Pagetemplate

THE ISSUE OF LAW AN ORDER IS A POLICE FORCE PROBLEM

Political tension in the country has risen to a level that is causing serious concerns to church leaders since the incident of 3rd October. Last week the bishops of the Catholic and Anglican churches issued a public statement calling for a dialogue between President Michel and the Opposition party, SNP. This week the Seychelles Evangelistic Alliance, a grouping of several evangelical churches issued their own statement urging restraint and dialogue.

On Monday President Michel issued a press release in which he said that “In the light of events of the past two weeks whereby the peace of the country (sic) and the Seychellois people has (sic) been unsettled by politically motivated disturbances, President Michel has expanded on his earlier proposals for dialogue.” The President’s choice of words, his reference to “politically motivated disturbances” has raised serious concerns among observers that he is not making a genuine effort to reduce tension but rather taking controversial political positions on the issue in advance.

Critics of the police conduct on 3rd October blame the police for the disturbances rather than those who were peacefully assembled. Michel, upon his arrival from overseas, disappointed many by being too ready to praise the police conduct even before, it seems, he had the chance to look at their conduct dispassionately as President of the country rather than a partisan leader. Especially now that he has decided there should be an inquiry into the incident.

The Press Release, observers say, gives the impression too in the choice of language that there is a presumption on the part of State House that political enemies of the government are causing the problems for political reasons. The language of the press release, “initiating a consultative committee looking (sic) into issues regarding the respect of law and order in the country” underlines, a hidden agenda by President Michel, critics say.

Yet, law and order in Seychelles since the coup d’etat of June 1977, especially during the one party state, has been what the authorities say it is rather than what the law says it is. During the first election in 1992 for the Constitutional Commission, the police abused their authority on numerous occasions, breaking up gatherings or arresting opposition supporters or leaders. Numerous such incidents were reported by the international election observers. Problems always erupted at or after a rally by opposition parties never when the SPPF held a meeting. For them, the full force of the security services including the army is galvanised, roads are closed, snipers take positions on adjacent buildings etc.

Despite the introduction of the new Constitution in 1993 which guarantees the right of assembly, freedom of movement, privacy etc., no effort has been made to educate the police to respect those rights and freedoms. Arrests and detentions of suspects continue to be conducted with little regard for the law and the Constitution. The police is a law onto itself.

In keeping with the mentality of the one-party state era, some police officers are known to behave as if they are the law. They can choose who to stop and decide to stop anyone going about his or her normal business; to search anyone at his will; order a person to leave a place where he or she is standing without any justification; beat up anyone without provocation and virtually harass the citizens. Police officers do not have to identify themselves to the citizen before taking action of any sort. During the colonial era every police officer had to wear a number on his or her uniform which identifies him.

There is no avenue, for example, for a citizen to complain about the conduct of a police officer. There is no disciplinary mechanism to regulate police behaviour. All decisions are taken by the President of the Republic – which invariably means they become political decisions rather than disciplinary ones. State House can literally today make a phone call to a police officer, whether on duty or not, to go and arrest someone, and that order would be obeyed and carried out.

Police officers do not have security of tenure. They can be sacked virtually by the Commissioner of Police at his whims and fancy at the request of the President of the Republic. At least five senior officers were sacked a few years ago without any prior disciplinary proceedings undertaken. State House can order the reinstatement of a police officer and no one will question it.

The so-called consultative committee which President Michel wants to set up cannot do justice to the issue of law and order in Seychelles because the issue is essentially one of police disorder, especially the Special Support Unit (SSU). In Seychelles today, a member of the SSU is not a police officer with special duties as its colonial predecessor, the PMU was. This unit has been given the privilege of recruiting their members outside the normal police recruitment mechanism. Not so long ago they discovered, after members of the public pointed it out, that they had recruited an ex-convict, someone who had just been released from prison

The issue of law and order also revolves around the chain of command in the police force. Who has the authority to deploy the SSU? By definition, their job is to give assistance to the civil police. But in democratic societies it is the civil police that calls for assistance with the request going through a senior police officer in the civil police to a senior officer in SSU when there is potential public disorder. In Seychelles anyone can call the SSU headquarters and ask for their intervention. In democratic societies every police officer is accountable for his or her action under the law, not to the President of the Republic.

The Law and Order issue is not just about crowd control. Law and Order is especially about the everyday conduct of the citizens and the police officers and respect for the law by everyone. A law abiding society is not one where the citizens are coerced to fear the police but one where everyone, including the police, knows what is expected of each of us. Respect for the law is just that – respect. No one is or should be above the law, including President Michel.