insults his opponents in life, instead of extending an olive branch so the next generation can live beyond his disasters. He perpetuates division because he lives by the gun, even when lounging besides his triple dip pool likely paid for through government funds, sourced by taxation, from same Seychellois he professes to have saved from colonialism and poverty.

While you dip in your pool, many Seychellois are getting poorer and poorer each day because of your bozo economics and bozo management of our national resources.

Today, it is the IMF that tells Rene and SPUP-SPPF-Parti Lepep what to do. Michel quite likely cries to himself as he sits in the lonely offices of State House, to realize now that Rene has left him with a colossal mess, a bankrupt country and a divided Nation. When he meets Rene, he shakes and shudders as he recently did at the Le Pep Party Congress. Michel knows not the way out of this disaster, but he tries to lead in spite of it and buys a little time so that he can distance himself from Rene and hopefully, outlive his failed mentor.

Do Not Blame The Children

People of Seychelles, do not hold Rene’s children responsible for Rene’s failures. This is not right. His children deserve to have an independent life of him and his conspiracies. Those of you who punish and victimize his children as Rene alleges, are doing what Rene would have done to children of his opponents.

Rise above him and prove to history that you are better than him. Do not be like Rene. Doing what is evil is easy, but doing what is right is a greater challenge we must all meet for Seychelles to survive Rene.

Those of you who commit such acts are no better than Rene himself. And while he may have hinted he has repented in the past few months and is now searching for forgiveness and national salvation, he has been stubbornly silent over it.

Do not expect repentance from Rene. It is not in his character to do so. So rise up above the disgraceful examples Rene has set for you. Leave his children alone and do not victimize them. They are innocent as long as they remain so.

But Rene is not so innocent and has simply destroyed our economy. This is the man who last year led Seychelles to its last days supply of hard currency to allow us to import commodities critical to our survival. This is the same man who last year drove us to our last 2 hours of fuel at the pumps. This is the man who together with his then Minister of Finance James Michel and advisor Mukesh Valabhji, created untenable, mad economic policies for our country that led us to the brink of disaster.

IMF reports of course will verify the above facts. And this is the same man who had the audacity to call himself the architect of our nation! The architect built a nation in the sand. Now the IMF wave will wipe it all out overnight. In a year or two, all the gains will all be out of sight! We who come after Rene will have nothing to break, and everything to rebuild. But this time, we must build on solid ground and not in the sands of communism.

This is not false accusation by myself, but hard verified facts reported in the international press the world over. Of course, as any decent self-respecting communist leader would, advise his Lepep Party die-hard followers in the state controlled media to keep such information out of the local press. No wonder he made sure that Seychelles never linked to the undersea fibre-optic internet network when we had the opportunity to do so in the early 90’s. Today we all know how far we lag behind the rest of the world when it comes to internet speed. All due to the simple lack of vision from our supposedly great visionary! Today, Seychelles is a dirt road to nowhere in the information super highway of technology. Thank you Mr. Visionary. Because we do not have high speed bandwidth, now the Galapagos Islands have more tourists per annum (177,000) than Seychelles. They do not have five star hotels, nor four star, nor three or two.

Architect Cum Economist Cum Actor

Simply put, Rene the supposed economist is an oxymoron. Rene has been anything but an economist for Seychelles. He has driven our economy into overdrive failure over the years, and we have an IMF plan as evidence of his great failure.

Rene has referred to himself as the architect of modern Seychelles. This is a blatant lie as we have been left in the dust by all our neighbouring island neighbours such as Mauritius and Maldives.

Today, our country’s institutions such as the Police Department, the Judiciary, the Prison Department, the School system, the transport system and anything else that Rene controlled since he drafted his coup papers have crumbled around us.

The great architect designed prawn farms, desalination plants, orchid farms, National Youth Service, Seychelles Marketing Board (SMB) and many other white elephant projects. Animal farm indeed!

We all know how much these institutions cost our country during Rene’s tenure. This self-proclaimed messiah dismantled the once thriving tourism, business, fishing, agricultural and export sectors by nationalizing everything he could lay his hands on. What did he do with it all?

Rene destroyed an exemplary, faith-based educational system which schooled him and most of his ministers. Rene created an Army and assembled a bunch of thugs under names like SSU to beat up and terrorize our own Seychellois citizens. Rene was the architect who arranged for the deportation and imprisonment of our brothers and sisters.

Lest we forget, Rene oversaw the largest exodus of our countrymen who fled to foreign countries to salvage their dignity and to escape death. When questioned about the exodus, he referred to it as economic migration. If that is so, why do they not come back, since Seychelles is such a success under Rene, today, according to Rene and the Guinness bottle?

Even if we had to put his claim to literary “architecture” value, we would have hoped for at least one new outstanding Government building in Victoria. Or at least a new Court House, or a new National Assembly building which is now being built for us by Rene’s Communist Chinese friends. Or maybe Rene and not his brother-in-law was the real architect behind that eyesore Supasave building that was built by his connected company Island Construction. Now isn’t that just great architecture worth at least SCR 135 Million when completed, a waste of Social Security revenue!

Mancham built Rochon and La Gogue dams to give us water. What did Rene build? Well, he opted for sea water to meet our water needs. When the desalination process is improperly calibrated, Rene’s water rusts PUC pipes. Pipes explode, PUC dig up the roads, and raise the bills and tell us our water supply is unsustainable. As we consume salted rusted water sediments, we also die prematurely from cancer and other tumour-related deaths. But the asbestos pipes, and the salt, plus the rust, have nothing to do with our cancers.

What happened to the extension to our crowded Port? What happened to the Greater Victoria Sewage Project, Mr. Architect?

In summary, over the years, Rene encouraged corruption, nepotism and cronyism so that he could further his own selfish agenda and egocentric ambitions. At its worse, which is where Rene is right now, it is Hollywood and Bollywood, Nollywood and Anse Boileau-wood. Our great economist has now been reduced to acting. I am most certain he could have played a valuable role in “KASTOR”, he could use his white shirt, white pants and white shoes and white hat for the part.

The Communist Actor

From this last series of interviews, Rene has demonstrated that he is a “C-grade” actor at best. But this kind of acting earns money in Mexico and Venezuela, so I do not see why the movie cannot be filmed at his Anse Boileau-Barbarons ranch. After all, this glorious 10-acre spread in the beautiful South of Mahé was acquired from the State for a mere Seychelles Rupees Sixty Thousand. Yes, even on acquired lands, triple dip pool, multiple cars and Jeeps in the garage, an army of soldiers to watch over the old dictator, and “grand kaz” of course that somehow resembles those grand colonial homes which Rene himself professed to hate so much in the past.

And let us not forget “Mr. Rene’s” La Digue colonial home which happens to be on l’Union Estate, land acquired by the same Mr. Rene from the Mittermayer family. Isn’t communism just great when you are the head of the party, you can do as you please with resources of the people.

Using the dog as a prop was quite cute and reminds me of the “No One But You” soap Rene allowed us to watch a few years back. This classy telenova recently ran again due to SBC’s lack of funds to pay for new shows.

Face Facts Man Before You Face God

In 1970, it was the Chief Minister of the Seychelles Colony James Mancham who urged the British Crown to finance the construction of an International Airport for Seychelles to open up the then little unknown British island colony to the world of Tourism.

This is a FACT which can be confirmed by checking the British Parliament archives.

At the same time, it was France Albert Rene the leader of the Seychelles People’s United Party (SPUP) who opposed the airport construction and the dredging that was to be done by W&C French. FACT!

At that same time, it was France Albert Rene who said, “Seychelles is For Seychellois” and together with his few supporters, carried placards along the beaches of Seychelles to scare off tourists and discourage any investment in Seychelles. FACT!

Incidentally, today Seychellois have taken a back seat to foreigners who become citizens and even ambassadors overnight in their own motherland.

This is the same Rene who led the opposition when the Reef Hotel was bombed and remember, there were other explosions as well during that same period, including the bomb in Bill Pomeroy’s Mini Minor car. FACT!

Who bombed that car Rene?

This is the same Rene who has distorted history by telling the world that he was not the “architect” of the coup d’etat and that he was only asked to become President by the group of armed men who took the country on that depressing June 5th day in 1977. FACT!

This is the same Rene who tells us that he hit a man at the Victoria Seychelles Club because the club members were racist, when in fact the members voted him out. This is the reason why Rene bulldozed this historical monument and oldest Club in Seychelles as soon as he became the illegal and self-appointed President of Seychelles. This is the same property opposite the Pirates Arms that today houses “Capital City” and is owned by Rene crony company. FACT!

This is the same Rene who told the entire world that the coup was “bloodless”, except that all of Seychelles know that at least 3 innocent Seychellois men lost their lives on that sad day in our Rene-distorted history. And this is the same Rene who admitted to SBC-TV last week and thirty-two years later that indeed “a couple of men” lost their lives accidentally on that day. FACT!

This is the same Rene who was President when many Seychellois such as Simon Desnousse, Mike Asher, Gerard Hoarau and numerous others lost their lives in mysterious circumstances. FACT!

To summarize, this is the same Rene whose SPUP party lost every single election before the 1976 Independence to James Mancham’s Democratic Party (DP). But forgot to mention that simple truth in his recent SBC movie. FACT!

So Mr. Rene, this is reality and this is the real history of Seychelles. You cannot change history, as history, unlike the SBC tapes you made to rewrite your story, are not subject to editing by Onezime, Afif or other Seychellois who are not at liberty to accept the true history of our young nation.

They are but little men in your administrative scheme of things, and they must push the story along as you say it, and not question it, to test its veracity, for perhaps, they might just be out of a job, in typical communist fashion.

What If Rene Did Block The Airport Project!

People of Seychelles, imagine for one moment if Rene and his SPUP communist party had won elections back in the 1970’s. What would have happened? We would not have had an airport on Mahé. We would not have had any tourists in the 1970’s. There would have been no Mahé Beach Hotel, no Beau Vallon Bay Hotel and no Coral Strand hotel. No other hotel would exist except perhaps for a little inn along the long old pier for the occasional sailor on HMS Bulldog to take shelter for a few days of onshore recreation.

Farmers would eat their own crops, taxi drivers would still have rickshaws and not have a decent living. Shops would really be empty most of the time. We would have been like Combodia under Khmer Rouge and we would all be sent to communal farms to toil away. The educated would be sent to dig refuse holes. NYS was not far from that. We would still be beating cinnamon in the forests under Rene’s ideas.

After the coup, and if James Mancham had not pressed the British Government for an airport to open us to the world, Rene would have had to take the steamship “Karanja” or even “Nordver” back to Mombasa to make his way to Tanzania to thank Julius Nyerere for sending soldiers to kill our Seychellois brothers and to keep himself in power.

In my opinion, this same Seychelles International Airport which Rene opposed enticed him to look towards real opportunities for himself and the well-being of our fellow citizens became an after-thought. As he rampaged and nationalized large hotel investments and illegally seized private land from harmless Seychellois families, Rene set the Seychelles foreign direct investment (FDI) climate back 30 years. If Rene had really cared about the rapid advancement of the Seychellois people, he would not have destroyed the most productive sectors of our society and scare off FDI.

His absolute, resolute, tunnel vision, only showed that he was in it for himself and a few collaborators picked up the crumbs here and there. Example, where is the $3Million that was paid for those South African mercenaries, by the Government of South Africa? Today, that money is worth SCR 42 Million and interest at 32% Treasury Bills makes it worth SCR 362Million.

The Tuna Escapade

As SBC showed us Rene fondling a tin of tuna on a processing line, they did not show us the greatest naval disaster in our nation’s history. A brainchild of Rene and son-in-law Glenny Savy, the proverbial joke of a tuna vessel called “Spirit of Koxe” will go down as the only tuna fishing boat that never caught a single tuna. The broken “Spirit of Kase” quickly became the laughing stock of the tuna industry, while Glenny and Mukesh imported themselves a Maserati each for their efforts. The vision was really starting to rub off to the little Princes!

Two Maserati at $165,000.00 each is $330,000.00. This is CIF SCR 4,620,000.00. Tax of 250% is SCR 11,550.000. Oh, how the money can add up when it is missing.

And how about that fleet of tuna boats that was to be owned by Seychellois, which until today, we do not have? Rene the naval architect and his apostles including Michel could not even manage to can our “blue gold” for a profit and had to sell off the cannery to Heinz who turned around a few years later and sold its shares for a massive profit to the now infamous Lehman Brothers investment group.

Cher, Mse. Admiral Rene, today, our tuna industry is minus forty (-40%) under your LePep leadership, and sinking fast while our visionary neighbours Madagascar, Mauritius, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Kenya and Tanzania take over the industry from under our own noses.

This is our reality. These are the FACTS! For it is men who write the books, but it is a people who live the history. As long as we live, the history will so live. When we die, our children shall propagate our reality on and on, year in and year out in spite of you communists.

Rene Said Yankee Go Home!

Rene in his prime and youthful ignorance called for the Yankees at the US Tracking Station to go home, while his more visionary and realistic opponent the young James Mancham fought for the USA to set up a non-military base at the top of La Misere. And how ironic that this is the same large tract of state land that was recently ceded for a rupee to some Arab sheikh friend of James Michel while our own Seychellois people struggle to get a small piece of land to build their homes.

Now what if the Yankees had indeed gone home as Rene had wanted? How many millions of dollars of revenue would Seychelles have lost over the years?

Eventually, Rene’s arrogance did cause the Yankees to withdraw its presence in Seychelles. And what do we see today? The same Party SPUP-SPPF-LePep headed by President Michel down on his knees asking the Yankees to come back to our shores to set up base and to help protect Seychelles waters from Somali pirates.

Can Mr. Rene repudiate his “Yankee Go Home” slogans today, or is his memory failing him? Can the Anse Boileau branch of State House release an official position please. Or perhaps our great visionary from Farquar envisioned that he would have Yankee go home, then return to save us from pirates one day.

Yankee is here, but only to keep Mr. Rene’s Lepep party from taking Seychelles to failed state status to join Somalia. Nothing more.

Visionary? No!

People of Seychelles, Rene is no economist you can trust, he is no visionary you can count on, and he is certainly no architect! With Admiral Rene and Captain Michel, we are not sailing to any destination, but are sinking fast. The ship has taken a 360-degree turn and going “Back to the Future” when great Seychellois visionaries EXCLUDING Rene had the brains to tackle a British Government who simply wanted to rid itself of its colonies.

Rene did not dote the first Presidency onto James Mancham as he nonchalantly purported in his deceptive documentary. He only became Prime Minister because Mancham had the vision to create a coalition Government and to share power with him in order to bridge the division that existed between the two political parties even back then. Recently, Kenya embraced this form of government and even mad Mugabe has accepted a shared coalition Government with his opponent Morgan Tsvangirai who actually won the contested Presidential election.

Rene implemented the coup because he could not see himself playing second fiddle to a Creole like Mancham. When Rene says he despises racism it is true only up to his door step. It is like the great plantation owner in KASTOR. KASTOR was good as long as he followed the rules. When KASTOR did not follow the rules, he was a playboy like Mancham. Kastor was punished like Mancham was, because he was a creole who was too advanced for Rene.

More Interviews and Documentaries Please

I strongly encourage Rene to continue with his series of interviews. Please continue to elaborate and continue going to great lengths to convince us that you are indeed this great Seychellois hero you say you are.

But why don’t you invite your nemesis Sir James Mancham for a series of debates while you are at it so that the two of you can duke it out? That way, the Seychellois people will have the opportunity to hear the real truth, or you can continue to rewrite and distort history on your own.

Even if you cannot handle a little competition from real visionaries who do not lie and who sleep at night knowing that history will remember them favourably, please leave out the fancy dog in the next movie. It looks a bit elitist and anti-communist, and certainly sends the wrong signal that is confusing the people of Port Glaud who have “tres peu de sous” as you said on Gordon Square in 1964...... at the moment, due to your remarkable vision.

FALSE PROPHET

In summary, my opinion and that of many others suggests that Rene has been and will remain the greatest opportunist that Seychelles has ever seen since the French landed with their slaves on Ste Anne island, which of course now partially belongs to his favourite step son Francis Savy &/or company for one single Seychelles Rupee.

A false prophet indeed!

May God Bless All Freedom Loving Seychellois and Our Beloved Seychelles!

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Corruption in Seychelles - Pushing the problem along

Since ascending to the Presidency of Seychelles, James Michel has only played lip service to the massive corruption problem in Seychelles.

The asset declaration laws which are touted to be a bold step forward in eradicating corruption and the perception of corruption in Seychelles are now being administrated by Mrs. Leka Nair. The latter is a former high ranking official in the Central Bank under ex-CBS Governor Francis Chang Leng. I am most certain Mrs. Nair has a great deal of knowledge of corruption in Seychelles, but in the recent Face-a-Face TV programme, she hid behind the intentionally weak legislation which she now administers concerning asset declaration. Instead of asking Government to provide her with a decent acceptable tool to fight corruption, she says she passes the complaints on to the Attorney General. There have not been any prosecutions for corruption to date in Seychelles. But millions of dollars is alleged to be missing.

This paper pushing exercise is hindered further by the simple fact that the asset declarations are locked up in a vault at the Central Bank. What good is that information when it is locked up? It must be made public. Once such information is public, the public can actively monitor asset accumulation by government officials. This is good for the Nation. As assets are monitored, government officials are placed in check to prevent them from conducting corrupt acts in the first place.

The whole scheme has been an effort to assist the SPPF officials get away with highway robbery over the years. Now, even the party has disappeared.

But lucky for the People of Seychelles, we will not allow you to forget SPPF. Mrs. Nair, can be perceived to be part of the problem. In what sense? Well in the sense that when honest people remain silent or passive, corruption will flourish even if their job may be to prevent corruption.

Perhaps Mrs. Nair can raise a little voice and ask that the Declaration of Assets Act be amended as follows:

1. Create an independent prosecutor;

2. That all declarations be published in a daily journal annually for the public to review openly, like we review annual budgets. After all, we are talking about the people’s money in each case.

This will not only add teeth to the existing legislation, it will earn her some respect, which she has lost from years of cuddling under Francis Chang Leng at the Central Bank in silence.

We have more to say on corruption and will do so, for it is the cancer that is the cause of a poor-bankrupt Seychelles today. In the meantime, we are making a list and checking it twice and IMF is auditing the bastions of corruption, which SPPF-Parti lepep will not have the courage to make public.