Christopher Gill’s Column

Lions Club Monkeying Around

Christopher GillLike most people, I have been watching the Lions Club going about its public contribution programs and observing what they say and what they do. Most countries have a Lion’s Club, each chapter forms part of the Lions Club International. They donate to the needy and celebrate the accomplishments of business persons in the hope that they will be able to highlight role models as an example for other people to emulate in society. They are supposed to be a charitable organization. However, in all chapters, some more then others, they are susceptible to political influence and abuse.

 The Lions Club is supposed to be a non-political organization, but in Seychelles, it seems to have taken a very political spin, to the detriment of the organization’s reputation and credo of being Apolitical (not political).

 The Lions Club Seychelles chapter builds bus shelters for Government, where the Government committed to do it itself. Recently Mr. President went on SBC and the Nation and publicized a SR 50,000.00 donation to the Lion’s Club. Why didn’t he just use that money to build the bus shelters where needed? Of course, in an Election year, the Lion’s Club was able to confer some type of distinguished honour on SPPF candidate James Michel as a gesture of pure flattery in my opinion, and he must have felt the need to reciprocate. The flattery was meant to make Michel look like a good fellow and nothing like the pictures of him dressed in green army uniform carrying an AK-47 with the intent to kill anyone who may get in his way. The Lions Club conveniently forgot about the past.

 At a Dinner Gala early in the year, you could see how politicized the Lion’s Club Seychelles Chapter had become. Most of the people sitting down and eating away at the gala were well-placed hard-core SPPF. This included Danny Faure, Sylvette Frichot or Pool, Francis Macgregor, Roger Toussaint etc. At the time, I did not think much of it. There is always more than meets the eye with SPPF. It appears the Lions Club has become a flattery mechanism for the SPPF to give credit and respect to it’s premadonna’s, instead of them having to earn it. That is like building houses with a deck of cards.

Honouring a colonel of the SPDF

Most recently the Lion’s Club honoured Colonel David Savy as “Business Person of the Year”. Colonel Savy is also CEO of Air Seychelles, a parastatal of the SPPF Government of Seychelles. The Colonel is a Military officer in the Seychelles People’s Defence Force, which would disqualify him from receiving a Lions Club award since the gun is his tool. This is not very a charitable figure if you ask me. Secondly, parastatals are not businesses; they are government-created entities that function as quasi companies. This does not fit into the definition of a business. What’s more, Colonel Savy has done nothing this year to warrant any honour, unless of course the Lions are looking for some free tickets on Air Seychelles during the low load periods to IBIZA.

This year, one Shorts SD3-60 aircraft caught fire in the air. After an emergency landing, Colonel Savy was on hand to tell us that it did catch fire in-flight. The following week on SBC the Colonel said it did not catch fire. It only “smoked”. In the same interview, he fumbled about and then said the engine disintegrated and he sent it off to have an autopsy. We still have not learned of the cause of the fire. Hardly good performance for Guests safety for the year. Colonel Savy is also a member of the Board of the Civil Aviation Authority, the body entrusted by the Government to regulate the air transport industry in Seychelles. He will not accept that in a democratic society this is considered a major conflict of interest. It would appear the Lions are indeed monkeying about with the SPPF.

Colonel Savy also opened the largest VIP Lounge in the region this year and that cost $1Million, but Air Seychelles takes only 24 Premium Class passengers. He did say Economy Class passengers could use the VIP Lounge, but most have not taken Colonel Savy up on the offer, hardly a business decision that can be considered to have improved people’s lives, except perhaps Mr. Savy’s himself. If we pro-rate this investment against 24 Premuim Class Seats, the Lounge works out to costing $41,666.00 per seat. A waste of money without debate that only Colonel Savy can justify.

 Then there is the order of the Dreamliners. We will only know if this is a good business decision if Colonel Savy, as CEO of Air Seychelles, can afford to make the lease payments on that dream plane order when we receive the pair. Colonel Savy has yet to make available to the public Air Seychelles financial statement for the year 2006/07.

From the early forecasts, it appears Government of Seychelles cannot even ensure the steady supply of onions in the country; I do not see how we will be able to pay for these two planes. The verdict is not out on this brain ball idea, yet we must be fair to Colonel Savy and wait and see. The Lions Club should not consider Colonel Savy as a Businessman of The Year for this either, since it is still just a dream.

The Lions Club must know that Colonel Savy pays himself in Euros as CEO of Air Seychelles and forsakes his staff with Rupee reimbursements every month. This is not very charitable and is very bad business sense. Leaving your Staff in tattered uniforms that have gone well beyond the “use by date” is also not very good business sense either. Nor is it good business sense to surround oneself with foreign labor/yes men, when Seychellois can easily do the same job. Colonel Savy is not admired by his staff. But instead they speak of him with respite, some even refer to him with comments I will leave out of this column.

There are many deserving candidates around

In business you must live or die by your decisions. When Colonel Savy has outsmarted himself and indebted Air Seychelles, he just calls Maison du Peuple who calls State House, and he gets the money to cover his margins of error. We pay the price for his follies. This can hardly be what makes a “Businessman of the Year”.

In our community, there are many, many potential “Businessmen of the Year” this year. But they cannot give you a free flight to IBIZA.

  There is of course Mr. Joe Albert who brought us the New Cat Coco. This service has increased the quality of inter island ferrying of passengers where Colonel Savy and Air Seychelles has failed miserably. Not only are the seats and service superb, you even get your luggage on arrival and do not have to break a sweat while in transit. Air Seychelles under Colonel Savy cannot say that. Mr. Albert did have to invest Millions of his own Dollars for his effort. He already had a boat to ferry passengers. But he took a risk and it bettered all our lives, by giving us a better option to Air Seychelles morbid service. Thank you Mr. Albert.

 Mr. Albert has also added one of the Worlds Leading Hotels, Maia Resort, to the Seychelles list of rooms. Maia has been awarded the “Best Resort in Africa Award”, “Best Garden and Grounds Award”, an achievement which the Lions conveniently overlook but we recognize. Congratulations to the Maia Staff and Mr. Albert.

 Similarly, there is Captain William Rose, worth every weight in his body as “Businessman of The Year”. Mr. Rose already had more than sufficient seating capacity on his existing ferry service to La Digue prior to investing heavily in Cat Rose when the market indicators told him not to do so. His great risk has bettered our lives tremendously. If Air Seychelles ran like William Rose’s ferry service, it would be a leading airline in Africa flying the Seychelles flag proudly. But it does not. So it isn’t. Instead, Colonel Savy prides himself for being the “Smallest Airline in The World with the Largest Lounge in The World”, an achievement that takes no effort. Thank you Captain Rose for your great personal effort.

Additionally, there is Vijay. If you want something done in Seychelles, call Vijay. Vijay has a can do, will do, attitude which you will never find when the Air Seychelles CEO speaks up on SBC. Vijay is also a real philanthropist who does things hands down to really improve people’s lives in a real way. His workers love him. Vijay has made the dream of an International school on Praslin real with his valuable input. The parents will own the school. Thank you Vijay.

In Transportation, of course how can you forget Captain Luc Grandcourt. His family has been thrashing the Praslin- Mahe and inter/outer islands route for generations, over 150 years. Recently, in spite of heavy competition on the horizon, in spite of every business indicator telling Mr. Grandcourt to dock the boats, he has upgraded and invested his own money to improve his service delivery. Praslin Hero had gone under water a few years back, but Mr. Grandcourt brought it back to life. La Belle Praslinoise was tattered, he could have easily retired her, but he dry docked her and brought her back to work the routes faithfully again and again. His business effort results in an undetermined amount of benefit to our community. He could have easily been the “Businessman of The Year”. Thank you Captain Grandcourt. Don’t let a bunch of pussy cats get you down.

The Lions Club may want to consider Glenny Savy as “Businessman of The Year” next year. He has run IDC at a loss for every year and he cannot run the Outer islands for a profit - according to him.

Dr. Ramadoss will also be an ideal candidate for “Businessman of The Year”. He has promised a state of the art hospital to open in November 2007 and he has not done the foundation yet. But that did not stop the good Dr. from buying Printec, trying to shut down the Free Press, starting a supermarket next to a coffin sales outlet, operating the Praslin Airport Restaurant to the point of closure, failing to generate respectable profits in the Praslin Casino when he has a monopoly on that.

 May God Bless All Freedom Loving Seychellois!

October 5, 2007
Copyright 2007: Seychelles Weekly, Victoria, Mahe, Seychelles