The State of the Nation?

President James Michel has been making appeals to the Seychellois people to believe that his empty promises will be fulfilled, only if we believe in these. The hardships being faced by ordinary Seychellois citizens are a result of SPPF policy. Saying that we should all come together to bear this suffering is in itself a farce. How can a President not warn his people of coming troubles and take action to try and avert the troubles? This needs a man of vision. That man is not President Michel. It also shows a real lack of “for the love of Seychelles”. In fact what he is saying is contradicted by the Vice-President in waiting, current Minister of Finance Danny Faure.

Over the weekend of 4th November 2007, the Minister of Finance and the CEO of the Seychelles Tourism Board met with a representative of the Seychelles Hotels and Tourism Association Mr. d’Offay. We are told that the purpose was to forewarn the industry of GST increases in the near future in line with government policy.

Reasons given by the PS for Finance is that Seychelles Tourism is in a better position to sustain the increase as the economic outlook is continually improving.

This begs the question that with the recent 70% increase in fuel costs imposed by Government as a direct cost to the sector and therefore being borne fully by the sector, how does the government see improvements in the economy?

To date the Minister of Finance has only come forward with (1) Dismissals and redundancies and (2) Increases in taxes! Apart from these Minister Danny Faure has not shown anything concrete about his restructuring plans.

Bills that were supposed to be presented to the Assembly for empowering his ministry’s divisions and departments in carrying out their duties more effectively and efficiently are still in the pipeline! Remember the pipeline can take up to five years or more to clear! What has happened to “Seychelles Strategy 2017” and the need to double our income by 2017? Minister Danny Faure and the President do not seem to be speaking the same language. Such miscommunication does not show good signs for the state of our Nation. It does not send good signals for “Our Children, Our Treasure, Our Future”.