James Michel’s first 100 days as elected president
He also, for good measure, suddenly decided that this date, 31st October, would be a milestone in his presidency, the so-called first 100 days, a concept of dubious value, dreamed up by the media in the US to “judge” sitting presidents. This week we had the spectacle of the incoming Majority Leader of the House of Representatives of the American Congress marking the things she wants to deal with in her first 100 hours in her new post. In our case President Michel, decided not only to mark a 100 day milestone after the event, but also pass judgment on his achievement in office himself.
Mr Michel is, of course not new to the presidency of our country. He had, prior to the 100 days, been legal President for over 2 years and Vice-president for 7 years before that. As Vice-president his office was next door to that of the President. In other words, he was literally next to the seat of power.
As political milestones go, President Michel’s first 100 days as elected president will go down in history as the second authority of our country who had to deal with a riot. The first time was in 1972 when we were still a colony. And it was the colonial governor who had to deal with it then. That riot was instigated by the leaders of the opposition Seychelles People’s United Party (SPUP) after a politically instigated strike by manual workers asking for 65% wage hike, failed to achieve its results. SPUP is the predecessor of the SPPF. The riot also took place near the seat of the then Legislative Assembly, at Bel Eau, where the office of the Chief Minister was also located. The small crowd of mostly ladies was dispersed with teargas by the newly formed Police Mobile Unit (PMU) only after they had started pelting the building with stones. The Chief Minister, who was in his office during the melee, was James Mancham
This time round, the successor to the PMU, called the SSU instigated the riot. There were no stones being thrown. The people who had gathered were all supporters of the opposition party, SNP. They had made no outrageous demands except their right to own a radio station, which the Government wanted at all costs to prevent. All they wanted to do was sign a petition. Unlike in 1972, the leader of the opposition came to speak to them at the entrance to the building.
Nothing that took place that morning warranted the presence of fully equipped riot police. But the police, without warning, simply set upon them with batons, rubber bullets and tear gas. Some had to receive medical treatment, unlike in 1972. President Michel who was in another country when the police acted, only arrived the following day. He chose to praise the police action before he had a chance to review the situation. Later he saw the error of his ways and announced that a commission would be appointed to investigate. To date that commission is still to be composed.
During the first 100 days as our elected president Mr Michel also sanctioned the issuance of a foreign currency bond. In all US$ 200 million worth were issued and offered to the international capital market. The money raised by the government was used principally to pay previous debts whose repayment had fallen into arrears. After this was done, there was some money left over. The bonds increased our external debts further from an already alarming level, since not all the proceeds was used to retire old debts. But, in his own evaluation of his first 100 days, President Michel said that he had paid back our external debt – which was a terminological inexactitude.
During the first 100 days of his presidency President Michel took to the roads to revisit and number of public housing and civil engineering projects which he had visited before and during the official election campaign. In some, no significant progress in construction was visible. During the first 100 days of his presidency, the rebuilding of the infamous bridge on the highway which was washed out by the tsunami finally got under way, one a half years later.
During the first 60 days of the first 100 days of President Michel’s mandate, government borrowed an extra SR 98 million from the local banks. The amount of money in circulation increased by a further SR 154 million while gross official reserves was worth only 5.4 weeks of imports. In the first 8 months of 2006 tourism earnings through the banking system was 46% less than the same period in 2005.
During his first 100 days in office President Michel rushed off to
In short, the first 100 days of his president came and went without the country noticing any significant change. Ministers were pictured on SBC television attending openings of forums, seminars and other gatherings being addressed by other Ministers. The same intractable economic problems of the country persisted. In short there was little in the milestone to shout about.