President Michel Says He Is Not Selling SeychellesRECENTLY, President Michel returned from a trip to Kuwait Kingdom in the Middle East on a visit to lure the Kuwait Royal Family and others into investing in Seychelles. On arrival at the Seychelles International Airport Mr. President used the occasion to speak to the Public at large through the Seychelles Nation and SBC TV and took some cheap shots at the Opposition. His interview was broadcasted in full and published in full, without rebuttal from anyone. It has been a long moment of silence on this critical issue facing our Nation. Finally President Michel on a heavy chess broke his silence over the matter.
Mr. President's basic point was that he made the trip to foster closer relations with Kuwait to encourage them to invest in Seychelles. He told us that countries like Kuwait are rich and they invest all over the World. Mr. President said again as in the past, it is up to us to take advantage of those opportunities. Mr. President said he will continue to go up and down the Middle East bringing in investors. He also told us in the past he would continue to go up and down Praslin, but he has relented from making that trip weekly now. In the name of "curb consumption" it is fair to mention that we do not see Mr. President being escorted by Topaz as we did in the last Election when such a frolic to the Inner Islands cost us Rupees 35,000 per trip. Now it cost Rupees75,000 for the same excursion. "Ser Sang" has always applied to us little Seychellois who have to earn a living in spite of SPPF and not to the ones that tell us to tighten up.
In his interview at the Airport VIP Lounge, Mr. President disparaged unnamed papers for accusing him of selling Seychelles, saying that these papers or journals were playing on the people's "ignorance". Not long ago Mr. President was praising all Seychellois for being mature, intelligent. Well, Mr. President should know that "ignorant people do not read". Those that do read can form their own opinion as to what you are selling to the Middle East.
If Mr. President or SPPF is selling Seychelles then it is a complete abrogation of the principles of SPUP and SPPF who said early in their political propaganda that "Seychelles is For Seychellois" “Sesel Pou Seselwa”. Many Seychellois followed SPUP-SPPF because it vowed to protect Seychelles and make it for Seychellois. Today, SPPF under Rene and Michel, has departed from this path. Seychelles is becoming a place for donors of golden camels which we never see. Under this new SPPF policy we are becoming slaves in our own Country. SPUP-SPPF promise was an empty promise. Today, we see 'Zom Lib' has no pants, his spine is placed where his stomach should be. I leave the rest to your imagination.
SPPF sold La Misere Tracking Station property for Rupee 1.00 and Rupee 500,000.00 in the hope of enticing Sheik Kalifa of UAE to invest more in Seychelles, “on a hope and a string” that was not good business judgment in the interest of our Country. All we received in return were some Emirates flights which we buy tickets for and pay our way and some street lamp posts rusting away at the Land Transport Division, which we cannot afford to run because the price of fuel is too high and we no longer produce sufficient kilowatts at PUC to run additional lights. Emirates have promised to invest in a hotel village, but they will send all that money back home to the Emirates. Aside from menial jobs in a hotel, we do not see how we will benefit from such an investment. Contractors will likely be foreign and from overseas as is usually the case with SPPF developments. Not even a local truck driver seems to be able to benefit from these developments.
Felicite Island was held by Government of Seychelles. A soft lease to friends was entered into and Government of Seychelles did not get real market value. The People lost out on the deal. Today, we learn that Felicite properties are being sold in Dubai through the Internet. The target market includes the well heeled of the world. The lease was never made public and no Tender procedure was ever announced. In the spirit of Good Governance, coupled with the fact that Mr. President has declared he is not selling Seychelles, we ask him to cause to be cancelled, the Felicite Island Lease. This Island and its potential benefits belong to the People of Seychelles. Mr. Savy, the Promoter, should give the property back to the People of Seychelles. Let the People of Seychelles decide what they want to do with Felicite Island, not Mr. Savy and company. Such transactions with clouded title will inhibit purchasers from following through with purchases . The end result will be that Seychelles reputation will be tarnished again, because SPPF speaks of ending corruption, but then feeds corruption. Mr. President must stand on the principles he speaks often about.
The investment of a Prince of Saudi Arabia in Praslin at Anse Takamaka has promised a Raffles Hotel for Praslin. Road diversions are under way in a marsh and it is proposed that the area the public uses for Sunday picnic, "Pti Zil", will be closed off for a Presidential Suite. While the new hotel will bring jobs, there already is no unemployment on Praslin. Anyone who wants a job can find a job. Workers will be imported and the social configuration of Praslin , which is already changing for lack of labor, will change forever. Some change is good, but change that leaves more outflow of wealth from our Country then inflow does not make sense.
It is as if SPPF investment policy is to use Seychelles as a base, to allow investors in Seychelles, to create wealth for themselves, leaving our People relatively untouched in any material manner except having to compete with foreign labor for available goods in stores, while these imported workers improve their own lives materially outside of Seychelles by repatriating of hard currency overseas, leaving our supply of hard currency constrained. They become better off over time, we become worse off.
Our situation in Seychelles today is serious and we need a serious proposal from Mr. President as he so promised. A little hotel project here and there and villa on this hill or that beach will not solve Seychelles economic problems.
The problem with Mr. President's investment posture is this: many wealthy people Mr. President courts are interested in merely recreational investments in Seychelles, they are not interested in making substantial investments which will change the situation of the predicament of failure Seychelles face today under SPPF. The investment strategy SPPF is using is the same strategy that Mancham used 3 decades ago. Today, our situation has materially changed for the worse, and SPPF is still using Mancham's 33 year old strategy. SPPF is 33 years late. The People of Seychelles pay for SPPF failure.
We need a serious investment strategy that can reduce our External Debt in 5-10 years to nominal sums that are not alarming. Did you hear of one proposal from Mr. President in the State of The Nation Address? As long as SPPF ignores this rope around our necks, the end benefit of SPPF's investment module under Mr. President will be worthless to the People of Seychelles; any benefits will be nominal and the bottom line for us will be year in and year out, less and less onions, milk, rice bread in the shops, because we have more mouths to feed who pay in Rupees since Mr. President's government will make anyone a citizen who comes and promises to invest an undetermined amount of nothing to a little something.
Another problem with recreational investors is this: they immediately seek out to buy property. Then they sit on it and hold it and do not develop it. They have too much on their plates and they do not foresee really investing in Seychelles. They always tell you over dinner “it's just nice to have something in Seychelles”. This mind set of the rich, detached and uninterested, is something Mr. President has to consider before he tenders our National Heritage for a Rupee or for a golden camel on one of those private jet excursions to the Middle East Kingdom.
As for the line of Credit he gets from the Middle East Kingdom, Seychelles cannot sustain more External Debt. Our Debt burden is too high already. Seychelles economy cannot sustain more Debt created by SPPF. Loans from the Kuwait Fund and the Government of Peoples Republic of China will likely never be repaid. We must put all loan organizations on notice; any loan commitments SPPF makes beyond a sustainable national burden will have to be paid by SPPF themselves and not Seychelles. To provide more loans to Seychelles will only destroy us faster than save us under SPPF.
In the case of Communist China, they profess to have close Party to Party relations with Seychelles. Well, we must also consider the loans Communist China makes to Seychelles to be Party to Party loans and these loans ought not to bind the Republic of Seychelles. SPPF will have to settle the Debt. SPPF took on these Debts knowing Seychelles could not repay them. People of Seychelles cannot be expected to settle a Debt which, when created, we already were not performing on our existing debt burden.
If we continue on this undetermined destination, uncharted investment strategy to nowhere under Mr. President, soon we will not be saying Seychelles is being sold, we will start saying Seychelles HAS been sold and is being returned as "damaged goods". Remember also that there is nothing much left to sell. The Kings, Queens, Princes and Princesses have already taken whatever we thought was our National Heritage, which we the People believed we could bank on for our own betterment. The worker ants will now haggle over crumbs left behind and they will pay for SPPF failing the People of Seychelles until serious change comes. Once SPPF puts the finishing touches on their destruction model, many of us will go back to Kenya in the hope of securing a better life, like many of our Parents did in the 1950's. "Asante Sana" Mr. President for ruining the lives of your own people you claim to love and suffer.. when we suffer.