Our Country... Our Future: Keeping tourism in Seychellois hands

The SNP’s vision for our tourism industry has always been that it should be led and managed by the private sector. In the same way as for our other industries and economic enterprises in general, the Government of the day needs to set policies in the national interest, but it is the private sector who should work for the growth and profitability of the industry. This should leave tourism promotion and marketing firmly in the hands of the private sector.

We have in the course of the past year, moved closer to this model. I hope that it will continue in the right direction. But today, there is another element that we need to stress. Tourism promotion and marketing should remain in Seychellois hands.

In recent years, this industry has been taken over by foreign investors. But even more significantly, it is in the process of passing over to one particular group of investors, namely companies from the Arabian Gulf area.

Gulf airlines now dominate in air travel to Seychelles and they are using this as a stepping stone into tourism hosting. They have been joined by other companies, which will mean that the group will control both access and hosting of visitors to our islands.

Our Party believes that the surge of investment from the Gulf states has exceeded healthy proportions already. So we are repeating the call for Seychellois interests to be preserved and protected. We believe that this industry should remain in the control of Seychellois and to have that they must have a real stake in its ownership.

It is true, foreign investors have the capacity to give us large luxurious hotels at one go. But that must not be the prime consideration. We have to think not only for today but for tomorrow and we must leave room for future enterprise. Seychellois must be given the opportunity to enter the industry, even if they have to start small. We should note with pride the medium-sized Seychellois hotels that exist today, which started as much smaller establishments some 20 years ago. Let us therefore leave room for what can come in the next 20 years.

One prime consideration is land. This is a very limited natural resource for us and it is where we have to be very careful. At the moment, we are hearing more reports of islands being earmarked for development. I am certain that our secondary islands will be the basis for the next stage of tourism development. Mahe, Praslin and La Digue are already too congested.

In fact, I believe that it was wrong over the past years to allow all these foreign-owned projects on our main islands instead of channeling some to the secondary islands. Putting up a tourism establishment on the main islands is comparatively easier that on the secondary islands and that is one more reason why more room should have been left for Seychellois on them.

But now we must shift attention to the other islands and we have to ensure that Seychellois have a stake in that. The philosophy in the past has been to look on our secondary islands as isolated outposts. We have to begin looking at them as integral parts of our territory and this includes preserving opportunities for Seychellois on them, particularly in tourism.

All this argues for protecting the Seychellois stake in tourism and keeping control of the industry in the hands of our own people. Nobody else will make the best of it for us.

Ramkalawan receives visit of Commonwealth S-G

SNP Leader Mr Wavel Ramkalawan received the visit of Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma last week. Discussions centered mainly on the political conditions in Seychelles, in particular those affecting fair and equitable participation in the political process and elections.

Mr. Sharma had specifically requested the meeting through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which had not included the SNP Leader on the Commonwealth S-G’s programme. No mention of the meeting has been made in the state funded media, which in itself shows the biased and politically motivated handling of protocol on the part of the Ministry.

Mr. Ramkalawan noted that the Commonwealth association had always been a monitor of the democratization process in Seychelles, especially through the observer missions to elections. He pointed out that major recommendations of the missions remained to be addressed, such as access to state funded media for all political parties, separation of the machinery of government from the affairs of the ruling party and control of election spending. Nevertheless, Mr. Ramkalawan expressed his support for the participation of the Commonwealth in the presidential elections due next year. Mr. Sharma expressed the hope that an invitation from the Electoral Commissioner would be addressed early enough to have the most favourable consideration. This week, Mr. Ramkalawan also had talks with the US Ambassador to Seychelles, Mary Jo Wills.

Our Country... Our Future: Our country is not for sale

Last week, I published a letter calling on Sheikh Khalifa of Abu Dhabi to refrain from making donations for the political campaign of the ruling party.  This is an issue that we take very seriously because it can distort the electoral process to the extent of threatening democracy and freedom itself. 

Much is being made of the gifts that Sheikh Khalifa has given and will give in the future to Seychelles. I welcome a foreign country assisting Seychelles in its development and the possibility for Seychellois to earn from foreign investment projects. But in every case, we have to look at the strings attached. What is never acceptable however is if any foreign power interferes in the political process through funding a political party.

When it comes to political donations, Seychellois should know the danger it brings. First, there is a direct connection with the way the SPPF have spent money for elections in the past and the hardship that Seychelles faces today. It can be easily seen that the crash we experienced in 2008 was precipitated by the huge amount of spending for the 2006 and 2007 elections. This is when state coffers were emptied. The result was Government could not pay its debts and ran out of money to meet its own expenses. The subsequent devaluation had to be very painful because we had reached the bottom of the pit. This brought a harsh rise in prices and more taxes. 

Now we expect that Mr. Michel will be looking for money for the coming elections and the source will be the Arab princes who taken up so much of Seychelles. There also we have to look at the strings attached. 

There is no such thing as free money. What we get from any source will be repaid somehow. Where much is given, much will be handed over in return. What Mr. Michel will give has been made clear already. It will be land, sovereignty, subjection to foreign power and business opportunities. 

Land and sovereignty are the most precious possessions of a nation. In our case we have little enough of both that we must guard them zealously. It is pointless making a lot of money today if you have to give up what is most precious for you, that is, what makes Seychelles your country. The most sacred mission of the SNP today is to keep Seychelles to be your country in the future. 

I believe that Seychelles can have a bright future, where its citizens are able to earn, acquire wealth and build a country that they are proud of. This must allow them to remain in ownership of their country and preserve it so that their children have the same Seychelles that they enjoyed. 

Money that a foreign power gives the ruling party will only go into waste and extravaganza. It will be used to finance parties and to pay off those who can be bought. It will be there one day and gone tomorrow. It may make a few persons rich, but it will leave most of our people with less in the future. 

I am calling on Seychellois to look beyond the quick fix of a little money in your pocket today towards a better future. A country, like a person, has to work to build something worthwhile. We can be helped but we cannot count on foreign powers to hand us gifts on a platter and expect that in the end it will be good for us. I am sure that our people will see that our country is not for sale.   

SNP Leader pleads for residents near BSA power station

SNP Leader Wavel Ramkalawan has appealed to the Public Utilities Corporation to suspend electricity charges for residents in the vicinity of the power station at Baie Ste. Anne, Praslin, as a gesture of compensation for the damage and inconvenience caused to them by the proximity of the station.

In a letter to PUC executive chairman Bernard de La Boudiniere, Mr. Ramkalawan has pleaded the case for consideration for the residents over a situation that they have endured helplessly for a long time. It is one of the actions he has taken on their behalf after several visits to Praslin over recent weeks, which has included all the homes in the area as well as other parts of Baie Ste. Anne.

Earlier this year, Mr. Ramkalawan brought a motion to the Assembly in which he made public the extend of the damage and hardship to people living next to the power station, which is right in the middle of the main Baie Ste. Anne village. The vibration, noise and smoke have exacted a heavy toll. Houses are cracked and there are numerous cases of health problems for which people have had to go to Mahé or overseas for treatment. The noise and vibration continues to be a heavy hardship, especially in depriving people of sleep.

Mr. Ramkalawan’s motion, which was supported by all members of the Assembly, asked for the station to be relocated and for residents to be paid some compensation for the damages. His letter to the PUC head argues that the suspension of charges would only be a small gesture of compassion for the situation which the residents have endured for two decades.

Ramkalawan motion for Planning Authority Approved

A motion brought by Opposition Leader Wavel Ramkalawan for the Department of Risk and Disaster Management (DRDM) to be included on the Planning Authority was approved unanimously.

In presenting his motion Ramkalawan said that the DRDM did a lot of work at district as well as national level to prevent disasters. Its members were in a very good position to state if there was any potential danger in a particular area before the Planning Authority gave the go-ahead for a development project. It had been included on the body that made such decisions in the past and should be again.

Bel Ombre MNA Nicholas Prea supported the motion, stating that the DRDM had proved its worth after the 2004 tsunami even though it had not existed for long. It had advised all districts on the need for their own contingency plans and had drawn up a disaster management plan for Praslin.

MNA David Payet from SPPF-Parti Lepep lashed out at the department for not helping people in need, embarrassing his own party colleagues in the process. Other SPPF members, namely Marie-Louise Potter, tried to dampen the role of DRDM by suggesting that the department be included only on a technical sub-committee of the Planning Authority.

SNP MNA Jean-François Ferrari pointed out that the role of the DRDM was mostly preventive and risk-eliminating. It would therefore not have the power to prevent what it had perceived as imminent disaster if it was not included at the highest level of the decision making body.

In his summing up, the Leader of the Opposition echoed what MNA Ferrari had said and added that if the DRDM had been included on the Planning Authority only some time back, many decisions that had led to catastrophic results could have been prevented.