Seychelles Becoming a Colony under Michel Administration
by Christopher Gill
When you look around and take note of who is running the Seychelles today, under the James Alix Michel Administration, it does not take long to come to the conclusion that Seychelles is fast becoming a colony once again.
Since assuming office, Michel has systematically compromised our sovereignty as a Nation, by displacing Seselwa Rasin (real Seychellois citizens) of their right to participate in the running of their government and by importing foreigners to do jobs Seselwa Rasin’s could do with ease.
This is not the first time SPPF has brought foreigners to our shores to brutalize and oppress our Seychellois people. The Irish, Australians and French today, join the parade of foreigners that have propped up SPUP, SPPF and now P.P. It all started with Tanzanian troops after the bloody coup d’etat of June 5th, 1977 and soon North Korean troops followed. The Tanzanians killed our people with bullets. These new generation foreign colonialist imported by Michel are now killing us at the purse strings, taking every cent from us let alone our opportunity to work. Seychellois suffer greatly today under Michel because he has failed to set the balance sheet of his government right in the first place and where as Minister of Finance for over a decade, he led Seychelles into bankruptcy and default of every loan imaginable.
En Moman Avek Prezidan (A Moment with the President) and Back to the Future
Every month, Mr. President sits on a winged leather seat chair with the SBC TV cameras and faces the People of Seychelles to give us his ideas on what he is doing to Seychelles. He makes appeals for us to “Koste” (come together) to more or less support him and keep him in power. Even the SBC reporters are starting to doubt him and they pose him questions he cannot answer forthrightly.
Asked about the takeover of the prison by the army last week and the firing of the prison warden, he babbled on about Somali pirates and the fact that we will get foreign aid to assist us in rebuilding our prison system. Soon we will have Irish prison wardens at the Montagne Posee prison guarding Somali pirates. What a sham of a Presidency!
He blames the banks over high interest rates after reading about it in STAR Seychelles and forgets that Nouvobanq, Development Bank of Seychelles and the Savings Bank are all government-owned. He focuses on the future because he has nothing to offer us today, except more and more pain as he relegates Seychellois to their knees of colonial masters in key departments and offices.
Behind the presidential seat, a number of colonial-era governors and military attaches with feathers in plume hang on the wall, reminding us of the colonial era that Seychelles endured. Michel himself commissioned the paintings and had them hung on the walls of State House. We the People of Seychelles paid for this frivolous decoration of State House. How ironic that Michel with Rene took over the country in a bloodless coup and told us that the reason was to remove the colonial lackeys from power! Shameful indeed and more lies that have caught up with this communist regime.
Today, it is all making sense and we now know why Michel kept the reminders of our colonial past hanging on the walls of State House and we footed the bill for his escapades with these cartoon characters memorialized in plastic art.
It would appear, little has changed with Mr. President James Michel at the helm. We are ever more being run like a colony.
Let us look briefly, where he has taken us. Tomorrow, these foreign administrators employed by Mr. President will apply to become Citizens of Seychelles, along with their families. They will make their way to the electoral roll as Seselwa Fabrike’s (made up Seychellois citizens), that will subjugate Seselwa Rasin (real Seychellois citizens) of their own inalienable rights in their own Country. They will become the nails in our coffin of third class citizens.
Mr. President will make his usual empty appeal for unity and peace and tranquillity, as he seals our fate and demise of a people and demise of our culture. As we and our children are forced to speak Creole in primary school, their hopes of being in charge of the Police, Financial Task Force, the Tax Office, Customs Office or even the Airport, will be foregone, because they will face foreign contract workers taking up all these important posts. As these contract workers come in gangs of Four (4) or Ten (10) at a time, hiring relatives and friends for a term in paradise, our people will be intimidated and brushed aside, because we remain polite, as our President ask us to. We suffer in “Unity” according to his will.
People of Seychelles, Seselwa Rasin of this potentially great country, we must draw a line. Now, before it is too late.
Police Run By Irish Contract Workers
The Seychelles Police is run by Deputy Commissioner Neill Scully, a citizen of Ireland. Scully was imported to run NDEA drug task force. He was tasked with fighting the importation of drugs into Seychelles. Scully took over from Mr. Michael Fitzgerald who was a retired Commissioner of Police in Ireland. Fitzgerald worked as Deputy Commissioner for a period of six (6) months, before he just packed up and left without much notice. The press hardly covered the quick departure of Fitzgerald.
Scully referrers to our Commissioner of Police (Mr. Earnest Quatre) as a fine man. Quatre seems to have been regulated to a symbolic figure in the force. Scully is reinforced with a number of other Irish officers including Mr. Liam Quinn. Before Fitzgerald, a Mr. Liam Coen was Deputy Commissioner. However, he resigned and returned to Ireland after being found to have lied under oath to a Commission of Inquiry into the death of a father and son Abdul Rahim. The enquiry was headed by Justice Fernando, a Sri Lankan Judge on the Court of Appeal, another one of our infamous Seselwa Fabrike. Within the Police Force and those forced to leave by Michel are many capable Seselwa Rasin that could easily run the force, without the huge expenditures in salaries that are paid to the Irish, who by the way unemployed in their own country!
I have been told their salaries are SCR 124,000.00 per month each on average. If this is not correct, I ask that all the salaries and perks, which includes housing, fuel, cars, tickets to Europe, is made public. I will correct my presumption should the TRUTH be made public by the President himself or at least the Employment Minister. Failing a full disclosure of salaries and perks, all Seselwa Rasin can reasonably assume that one Irishman is costing our country the tidy sum of SCR 124,000.00 per month, give or take a few thousands!
What a travesty from a President who upon being bestowed power by former Albert Rene, vowed to work for the interests of all Seychellois. Michel must have been referring to the “New imported Seychellois” which he prefers over his own countrymen!
Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) Run by Irish Contract Workers
The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) is based at State House in President Michel’s office. It is headed by a team of Irishmen as well. If our country’s financial intelligence unit is controlled by foreigners, where is our dignity as a people?
Many Seychellois are highly capable and can do a better job than these bozo-import investigators that have brought great disrepute onto the good name of Seychelles, subjugating Seychellois to international indignation and contempt in the offshore business.
The Director of the FIU is another Irish named Mr. Declan Barber. Mr. Barber was responsible for freezing the funds of Dr. Georges Xiao’s company LXE Solar, totalling $8.5Million. Mr. Xiao, a US citizen, filed a case in New York District Court to retrieve the money transferred into his Barclay’s account in Seychelles. The Seychelles Government was accused of financial piracy over the matter, a claim which the Michel Administration had to deny in order to save face internationally. But the egg was already on our face, and the bozo circus show was already in play. The damage had already been done and is still being done today as the bad press spreads like a cancer to our offshore banking industry. In the end, our Government had to “eat crow” as the old saying goes and return Mr. Xiao’s money and paid interest and other legal expenses as well. Another one of Michel and the Irishmen failure!
Michel’s attempt to subjugate Seychelles to colonialism by masters from lands far away has backfired even on him. All this has taken place in his own office; or maybe I should refer to State House as the “Foreign Office”!
I have been advised that these Irish work on a commission basis. I ask the Michel Administration to disclose their salary arrangements. Make it public. Advise if they are paid a commission to ruin Seychelles reputation in the offshore financial sector. Advise if their pay includes housing, cars and fuel, let alone trips to visit the family back in Ireland. Surely there are capable Seychellois who can issue form letters to commercial banks asking for disclosure of information on a transaction entering the banking system. It does not take a nuclear scientist to do so. Possibly, even Michel could write such a letter!
Commissioner of Tax Office Run by Australian Contract Workers
Under Michel, even the collection of national revenue is now being driven by foreigners. The past head of the Revenue Authority was Steve Jardine, an Australian. He recently applied to become a citizen of Seychelles, and the SPPF of course granted him citizenship. He joins the list of Seselwa Fabrike’s that SPPF have created.
It is unacceptable, that a person should come to Seychelles as a contracted worker and then apply for citizenship of our Nation. Meanwhile, Mr. Jardine is still enjoying the salary and perks of an expatriate worker. Now would he stay in Seychelles if he earned a measly SCR 5,000 per month? Would he stay in Seychelles if Government did not provide him with housing, car and fuel allowances?
Nevertheless, after an unconfirmed rumour of a slight mishap with street ladies and of course the fact that he spent too many nights in Ramadoss’ casino, it is rumoured that Mr. Jardine was removed as Commissioner of Taxes. He may confirm or deny that allegation or claim the rumour to be true.
And here comes the Aussies to run our Tax Department
Soon after, Jardine was then replaced by Mr. Rene Nusse, another Australian citizen. While at least the Police have a figurehead Commissioner Quatre in place, the office of the Revenue Authority makes no fuss over the ham that Mr. Nusse is.
Under his orders most likely, they have posted Mr. Nusse picture at the top of their web site, wherein a Seselwa Rasin business can go to get a tax number.
Mr. Nusse is not a political figure. He is not the Minister of Finance, nor is he the President of the Republic. Why is his picture, used to represent a department of the Ministry of Finance, a ministry of the Government of Seychelles? Can any contract worker from overseas just walk into Seychelles, get to work on a contract, and place their face on a Seychelles Department that represents us as a People? How low can the Michel Administration go? Has this Administration no self-respect ? Does Michel have no boundaries when it comes to the dignity of the Seychellois People?
Where is your pride placed when you place an Australian on our website to collects all the revenue of the Nation?
To add insult to injury, Mr. Nusse imported his partner, as in love-partner, a Madame Thompson to the office. She has since been moved along as a consultant for the Minister of Finance. She has most likely replaced another foreign advisor there, Mr. Jean Maurice Parnet, another Mr. Michel Tretout import, to shore up a failing communist regime.
When Mr. Parnet realized he was helping a corrupt government, he too left, with many regrets for the assistance he provided such an infamous group. His last words to me on the eve of his departure was: “Mr. Gill, these people are too corrupt to be helped”.
These SPPF-PP’s have no dignity. They wreak shame upon the People of Seychelles. We have many, many qualified people who can do this paper pushing, systems management job at Tax and Finance.
If you need lessons on Adam Smith and the invisible hand running the economy and how that works, P.P., I can lend you a hand free of charge. I will take no salary, no car, no fuel, no ticket on Air Seychelles. As for you self professed, but unknowing, Fabian-communists-failures, you have all proven yourselves to be so over and over again!
From Australia to the French Connection – PUC Contract
We all cried in rage the day Phillip Morin, a highly qualified electrical-industrial engineer was ousted from PUC. Mr. Morin loved his country, and he served his country faithfully as a damn good engineer for PUC. Mr. Morin worked for peanuts, being paid under SCR 20,000.00 per month for a job that had no hours and one which was demanding. The Michel Government refused to invest in PUC, despite the call by Mr. Morin and others who understood the growing demands for more power and better water distribution facilities.
But Michel and his SPPF-P.P. smart-asses replaced this fine Seselwa Rasin professional with a group of French techno’s retired from Suez Group, a French energy production company.
This group of retirees has close ties to the former French Ambassador Michel Tretout. Mr. Tretout himself cut the deal to bring them into Seychelles with Michel’s support, to create work for PUC while he was still Ambassador. With work, the thinking went, money would flow, all that had to be done was pass the cost on to the consumer. That is, the real Seychellois since all expatriate workers brought in by the President gets their utility bills paid for by the State.
It is unclear if Tretout had already obtained a Seychellois Passport, but speculation is rife that he has and the French press would like to know. If anyone can confirm this to me the free press in Paris and the Government of Mr. Sarkozy would be most grateful. Already, we know that Mr. Tretout has interest in the Carrefour supermarket project now turned over to Casino Geant, and he even professed on SBC-TV in an interview prior to his departure that he would be back!
Meanwhile, the two year contract with these energy parasites at PUC is costing the Seychellois people some SCR 60 plus Million per annum or better yet, SCR 5 Million per month. Certainly a much larger sum than Mr. Morin’s measly SCR 20,000 per month salary. I might add, this is more money than the French ever earned as career engineers at Suez Group.
Now you know why your electricity rates are so high this year and will get higher next year. Michel cannot blame Ramkalawan or Volcere for that. Don’t blame me either. I have been carrying PUC on my back for years with unpaid easements now totalling over SCR 3 Million and counting as interest ticks.
As for poor Mr. Morin, he is now the Don Quixote of Seychelles, having been given a horse, a shield and a lance to go out and create windmills which would certainly destroy our pristine landscape forever. Don’t forget, we already have the monstrosity going up at the ex-Tracking Station site, courtesy of a SCR 1 rupee gift of James Michel to his Arab friend. Another one of your legacy Michel, and a shameful one at that too!
To summarize the PUC debacle, we did not need French engineers to tell us that our generators have exceeded their life span Mr. President, and we certainly did not need desalination plants a la Mukesh Valabhji, another one of yours and Albert Rene’s failures. Mr. Morin had told us that for 10 years already. But you and your SPPF-P.P told Morin to keep them running, even though we were running our infrastructure to the graveyard. Now, you use French technos to run Seychellois into the grave with high electricity and water rates, with the French geeks running all the way to their banks with loads of our cash each month.
Shame on you Michel!
Judiciary a Sign of Failure by Michel
In the Judiciary, the Chief Justice is Ugandan. He is followed by an array of other Ugandans, Sri Lankans and so forth. Only Justice Renaud and now Justice Dodin are Seychellois. Mr. Brassel Adeline was made a magistrate recently, of course, after having been a keen SPPF-P.P. player for well over a decade!
It is unacceptable to me that a non-Seychellois Rasin should lead our Judiciary, a vital branch of Government for our Country. I understand that it is unacceptable to the Chief Justice himself that this so be the order of the day.
I salute his sensitivity and trust he will find a Seychellois replacement during his tenure. It is not hard with the precedence he has established with his pay scale.
Salaries are disproportionate in the Judiciary. Ex-pats are paid more than Seychellois. The Chief Justice, I understand has a contract of SCR 67,000.00 per month. This is unacceptable. All Justices must be paid salaries that are commensurate with the post they occupy. Salaries of Justices must be increased, to meet expectations of Seselwa Rasin lawyers, to entice them to take up the challenge of the Courts. We have a shortage of applicants only when the pay is an insult to the prestige, education and ability of the applicant. If you pay peanuts, you will get monkey’s, P.P.
If Michel can pay a couple of French Techno’s SCR 124 Million for a 2-year contract at PUC, surely our Seselwa Judges can be paid more and we can allow the foreign judges to go home and serve their country as they always tell us they want to do.
Again, shame on your Michel for laying the luxurious red carpet for our foreign workers while relegating your own people to the coal pits of hell. And you dare speak of a welfare state in your glorified presidential press meeting. Just remember it is you who have created this welfare state for your people when we could be working hard and contributing towards the growth and success of our beloved Seychelles. Instead, your treat us like monkeys and feed us bananas while you treat your French, Australian, Irish and Arab friends to champagne and caviar. Shame on you Michel for being a traitor to your own people.
Sesel Pou Seselwa Principle
If you come to Seychelles as a contracted worker, then you must leave Seychelles as an end of term contracted worker, unless your contract is renewed. Under no circumstance should a contracted worker be allowed to become a citizen of Seychelles, unless through marriage to a Seychellois citizen. In the case of marriage, I would urge that the marriage be ongoing for 10 years before an applicant is able to apply for citizenship and not five years as is the case today. We need to protect our Rasin men and women who become victims of foreigners who marry with the hidden agenda to be granted rights to stay in Seychelles, and then quickly file for a divorce once they have received the coveted passport and citizenship. Even Europe and the USA have tightened their citizenship requirements. In Seychelles, the SPPF-P.P. plays the fiddle to allow foreigners to become citizens so that they can remain in power. Once again Michel, let me remind you of Albert Rene’s slogan of the 1960’s. “Sesel Pou Seselwa” (Seychelles is for Seychellois)!
A Final Message To Mr. President
We do not need all these foreigners mucking about and costing us grossly disproportionate salaries that do not go with what they deliver. Apart from high salaries come cars, fuel, houses, school fees, expense accounts and airline tickets to see loved ones in their homeland whenever they are homesick. When you import foreigners to do work Seychellois can do, you import arrogance, you import mistreatment of your own people, and you make the Seychellois Rasin feel that they are less desirable in your eyes, Mr. President.
I therefore ask the Michel Administration to disclose all salaries being paid to all the foreigners in our country, from Mr. Nusse and his girlfriend to all the Irish Liams in Seychelles. Advise all perks as well, including housing, cars, school fees, fuel, airline tickets and so forth. Let the People of Seychelles become fully aware of the real costs of these foreigners who are not better qualified than Seychellois to do those jobs.
And Mr. Michel, in closing, let me remind you that we are a REPUBLIC and not a COLONY. We the Seychellois people are not lackeys of any foreign masters, be it French, Arabs, Australians or Irish. Lest you have forgotten, I wish to remind you that:
Seychelles BELONGS to Seychellois.