ALL attention has yet again turned to Ramkalawan and his latest political fiasco when he refused to vote in favour of the supplementary budget recently. Marie-Louise Potter, who many considered a political light weight, quickly and without hesitation, with the connivance of the Speaker, Patrick Herminie, exposed the hypocrisy of Ramkalawan in the National Assembly. The verbal onslaught was too much to bear for Ramkalawan and he quickly rushed out of the National Assembly to seek refuge in the comfort of his office at Arpent Vert where he was seen sulking several minutes later. This has given rise to more speculation that it is time for the once formidable Ramkalawan to do the decent thing and bow out of politics. It is not as if he is a man with no option as the door of the Anglican Church is still open to him - a place where he can emulate Jeremiah Wright, Barak Obama's preacher, and deliver his fire-and-brimstone sermons week in and week out to his heart’s content.
Ramkalawan is a man who has arguably made a personal fortune through politics here but it is becoming increasingly clear that he has nothing more to offer his beleaguered SNP. He has no political vision and is fast becoming a political liability to the still fragile party. “The sooner he goes, therefore, the better it will be for everybody” one of his colleagues has been overheard whispering recently. It is to be remembered that Ramkalawan shocked the nation by deliberately breaking the opposition alliance only six months after it was formed making both the SNP and DP the political laughing stock of Seychelles.
Marie-Louise Potter took full advantage of this fiasco and went on national television to ridicule the opposition, accusing Ramkalawan of nearly causing a Constitutional crisis. For his part Ramkalawan quickly run to State House to embark on a so-called dialogue with President James Michel, his new found friend and sworn enemy only a few months ago.
After his very first visit, he came down and stubbornly refused to print Le Nouveau Seychelles Weekly at Arpent Vert apparently on the orders of James Michel and a promise of a huge salary increase if he complies. It has now transpired that his so-called dialogue with the SPPF was only a ploy to get himself a fat salary increase. In fact, he enjoyed his visits to State House and his tête-a-tête with James Michel so much that he could not help himself when being interviewed by SBC, blurting out unexpectedly that he never wanted to be President. This sounded like music to James Michel's ears and caused his supporters great discomfort and consternation. One began to wonder if the beatings Ramkalawan got on the steps of the National Assembly on the 3rd of October had not caused more damage to his skull than originally thought.
Ramkalawan' s recent behaviour has certainly been erratic. He again surprised his supporters when he voted unanimously together with the SPPF to approve the budget last year. A budget which gave him and his MNAs huge salary increases, pensions and gratuities but only provided for a R.500 salary increment to the hard working Seychellois civil servants. His refusal to vote for the Supplementary Budget again baffled even the most mundane political observer and his justification for not doing so was plain stupid. The question many asked was, why did Ramkalawan vote for the budget last year to give himself a salary hike of over R.10, 000 but he refused to vote for a meager R.700 supplementary? It did not make any sense at all.
Ramkalawan, who is also known to have a short fuse, has the unenviable reputation of being the only politician in Seychelles to have assaulted another politician. He clearly has a propensity for violence and if provoked he would not think twice to punch someone in the nose, as Barry Faure found out to his own peril. However, through some quirk of fate or divine intervention if you want to call it that, Ramkalawan escaped all manner of sanction as poor Annette Georges worked tirelessly day and night to save his fledgling political career. This is the same Annette Georges whom Ramkalawan today secretly blames for his many election failures!
In the meantime, both Bernard Georges and Jean-Francois Ferrari are waiting impatiently in the wings for Ramkalawan to do the right thing. Whether Ramkalawan will jump or will he be pushed is a matter of great political debate at the moment. How much embarrassment will he continue to pile on his party? However, almost everybody agrees that Ramkalawan should quit now to save his party further embarrassment and another crushing defeat at the polls. Whether he will have the courage to do so or dragged everybody to the bottom of the ocean with him in the sinking ship, remains to be seen.
Whichever way one considers the scenario, it is abundantly clear that Ramkalawan is a spent force politically. However, the spineless sycophants with whom he has surrounded himself with lack the bottle to tell him to pack up and go for fear of getting one up the nose like Barry Faure did.
Who can blame them?