One of our favorite spot for a good debate in Victoria is the Taxi Stand. There, under the watchful eyes of the Commissioner of Police, courtesy of the CCTV cameras at the traffic lights, you get to participate with the taxi operators in an entirely democratic forum, where everyone gets their fair chance at expressing themselves. In fact, it is a lesson in democracy for our elected representatives in the National Assembly. It goes without saying that even at the Taxi Stand there is a Mister Speaker, one particular gentleman who drives a blue Toyota Corolla, the rest of the drivers and us think, he is still SPPF - he looks and sound (loud) very much like the man himself in the National Assembly; he has taken it upon himself to assume the role of Speaker on behalf of his colleagues. And he is damn good at misleading the discussions.
Last week we got talking about foreign exchange retention of the various foreign exchange earners in the country, in particular yacht charter companies, guest houses, small hotels and the big five star hotels. Our reporter told Mr. Speaker at the Taxi Stand that most of the big hotels; especially the five star hotels are enjoying 100% retention on their foreign exchange earnings. It allows them to, wherever it is humanly possible, to repatriate every single little dollar they collect at their establishment locally, ridiculous but true. These are the lucky people with powerful contacts within this government. It goes without saying that deals have been done and we (the common men and women) are “none the wiser”.
My good friend Mr. Speaker at the Taxi Stand is also confused over the issue of 35% retention of foreign exchange by the Central Bank on hard currencies deposited with the Central Bank by commercial banks. We hope we succeeded in clearing that one out for him and his colleagues. This little arrangement, our reporter told them, has nothing to do and does not affect the allocations of Five Star hotels. Their foreign exchange retention remains unaffected at 100%, irrelevant of the 35% being retained from monies deposited with the Central Bank by Commercial Banks; Barclays, Baroda, Habib, Nouvo Banq, MCB or Savings Bank.
At the close of session before going our separate ways, Mr. Speaker at the Taxi Stand wanted to know whether our foreign exchange difficulties could be solved overnight if Seychellois with bank accounts abroad were to bring back their money from overseas. The answer to this question is one that is plain and simple, if only a few of them, the likes of former President Rene, Mukesh, President Michel, the Savy brothers, Francis Chang Leng and others were to bring back a share of what they have banked abroad, our foreign exchange problem might well and truly be over.