FOREIGN EXCHANGE CRISIS DEEPENS

FOREIGN EXCHANGE CRISIS DEEPENS

The Seychelles Breweries, which produces most of the beers and soft drinks consumed in Seychelles, published an advertisement in the Government newspaper, the Seychelles Nation, last Saturday warning its customers (in other words the whole population) that it will not be able to produce soft drinks because of a shortage of sugar in Seychelles.

The government, in an election year has remained conspicuously silent on the issue saved to an extent by the official visit of the President Hu Jintao, of the People's Republic of China, which saturated the airwaves. However, it did not stop SBC - the State controlled and funded broadcasting media - on Wednesday, recycling the same worn out propaganda on the number of houses to be built on the so-called Ile Perseverance, which they have been peddling since 2004, the year Mr Michel assumed the presidency following the resignation of Mr Rene. This time it did not feature Joel Morgan, the controversial Minister of Land Use and Habitat, who has yet to account for the US$4.5 million which he authorised to be paid to a bogus international contractor with a sham office in Dubai and Seychelles. Neither has the Auditor General, Mr Marc Benstrong, made reference to this issue in all his reports so far - Benstrong is the son of the “Mayor” of Victoria, Mrs Florence Benstrong, a prominent personality in the ruling SPPF.

At the time of going to the printers, there were no soft drink products from the brewery on the market. This has come on top of the shortage of bottled water, which has come on top of a temporary shortage of milk, which has coincided, with a shortage of oil, timber, cement etc.

The shortage of bottled water has hit the tourism industry very hard as tourists prefer to drink bottled water, and in a very hot and humid climate, they consume a lot of it. The shortage is due to the lack of foreign currency to import the raw materials litres compared to 7,271,000 litres for soft drinks to make the plastic bottles. In 2005, the recorded production of bottled water was 4,379,000 litres compared to 7,271,000 litres for soft drinks.

Barely had the ink dried on the Seybrew advert than the SPPF, the ruling party in Seychelles, called an urgent meeting of all its activists and prospective candidates for the forthcoming National Assembly elections last Sunday, urging them to go out to the “community” and reassure the people that very soon all the shortages of essential commodities will be a thing of the past. The meeting was chaired by former President Albert Rene, who is still holding on to power as the president/leader of the SPPF party. Critics point out that, whenever Rene makes such a move, it is an indication that worse is yet to come.

Meanwhile, the legal President of the country, Mr Michel, after basking in the glory afforded by the Chinese President's choice of making little Seychelles one of its stops in its lightning tour of seven African countries, has left the country without making any statement about the shortages that's creating a certain air of panic in the caommunity. Mr Michel prefers to fly to Rome to open a new embassy there, whose Ambassador designate will be an Italian national who used to be an Honorary Consul in a northern Italian city and who was recently elevated to a glorified citizen of Seychelles with a diplomatic passport. The last Italian to enjoy the privilege of a Seychelles diplomatic passport in the mid eighties was wanted for questioning by the British Anti-Terrorist police over the assassination of the exiled opposition leader Gerard Hoareau in London, in 1985.