THE CHRISTOHER GILL’S CORNER
7102 ygetarts sellehcyes
Since Mr. President Michel presented Seychelles Strategy 2017 to the People of Seychelles upside down in his political rally last Sunday, we may as well start spelling it backwards, since that is where we are going with Michel backed by Rene’s ideas of what democracy is: we are going backwards and yes, up side down...thank you Mr. President! You present a program upside down, then you tell us to sit on the bench and watch you ruin our Country. Right!
Strategy 2017
Michel’s campaign argument is that he wants a team to work with him from the National Assembly to double GDP in 2017. He wants to put more money into Seychellois’ pockets. Sounds good, but smells bad. Rene and Michel have made Seychelles the most indebted country in the World Per Capita. Each Seychellois owes 122.8 % of the individual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the Country. These two gentlemen whose origins of power lie in crime, and theft of National Emblems, have in 30 years, made us achieve a Gold Medal in Debt!
In this avenue, you have beat all the Indian Ocean Countries and Africa hands down. Bravo! great job they say to their supporters. Their supporters are in denial and dance in football fields hoping they can get a house. Do not hold your breath SPPF. Rene and Michel want to send you to Ile Preservance, a man built island, practically below sea level, like our economic situation. With predicted Tsunami’s coming, they will place you in peril, while they enjoy the view from San Souci.
The truth is GPD will not double. The number of People dying of HIV will double over the next 10 years and of course, our consumption of alcohol will double as it has over the last Ten years, because we will take down the road of depression under SPPF for not voting for change and Freedom. Our debt of course, will double as interest on our Bond and other unpaid obligations make us the first Island State to put a President on the Moon.
Rene and Democracy
Rene thinks the Opposition is suppose to take to a bench and sit out 4-5 years. He says the world operates that way. If the Opposition does not take to the bench, he beats them over the head and promotes the men and women that do the dirty work. Rene says he did not invent democracy. Of course not. Neither does he know what democracy is. Again I inform Mr. Rene, Democracy is about negotiation! Learn it or face the perils of your steel-metal shoes. Opposition has every right to walk out of the National Assembly as a protest, just as much as a Speaker has the right to have an MNA leave the National Assembly after being called to order. This is democracy at work…... very hard for the SPPF to stomach.
Michel and Democracy
Michel claims printing brochures is democracy in action. Yes, Mr. President, printing brochures for election is part of the democratic process. But using the Army for campaigns, giving out SPPF party umbrellas and shirts on military camps is not democratic. Using patrol boats, donated by the great democracy India, for protection of our waters, but used by SPPF to move people for rallies from the Inner Islands, is not democracy. The India High Commission in Seychelles is put on notice of the mis-use of its military donations. Lying to the People of Seychelles about the true state of our Debt situation is not democratic. Devaluing our currency without telling us what you are doing is not democratic. Working only with SPPF MNA’s and not cooperating with Opposition MNA’s is not democratic. Buying BMW’s by pairs when we cannot get babies milk, S-26, is very undemocratic.
Working hard, harder and hardest does not ensure democracy in our Country when they are working to prop up failure and bad ideas whose roots lie in Communism, Corruption and Crime.... your 3 “C”’s .
More EDA Like Laws
Proposing salary cuts from the Executive Branch to the Legislative Branch is very, very undemocratic. You should rethink this one, because it will tarnish your already tarnished image, for passing a law that restricts and inhibits representative protest! This is almost as bad as EDA for your image. In a democracy Mr. President, you do not have to control everything. Just control what is important. If you are so bent on MNA salaries, I would not be surprised if the order came from your Office not to grant me a Chain Link Fence approval for my Hotel, application now exceeding 11 months and 17 robberies, affecting over 40 visitors. Whoa, how petty the mighty can be at times. Then you wonder why Seychellois voice their opinions against your failing system. Even young courageous Nigel Rosette from La Digue, has said no to your arrogance. The list is growing.
Beaches Are Our National Heritage SPPF Sells
Mr. President lies about giving Seychellois access to our beaches. SPPF are in conspiracy with hotel resort developers to deny us access to our beaches. Why is it in Hawaii, an island that taught the world what Tourism is, and all beaches are public and accessible. In Seychelles, we do not have access to: 1.Anse Georgette, 2.Anse Kerlan, 3.Anse Victoria, in future,4. Port launay, 5.Baie Ternay...6, Anse Takamaka, 7. Anse La Mouche, 8.Anse Police... the list just gets longer. Shame on SPPF!
The Dictator Has A Pupil
Rene has taught Michel well. But Rene misunderstands that Michel is President in 2007 not 1977. Michel thinks time is irrelevant. But Botox cannot fix our economy. Michel displays anger in his rally. His anger is rage and borderline violence in my opinion, he has no intellectual wit like Rene, although his is from another era. Michel’s antics remind me of black and white footage of Adolf Hitler throwing his little book around. He also reminds me of Sponge bob yelling at Patrick, under the sea.
You cannot apply old rules to a new era. To do so, is detrimental to the health of our small Country and hazardous to the health of the spirit of our People. As the Clergy and Bishop have so wisely alerted you, there is an energy and moral rule that you do not see, but works to bring People together or creating division amongst a People. This the Dictator has ignored and he has not taught this rule to his Pupil. The poor lesson results are to their own detriment, but in the meantime, the People of Seychelles as usual, pay the price for SPPF failures.
God Has Not Forsaken Seychelles
God has not forsaken Seychelles. God has blessed Seychelles. The Almighty has given us the most beautiful islands in the world. God has given us an ocean full of bounty to be harvested at our leisure. These islands have more potential than the gold mines of Jo Burg, or the Tanzanite fields of Tanzania or the Diamond Mines of Botswana or Oil fields of Nigeria. But this potential cannot be achieved through the hands of incompetent derelict men who have no agenda for the people, except to maintain power at all cost.
This Agenda, they are proud to carry forward on a banner and they proclaim to have liberated us. Liberated us from whom? James Mancham, the Apostle of Peace? It was not the great battle they made it to be, but rather, a simple act of cowardice under the guise of darkness. We should all in unity, this year proclaim June 5th 1977- Cowards Day! We can have a parade, floats, depicting the act of cowardice on that dreary day. Maybe Local Government can help, although these days, they can hardly organize a proper beer party.
Long Live All Freedom Loving Seychellois!
A Basket of Nothing
The Governor of the Central Bank goes on SBC every once in a while and reports to us the status of our Weighted Basket of Currencies (WBC). This approach to determining the value of a currency is used by many Central Banks of developing countries. After the local currency is weighted against the main currencies in circulation that enter the banking system, Mr. Governor tabs the manual calculator each day to determine the value of the local currency against currencies in the Basket. His secretary prints the numbers and faxes it off to the commercial banks by 3pm before they both leave for home after tea break.
Through his effort, we have gained a basket of nothing!
Rupee Does Not Convert
Once the conversion is done, the local currency, our Rupee is given value against the US Dollar and Euro and Pound Sterling in the case of our Weighted Basket of Currencies. Then the Consumer knows how much he or she has to pay in local currency to get the foreign exchange at the local banks.
The problem in Seychelles is that after Mr. Governor has weighted the Rupee against his Basket of Currencies, it still does not convert and hard currency is still not available in reasonably acceptable amounts to the Public. Through the banking process, Mr. Governor still sends us to the Pipeline of requests for hard currency which today, the waiting line stands at about US Dollars 75 Million.
Compare Seychelles To Botswana
Mr. Governor may want to reconcile this scenario with the scenario of another African State which has about the same “official” GDP (individual) as Seychelles about $7,800: Botswana. However, be warned, Seychelles “official” GDP is fake, while Botswana’s is the real thing...shame on SPPF to fake our success.
As a footnote, even CIA Reports have now made sense of the fake GDP Reports Seychelles sends to the UN. Cheers to the CIA!
In Botswana, the Governor of the Central Bank there also uses a Basket of Currencies to determine the value of his local currency the “PULA”. Beware of the PULA Governor! It converts. After the Governor there tabs in the amount of foreign currency in it’s weighted basket which includes Pounds, Rands, US Dollars mostly, the PULA converts and foreign currency is readily available at the commercial banks. His Secretary e- mails the figures to the commercial banks. There is no black market. Why does Botswana’s PULA convert and our Rupee does not?
Manage Failure
The Rupee is worth nothing the Governor says it is worth. That is why. It is probably worth a lot less against his Weighted Currency Basket. The Governor is on a trip to fool the public of the value of the currency. He and the SPPF are still trying to manage failure to make it look successful. But failure is failure. No matter what dress it wears. It is in the walk, not the talk!
Why Botswana Works- Seychelles Fails
In Botswana, they have abandoned notions of centrally managing the economy like the SPPF does in Seychelles. Botswana has welcomed free market forces with open arms and as its reward for sound economic management, today it is a Country that is booming with investments from England, USA, South Africa. In spite of a huge HIV problem, the Country is progressing. In Seychelles we are still trying to fake economic reality and Investors see it. This is the burden we must carry after the SPPF has made us Officially Rich...but practically poor! For this, we can thank only Mr. Rene. Thank you Sir!
When Currency Float- Confidence Is The Reward
When currencies are allowed to float, investor confidence is the reward. Botswana shows us this. The PULA converts! in countless other countries. With investor confidence in place, we do not have to beg for investors. For example, Emirates Hotels- Airline Group does not have to build a hotel just to keep it’s Airline route viable. It can come in as a real partner and terms can be negotiated between equals and not be dictated to by the foreign company. Seychellois can get a fair deal, like getting a 5 Star hotel and also keeping our National Heritage of access to our beaches, which is a big part of who we are and how we live, how we see life. We can negotiate better employment packages for our People from the start, instead of sending them to compete with lower paid international labor like Nepalese and Indians, who work for snail wages, compared to what we Seychellois, are willing to work for. Why do Seychellois have to compete with fourth world countries workers for fifth world wages?
We can require a certain percentage of Seychellois in the Management field instead of having to beg for posts after the fact. We would not have to negotiate percentage of foreign exchange allocations, since investors would just choose to place their money here. If that were the case, Mr. Governor would never have to call in a Plumber to fix the Pipeline, since we would not have one.
The very fact that we negotiate percentage of foreign exchange allocations on receivables is prima facie evidence of our failure under SPPF.
This Mr. President and his SPPF Candidates are hoping the Public does not understand all this and all the Ghosts in the Voters Register come out and voice their support for his evil system that saps life out of our People and leaves them on the way side as beggars unto their mercy. This is not a sign of success. It is evidence of a system that has failed a People and now it is failing itself, without any help from the Opposition.
In the meantime, we will have dreams of having enough PULA to buy babies milk, rice, onions, potatoes, and birthday presents for our children. As for all those cars they like bragging about, thank the black market for the help to buy them; remember that cars are an individual expression of Freedom. As the People get use to this new found Freedom, they will want more Freedom. Soon, they will ask why you hold our Freedoms in chains. You will not hold Freedom in Communist Chains forever. Even picking on Clergy from the Church will not help you shameful bunch of hooligans!
Long Live All Freedom Loving Seychellois!
St. Lucia Booms!
The Independent regularly publishes a little section on St. Lucia, which is a Caribbean Island State which has many similarities to Seychelles. The island is green most of the year, coral like some of our outer islands, which IDC manage without much success, like Farquar and some of the stories of huge pits for goats, sheep and deer that never made it to the market, along with the beachfront chicken farms of Silhouette, least we forget. The IDC Chairman was so proud of his effort at rearing chickens on the beach in 1993, that he showed the Delegates of the Constitutional Commission his pet project, personally. We had to be polite in order to guarantee our passage back to Mahe, on “La Creole”
Aside from being dependent on Tourism, Fisheries and being creoles, (we are Seychellois), and some people are descendants of former slaves, while others are descendants of plantation owners and ship chandlers, and ship mates, St. Lucia has little to nil in common with us on the financial-economic front.
Seychelles World’s Most Indebted Country
Seychelles is listed by CIA Reports as the World’s Most In-Debted Country, Per Capita. We are number One! Some reports place us at No.3, after war torn Lebanon and corrupt business practice, Japan. St. Lucia does not even make it in the top 120 countries that are indebted. It is out of site. In the domain of National Debt, Rene and Michel have earned top honors in our name, for DEBT. No need to find excuses for the potatoes missing from the store shelves or babies milk, regularly, not once in a while, it is because of our Debts, not the ships that are late to anchor, nor the strikes in Dar Es Salaam.
St. Lucia Dollar Converts
St. Lucia has a currency. It is called the Eastern Caribbean Dollar. Guess what? It converts. It floats like a boat. You can get hard currency when you need it! As the tide goes up, it goes up, as the tide goes down, it goes down. Unlike our Seychelles Rupee, as the tide goes up, it stays down, as the tide goes down , it is even further down. The Rupee does not float. Its rates are fixed by the Central bank to reflect an artificial value and the SPPF give us artificial dreams of what we can do and what we can have. In reality, the Rupee ship is sinking (devaluing) but the Captain tells us not to abandon ship. Listen no more. Do not be fooled! Do not wait to be told the truth from the SPPF.
St. Lucia Beats Seychelles 2:1 in Economic Performance
With a floating currency and a stable government that does have transitions, St. Lucia is booming today. In spite of it’s size and smallness, St. Lucia is booming. It’s GDP numbers are based on a currency that is pegged to the US Dollar and it is solid as the US Dollar. The GDP numbers of St. Lucia are real at about $6,000.00 per annum. Compare this to SPPF fake number of GDP 7,800.00 which it’s real GDP is about $3,800.00 . This little Caribbean State is outperforming Seychelles 2:1 and we are much more pretty, more beautiful, more islands, then St. Lucia, and have much more fish, larger economic zone and positioned better to Europe, Asia, Middle East, Africa, then St. Lucia.
Small Island State Succeeds with Free Market and Public Beaches
It is important to note that St. Lucia is an example of small island state that has adopted the Free Market policies and succeeded. Hence, the Rene rubbish that free market does not work in small countries, is nothing more then food for mackerels. So much for all his lessons in “economics” back in those days when we had to take B.I. and Karanja to get anywhere. (we can thank the Queen and Mancham for the Airport). What’s more, in St. Lucia, all the beaches are public and accessible. There is no such thing as a “private resort”. The public can go to any hotel and have a meal and drink. As long as you dress for it, and pay your way. Credit Cards are accepted; here only the few have access to credit cards. People of St. Lucia can also visit their beaches at will and leisure, without having to face Nepalese guards or the SSU.
In Seychelles, the next five years, we will have to retake our beaches. Rene and Michel do not like the beach, so they do not think that we should to have access to what they do not like. It is funny that Michel wants to make a law for beach access when this right is already protected by our Constitution. This he likes to cite so much these days to make us believe he knows what he is doing. For your information Mr. President, you can solve the beach access issue by just picking up the phone and call those hotels that are guilty of denying us access to our beaches tell them to open the gates and let us in. You don’t need a law for that....silly!
Long Live All Freedom Loving Seychellois!
