I remember one occasion that brought the whole people of Seychelles together. That was Independence Day, 1976. The two main political parties, the Democratic Party (DP) of Mr. Mancham and the Seychelles People’s United Party (SPUP) of Mr. René had formed a coalition. The petty political squabbles had been overcome and our people stood united for one cause: the building of a nation.
Unfortunately there has been too many unnecessary incidents since then which have destroyed the unity of our people. These have not been accidental, but rather a carefully designed strategy.
Instead of seeking reconciliation, respect and unity, too often it has been a policy of ‘destroy the enemy’, meaning go after those who do not share the same views. With this as the guiding principle, Seychelles has become a place where people are afraid to speak their minds, where people do not trust others, and where our people too often depend on favours to move on in life.
I am concerned about and turning our country into a place where everyone can get on with life without politics breathing down their necks on a daily basis. We have to free ourselves from politics and allow this country and its people simply to get on with their lives.
The model that comes to mind, proving that if we do so we can achieve success, is the tourism industry. The government was always interfering with that industry, while the trade was always complaining. Consultation was not happening and instead of growing, there was a steady decline in the mainstay of our economy. The industry pressed for a bigger role and eventually this happened.
It changed everything. Instead of government running the industry, it was the industry itself, the interested players that took over. That was in 2009, when Mr. Michel announced that tourism was about to go down by 21%. What did we see? Without the interference of politics and government, Alain St. Ange and his team turned things around and we ended with only -1% decline. The following year 2010, saw the establishment of a new arrival record for our main industry.
What lessons can we learn and how can we use the model for the country?
First of all, it is a matter of putting the right person in the right job without looking at his political colours. There was a lot of reluctance at first when Mr. St. Ange was proposed. He was the SNP treasurer. A lot of questions were asked and even the then head of the STB was not happy. What they did not recognise was that Mr. St. Ange was there to do a job. He did just that and the results speak for themselves.
Secondly, civil servants should not be involved in active politics. In the SNP, we agreed that even if Mr. St. Ange was a political heavyweight, that he should free himself from active politics, and as a civil servant, do his job without any politics. It was not easy for us as a political party, but for the sake of the country we knew that this had to happen. This is called putting the country first and I believe that the same model of management of public affairs can and should be replicated in other areas such as our fishing industry.
Our country needs to move forward. I cannot recall the number of times I have called for the removal of politics from our daily lives in order for everyone to get on with life. It is not a choice, but a demand on each one of us, starting with State House. I am determined to see an end to politics in the civil service. At the same time present civil servants should know that their jobs are guaranteed and that there will be no witch hunting. This is part of recognising the talents of our people and making the civil service permanent and a life-time career.
We have to bring our people together. Unity will make us strong. We must not come together only to celebrate, but in everything that we do as a people we should be aiming to do the best not only for ourselves, but for the whole nation. United we stand, divided we will keep falling.
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