The district of Anse Etoile has had two visits in a couple of short weeks from President James Michel. I have to consider it an honour. Although he might not have wanted to, Mr. Michel has given Anse Etoile his attention.
Voters of my district will know that they are getting this attention because they have elected the leader of the SNP to represent them. This is more than the other districts have got, including the ones with long standing SPPF-Parti Lepep members. The only other district that has had two visits, but farther apart, is Baie Ste. Anne. But there again, it is only because I myself have visited Baie Ste. Anne more than a dozen times this year. It is quite something to have Mr. Michel following in my footsteps.
What people should realise by all this is that it is the SNP which drives the Parti Lepep. This is true in other ways as well, apart from those visits. In the last decade, politics in Seychelles has been driven by the SNP. Parti Lepep follows our ideas and proposals and reacts. Mr. Michel’s reforms, which he speaks so proudly of, are really only the principles and proposals re-hashed from the SNP manifesto of previous years. Where they have been applied correctly, in some cases, they have turned out well. In many cases, they have not been applied correctly, and therefore there is much work to be done still by the SNP.
The last time Mr. Michel visited Anse Etoile, I informed him of the many problems that he needed to see for himself – families that had suffered, roads that were in bad need of repair, areas that needed lighting and so on. He has returned to see some of these but not nearly all. He still travels with four jeeploads of bodyguards and officials. Ordinary people cannot even get close to him – only those who have been prepared in advance for the visit. On the last round for instance, a farmer who tried to approach the presidential group was rudely turned away by the bodyguards.
A Man of the People? I don’t think so! I don’t see why the President of a small country like ours should need such a huge retinue when he goes around. Mr. Michel knows that all that security apparatus is unnecessary. He does not need to be afraid of his own people, and dropping all that huge following, including the heavily armed ones, will help him get closer to the problems, which is what he needs to do. It would also spare the country a lot of expense. With all the voluntary departures and redundancies, the only place where we have not seen any cutbacks yet is in the presidential entourage and privileges. Instead it continues to grow and supplementary budgets are sought for the increases.
I would also like to see Mr. Michel do a visit for the sake of the people who live there, and not for television. The sincerity of the visits will be in doubt as long as there is a television crew, if not two, along with him. When this happens, we know that he is doing it for the cameras.
I am very pleased that in the press release that followed the visit, he described Anse Etoile as being ‘a big district with a lot of need for houses and roads.’ Together with the people of the district I am hoping that more than 5 families will get a house at Perseverans. I also hope that the distribution will not be along political lines, but rather according to the needs of the residents.
I must however also add that when he visits and issues a press release, it must be the truth. For example when he says that he went to see families who had requested his visit after his previous one, it is not the truth. Some families had not written to him and of course they were surprised when they were informed they would get a visit.
I am also disappointed because in both visits, he failed to go up to the La Gogue dam to see the water situation for himself. He was in the vicinity, so why did he fail to do so? I cannot understand why he chose to ignore the most important issue facing our people today.
Anse Etoile needs action now. We await the orders that Mr. Michel will give to make things happen. My presence has caused him to visit. This is not good enough. We need positive action so that our children don’t get home after 4 because of the bus service; we need lights so that the women of the district can walk home safely without fear. The promises of new roads have been noted and we hope that these projects will start soon.
I have managed to attract Mr. Michel to Anse Etoile. The residents have seen him on TV. Let those visits not be only for his own politics. I shall continue with my own visits and I will constantly remind him of what has not been done. Anse Etoile residents can now see the benefits of voting SNP.
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