Letters to the editor
MICHEL FINALLY IN A POSITION TO OPERATE UNDER HIS OWN MANDATE
Sir, One of the greatest displeasures of the Seychelles people with President James A. Michel’s first two years in office as President was his manifest inability to distance himself from the shadows of former President France A. René who had made it a point to remain the active President of the SPPF after handing the position of President of the Republic to Michel.
It was clear that Michel wanted to be his own man right from the beginning. In the first meeting with the Finance Committee which he chaired, Michel fully backed Glenny Savy’s attempt to curb Mukesh Valabhji’s unquenchable thirst for more and more forex. But that evening after Mukesh Valabhji had reported the incident to the “boss”, Michel was made aware that he was not a President operating under his own electoral mandate. Next day he had to call Glenny Savy to his office and asked him to resign before he is sacked from membership of that controversial and exclusive committee.
The announcement that the all powerful and filthily rich Mukesh Valabhji had “resigned” from the position of Chief Executive of SMB and PUC is perhaps the most important indication that President Michel has now decided to be his own man and to distance himself from some of the more unpopular aspects of the Rene’s Presidency. However, whilst Mr. Morin’s appointment as head of PUC takes immediate effect, Mr. Patrick Vel will not assume the position of head of SMB before the 1st of October 2006. Speculators are of the opinion that this has been conveniently agreed upon in order to enable Mr. Valabhji to have a final look at the files before making his exit.
There has been little changes within the cabinet set-up generally except for the addition of three new Ministers – two ladies and one gentleman – former Secretary to the Cabinet Bernard Shamlaye has become the new Minister for Education whilst Mrs. MacSuzy Mondon has been given the difficult health portfolio and Mrs. Marie-Pierre Lloyd takes over the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment. I wish them good luck although many within the SPPF structure feel vexed and let down over these appointments.
The appointment of Mr. Danny Faure as Minister of Finance clearly indicates that Faure is a rising star in the SPPF hemisphere and may challenge Michel as Presidential candidate in due course. Of course, it is not clear whether Mr. Faure will retain the position of Treasurer of the SPPF. In that capacity he disbursed a lot of money for the elections which was not publicly and transparently accounted for. One of course expects that Faure as Minister of Finance will publicly account the country’s money in future particularly as we are in a grave deficit situation.
Patrick Pillay’s expanded role as Minister of Foreign Affairs to include International Cooperation is welcome news. Pillay is known for his, relatively speaking, “balanced judgment and moderation”. In this respect it is expected that he will enjoy the full support of his two Principal Secretaries, Mr. Claude Morel and Ms. Vivienne Fock-Tave who are both reputed to be good civil servants rather than political diehards.
The most disturbing development since the election result was announced concerns the future of Ambassador Sylvestre Radegonde, Managing Director of the
During the election campaign, the Opposition made several statements concerning the role of the SPDF within the SPPF structure of Government. In
Five years is a long time to wait for the next Presidential election. For this reason the Electorate appears to be ready to give President Michel the benefit of their doubts with respect to his declaration that he will be the President of all the people of
Of course no one is better aware than President Michel of how deeply and sadly divided the nation is at the moment. He alone knows more than anyone else of the vast amount of money which the SPPF spent during the election campaign. He must also be aware of how much he owes to the SBC which public opinion generally saw as being partisan and totally biased and one-sided.
At the moment President Michel is indeed being presented with a window of opportunity to go down in history as a good and maybe great President despite his very questionable role and responsibility for the past. But in order to do so he must have the will, courage and bravado to recognize the need to bring the people closer together in a just and fairer society. More important than winning an electoral battle is of course the need to win the peace.
La Paloma
EDUCATING THE EDUCATED
Sir, It is hard educating an illiterate but sometime it is harder still to educate a man who has gone to school, college and university. I am talking here about the Leader of Government Business in the National Assembly.
I will not be going over previous gaffes of his but I will certainly pick on his latest made during the National Assembly session this week to approve Mr. Waye-Hive’s appointment as the new Police Commissioner. The honourable gentleman even laughed at his own perversion, because he thought he was being funny, but he was not. He was being stupid and silly making the National Assembly look like a play group in kindergarten.
“Let us not forget”, he declared, that “all over the world (one of his favourite) countries such as the United State of America do not necessarily appoint someone with a police background to be commissioner of police – like in America they hold elections to elect sheriffs who in effect are commissioners of police – they don’t have to have a police background in order to stand for election,” he said.
Mr. Herminie is wrong and totally wrong; he has not done his homework. Candidates who present themselves for elections as Sheriff do need to have come through the police academy and must have legal and or a police background. Mr. Herminie demonstrated further his lack of knowledge by giving Mr. Colin Powell as an example of someone with a military background who has reached far in the
Armed with the knowledge that former Commissioner Andre Kilindo at one stage in his life tended to cows to earn a living, and that Mr. Andre Kilindo’s family is involved in the meat processing business, Herminie took a vicious stab at the gentleman saying that, “even cowboys can become Commissioner of Police”. This was uncalled for and Mr. Herminie must present a public apology or the Speaker of the National Assembly needs to call him to order. The fact that the MNAs have certain special privileges (immunity) when addressing issues in the National Assembly does not give them the right to insult people and this coming from a man who aspires to be president of this country one day! Mr. Herminie has got a lot of explaining to do!
A friend of Mr. Kilindo
POLITICAL MATURITY? WE’RE NOT THERE YET!
Sir, A lot is being said in the government controlled media about the political maturity that was apparently on display before and during the recent presidential elections. I personally believe that they are far off the mark and would rather not comment about the allegations of widespread payments made to induce voters to vote for Michel in case I am labelled a sore loser. Instead I will restrict myself to what Michel’s supporters themselves are saying about exactly what would have happened if the SPPF had lost the elections, because what they are saying indicates that they would not have accepted defeat with maturity.
At the end of his final PPB, Michel issued an ominous warning that he would not tolerate any violence. What violence I had asked myself then and what did Michel have in mind when he issued that warning? That became clearer last week whilst reading the diarrhoeic outburst of a vindictive writer who seemed to be gloating over his spoils after deliberately slandering all and sundry to ensure that his sugar daddy continues to maintain him in the manner that he has become accustomed.
From the writer’s tripes it emerged that in the event that the SPPF had lost the elections, they would have instigated violence around the country so that Michel, who would have still have been president (since the inauguration would only have taken place two days later at the earliest) could declare a state of emergency and implemented a curfew.
SO THAT’S WHAT MICHEL HAD IN MIND! SO MUCH FOR POLITICAL MATURITY!
An observer
THE DEMISE OF THE COMMISSIONER OF POLICE
Sir, The demise of Andre Kilindo as the Commissioner of Police was long foreseen and well overdue. It is apparent that Civil Servants who demonstrate their loyalty to their political masters by distorting the truth and blaming everything that is wrong in this country on the opposition does this country and the Government of the day more harm than good. In fact by doing this one does a disservice to society and not a favour.
Far too many of our Civil Servants have continuously used flattery and political rhetoric as the yardstick for loyalty and feel that by doing so their jobs in the Civil Service will be safe. Let this be an example to others who continues to mislead people and give false information in the media. There is a desperate need for transparent, accountable, clean and efficient Government run by professionals and competent people instead of political appointees and party officials. The opposition is watching and will judge James Michel by his action and by the actions of those he appoints to discharge the functions of his Government.
In the last two-and-a-half years there has been a tendency to blame everything on France Albert Rene (FAR) as the back seat driver because Michel was seeing out his mandate. This luxury is now a thing of the past, and the honeymoon period is definitely over. Michel cannot use this excuse any more. Michel is known to have said that he has his own style of Government, which he will put in place once he has his own mandate. His wish has now been granted. President Michel now has the opportunity to show us what he is really made of!!
A democrat
IS THE MILITARY RUNNING THE SHOW?
Sir, It seems that military men are running the show in Seychelles. First there is President James Michel, whose other title is Colonel or Brigadier. Then came Major Andre Ciseau as Head of the Seychelles Port Authority, followed by Deputy Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, Capt David Savy as Head of Air Seychelles and Colonel MacDonald Marengo as Head of the Prisons. Now we have Major Gerard Wahe-Hive of the Seychelles Defense Forces being named the new Seychelles Commissioner of Police. Who's next?
Jean Paul