The Seychelles Column - Seychelles Central Bank Governor & His Funny Laws

Governor of Central Bank of Seychelles Hits The Road With His Funny Law

The Governor of the Central Bank of Seychelles Mr. Pierre Laporte has placed his credibility on the line with a highly dubious and vexatious legislation aptly named “The Foreign Exchange Control Act”.

While the law does not restrict possession of hard currency, it targets the tourism trade and other wealth earners and forces these local institutions to price all their services in Seychelles Rupees. This ridiculous law states that only banks and money changers licensed under law can change money for profit.

Which side of the Saturn moon did Mr. Laporte get this brainless concept from? Lest he forgets, the Seychellois people are simply worn out from the constant interference of Government in their daily lives and messing with their businesses and livelihood. They are still reeling from the bad monetary policies of President Albert Rene, Finance Minister cum President James Michel, Financial Guru cum advisor Mukesh Valabhji with his MERP program (more like the SMURF cartoon) and of course the total mismanagement of our Central Bank by former CBS Governor Francis ChangLeng. Not to forget the Lehman Brothers bond fiasco and the disappearance of $2.4 billion from our economy, plus a bankrupt Government and previous foreign exchange control laws that totally destroyed our economy while creating a rampant black market system.

Dinner served a la Central Bank

We all know that hotels and businesses change money systematically the world over. But not so in Seychelles according to Mr. Laporte’s law. Do not change money systematically or continuously he says!

In defence of his pet legislation, which in public he defends like a lifetime partner, Mr. Laporte together with his Central Bank staffers are on a road trip to tell the Public how things will operate in the future under his monetary kingdom.

On Mahé, he was successful at dishing it out. A few protests here are there, but timid cries from a trade and a public that have been battered for 32 years! The poor Mahé citizens ate what was served to them on Mr. Laporte’s tin platter, fearing for their livelihood let alone their licences which could be rescinded at any time.

Encouraged by his success on Mahé, the CBS Governor made his way to Praslin to meet with trade partners and business players from Praslin and La Digue, two islands that are key to tourism earnings. Only twenty-five (25) people turned up for what should have been over 500 businesses. Not to be dissuaded by the low turn out which should have been a sign of protest, Mr. Laporte proceeded to spell out his grandiose plan.

He was to be in for the dead surprise to learn that on Praslin and La Digue, we take our business seriously and officials are not welcome to come dish out rubbish for us to consume. I hope you found the Praslin Express quick enough!

Next time come prepared, Mr. Governor. Enjoy the title while you still have a new car and bonus for doing nothing to save Seychelles in 2009.

People of Seychelles, Francis Chang Leng may have bankrupted Seychelles, but if Mr. Laporte does not smarten up fast, we will stay bankrupt indefinitely. You do not have to be an economist to know that.

If you need help Mr. Laporte, I will along with the business community oblige for the sake of saving Seychelles.

Mr. Laporte thinks Seychelles has 0% Inflation

According to Mr. Laporte, Seychelles has 0% Inflation and he hails this as a great success of his policy. He is wrong!

Inflation is reported in Reuters at 29.8% still the second highest in Africa, only second to failed state Zimbabwe. Last year, before you intervened in the market to save the skin off your back, and bought up hard currency, it was 78.4%. This is not a sign of success Mr. Laporte. It is a sign of failure.

Who said that? Christopher Gill! Learn to respect that name when you hear it Mr. Laporte. It is a little like “Rose a Mere”. You hate the taste, but it is actually good for you!

Mr. Laporte Thinks The Paris Club Forgave 45% of Our Debts

According to Mr. Laporte, the Paris Club forgave 45% of Seychelles debts. Again, he is wrong!

The Paris Club forgave only 22% of our debts of the 45% proposed. The remaining 23% is to be written off in Two-Three year increments, only under the condition that Seychelles adheres to the IMF recommended program it has implemented. In Kreol, this means “Kapot Ek Las”!

Mr. Laporte Is Not familiar with the IMF Report on Seychelles

This poor chap engulfed in an air of self pity, did not know that the IMF said in its last Seychelles Country Report in May 2009, “…that the Seychelles debt burden will remain UNSUSTAINABLE as it is beyond 2027”.

People of Seychelles, this is not the fisherman fixing a bamboo fish trap aka “kazie”. We are talking about the knowledge of the Governor of the Central Bank of Seychelles, who happens to manage our economic affairs. A man entrusted by the Government of Seychelles with our economic future and the viability of all our investments. Even poor JJ is touting him as “our best man”. Lord help us if this is true!

Has made the Seychelles Rupee Stronger than the Euro for Six (6) Months

Mr. Laporte has done what no Global Country Central Banker I know of has been able to do in 2009: make their national currency stronger than the Euro.

Today, as I write this column, the Euro is trading at Euro 1.0 = US$ 1.4979.

In Seychelles, Mr. Laporte’s Central Banking dancing has brought the Euro from Euro 1.0 – Seychelles Rupee 23.00 late last year to Euro 1.0- Seychelles Rupees 13.00, sometimes even dipping to SR 12. Incredible! Magic? A Herculean feat indeed?

The Euro is weak in Seychelles only. It is strong the world over. The Seychelles Rupee is strong in Seychelles only. And weak the world over.

Now, Mr. Laporte wants to legislate confidence in the Seychelles Rupee, force us to accept it, force visitors to use it, so that the commercial banks can steal the real value between Mr. Laporte’s variables of mental error and financial mismanagement of our monetary system.

Mr. Laporte Is Not Sure If We Are In An Economic Depression

I have seen clown shows before, but this one beats them all. Mr. Laporte said to us on Praslin that he did not know if we were in an Economic Depression. He says he has to wait for IMF to come and tell us. Seriously?

What kind of economist is that? We need IMF to tell us that we are in an economic depression? Well, maybe with his high salary and bonus, together with the complicity of other Government officials with high salaries who can afford first class tickets, caviar and champagne, the Governor does not feel the pinch and does not know that our people are suffering, hungry, poor and seriously disgusted with this Government’s policies. And maybe he does not know that Seychelles is in a serious economic depression with businesses struggling to stay alive while CBS does nothing to control the commercial banks who are fleecing the populace with their exorbitant fees and high interest rates! Maybe he did not pay for his brand new Government car in order to understand that even a “rich” person in Seychelles cannot afford a new car these days due to the ridiculously high taxes. For the price of a Ferrari car overseas, one gets a small Kia or Honda in Seychelles! Maybe he does not know that the cost of fuel at the pumps does not reflect the true global prices and this is killing our economy, putting boat charter prices and sea-based excursions out of reach of most tourists, and making even a pickup truck delivery of a load of cement blocks unaffordable to most. Maybe he goes overseas often enough to buy all his luxury goods tax-free while most Seychellois struggle to put a piece of “Karang” onto their children’s plates at night. Maybe Mr. Laporte eats too often at hotel restaurants instead of driving around Victoria at night to see the underage girls prostituting themselves in search of SR 50 for a take-away, or to see young people rummaging through rubbish bins in broad daylight in search of a few plastic bottles to sell at the next Indian shop in order to buy a can of tuna or a loaf of bread.

Yes Mr. Laporte, in case you did not know, I am telling you now that Seychelles is indeed in an economic depression. You don’t need Mr. Paul Mathieu of IMF to tell you that. I just did!

Mr. Laporte Attacked Me For Being Smarter Than Him

Many other people commented and questioned Mr. Laporte’s intent behind his programs. In the end, he asked that we be patient and he will consider whether to extend his transition period under legislation, or scrap his ludicrous law altogether.

The Public also placed great pressure on Mr. Laporte to stop treating international companies like Four Seasons with special rights of passage while local businesspersons and investors have to bear the brunt of Mr. Laporte’s failing laws.

The People of Seychelles must hold Mr. Laporte to task on this key point.

For some reason, he found it appropriate, as a Central Banker, to question my political affiliation and used name calling antics to attack me. At one point he referred to me as a “big capitalist”. What kind of Central Banker calls people “capitalist”? Not only is this unprofessional, but any free-thinking person who believes in free-enterprise and who owns a business is a “capitalist”. Since Mr. Laporte should still be playing with spin tops in our school playground instead of running our economy, I wish to enlighten him about the words “capitalism” and “capitalist” as quoted by Wikipedia:

“Capitalism is an economic and social system in which the means of production (also known as capital) are privately controlled; labour, goods and capital are traded in a market; profits are distributed to owners or invested in new technologies and industries; and wages are paid to labour.”

“Capitalist”:

The word capitalist was first used by Arthur Young in his 1792 work Travels 1787–89; undertaken with a view of ascertaining the cultivation, etc. of the kingdom of France in the sense of one who owns capital, and was more precisely defined by Karl Marx in Das Kapital as one who owned working capital including machinery and made money by letting others work on those machines. Being a capitalist in this original sense does not necessarily mean that one supports capitalism.

It is a person who owns or controls the means for producing wealth, deriving their livelihood from profits off the labour expended by employees.

The term capitalist has more recently come to refer to someone who supports capitalism or a free market ideology.

Throughout 20th century, the term capitalist country was used in the Soviet Union and aligned countries to denote advanced free-market western economies. These included the United States, Canada, Israel, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and all European countries outside the Warsaw Pact except Yugoslavia. The term could occasionally be interpreted more widely to include developing countries outside the USSR's sphere of influence.

So there you have it Mr. Laporte. Think of hard working Seychellois in the tourism trade who wake up everyday and go to work to create wealth not only for themselves, but also for others through job creation. All within a free-market framework instead of a big-Government controlled environment full of useless bureaucrats and political party lackeys!

What about legislation for the local Commercial Banks?

With commercial bankers, he has refrained from implementing proper legislation to deal with over charges and high interest, and has elected instead to pussy foot with the financial cartel in Seychelles. Instead he picks on the earners of national wealth. An idiot of an act indeed!

Get serious man. If we are giving you a bonus for destroying the Seychelles economy in your 12 month tenure, the least you can do is to take on a more serious attitude. After all, your enabling legislation does not entitle you to a SCR 1 Million bonus each Christmas while the rest of Seychelles suffocates. It violates the Central Bank Act, because the money comes from Government, and it compromises your INDEPENDENCE, under law.

Crossing the floor

Mr. Laporte attacked me senselessly for “crossing the floor”, which of course has nothing to do with monetary policy. But for the record, I told him I crossed the floor because France Albert Rene was sending men from State House to my house at night with guns and scaring the hell out of my family and me. Nothing to ridicule Mr. Governor! At least by the time you left Praslin, you were not laughing anymore, although no one had a gun to your head!

In a future article, I will focus on how to fix the problem Mr. Laporte has created. Meanwhile, I look forward with anticipation to the future decision the CBS Governor will take in regards to this nonsensical foreign exchange law. Hopefully he has listened carefully to the people and the tourism trade and will make the correct decision. After all, a departure from the erroneous ways of his CBS predecessors would be welcomed by all Seychellois capitalists!

May God Bless Seychelles And All Freedom Loving Seychellois!

The Seychelles Column - By Christopher Gill

Judiciary Needs Money

The time to put our heads in the sand has past. Today, we face a critical situation in the Judiciary, one of three branches of Government in our democracy. The members are appointed by the Executive Branch and are not elected. Recruitment is done overseas, when locally judges can be selected. Staff are civil servants. Some judges enjoy contract arrangements.

A Little Background

Under Chief Justice Allear, a Mauritian national, this branch of government had collapsed for years, but the staff remained silent or at least not vocal enough to stop the collapse. Allear ruled in an autocratic manner like most chief justices do, but the traditional is to serve justice, not ones pocket. Allear’s office was always lined with a bench and the amount of citizens that sat on it made the court look as if it was a social welfare money packet collection center.

Upon the departure of Allear, Bernadin Renaud, a Justice, took over as Chief Justice Interim. Justice Renaud is no stranger to Seychelles. He presided over the Constitutional Commission, and was Ombudsman for a number of years, a post that was created at the suggestion of Mr. Mancham, but in all likelihood, a post that fit Renauds’ public persona.

As Interim Chief Justice, Renaud promised to clear up the backlog of cases and get on with the work of the day. He did not present any grand plans and held a seminar with Court staff to keep the plug on the tub so to speak, hoping the Michel Administration would make him a permanent Chief Justice.

However, Renaud’s court decisions were frowned upon by some SPPF and now Parti LePep (LP) hierarchy. They opted to bring in a Judge from Uganda who has promised to sort out the courts and appoint Seychellois magistrates to vacant seats on the bench. We must welcome the new Chief Justice at this time, not because we agree with the appointment, as we do not even know the man, but because, we need some serious help. Any help if it is on offer in good faith to secure a court worthy of a modern society. After all, we used to have an exemplary British Court system in place that was destroyed by no other than former President Rene and his SPUP/SPPF party.

Crisis Sets in After Collapse

Most recently a number of magistrates resigned prompting an immediate crisis to emerge in the Judiciary Branch of government. Without Magistrates, criminal cases cannot proceed. That means the 300 accused and alleged criminals remain out on bail, another daunting task for prosecution by the Attorney General’s office that is short of lawyers needed to prosecute criminals.

Consequently, the Public must deal with these shady elements on a daily basis as the system has failed not the accused so much as the innocent, Seychellois citizens, whom expect reasonably, that the government of the day will protect them. If crime increases, you will know why it does.

If the Attorney General cannot adequately prosecute, the Magistrates courts cannot expeditiously put culprits and accused on trial in reasonable time. The Judiciary cannot transcribe proceedings of courts, and the waiting time currently for that is 3 years for a case back log. We are in deep trouble.

Vote The Money For The Courts

The Judiciary needs an immediate large cash injection in the numbers we have not seen before in our history. They need automated transcribers that are cheap on the electronics market. That is the easy part. But salaries are too low for staff. They immediately require at least 100% increase in salary for civil service staffers. Judges from magistrates up to the Justices in the Supreme Court of Seychelles need an increase of at least 50% to bring their package in line with the standard set by Government for the new Chief Justice.

This salary package must be retroactive, to back pay the staff of the courts that have made great sacrifice to keep this branch of government going while it has collapsed and failed them as professionals.

Intentional Neglect

The financial neglect of the Judiciary is not a haphazard event. It has been systematic, year after year. Somehow, one gets the feeling that Albert Rene and James Michel wanted the Judiciary to fail. Only they know why. But of course, total control has been in the Executive branch since the Coup D’Etat in 1977, instead of leaving the Judiciary as an independent branch. The Government has shown no political will to fund the Judiciary adequately and employ competent capable judges in sufficient numbers in order that justice is served and seen to be served.

Failure To Act Now

The misfiring of justice has deterred serious investments in our country. It continues to kill investments, curtail FDI and dwindle down the offshore business sector. In fact, this industry which was advocated by Mr. Paul Chow during the early days of the multi-party system, is now undergoing more abuse than ever and its image has been tarnished by the Financial Investigation Unit (FIU) which seems to have its own agenda and has no comprehension of our laws. Mr. Chow gave SPPF a viable business option and created a third pillar of our economy. Now SPPF-LP has severely damaged the offshore business. Too much greed is a bad thing, even offshore.

The offshore sector with a failing Judiciary will attract more shady businesses and crooks while it will scare off legitimate investors. This phenomenon will adversely affect our bottom line, that is, how much money Seychelles can earn and whether or not it can remove itself from the economic depression doldrums. A failing judiciary will mean a failing society. It will mean our people will get poorer and poorer each year while this branch of government is left to die a slow death as initially intended.

The Final Word

The Judiciary does not have months or years to act. The Executive Branch does not have weeks or days to delay funding. Priority funds must be made available to the Judiciary in order that it can clean its house, and set this critical branch of government on the right track. Surely the Justice Department is more important than a new District Administration building or Jj Spirit funds to win votes. If we can afford boats for the NDEA, if we can afford high-salaried Irish and Australian expatriates, if we can pay hundreds of millions to the French for managing PUC, if we can disburse millions to the Army to fund the anti-piracy project only to let pirates go free, if we can pay millions every year in bonus schemes to politicians and ministers, if we can allow our Ministers and Principal Secretaries and other Government officials to fly in First and Business Class, if we can pay our Central Bank management millions in annual bonuses, then SURELY we can afford to fund our Judiciary branch of Government.

After all, we can all agree, it has been on the wrong track of administration of justice for far too long. Thirty-two years is simply too long. And that is 32 years too late. The real citizens of Seychelles (LEPEP) are watching and waiting to judge by your actions!

May God Bless Seychelles And All Freedom Loving Seychellois!

UAV (Drones) FLY OUT OF SEYCHELLES

The first United States Air Force Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV aka drone) took off from the Seychelles International Airport this morning. Hopefully, their surveillance capabilities will be a boost in the effort against piracy in the Indian Ocean, given that these Somalian degenerates have started roaming the seas again now that the calm season is upon us.

It is sad however that these UAVs are not armed! While shipping is being disrupted by these vagabonds, shipping and insurance rates are increasing and the costs are being passed on to the consumer. Meanwhile, millions are being spent by the Navies of Europe, India, China, Seychelles, Russia, United States and other countries, and yet no one is willing to use force and blow these pirates out of the water. Even when they are fired upon! Wake up world and let us get our sanity back. Criminals, pirates and terrorists are all the same, and they should be dealt with accordingly!

Welcome UAVs. Welcome USA. We welcome the US troops back to our shores! May the memories of the June 1977 Coup D'Etat and the lack of a response from then President Jimmy Carter remain but a sad memory! But be aware that Rene and Michel are still communists at heart, and Fidel Castro is still their old buddy. Rene and Michel used to chant "Yankee Go Home" during their revolutionary days. Today, they chant "IMF and US Dollars"! But they are yet to apologize to the people of Seychelles for their act of treason committed on the 5th of June 1977. They have not apologized for the killing of innocent Seychellois during their 32 reigning years of terror, and for the corruption and the millions they have stolen from our country which have led us into bankruptcy. So be aware USA that you are dealing with criminals. The two communist killer wolves are cloaked in sheep's clothing, and both have blood on their hands.

Seychelles Comedy - State House Anytime Now

PART 1 - EMPOWERMENT & REFORMS – THE NEW PARTI LEPEP REVOLUTION

The second wave of the SPPF-Parti Lepep revolution is based around their own survival. In 1977 they wanted to create a model socialist /communist society but this cannot be sustainable in this day and age of globalisation, IMF bailouts and other hardships that this old generation of politicians have to lie their way through their umpteenth political mandate to ensure their survival. The buzz word is empowerment and reforms – the biggest smokescreen to hide behind all their incapacities. Danny Boy has been summoned to State House to discuss the way forward...

JenPa: Good Morning Sir! The Minister of Finance is at hand to discuss all the rush of bills that are being put forward to the assembly for ratification that will absolve our government of any responsibilities with regards to the hardships of the open, liberalized economy that we have ushered in. You will recall that he did a fabulous job at one of the district meetings to diffuse the bomb about the missing $2.5 billion. A true orator and champion of language manipulation!

Mr. President: Good morning JP. Hello Danny, please make yourself comfortable and give me a briefing on how things are moving along. We need brave people like you with persuasive and authoritative demeanour to push all these reforms through. Government needs to come clean in all this as we do not want to be losing any votes along the way. The district meetings are already doing a lot of damage on the ground and the damage control is costing us a bomb.

Danny Boy: Good Morning Mr. President. I have been labouring the whole week to put this scheme of privatising the government services from cleaners, security, maintenance etc. We have taken this out of our realm and now the onus will be on the new cooperatives and agencies that will see to it that these services operate autonomously, without government interference. So if things do not work out, then we deflect the blame onto someone else.

Mr. President: Smart thinking my man. This is why I think that you have a great chance of taking over the VP seat. I gather that you have met with these sections of society to reassure them that things will run smoothly. I am glad to note that you are also on the same wavelength as I am and getting all of them to look at this as a form of empowerment. As our reforms take place, the empowerment process is inevitable. This is a smart way to get them to think for themselves and not depend on the state anymore.

Danny Boy: Sir but there is a lot of uneasiness and apprehension that this might be as catastrophic as the home carer system. But at least when things get sour on that front, we will not be held responsible. Empowerment is the key. They will have to take their own responsibility. No one will be able to point the finger to our government anymore as they did in the home carer fiasco. On the liberalization front, we are dismantling everything and our people will have all the choice in the world. We are in a global economy and cannot escape the trappings of this beast. We can no longer throw a lifeline at our small local industries. They will have to sink or swim. My feeling is that they will sink faster than we thought. This is what they wanted and this is what they will get. We have amassed a huge reserve of foreign exchange and this will go towards all the imports of our crazed society bent on consuming everything that is foreign.

Mr. President: Great my man! That’s a very well thought out plan. Our government must be leaner and this is one of the best ways to trim the fat. So whatever happens to this excess fat we do not care as long as we have to fulfil our mandate of slimming down this government. The IMF reforms seem to be going according to plan but we now have a major problem on our hands with too much forex and too few rupees. What will be the next move?

Danny Boy: Sir, we will have to get the banks to relax on their tight monetary policy. There are no more rupees in circulation to stimulate growth. You see all this baffles me as I studied my economics principles based on an isolated peso in Cuba. All these floatation of currencies is a real rush of blood to the head for me. I am trying my best, with the help of my huge team of advisors to get the message across.

President: Even with the IMF policies in place, it will take years before we get out of this economic mess. How are we going to go on like this now that we are making so many commitments including the Indian Ocean Island Games, even if top businessmen L’Amie Joe and Hoareau are on board to help us raise the funds? This is why I am engaging in this Constructive Economic Diplomacy with our best friends in the gulf region. We need to get them to pour some money into this economy as just the IMF program will not suffice.

Danny Boy: I can understand your frustration Sir. But it is also time for us to revamp our team so that we can show a renewed vigour. The word out there is that we are becoming more of a pantomime than a serious government. Our efforts are not coordinated and we are all looking at a hapless bunch at the controls but with no proper plan of where we are heading. We are creating a lot more bureaucracy with these commissions which do not even have a mandate. The rotation of the same heads should be discontinued if we are to remain credible. We need upward mobility, not sideways shifting. Look at you and I, we are true embodiments of such upward mobility. It is a new mindset that needs to be adopted Sir.

President: Not to worry. Danny. You have shown all the courage and determination of a true militant. I will soon put this house to order and reward those that I feel have the will power and commitment to stay on. Look at Pat, he decided to cop out and I am sure that a lot of others will be deciding on early retirement next year.

Danny Boy: Indeed Sir. We need to empower those that have shown their unwavering commitment. Look at Joel, he has been working tirelessly night and day. He is our master negotiator and I think that he will do well as the next minister of Finance with his sleek negotiation skills. We should soon retire old Joe who has totally lost interest. He has served long enough like Pat I suppose. I will make a better VP that’s for sure. We can then get rid of this Jj thing and make it more a JD team. It rings better. Think of Jack Daniels Sir! Vintage!!

President: Indeed Danny! You have high aspirations and I like this kind of mentality. We cannot give up the fight. There is a lot more to come. My recent visit to Ras Al Khaimah will be bringing in loads of cash and investment possibilities and I am sure this will be a tremendous boost for our economy and our quest to become one of the key energy players in the future. Watch out for the ceramic tiles and the ‘Black Marlin’. The future looks bright Danny so do not despair. I have prepared the survival of this party beyond several generations. When I am done, you’ll take over, when you are done, we’ll have others like JP to take over. Parti Lepep spans across generations and like I mentioned when I took over the most prestigious office in the land, it is like our granite of our islands. It has been there for millions of years and will remain here forever. This is why we are now called Parti-Lepep...

JenPa who had been sneaking behind the door to overhear the conversation muses to himself. Hmm... I am in the right camp after all. With Danny becoming the next VP, I can aspire to become the new Minister of Foreign Affairs and we can still continue on these famous trips together with the President to far distant places to spread our message of active, engaging democracy. ‘ Nou pe debrouye pou Sesel!’ The future looks bright indeed...

PART 2 - THE STRATEGIC TRANSFORMATION OF GOVERNMENT

The President has requested a second summit with Danny boy to get an update on the progress of the works going on the National Assembly to transform this government. The wheels of reform are now well oiled and spinning frantically to meet up with all the deadlines. So the leaders believe that nothing will stop the ‘Lepep’ government in its quest for a lifetime mandate to govern. We are ushering in a new era of total control under the label of democracy... until all hell breaks loose.

JenPa: Good Morning Sir! The Minister of Finance has just returned from the conference in Istanbul and has some favourable updates that will give added momentum to this government as we bring further proof to our people that we are on the right track.

Mr. President: Good morning JP. Now that the district meetings are over, we need to come up with a proper strategy to subdue all these complaints. The list has grown too long and the technocrats have to start moving. We have already lost a lot of votes and we will be unable to buy them back this time around. Our people are suffering JP and I hope that Danny has the right solutions.

Danny Boy: Good Morning Mr. President. I bring you warm greetings from our close partners at the IMF / World Bank summit. Our reforms have been well received and we are on the right track.

Mr. President: Great! I can see that my young team which most people call inexperienced are doing well. With JP, we are running an efficient State House and I can see that with your young team you seem to be doing a fine job at the Ministry of Finance. The 2010 budget will be up soon and I hope that you can cope with this entire work load.

Danny Boy: Not to worry Mr. President we are taking it well into our stride. The cosmetic changes that we envisaged has now been before the assembly and approved. We have a new departure with more accountability for the parastatals with new boards. It shows that we are doing something but as usual we will exempt the untouchables under the guise that we need to protect the institutional memories of these companies. In this way, we absolve ourselves. This is what I call fine tuning Sir. Little empires can remain under this cover and we do not have to make any explanations.

Mr. President: You seem to have become a master at this Danny. You did take a lot of coaching from the old mentor of Barbarons! Indeed I also see on the new boards that we are going ahead with appointing some new princesses such as the assembly’s big man’s wife. All in all we are a big happy family...

Danny Boy: Talking about family Sir, I am glad to see that little brother will be back to head foreign affairs under your guidance. This will help us immensely as active diplomacy is the key to get these reforms sorted out. Brothers in arms!

President: Indeed we need all our combatants back by our side. The district meetings have proved to us that we have not delivered as a government and we have an uphill battle to gain political ground. Soon I will get Ronny back so that he can start walking the districts instead of the streets of New York. I am thinking of giving more world exposure to our younger generation in these overseas postings. What do you think JP?

JenPa: It will be the best motivational tool for our youth Sir. I propose that we do this on a rotation basis as I would love to gain some experience at the UN as well. This will no doubt mould me into taking over at Foreign Affairs when you deem fit.

Danny Boy: Let’s focus back on the work at hand here locally. Our reforms are more fundamental Mr. President. We have now dismantled the monopoly of the SMB / STC. With Mukesh gone and the old man out of the picture, no one seemed to have noticed that our dear institution of consumer protection is buried and gone. Can you imagine that I was once the chairman of such an institution? I will have to erase this off my resume.

President: Ha ha ha! How times have changed! But we are now in a new era of liberalization my boy. No more ‘Ser Sang’. Just let everything loose. Soon we will have to tie our trousers with ‘lakord bannan’. When Casino comes in, we will finally put an end to all the little Indians.

Danny Boy: I did my best to put it across to the assembly that with this new law we will have no more of these unscrupulous cartels that control the monopolies. I love taking swipes at things that we created ourselves. It gives me a great sense of accomplishment. It is better to undo something that you have done wrong yourself than to let somebody else do it and take pride in it.

President: Oil Danny! We need to find oil. This is the key for us to keep control. We have embarked on empowerment schemes, dismantling the controlled economy and pretty soon we will have no more power over our people and they will be deciding on out fate. Oil is the key. Then we become like the UAE and we share it amongst our people and win all of them back one by one. We can then have all our tankers come home with their bellies full of oil and gas to distribute to our people freely.

The dream is not over yet! They do have too much to lose and therefore have to think of a cling on to power at all cost strategy. Perhaps another government reshuffle and a snap election next year to install some new blood and raise their profile? But credibility is the key word. As long as the same faces are around, the end is nigh... But JenPa is content that despite the implosion within the government, he is riding the crest of a wave, with his recent appointment to the Air Seychelles board… now he can fly in Pearl Class with the rest of the Government elite. Boy, it pays to be an Adam!

A Grand Exercise in Deception

The District consultative meetings of President Michel

Now that the curtain has fallen on the comedy in 25 acts to cover the districts, where President James Michel of Seychelles and his ‘team’ were facing the ‘people’ to speak about the future of our country, it is time to assess what has really come out of these meetings.

We all know that this was carefully orchestrated with the huge help of Seychelles Broadcasting Corporation (SBC) to get Michel and his government to gauge the political support that they currently hold in the districts after the decision to embark on the IMF program. As he tried to reassure the public in all the districts that the reforms were on the right track, he could not escape the various criticisms being dished out left, right and centre about the failings of his government since he has assumed power. So instead of focusing on talking about the future of the country, Michel and his team were confronted about the inefficiencies of his government in all sectors. The message coming out was very clear. The SPPF and now Lepep Party has failed the people for the past 3 decades. The present needs to be fixed fast before he can get any support in the future.

Michel calls it a grand exercise in democracy. How ironic when people are denied their democratic rights under the constitution (freedom of association etc…) and then he decides that meeting with a handful of mostly his own supporters in the districts constitutes democracy. It would be best to call it a grand exercise in deception as the sole purpose of these meetings was to deceive the people into believing that everything was fine, the economy was doing well under the reforms, currency was stabilizing, we need to unite etc…

Unfortunately, for those who have been following the SPPF throughout their history in power, it has always been about lies, deception and ‘bat latet’. The reforms that we have embarked on will take us more than 15 years before we see any light at the end of the tunnel. But not even a year on, Michel chooses to distort the facts by claiming that we are already there! And according to him, we will be out of this in no time. Many will remember when he came out after his first election to declare that ‘nou lekonomi y solid’. We were very far from the truth. While behind the scenes, the pillaging and siphoning off of funds were going on to reward the architects of the revolution; the people were being deceived into believing that all was well. Today, Rene, Mukesh, Sarah, Ramadoss, Savy brothers, Leopold Payet, and many others are living the lives of millionaires while the people of Seychelles return to poverty not known since the British days.

Michel was somehow voted in with another mandate (after spending millions of funds including our own social security reserves) and he declared arrogantly that he did not need the opposition to run the country. ‘Kile lopozisyon, les Jj travay!’ Now that the situation has turned on its head, Michel is out to deceive again. He wants unity; he is calling on every Tom, Dick and Francis to ‘Koste’ so that we can chart the course of a new Seychelles. He now needs everyone on board as it is in the interest of his own political survival. Michel cannot be trusted. He will manipulate any situation to his own advantage and has a total lack of sincerity. Who can trust a man who helped Rene gain power via a violent coup d’etat and then declared that his hands are clean? Who can trust a man who helped Rene and his cohorts to rob the country of billions of dollars while he was Minister of Finance? Who can trust a man who let Francis ChangLeng, the Central Bank of Seychelles Governor, steal millions from the State coffers?

Michel has now realized that things ‘on the ground’ are far worse than he feared. His closing address at the Bel Ombre meeting (which by the way was a gross abuse of state funded television air time) seemed like a desperate rallying call to all his dwindling middle leadership and supporters to double their efforts and reach out to the Lepep that they have lost touch with since his last election. The economic reforms are already the writing on the wall for the demise of Michel and his clan. A president who does not have much to do than to listen to problems in respective districts shows how much work he has on his agenda! He is perhaps slowly realizing how much he has lost touch with his people and how inefficient his government has become. As he tries to turn to the people to guide his leadership, he is confronted with problems, problems and more problems. From rubbish bins to basic lighting in districts, to an inefficient bus service and district administrators that work for their own pockets. Is this the future?

Another exercise to visit the districts soon? I don’t think so. He will be better off receiving dignitaries by the loads and try to look presidential… while waiting on the leader of the opposition to come along for tea so that he can weave his web of deception and try to come out as the leader who can unite the people of Seychelles.

James Michel lacks the intelligence, vision and integrity to take this country beyond party politics towards a healthy recovery for the benefit of our future generations. He is part of the stock that violated the constitution in 1977 and cannot preach democracy on a moral high ground. His grand exercise will always remain one of DECEPTION as he was part of the group that dismantled democracy in our country and replaced it with inefficiency, an impotent judiciary, and three decades of misery for its citizens. UNITY is beyond him and his legacy will always be one of a “deceptive thief in the night”.