In 1971, President Richard Nixon declared an all out war on drugs and first coined the phrase “War on Drugs” arguably to divert attention from his illegal bombing of Cambodia and South East Asia. In 1973 he created the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and swiftly allocated the sum of one billion dollars to fight drugs in America. Thirty five years later over a million non violent drug offenders live behind bars costing American tax payers billions of dollars. The war on drugs cost America 50 billion dollars a year and there are 50 times more drugs entering America in 2008 than there was in 1971. What is wrong with this picture? That is the reality which we have to face in Seychelles. Do we have the resources necessary to fight the drug trade here?
In Seychelles, the administration of President James Alix Michel has recently created the National Drug Enforcement Agency (NDEA) to fight our own war on the drug trade here. In America, the war on drugs has been described as the “longest most costly and destructive war in American history.” No one should underestimate the epic struggle ahead and the nature of the beast. The mammoth nature of the task assigned to the NDEA by President Michel, is quite simply impossible to achieve. Soft drugs like marijuana began entering the country immediately after the Coup D’etat when Tanzanian troops were deployed here by President Julius Nyere at the request of Albert Rene to consolidate the revolution. At the time the troops came here unchecked and it was easy to bring drugs into the country. Over the last thirty years there has been a slow progression from soft drugs to hard drugs which are now causing havoc in the country. However, the dynamics have remained by and large the same. It is now an open secret that many investors, millionaires and VIPs who come to our shores in their private planes and luxury yachts also do so unchecked. These people are also known to be active in the drug trade especially where heroine (dubbed the rich man’s drug) is concerned. In Seychelles we do not have the figures of how much the government is spending annually in its own war against drugs, but it is commonly accepted that there are more drugs entering the country today than there was 10 years ago. Something is definitely not quite right with this picture.
Whereas the Seychellois youths are being targeted as the main culprits and end up spending years on remand without trial, the real culprits get away with impunity. They are identified as the men in suits carrying brief cases and paying official visits to the powers that be promising millions of dollars of investment and a couple of thousands under the table as well. It is a universal truth that the people who benefit most from drugs are the bankers who launder the money. Recently the reactionary administration of President James Alix Michel, has announced changes in the laws providing for stiffer sanctions against people convicted of drug offences literally creating a class within a class in prison and in society at large. People arrested for drug or drug related offences will henceforth be treated differently from other offenders. The police will have the right to detain them for 30 days initially instead of the normal 24 hour detention. People convicted of drug offences will have no right to remission and will be subject to force labour in prison. What would happen therefore to the prisoner who refuses to do force labour? Is the Superintendent of prison going to withdraw his remission which is normally used as an inducement to encourage good conduct in prison? A person convicted of a drug offence has nothing to lose in prison. He can do whatever he likes knowing that his remission has already been taken away from him automatically on conviction. There is no incentive for good conduct which was accorded by the remission system. This absence of remission for drug offenders is unique to Seychelles and does not exist anywhere else in the world. Honourable Bernard Georges, distinguished lawyer and politician, had argued in the National Assembly that these laws are discriminatory, unconstitutional and infringes on the human rights of individuals.
His arguments have, as usual, fallen on deaf ears and legal experts have opined that the Attorney General, Mr. Anthony Tissa Fernando, is not advising the President properly on the implications of these laws. Unlike President Rene, President Michel is not a lawyer by profession, and lacks a fundamental understanding of our laws and our Constitution. But unless he is advised properly by the very people who are being paid handsomely to do so, our country will become the laughing stock of the world and people’s human rights will continue to be violated by laws which are contrary to the letter and spirit of our Constitution. Drug addicts do not belong in prison but in rehabilitation centres where they can be treated and educated about the dangers of using drugs. Why in world do we have hundreds of innocent young Seychellois wasting away in prison, when those big people who are committing those huge atrocious crimes getting away everyday?