The
compensation payments for La Misere residents over pollution of their water supply
keeps dragging on. Now, with the Covid-19 emergency, it is unclear if
Government will be able to go ahead with the payments promised for this year
and next.
But the
real shame is that the whole matter could have been settled if not for abuse
and political manipulation. The list of payments made in 2011 reveals many such
cases which amount to over R5 million rupees.
What has
become clear is that the scheme for payment of compensation was used a slush
fund to pay some people who did not qualify and in many other cases just as a
means of securing votes.
The typical
example is the household of former President Albert René, who was paid R250,000
although his water supply was in no way connected to the polluted source. What’s
more, his brother-in-law Kamal Zarqani, also received payment of R250,000 as a separate
household although living in the same house as René.
A number of
other households also received double payments, usually to each of two partners
living together. An examination of the list by La Misere residents has revealed
at least 17 cases of this kind. In another notable case, the couple concerned
did not even live at La Misere but at Grand Anse Mahe, in an area with a
totally different water supply.
The compensation
in 2011 had a fund of R 113,925,000, of which R99 million came from ASCON, the
contractor on the building site which caused the pollution, and around R14.9
million from an anonymous private donor. Payments were made to 457 households altogether,
including the double payments. In addition, another 53 ‘secondary households’,
usually am offspring with a family in the same house, received R 44,335 each.
People connected to La Misere school and the Seychelles Tourism Academy also
received some compensation.
If the payments had been properly administered, clear and transparent all the way, the people who were affected could well have seen more justice. But if the Head of State abused the system, what do you expect? Many payments were no doubt calculated to win votes in the Presidential election of the same year.
As the
Government struggles to find the money from taxpayers to make another round of
payments to individuals, it is to be hoped that things will be done properly
this time.