Editorial - THE ISSUE OF A SEYCHELLES PASSPORT UNDER A FALSE NAME

Editorial

THE ISSUE OF A SEYCHELLES PASSPORT UNDER A FALSE NAME

This matter is complex in nature and there is much more at stake for the citizens of Seychelles than the Administration of President Michel is willing to admit! Certain people are questioning this newspaper’s vigour and determination to get to the bottom of the latest humiliation of our nationality. Let us for a moment forget the personality of the individual behind the most recent scandal involving a Seychelles passport abroad. This is not the first time our national treasure in the form of our citizenship has been prostituted and vilified in that manner. This is why this newspaper is so passionate about this affair. The nationality of a people is a gift from the almighty and the people charged with the responsibility to dole out our “God given gift” must do it in the most conscientious manner.

Over the years arrests of criminals travelling in possession of a Seychelles passport have exceeded commonsense; wanted criminals from the Far East, Italy, Ireland and other countries have been apprehended plying their trade whilst travelling on a passport obtained legally from the Seychelles government. This has created enormous difficulties for the native Seychellois travelling abroad. It is getting harder for our citizens to travel into Europe and elsewhere in the civilised world because of the going on of our government and the local Immigration Authority.

This is why this newspaper will not rest until all is revealed publicly. The President in his capacity as Minister for Internal Affairs, Marie-Ange Hoarau in her capacity as Principal Secretary in this Ministry and the Head of Immigration, Ronald Fock-Tave, are all accountable to the people. It is their ministerial portfolio and they have to take responsibility for everything that has happened to our citizenship over the years. They cannot hide behind a cloak of secrecy pretending that nothing has happened. Something happened and somebody of authority must answer to the public.

The suspending of a junior officer within the Ministry of Internal Affairs is small consolation in comparison to the seriousness of the matter. So far Ronald Fock-Tave and Marie-Ange Hoarau have refused all opportunities ‘Le Nouveau Seychelles Weekly’ has offered them in setting the record straight. If they think this matter is rested they are mistaken as we are determine to dig deep until the truth is finally known. Patriotism demands that we get to the bottom of the prostitution of our nationality. The selling of Seychelles passports must stop now without notice. The SPPF has an atrocious record of suspicious dreaming up dubious schemes to get foreign exchange and the selling of our passports and citizenship in Hong Kong at the time of the handing over Hong Kong to China by the United Kingdom is no longer a secret. They are thus not foreign to such schemes as the EDA sought to legalise an otherwise illegal scheme of selling passports and citizenships for 10 million dollars or more worth of investment in the Seychelles dubbed “economic citizenship.”

The fate of EDA was also well publicised and helped tarnish the otherwise good image of our Country further in the eyes of the international community. The acquisition of a nationality should never be regarded as a means to generate funds. It is something far more superior than money. It is a lofty exercise, one which the SPPF government to the detriment of our reputation worldwide, fails to appreciate.

President Michel must take this matter up with Marie-Ange Hoarau and Ronald Fock-Tave, personally, if he himself did not have a hand in this affair. They cannot escape responsibility by pretending they had no idea of what was going on literally in their backyard. Heads, ultimately have to roll and it is no good picking on a junior officer and using him as a scapegoat to cover the dubious acts of more senior civil servants. An transparent inquiry would get to the bottom of this mystery once and for all and gain the government some much needed credibility. President Michel recently during the National Assembly Election was preaching about needing an assembly that is serious. How can the citizens take President Michel seriously when his actions in dealing with mediocrity, involving a Principal Secretary and a Head of Department within a Ministry, he holds the portfolio for, are tolerated regardless. “Judge me by my actions”.