I met a friend recently in Knysna, South Africa, who was close to the Pinnacle Holdings Group. We had dinner over looking the lovely Knysna bay, with birds and fish adding an extra touch of lovely South Africa scene to hide what my friend was about to divulge to me about my beloved Seychelles and Pinnacle Holdings’ intent to bring a mega casino, villa, hotel and what not to the Seychelles very, very soon. The SPPF of course, being broke, deaf and dumb, have approved the project in principle and rubber stamps will follow without putting our financial house first in order, that we may benefit the most possible from such a project on our shores.
The first part of the Pinnacle Project on Ile Aurore will take about 3 years to complete from current forecasts. In spite of the fishermen of Anse Etoile voicing their concerns and residents there, the Government has ignored their opinions and moved on to approve a 40 hectare dredging project. Pinnacle will want to make the most of the dredger while here, so they will ask the SPPF Government to increase the size of the project. The original project will be a Euro 80 Million dredging project. The payments will be made between Pinnacle and Juhn Denuhl, the dredgers. While all the dredging will take place here, all the money will be transferred overseas between the Parties. Central Bank of
The dredgers are known to employ non-Seychellois for the job and as much as 100 men will be here to pump the coral and build up the island. Little or no Seychellois are ever given a real employment opportunity with the dredgers to earn fair wages. They usually toss us in with the menial labor.
Food for the dredgers will come from the International Trade Free Zone where you can have ample supplies of fresh beef fillet and cheeses from all over the world, fine wines and champagne which we Seychellois only hear about from People who have been invited to a cocktail at State House, where the table is acquiring a reputation to surpass Mr. France Albert Rene’s years of simplicity of menu and avoiding Mancham’s preference for curries and chutney’s, ‘reken’ sale. It is “menu a la
While the dredgers are here, the SPPF Government will lobby every hotel investment company that has a beach front to have it dredged. They will try to dredge in the South, in the West, in the North, on Praslin, on La Digue. Every where they can - Why? Because in dredging contracts, there is lots of money to be made, someone can always get someone else to pay. But in the end, it will be the People of Seychelles that pay for SPPF Sins. Recently, Marc D’offay has headed up a movement to stop more dredging in
If so, then someone should say something...or forever hold your breaths under SPPF sanctioned coral fill and debts!
Dear Minister Morgan:
I am writing to you further to your claim for Rupees 500,000.00 received by me for a little article I wrote in Le Nouveau Seychelles Weekly on 28th September 2007.
In your Lawyers letter, it would appear that you have taken offense to the article in which I wrote. Your lawyer has advised that you have been offended by my comments in my weekly column. I have the following response to you my Minister.
In my weekly column called Christopher Gill’s Column, I write about issues that are of interest to the public and the People of Seychelles. The points raised in the column are my own personal opinions and ideas. If you do not agree with them you are free to write a rebuttal and Weekly will publish the rebuttal. The Public will judge and decide on the matter themselves. That is how democracies work and that is the role of a Free Press in bettering a People’s lives. You do not run to a lawyer every time someone hurts your egg-shell ego, especially if you are a politician, as yourself.
In any modern democracy, political commentators write about issues that arouse Public Interest. Comments on these issues are not defamatory. Short of writing about a Minister in a bad sexual position, it is even harder to defame a Minister while in public service, carrying out his obligations to the Public.
You are my Minister sir. You work for me, I do not work for you. A Minister, my Dear Minister, is a Public Figure as opposed to a Private Figure. As such, he is held to the highest scrutiny by the public under the laws of Defamation. His actions are subject to a practically unlimited amount of public analysis. Why you ask? Because you have voluntarily availed yourself, to be made available to the Public and thus subject to the Public’s Scrutiny. What is more, it is the Public that pays your salary. Hence, the Public like myself have every right to question and analyze your actions and conduct. Ministers are not God-like, Sir.
Additionally, the monies you manage, whether at Ministry of Lands wherein we lost $4.5 Million Dollars to a non- performing Contractor, is a matter of Public Interest. We the Public were told by your Ministry that an investigation would take place and we would be told of the outcome. Till today the Public has heard nothing.
You have quietly moved on to another Ministry. $4.5 Million at a Commercial Bank, my Minister, is Rupees 37,125,000.00. At the Black Market Rate today, it is Rupees 63,000,000.00. That is not small change in
Regarding the fix penalty program you embarked on when you became Minister of the Environment. Again, you are adverse to me expressing my opinions on a matter that concerns the Public Interest. For this my Minister, you make our Country appear to be non-tolerant. If everyone took your approach to public comment Seychelles would receive a democratic credential downgrade, much as it has with the October 3rd beating of the Leader of the Opposition and the financial downgrade most recently received in the mail, from Standard and Poor’s, which has said we are a bad credit risk and unlikely to perform on our external foreign exchange obligations. Having said that, do you not think Mr. my Minister, that $ 4.5 Million would have been helpful to retain our credit worthiness, today?
Money you collect from fixed penalties will not be unique. It will all be money. Any money you collect will be placed in Government’s Coffer. Any money the Coffer receive will offset the missing $4.5 Million which cannot be accounted for from Ministry of Lands.
The assertion that this is a fund raising effort is a justifiable comment for one principal reason. Most of your effort since you became Minister of Environment has been geared towards promoting and making the Public aware of the new Fixed Penalty Squad.
Little effort has been done under your Ministry to educate the Public of the vices of pollution or misuse of the public roads. You seem to adopt the approach that “fine them and they will stop”. Well, any sociologist will tell you it just does not work to fine someone without educational programmes in place. Minister Jumeau on the other hand made a great amount of effort at sensitizing the Public about the effects of polluting our environment. His ideas can now clean up
As you try to fit into your tolerance shirt Mr. Minister, if the first one does not fit, simply try another one. Eventually, you will find one that fits and hopefully after your mandate is over, you will have contributed to have made
If you insist on making issues of Public Interest about you personally and you persue me legally for Defamation, I will have no other alternative then to counter sue you for CIVIL MALICIOUS PROSECUTION and pursue you for the same amount which you pursue me, though not a cent more.
In the meantime, I hope you buy your copy of Seychelles Weekly early this weekend.
Christopher Gill