LOCAL GOVERNMENT SEYCHELLES STYLE

The Ubiquitous Mayor of Victoria

Ms Marie-Antoinette Alexis, Mayor of Victoria THE word ubiquitous is an adjective which means existing everywhere. Since the beginning of the year the mayor of Victoria, Ms Antoinette Alexis, has become ubiquitous. She has been seen everywhere, it seems, and in official cocktail circuits except in Victoria. Her latest appearance was at Beau Vallon district where she signed a twinning agreement with some innocuous town in Mauritius.

What, you may ask is wrong with Beau Vallon? Can't they find one of their own to call a mayor? Beau Vallon has an elected member of the National Assembly. Surely he is better qualified to sign a twinning agreement. The Mauritians must have been intrigued with this curious arrangement. Imagine the Mayor of Port Louis going all the way to Rose Hill to sign a twinning agreement on their behalf. This would cause a riot over there.

In Mauritius, a mayor is the head of a local government and is elected by the people to the post. Over there a local government is exactly that; it is local as well as being a government. They raise taxes and run their own budgets and are accountable to their local parliament, elected by the people.

The local parliament actually makes laws that affect the inhabitants of the district or town, such as twining with another town in another country.

The problem with the Mayor of Victoria is that she is not, strictly speaking, a mayor at all, not in the sense that they know over there in Mauritius. Mrs Alexis enjoys her title at the whims and fancy of the President of the Republic, just like during the Middle Ages in Britain when the King would appoint sycophants and give them titles such as Lord.

It is the President who pays her a salary out of public funds. The cost of keeping Mrs Alexis' office and perks is R900, 000 a year, enough to construct 3 to 4 houses every year. In effect, Mrs Alexis is a civil servant in the strict sense of the word paid by the state to make politics on behalf of the party of the President, the SPPF. This is definitely not good governance

In Seychelles there is, of course, no local government. But there is, however, a Minister of Local Government. If that sounds like Cuba don't be surprised. The Minister of Local Government has other ministerial responsibilities to administer too. However, when it comes to local government this constitutes a civil servant sitting in a building in a district. Since there are 25 districts and each district has a building, the Minister therefore supervises 25 officials in 25 buildings.

The government officials in the district go by the title of District Administrator or DA. The DA has no authority under any law, nor does it have any power by law to do anything. They are there simply waiting for instructions from the Minister (or the local Member of National Assembly, but only if he or she is from the SPPF). Then the DA virtually works as an official election campaigner for the SPPF candidate. In a sense, a DA too is a ubiquitous individual except that he or she does not cross the boundary of the district, unlike the Mayor of Victoria.

Mayor (Mayoress?) of Victoria has never once made contact with the Seychelles Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI), the only elected body representing the private sector whose office is in Victoria.

Victoria is not only the capital of Seychelles (the seat of government) and our main port; it is also our commercial capital. Why is Mrs Alexis, like her predecessor Mrs Benstrong, shunning the business community? Why can't the inhabitants of Victoria elect its Mayor, just as they do in Mauritius? All we need to do is pass a local government act.