December 1, 2006

RAMKALAWAN: SNP MAY NOT PARTICIPATE IN PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS

He said that his party is also considering whether to continue to participate in the political life of the country in the light of the October 3rd incident when he and other leaders of the party were set upon by the police as they addressed a group of supporters on the steps of the National Assembly building. The incident has been condemned publicly by the Democratic Party Leader, Mr. Paul Chow, as an assault on the Constitution.

President Michel on the other hand praised the police action at first, but has since announced the appointment of a retired Irish judge to conduct an inquiry. Despite this move Michel hosted a birthday party for former President Albert Rene (16th November) – who is also the Leader of Michel’s party, the SPPF, - where he publicly chastised Michel for being too soft with the opposition. Opposition sources say moves will be made for the full text of Mr Rene’s statement, which was recorded by SBC, to be admitted as evidence to the inquiry. The opposition will also press for the inquiry to determine who, in the government, ordered the police action.    

Ramkalawan’s announcement has sent shock waves around the country with many people expressing concern about the political implications of such a move. It could conceivably catapult Seychelles back to a de-facto one-party state. It seems that Ramkalawan has finally lost his patience with the SPPF’s antics and has decided to ditch the “gentleman’s politics” approach which has characterized the SNP’s political dealings vis-à-vis the SPPF in the recent past. Among the SNP leadership, there is a strong feeling that so far this has served only to give a semblance of democracy and therefore provide legitimacy and credibility to the conduct of the SPPF as the party in power. It has also served some say, to give the false impression abroad that the opposition in Seychelles functions and enjoys the same rights and privileges without hindrance afforded those in recognised democratic countries. 

The head-on collision between the SNP and the SPPF was in the cards from the speeches of SPPF leaders during the month long election campaign, and even after the election, when a partisan rally was organised by SPPF leaders ostensibly to thank supporters. The speeches emanating from that rally and broadcast by SBC (especially that of Mr Rene) were considered by many to border on incitement against the opposition. The violent reaction of some members of the police and and well “armed goons” masquerading as security firm against opposition on lookers  during the officially sponsored motorcade rally to celebrate victory, made many wonder how much blood would have been spilt if Ramkalawan had won rather than Michel. The straw that broke the camel’s back was, it appears, the incident of 3rd October now dubbed “Black October” when the SNP leaders were violently attacked and assaulted by the police. The situation has been made worse by Ex-President Albert Rene’s provocative statement made on the day of his 71st birthday on the 16th November 2006 that if it was him, he would have taken “more drastic measures.”

At the moment the Seychelles economy is going through a very fragile stage with the tourism industry showing signs of recovery after many years of consecutive decline in arrivals. The thought of the SNP going “underground” to engage in more hostile and abrasive political activities might cause irreversible damage to not only  the tourism industry but to the economy at large. This is why it is imperative some say, for President Michel to distance himself from the confrontational politics of the pre-election period and to govern as the President of all the people of the Seychelles. This will entail the recognition that opposition politics is a legitimate right protected and regulated by the Constitution. The Democratic Party leader, for his part says that President Michel would be wise to embrace the “Seychelles First” principle of the DP.

Political observers have concluded that the SNP’s demands are not unreasonable since, although Seychelles has known 15 years of multi party politics, nothing much has changed on the grounds from the ways of the one-party state. Despite the clear and unambiguous demand by the Commonwealth Observers after the first multiparty elections that the ruling SPPF’s institutions should be de-linked from those of the State, no effort was made to ensure that this happens.

JUDICIARY MAJOR STUMBLING BLOCK TO DEMOCRACY

The judiciary remains the biggest stumbling block to the enjoyment of full democracy in Seychelles. The Supreme Court is known to have even embarrassed the Executive on more than one occasion by their dubious pronouncements. For instance, when the Albert Rene government, with Mr Michel at the Ministry of Finance, passed the Economic Development Act (EDA) (giving immunity from criminal prosecution to foreigners who invest US$ 10 million in Seychelles) the Chief Justice declared that the Act “was a brilliant piece of legislation”. This added to the shock and alarm from the international community. Earlier this month the REGAR - published by the SNP – was ordered to pay SR350, 000 punitive damages to a government official for defamation of character simply because the newspaper had claimed that he had fished in a restricted area near the world heritage island of Aldabra, even though he himself admitted to the court it would have been completely legal if he had done so for he enjoyed special privileges bestowed upon him by law.

The judiciary on many occasions have been accused of manipulating the rules to frustrate the constitutional challenges to government decisions and actions, while most of the laws of the one party are still on the statute books and being applied. For example, a legal challenge to the conduct of the then State import monopoly, SMB, was stopped by the Registrar of the Supreme Court who ruled that no-one could sue the organisation because it had been given total immunity by the Minister of Finance, and therefore, the case would not be placed in front of a judge for hearing. 

Another example of the judiciary manipulating the rules to frustrate legitimate legal challenges was when the Bar Association challenged the re-appointment of expatriate Judge Judhoo on the grounds that there were no “exceptional circumstances” to justify the renewal of his contract of employment (as the Constitutional Appointments Authority and State House had claimed). The Supreme Court dismissed the case on a technicality ruling that the Bar Association has “no locus standi”-insufficient interest, to bring the action. The Supreme Court decision was later overturned by a special Court of Appeal made up of judges from Southern Africa. Fortunately, that ruling effectively established a constitutional landmark in Seychelles that the President is not above the law and that he must therefore give reasons for his decisions.

MICHEL PROMISED OPEN GOVERNMENT

The SPPF is known to have pulled all the tricks in the books by making the most of their position to make life practically impossible for the SNP (and opposition parties as a whole) to operate as a legitimate opposition in parliament and in the country as a whole. The effort was less against the Democratic Party when former president James Mancham was its leader as well as leader of opposition in the National Assembly – a post which is provided for in the Constitution. However, when the SNP became the main opposition party the SPPF swiftly cut the budget contributions to political parties, reducing the opposition’s share from SR200, 000 a month to just over SR 17,000. In addition, the Government has also consistently used a defunct colonial statute to prevent the opposition from organising rallies.

After he became President in 2004, following the sudden resignation of Mr Rene, Michel promised an open government and pledged that he would consult widely. He held a single meeting with both Ramkalwan – as leader of the SNP, as well as with former president Mancham – as leader of the DP mostly for the benefit of the television camera, despite the country being hit by an extra-ordinary natural catastrophe called a tsunami. President Michel refused to invite political leaders from other parties to accompany him to assess the damage. There has been no other formal contact with either party or their leaders since. Instead, soon after it became clear from the “popular consultation” he held in 2004, that the government’s popularity had taken a nose dive, Mr Michel’s pronouncement as president of the country became less and less distinguishable from those he made as a party leader.

Meanwhile, in the National Assembly, debates on the budget or the State of the Nation address degenerated into uncivilised insults across the table rather than civilised discourse and dialogue. The Speaker of the National Assembly, who is elected by a majority of the members, never hesitated to frustrate every move by opposition members during proceedings. His antics became blatantly more evident during the last two years. The SPPF has never accepted that a member of the opposition be the chair person of the Public Accounts Committee, a convention in practice in all democratic ex- British colonies such as Mauritius, to ensure transparency in the handling of public funds.

Elected members of the opposition are not afforded respect or recognition by the government in their respective electoral districts. Whenever Ministers and high officials organise high profile visits or hold activities in districts the locally elected Members of the National Assembly who are of the SNP are not invited while the nominated SPPF candidates  are invited  to be filmed or pictured handing over gifts or donations to schools. Nominate SPPF candidates are almost all employed either by the Government or by a parastatal, just as most of the Members of the National Assembly from the SPPF are.

MICHEL’S FRUSTRATION WITH RENE

There is a body of opinion which claims that James Michel wants to undertake major reforms but is being frustrated in his efforts to wean his presidency away from the grip of his predecessor, former president Rene who still insists on remaining party leader and has rebuilt the party headquarters into a replica president’s office before moving in. Rene receives audiences from all and sundry and dishes out written instructions to party officials in the districts to dish out patronage, all of whom also are employed by the State in some capacity.  Even President Michel, officially the Secretary General need to go to the party headquarters each week to attend a Central Committee meeting where the party plots the conduct of the government. All Ministers are members of the Central Committee. The same body of opinion points to the almost public rebuke of Michel by Rene, on the occasion of his birthday party which Michel hosted, for having succumbed to international pressure to appoint a retired Irish Judge to conduct an inquiry into the incident of October 3rd.

Michel’s principal frustration some say is with the rearguard actions of Rene in stalling effective economic reforms, especially those prescribed by the IMF. They point to the appointment of Danny Faure as his replacement at the Ministry of Finance, as Rene’s ultimate “humiliation” of his chosen successor. But, some say, Michel is fighting back. They say he deliberately excluded Faure from his delegation during his state visit to China, even though Michel was expected to discuss economic aid to his beleaguered government, and bringing Chang Leng instead. In the Ministry of Finance, Mrs Laika Nair – the Principal Secretary, is considered to be Central Bank Governor Chang Leng’s henchwoman.

Many were hoping that President Michel would cut away the imaginary umbilical cord that attaches him permanently to Albert Rene as soon as he had won his own mandate. Many of his ardent supporters have already expressed disillusionment, frustration and disappointment with Michel’s inability to be more independent of Rene and be his own man. They say Michel has failed even to live up to the previous SPPF slogan during the last parliamentary election “be what you want to be”.

Copyright 2006: Seychelles Weekly, Victoria, Mahe, Seychelles