In last week’s issue, we wrote that after four successive electoral defeats - three by Albert Rene and one by James Michel, it is abundantly clear that Wavel Ramkalawan does not have what it takes to win any presidential election. This has surely not pleased his ego, as Ramkalawan is one strange politician. He is reputed to have made some of the silliest comments in Seychelles politics, if not the world. He once told a group of supporters who gathered to eagerly listen to his speeches that if the people of Seychelles do not vote for him to make him President he will go and plant bananas. Well, Mr. Ramkalawan is it not time for you to practice what you preach and make good on your threats.
Last December, he publicly stated that he was happy that he had lost the 2006 presidential election to James Michel because the handle of the frying pan is too hot (Lanmans Pwalon I So!) Strange words coming from a politician anywhere in the world. Elsewhere, he would have been sent packing the very next day! But then, the prospects of an oversize salary and other fat perks must have played on his psyche.
A few readers have queried about the comparison with James Michel, in which Ramkalawan appears to be the lesser guy. Michel, as the person responsible for finance and now as head of state is to blame for the sad state of our economy, which as people close to him such as PS Ahmed Afif and Capt Guy Adam admitted in the Face a Face Program.
But beyond politics, one must give the devil his due; admittedly Michel does not commit so many blunders as does Father Wavel. Neither does Albert Rene, James Mancham, Philippe Boulle or even his colleagues Bernard or Annette Georges of the SNP for that matter.
One has to question Ramkalawan’s fitness to lead in the light of his extraordinary behaviour.The priest has embarrassingly at Praslin Airport- grabbed his private parts (bullocks) shouting obscenities at colleagues and others present. He is also known to have punched another Member of the National Assembly, Barry Faure, in the precinct of the National Assembly showing a violent streak in him and an inability to control his emotions; a fatal flaw in the character of any leader and demonstrating his unfitness to lead anybody let alone a political party.
Unlike him, other presidential contenders do not go around using abusive language or beating up their opponents or even his own supporters. Unlike him, they are wary and at their very best when the TV cameras are on them. For instance, they are not seen picking their noses or gesticulating in a grotesque or uncouth manner in public. They also keep their mouths shut, when ignorant of any issue. Ramkalawan has increased his score since the 1998 elections because perhaps Mr Mancham and the DP were not aggressive enough in attacking SPPF. Ramkalawan did so then and he came out as the young firebrand who could save Seychelles, appealing to a large segment of opposition supporters who switched their allegiance from DP to SNP.
But things are unlikely to remain that way. The slide has already begun and history is slowly but surely repeating itself. The opposition only has a chance of defeating SPPF if it is united. Ramkalawan has done the opposite of what he should have done. He is now increasingly viewed as an eager recipient of cash from the hands of SPPF, the very hands which did not hesitate to crack his skull on the 3rd October 2007 on the steps of the National Assembly when he was perceived as misbehaving. Like a child who is punished by his parents when behaving badly, Ramkalawan, having received his punishment is now on his best behaviour. As a reward for behaving remarkably well since the 3rd October, he is now getting a salary increment and expecting more rewards to come from the SPPF if he does his best to lose the next presidential elections. He has started doing that by breaking the opposition alliance and weakening the opposition as a political force to be reckoned with. He has also ordered his colleagues at Arpent Vert to stop printing Le Nouveau Seychelles Weekly because they criticize him too much, according to him. Ramkalawan is a politician who cannot take criticisms. In this respect he is not unlike the SPPF leadership.Lately he has all but stop criticizing SPPF and James Michel because according to him Albert Rene was the bad guy, James Michel is a good guy. After all, unlike Albert Rene, James Michel has invited Ramkalawan to State House to share tea and cookies and a couple of jokes and pleasantries together, hasn’t he? Therefore how can he be a bad guy?
Now that Ramkalawan is doing very well as a businessman, and perhaps he does not need the fat salary, why does he not step down from politics and let somebody else carry on with the task of unsitting the SPPF? Someone like Bernard Georges, Alain St. Ange or even the impetuous Jean-Francois Ferari for that matter. (Pas Baton Tonton!) . However, even JF seemed to have also lost his nerves as he allowed Maryse Berlouis to give him a rollicking in face a face recently on the back of a grilling by-election campaign at Mont Fleuri. At his last SNP convention, Ramkalawan accused Mancham of having sold supporters to SPPF in the past, adding he will not do likewise.
We all know that money was the main focus of his secret dialogue with President Michel at State House. Mrs. Marie-Louise Potter, who was present at some of the talks later revealed everything publicly in the National Assembly. James Michel is also known to have embarrassed Ramkalawan when he issued a communiqué from State House, making it known that he discussed the rise in electricity and water bills with Ramkalwan at State House; something which Ramkalawan had previously denied. Who was lying, was it James Michel or Wavel Ramkalawan? In breaking the opposition alliance, Ramkalawan said the DP could not be trusted. Look who is talking now.