The preparation of the 2009 Budget has started in earnest and the news out so far is not good. According to a reliable source very close to the Minister for Finance - the 2009 Budget will contain major reductions in various areas of government. An estimated 2000 jobs within government will have to go to save money for essential services and to allow for a leaner government; something the IMF has been advocating on numerous occasions in the past. It seems that the SPFF government has finally seen the writing on the wall. It is sad that it has taken them so long to act. The harsh reality of the economic mess the country finds itself in courtesy of the SPPF is slowly getting to this presidency.
These additional measures on top of what have been introduced already will have a direct impact on how we all live our lives in 2009 and beyond. The little luxuries our children have become accustomed to from time to time will have to go for most families, except if you happen to be the children of the Ministers and the MNAs. They have padded their nests very well in the last budget, 2008. They voted themselves exorbitant sums in salary increases without any regard whatsoever to the people who voted for them at the last election. The opposition in the National Assembly is hardly fighting for a salary increase for the rest of us - despite the fact that we all have to shop at the same store - paying the same price for commodities which now cost three to four times more than nine months ago.
The 2009 budget will bring more hardship to the most vulnerable in society. It will contribute further in the social degradation of the country; crimes will go up; families will break up due to financial pressure, many people, mostly children will go hungry because dad has chosen his beer over a kilo of rice. The education and health of the nation will suffer immensely because there will be less money devoted towards this two most important services of society. All in all, we need to prepare ourselves for the hurricane ahead as this one is not going to be Gustav but rather a Katrina. It is expected to be ten times more powerful than ‘Gustav’, which hit New Orleans recently. Seychellois brace yourselves for the hard time ahead all because the mismanagement of the local economy by the SPPF in the last 31years. Lest you forget!