Like all Seychellois, I listened attentively to what Minister Faure had to say about Fuel and the new SPPF policy to now “Curb Consumption” of Fuel. The SPPF Government have roughly doubled the price of Fuel on us over night. No warning to us except a one week notice by Mr. Guy Adam that if prices are not raised, we will COLLAPSE. Well, prices have been raised and Mr. Adam’s wish has come true. In spite of that, the real possibility of a collapse is still hanging over our heads. It has not gone away. It is still there.
I am most certain Mr. Adam knows rising prices will not solve his problems. You can raise the price of a litre of fuel to Rupees 100, you will still need $60 Million for your Fuel bills every year. The Minister of course misunderstood that.
As we curb consumption to please Minister Faure, he will spend less on fuel maybe, I doubt it, and we will do more things more slowly and hence, become more inefficient. This is not how you achieve greater productivity. It is how you excel in quagmire and bring a Country to a crawl. Now, after telling us we are Booming, we will now have to learn how to crawl. We must of course, be grateful to SPPF and say Thank You! Thank You SPPF, for teaching us how to crawl!
As office workers curb consumption, they will leave the car at home and take the Tata Bus Mr. Faure wants them to use. Since he did not plan on curbing consumption and that idea just popped-up, Mr. Faure did not make an allocation for 50 -70 more new air conditioned Tata Buses which SPTC will badly need to meet the new minimal demand for bus service as a result of everyone except for SPPF royalty , having to leave their cars at home and must now take the bus. As a consequence of SPPF lack of planning for increase demand in bus service, Seychellois will now pack and stack themselves in SPTC Tata Buses to make it to work and home everyday. SPPF policies will make us look like a bunch of sardines in a can when faced with the difficulties those policies bring upon us. When our workers are late to work, have a heart SPPF...”da bus was late or it crashed”!
Many of us that do have cars, with a mortgage to pay to the bank, will not be able to afford to use the car during the week. We will choose instead to take the bus during the week, in spite of it’s tardiness and inconvenience, lack of comfort. We will use our cars on weekends from Friday through Sunday. This means, SPPF policies will have 1) allowed some of us to buy a car, 2) but not allowed some of us to use it to achieve greatest productivity and the greatest convenience possible, to make our lives easier as we face the most difficult times ahead. This is called the Communist Policy of Under Utilization.(CPUU).
Let me explain. Because the use of resource becomes so expensive, people will choose not to use the resource. This rule will apply to personal cars, taxis, excursion boats for tourists, dive shop facilities, truck drivers, ferries, inter island transfers, airline tickets overseas, even the mobile burger service, personal items and just about anything you can think of. Why SPPF ask? Because fuel is the most basic compounded cost component of anything sold in the world, whether or not it has wheels.
That is why Governments that are successful and can double their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) every 20 years- not 10 (only the moon can double GDP in 10 years since they have no GDP right now) do not overly- burdensomely... tax fuel.
Example, a 412% tax like the SPPF’s taxes fuel is ridiculous and a typical communist approach to the use of resources. They do not think about the possible productive side effects of fuel consumption. They think about how much money they can raise at one pump and squander it on God only really knows what, like for instance Rupees 36,000,000 on bareboat charters (sailing trips).On the other hand, free and prosperous countries keep fuel prices as cheap as is honestly possible so people can hussle and create greater wealth for their respective countries. That means they are not regulated to just taking the bus all their lives and their children have to do the same , while you enjoy Rupees 36,000,000.00 on sailing trips to islands you have seen all your life, but we regular Seychellois are prohibited from accessing. You know who you are. Now that is a hole in one!
Seychellois, as you “Curb Consumption” to please Minister Faure, take a look around you and see who “curbs consumption” and set good examples. It will not be the SPPF. Look carefully, you will see them being driving in chauffeured 2000cc plus cars, limousines with the air-conditioner running full blast which increases consumption by as much as 35% per kilometre while driving short distances. When you see one of those big shiny SUV’s block the roundabout at the Clock Tower, look inside and see an SPPF not curbing consumption, but maximizing consumption. They want you to curb consumption, so that they can maximize consumption for you. When they frolic on private planes or travel to our islands, they say they do it for us, in our names. Hence the justification for the expensive trips.
Like in all countries in the world that go through periods like this, in
1. Enough with the chauffeur thing. On weekends, drive your own personal cars.
2. Sell the 2000cc cars on public auction. Place the money in the Government “Koff”. All Ministers and Principal Secretary’s- Take the Bus.
3. The Vice President- auction his car, replace it with a Kia Picanto or Honda Civic.
4. Mr. President, be brave, lead by example, auction the Bavarian Motor Works (BMW) fleet and ask the Chinese Government to give you a luxury 1800cc “Chery”, made in Communist China.
I am most certain, this will curb consumption. You should keep your drivers though.
As for the Island Development Corporation (IDC) and the curb consumption issue, the only thing that can be done to curb IDC consumption is to close it down and ask the management to go start running their own business and stop running the business of the People’s islands....which can be very, very profitable, but of course, we know it has operated at a loss every year, and like fuel under the SPPF, it cannot survive without Government of Seychelles subventions. Right!
But that does not stop Five Star Hotel chains from wanting to set up shop on those islands. It does not stop the developer of Poivre Island Resort from dredging the island in search profit,which they must believe is possible, even on
You cannot discuss “curb consumption without analyzing it in light of Mr. President’s “Strategy 2017” book of ideas.
With the new “Curb Consumption” Policy analyzed with the “Strategy 2017 Policy”, what SPPF is saying is we will double GDP in 10 years, but we will operate the transportation- naval and ground sectors (boats, ferries, taxis, trucks , rent a cars etc) at 20% -40% capacity. That is like saying I want a Maserati, but I want it to run on diesel. Remember of Maserati’s ? Do not forget; keep your mind fresh in these depressing times.
The only thing that will double in 10 years or triple or quadruple, is the cost of living under the SPPF.