Recently many Seychellois have been expressing a general disillusionment with their political Leaders. The sense of despair is setting in our political “everyday life” as we see leaders saying everything under the sun imaginable and twisting every word they can grab out of the dictionary to make us continue to believe in them and what they say. We don’t have to name names to know what we are suggesting. Each Seychellois has a name or two he or she can name. In the quagmire of muddled politics, that has failure showing its head more and more often now, we do not know who to trust anymore. Leaders must understand clearly in no uncertain terms, when you lead effectively and successfully, we are all better off. When you lead in a derelict manner, and run the Country without a rudder, we are all worse off. As Simple as that!
Everyday they say we are rich, but we feel poor. The next day our feeling of being poor turns to desperation. Another day they say they fight for us, only to increase salaries for themselves and forget about us. Then they fight between themselves when the day before, they were drinking tea together and declared a unity of purpose in the interest of Seychelles.
Seychelles deserves serious leadership that does not cringe in the face of hard challenges. We need leaders who will put Country before self as they ask us to do the same. We need leaders that do not double speak and double act. What is good for the ordinary Seychellois must also be good for our leaders. We must end Elitism in Seychelles and not reward it or flatter it, especially when our Elitists are incompetent at leading and are failing us everyday.
The next few years will be a challenge to our maturity as a People as we face those who seek our Trust and Confidence without them making adequate performance on their part to have earned that Trust. In this day and age, it is not enough for a leader to just work hard. He can work hard for himself (Leker Dan Pos!). We need leaders to work hard and very smart for Seychelles. At the center of that effort, our leaders must “Put Seychellois First”, not second or last in the whole scheme of things. While we need foreign investment it must be above board, and Seychellois must not be pushed under the table in the process. Example, instead of our Government telling us how we will benefit from the Emirates Hotel project, they are sending Emirates now as their agent to tell us on a take it or leave it basis. The access to Cap Ternay is already closed with armed men to deter us from enjoying the beach. In Praslin, Lemuria did the same thing and access to facilities for locals is always a battle and takes a lot of your energy. Lemuria is also a good example wherein we do not benefit much from a big development. Instead the management company Constance makes a killing running the place. Typical SPPF investment project. Can we trust SPPF?
In the simplest terms, trust means confidence. The opposite of trust is distrust or suspicion. When we trust someone we have confidence in them, we believe in their confidence and in their ability to get the job done. We trust their integrity. When you distrust people, you are suspicious of them- their integrity, their agenda, their capabilities or even their track record. Simple enough. The difficulty is applying this definition to your reality and facing the consequences. It is not always easy and it can be down right difficult.
It can lead to a heart break. Tough, but everything is tough these days. C’est la vie!
In Seychelles, we have learned that politicians can say anything and do anything. Their ideas in their nice polished speeches and press releases can say anything, but it does not necessarily mean that what they say is what they mean or they will ever do. It’s this lack of congruence in human communication which we now see today in Seychelles politics. This is in no uncertain terms a direct result of the political style of our fore bearers of our political culture. To succeed in spite of this legacy they leave us, we must rise above the standard of conduct they have set in politics of our Nation. Our progress as a People will be tied to our ability to rise above this low bar of political conduct. Even investors want to hear statements made, to be what they hear. As we become more congruent in words, actions and deeds, we will build greater National integrity and greater credibility with partners who have a little problem of trust, in spite of all the primitive beauty surrounding us.
For Example, President Michel said not too long ago, upon arrival in Seychelles from one of his excursions to the Middle East, that he is not selling Seychelles to Arabs. Most recently, in Seychelles Review, Mr. President candidly reveals that he is selling Seychelles to Arabs. Now, Mr. President tells us that there is nothing wrong with the sale of Land at La Misere to an Arab Shiek Kalifa of UAE. Mr. President says this land sale (for Rupee 1.00) effort is part of our participation in the Globalization of the World for Seychelles. Mr. President completely contradicts himself and he does not think a thing about the lack of congruence in his speech, ideas and deeds over the last two (2) years. Neither does he clearly delineate a change of policy to alert the general population of his change of position from “Sesel pou Seselwa” SPUP-SPPF policy to “Sesel Pou Bann Arab” under his new Administration. This lack of respect for the general population makes you wonder, who to Trust. Definitely not Mr. President, in my opinion. He changes position in a day, as much as the winds change in the South East Monsoon in a day.
If a Leader’s actions ideas and deeds do not correlate, you must not give him your Trust. It is as simple as that. If you do, you will be disappointed every time. Why? Because if he takes you on a ride once, he will do it again. This is called the Rule of Political Rides. (RPR).
Rene retired from politics not long ago when he resigned as the Elected President and appointed James Michel, his Vice President in his post. On departure, Rene gave the Seychellois public the distinctive impression he was going to use the time to spend with his family and hand things over to Michel who Rene said was the most capable person for the job and he Rene, said that he had full confidence in Michel’s ability. This was the statement.
In action, Rene has not retired from politics. Today, he still micro - runs the SPPF more so now than when he was President of Seychelles. He lords over Michel in a manner that leads any reasonable thinker to believe he does not trust Michel’s judgment and ability. Rene knows Michel better than all of us. In that action, we can read a lot and conclude some basic points, without having to mention any of them, to reduce the prestige of the post of Head of State. But Rene’s words have not been congruent with his actions towards us as a People. He has not retired. He has ruled over the Country through his Central Committee and he claims that he still calls the shots to whoever he meets and greets. He has told us to trust Michel to run the Country well. Instead, the Country is being run like the Wild-Wild-West. It’s like a cowboy movie. Michel to his responsibility has borrowed more money in 4 years than Rene borrowed in our name in his entire rule.
Who are we going to Trust? Definitely not Rene. Michel, well you can trust him to just borrow more money over time. That’s what he seems to do best in our name. I doubt very much if he can fish or plant gro manze!
Another Example. In a rally before the last Elections, Rene told us “Nou Pre Pou Arriv Kot Nou Destin- Tenir Pa Large”. What happened? The words and the action and reality today, we know are two completely different worlds. If the words, action and reality do not match, we must not trust the messenger or the message. Rene has let us down once and he will let us down again and again. Why? Because he has not admitted his deception or asked to be forgiven for it. As such, the lies are perpetuated upon us as a People. He shifts blame to Michel, but both are responsible for the situation we are in today. If anyone wants to join this A -Team of economic destroyers, go ahead. But be warned: I told you so!
Do you recall when Michel said we have a high GDP and we are rich - He said our GDP is $8,000.00 per head. He said Strategy 2017 is his Plan to make Seychellois even richer. Michel said he will double our GDP in 10 years to $ 16,000.00. To do that, he should have registered 12% growth rates per year over the last 2 years. In practice what do we see? GDP rates officially are only 2% and perhaps even less in reality. He has devalued our currency by over 40% since he became President. Fuel prices have doubled but Michel keeps taxes at 50%. This means he has a larger budget now than ever to run the Country. He still complains and blames us and sidelines Seychellois over foreigners in Government posts. Shame, Shame, Shame!
As a side effect of this failed effort, we see Seychellois being reglegated to low -mid level administrative posts under Michel. Foreigners like French, Irish, Chinese, and Arabs all have a field day in Seychelles at our expense. While Michel said we will get richer every year under his Plan, he has only made us poorer each year. Today under Michel, Seychellois suffer in silence. His Strategy 2017 Plan was deceptive to us all. Instead of putting “people” at the center of development, he is putting “Arab People First”. While investment is good, investment without a functional thought out plan is called “speculation”. Michel it seems is speculating on our future. Dangerous indeed for us Seychellois.
Michel says we must honor the Constitution and this is the Year of the Constitution and so on. But under his Administration, Citizens are protected even less under the Constitution. In his fancy speech on National Day, where he basically told us to start planting our own food, he makes reference to Article 40 of the Constitution and says it is duty of every Seychellois to uphold the Constitution. Michel neglects materially, to tell us that it is the Government’s obligation under the Constitution to also respect all Individual Citizens Rights and allow them to prosper as God intended them to. Between the over sized flags – stainless steel flagpole and bronze constitution and national emblem, Michel does not understand it would appear, that a Constitution is nothing more than a social contract citizens enter into not to give away rights to the State, but to protect those rights from the State. Now, as he learns this, we pay for his education. As he learns the hard way, we pay the hard way.
When Michel opts for foreign security men to roam our Country, run our airports, search citizens houses without warrants, we pay for his education. When Australians are used to run our tax office and they hightail money into business investments in Angola, while they milk us in Seychelles, we pay for Michel’s’ mistakes. When foreigners invest in Seychelles with special Retention Schemes to keep all their hard currency and Mr. Faure does not have enough money to pay for our fuel bills, we pay for Michel’s’ education. When the Police Force does not have enough men, enough uniforms, enough cars, enough money to do a good job, we pay for Mr. Michel’s’ education. When Nurses would rather be Policemen because they can earn Rupees 300.00 per month extra, we pay for Mr. Michel’s’ education. When Ambassadors at Large are appointed who became Seychellois under EDA we, pay for that education as well.
When the average Seychellois suffers in silence because of the astronomical increase in cost of goods in the Country, we pay for Mr. Michel’s’ education. When thieves and drug dealers become arrogant towards good citizens and act as if they are in charge of our destiny, we pay for Mr. Michel’s’ education. When Michel lets Air Seychelles fly a used- by-date expired plane that uses flash band to hold passenger seats together, we will pay for Michel’s education. This education is becoming costly.
How we pay is endless. How we can stop paying is simple: Stop trusting those who seek not our trust but to perpetuate a play of deception upon us as a People. You can be SPPF, SNP or DP; we are all in the same boat now....we have all been deceived by our leaders because they did not have the foresight to see what was coming! Lack of vision in national politics is like a blind man leading the blind. We are being led by a blind man. He will say he does have a vision, but puffery is not a vision. It is just empty words that have no correlation to deeds. This, we must not trust.
Our situation reminds me of the Captain that blames the first shipmate for his boat hitting a rock and starts to sink. But in the end, all true sailors know, Captain is responsible for the ship...not first mate....or mate set adrift or mate left on shore at last stop and picked up to make Captain look good as ship sinks.
May God Bless All Freedom Loving Seychellois!