Ralph Volcere's Week
ACCESS TO INFORMATION IS VITAL FOR THE ENHANCEMENT OF DEMOCRACY!
In my rounds through the streets of Victoria I come across different characters and hear many tales – stories of things you would never believe is happening in small Seychelles. The age of the Internet has shrunk the world: electronic mails crisscrossing the globe by the millions every second transporting news and information to the four corners of the world faster than ever before. However, here in
The right to have access to information must be a commitment from government. A clause in the Constitution alone is insufficient and does not go far enough in establishing our right to know and to have access to credible information. The Government of the day has a duty towards the population in providing what is required to satisfy the need to know of what really is going on behind closed doors. Especially when the decisions being taken concerns how we live our lives on a daily basis and how the family jewels are being apportioned.
Mr. Michel said two-and-a-half years ago on the day he took over from Mr. Rene, at State House, that his would be a transparent and open government; so far we have seen little of what was promised on that day. Now that Michel has his own mandate, we are all hoping for a change in that direction. Maybe it will come in the next five years. After thirty years of waiting on the truth time is a commodity we are all slowly running out of. Who was it who said time will tell? With the SPPF it never does!
TAXI DRIVERS SQUEEZED OUT
During the last Presidential election taxi operators were the target of direct attack by former President Rene. Rene’s argument was designed it is believed purely for the consumption of a greater audience and not the taxi drivers themselves because they (Taxi Drivers) know the truth about their situation.
The fact that several new taxis were seen on the road prior to Election Day, the public in general may have assumed that Michel had delivered on his promise. But a quick calculation shows that if foreign exchange had been made available for four taxi operators to change their vehicle every month since July 2005, twelve months before the actual date of the election, we should have seen forty-eight new vehicles in total for the taxi operators.
This has not been the case; President Michel did not even deliver on half of his promises to the taxi drivers. Most taxi drivers with new cars have had to make their own arrangements to facilitate the foreign exchange necessary for the acquisition of their vehicles; some have been assisted by relatives from overseas. The parallel market no doubt got more than a visit from our friends at the taxi stand in part or for the full purchase price of their vehicles – they had no choice but to buy hard currencies at a premium on the ‘Black Market’. The brand new vehicles that you see some taxi operators driving around the country in are worth their weight in gold, it did not come cheap, and that is despite the so-called concessions.
This Administration has not kept any of the promises made to the cabbies; licences are still being issued without any consideration to the availability of business and without consulting with their association as previously agreed. Meanwhile people in high places with interests in tour operators are doing all they can to keep taxi drivers out of the New Port and from certain hotels. Tour operators favour the use of their own buses to ferry visitors around the country. With the ‘taxi pirat’ now in direct competition with the licensed taxis, business is waning. It is only a matter of time before the taxis are squeezed out completely. All the indications are that the heart which ‘belongs’ to the taxi drivers must be minuscule indeed!
THE ISSUE OF CONFLICT OF INTEREST
The biggest problem and indeed the danger facing the country today is that of conflict of interest. This government like the one before it has no regards or is simply not interested, for obvious reasons, in the impact that conflict of interest have on corruption.
If the Government of President Michel was to start addressing the issue seriously it will have a direct effect on corruption reducing the cost of living by 25% if not more for the average Seychellois family. It is firmly believed that conflict of interest is the major source of corruption in the country. When you have people high up in the Civil Service heavily involved in the private sector it does not bode well with their responsibilities as government employees. They use their position of influence to feather their own nests and their duties as a public servant become secondary. They run their private businesses from government offices making full use of government facilities which includes staff that is being paid for by the State. Sometimes a whole working day is spent on their own business rather than that of the people; appointments with the public are cancelled in favour of their own private dealings. Government resources and time are being used to travel overseas to conduct their own businesses. These situations are being replicated daily in most government offices and in parastatal companies. Surely State House has full knowledge of who is doing it and where.
It does not take a rocket scientist to tell us that if (for an example) the Commissioner of Police owns fishing boats or is involved in the construction business a good part of his day will be spent in communication by telephone or in person with the people working in his private business. A quick look around the various ministries and government departments should give us an indication of the extent of the problem; most of our top Civil servants are extensively involved in the private sector. Would it not be a travesty if tomorrow morning the Minister of Health decides that she wants to start up a pharmaceutical business in
These situations have become common practice in