Christopher Gill's Column

Our Constitution 15 Years On

President James A. Michel announced that the theme for Year 2008 is “Our Constitution, Our Voice”. In in the same breath he applauded the Forefathers for their great wisdom and foresightedness in coming up with a system of democracy for Seychelles.

He said that in line with the recommendation of the delegates (James Mancham at the time); we should re- look at our Constitution every 15 years to see how far we have progressed.

I am a Founding Father. I can tell you it sure has not felt very special over the last 15 years. Nor have I felt as if my wisdom has been appreciated much. In violation of the Constitution, which I helped draft, I have had my more than fair share of Demolition Orders, undue delayed applications before Planning Authority. As a Founding Father, I cannot even get a chain linked fence approved for my hotel now going onto 24 months, a violation of my right to Equal Protection under Article 27 of the Constitution, which I pushed to have included in the document to insure that all Seychellois are treated equally before the Government. Delays from SIB to approve a Rent a Car Business Plan is now running into 12 months. A further violation of my Right to Equal Protection under Article 27. Michel had promise to give a response for a Business Plan in 48 hours (which is proper). Remember all the talk about the “ONE STOP SHOP”. Its “One Stop” for some and its just”STOP” for others. For this SPPF should be ashamed of themselves.

Our Constitution was not intended to be applied selectively. It was drafted in a spirit of a new beginning for Seychelles. But SPPF used the occasion to just buy themselves more time and deny the People of Seychelles the real democracy they deserve. If you forgot SPPF, recall well, that while you enjoyed driving through Victoria during the One Party State, mercenaries planned to change your course. This Seychelles does not need. We need lasting Peace, but it cannot be at the cost of victimization of good Seychellois. The days of “sere- large” must come to an end once and for all! Enough of the games.

In this time of 15 years, I have had also my fair share of threats of imprisonment and nasty text calls from SPPF. This just shows how little tolerance exists under our Constitution. There have been late night visits from State House officials on Praslin who seem to have had one too many beers and appear to be quite dangerous in plain clothes. One State House “spy” told me one day he was coming to visit me at my house, without me inviting him. How uncivilized. They have perfected their reputation in the Third Republic and have gone unfettered instead of being put to early retirement for the good of the Country. Their actions are a blemish on our Constitution because they still walk free for the crimes they commit.

Fore Fathers Are Nobody Under SPPF

The wise Forefathers who Michel speaks about do not even appear on the VIP Protocol List, something that is unheard of in any modern democracy. We are not invited to the fancy cocktails. President Hu Jing Tao did not have an opportunity to meet us to get an insight on our perspective of the value of democracy in a society.

We have to lug our luggage through the Green Line like everyone else. Then we are pulled aside like everyone else to the Red Line. Our bags are opened and Customs officials rummage through our bags pull out our pots and pans and whatever you cannot find in Seychelles under Rene’s Third Republic and try to seize whatever they can. On one occasion, coming back from Kenya, I had my cigarettes acquired and threatened to smoke all 300 of them in front of the Customs Official before entering Seychelles. He let me go and asked instead if I could favor him to buy him a bottle of whiskey in the Duty Free shop for him. It was Christmas. That worked out well. The incident was hardly a proper way to treat a Founding Father who Michel speaks so eloquently about and he even praises us all and showers us with thanks.

As a matter of Protocol, President Michel should make the first order of business as far as our Constitution is concerned and place all Founding Fathers and Mothers on the Protocol List without delay. For good or for worse, these People gave us a Constitution, and they don’t even have one of those fancy certificates to show for their individual effort and contribution to their Country. This predicament reminds me a little like when the Chinese arrived to the Peak of the Arctic Circle last week, CCTV said, “some Chinese arrived at the Artic Cirlce” but we don’t know their names. This little initiative will go a long way in showing that the Third Republic was not just Rene’s Republic in spite of himself.

The second order of business should be to have some copies of the Constitution published since I just bought the last copy at National House last week. Printec may want to oblige and do us the honor of printing at least 66,000 copies gratis since that is the amount of voters we now have on the registry. All secondary school students should also get a free copy. That would put Dr. Ramados’ gambling millions that he has earned from vulnerable Seychellois to good use. Thank you in advance Doctor. Your contribution is most welcome and merited.

Then we can move on to more substantive matters of course.

Do You Remember The “No Vote” in 1992?

For the Opposition it is a good time to remember the “No Vote”.

Demonstrators with signs reading "Vot Non" against the Constitution in 1992.

It is a time when we all stood united and faced Rene down. We won! But Rene operates under the guise of divide and rule. So the opposition won the battle but lost the war at the time. But the funny thing about politics is this: “politicians unlike soldiers have many lives. Some of them just keep on coming back. Rene uses the politics of divide and rule over and over again. Take note, be weary of those who stand to divide and not unite the opposition today. You will know the divider by his actions. When you see him, tell him, if the cap fits...wear it.

The Constitution came about after the Democratic Party walked out of the First Commission and pushed for a “No Vote” in a Referendum after Rene had not taken the First Commission very seriously. Discussions were in English, but most of his delegates had become a bit rusty at speaking the official tongue during the One Party State Era, where ideas did not have to flow from the bottom up, but instead, everyone was sentenced to receiving ideas from Rene down the chain of command. This of course made Rene look brilliant since no one was allowed to question some of his hair brained ideas which today we now know beyond a reasonable doubt; many were disastrous upon our small but fluid society.

The power of “Forgiveness and Pardon” is a powerful tool in the affairs of men. It transcends pettiness and allows otherwise simple men to achieve greatness in their lifetime and not after.

Many fathers including mine, have long past and entered the Kingdom of God, but our children your children and their friends, are yet to live their lives. I speak to you not as a contemporary, but as a younger generation who has seen enough failure from your yard spin for too many years. Failure brings hardship and misery upon our People. Allow our children and your children to live without the legacy of guns in our culture. Give value to the Constitution and do not use it as scratch paper to change this and that or what may come to mind. Enough of the abuse of discretion. Sometimes the greatness of a man lies not in his power to control or crush, but in his power to allow to live and let live and set People free.

Having said that, I ask you to cause to implement an approval process of all business applications within 48 hours with reasonable conditions or automatically approve them without any conditions. Stop victimization in Seychelles once and for all. Seychelles is our Country not your legacy. We are a small Country not a big business, in case you forgot.

Cause to be implemented a fair reasonable notice period for all Government and Parastatal Staff who are listed for redundancy which will give them ample time to seek a new training and new employment before placing them on the unemployment line while they still have mortgages to pay which your Government encouraged them to take when you knew they would face difficulty in meeting the obligations ahead.

Along these lines in 2008, allow Mr. President Michel to be his own man. Mr. President Michel makes many promises to us, but he cannot keep them if you do not allow him to. In his speech January 1st before the Armed Forces, he promised to make Seychelles a model for Democracy in the Region and in the World. This is a tall order judging from where we stand today.

Mr. President has planted the seeds from which we will judge his legacy. Allow him to perform in order that he may have a fighting chance at proving himself to the People of Seychelles. When we are victimized, we are told Maison Du Peuple gave the instructions. But we believe it is State House. We are lost. But we know the outcome of selective application of the Constitution in our lives. The only thing that may possibly stop this is allowing President Michel to be his own man. Let him stand and succeed or fail, but he will have done it on his own. With that, our frail, ailing democracy can grow; our Constitution can achieve some credibility.

May God Bless All Freedom Loving Seychellois!