1) 5000 houses to be built in 5 years-1000 per year, the man
promised back in 2006. He lied! At that time, he held the portfolio of Finance
Minister and knew that the country did not have the capital to embark on such a
massive project in the space of 5 short years. To date, more than 9 years since
that statement was made, even a mere 1500 houses at Perserverance have not yet
been completed.
2) IMF, the monster, which will make Seychellois live “dan
la mizer fernwar” is never going to be invited in Seychelles, the man promised.
He even claimed in 2006, weeks before the Presidential elections, that if the
opposition coalition (SNP/DP) came to power, they are the ones who will invite
the IMF on Seychelles soil. He lied, of course! Just two years after winning
the election, he was the one who begged
the IMF to come to save his…you know what, after he had almost singlehandedly
bankrupted the nation.
3) IMF will be in Seychelles for ONLY 3 years (2009 to 2012)
and then it will go back to where it came from, the man promised. He lied!
Today, in 2015, IMF is still here and looks certain to be here for a very long
time indeed!
4) The Seychelles rupee will never be devalued, the man
promised. He lied! Today, the rupee has lost 80% to over 100% in value against
the major hard currencies!
5) With the IMF assisted reform program, no worker in the
civil service will lose his/her job, the man promised. He lied! Shortly
afterwards, over 5000 civil service workers either lost their job or were
forced to resign!
6) In an interview with Marie Claire Elizabeth on SBC, prior
to the IMF intervention, the man claimed that Seychelles had paid up all its
debt and owed nothing to anyone. He lied! The nation later learned that not
only had our debt in the space of 4 years almost tripled, but we had been
unable to fulfil our repayment obligation because the country had no money to
do so.
7) The excess tax revenue derived from the increase road
license of one rupee per CC will be used to repair the roads, the man promised.
He lied! Because today, not only are most roads in a deplorable state, with
more pot holes in them than a million colanders put together, but the excess
tax revenues collected are being channelled for other purposes unrelated to
road repairs!
8) GST will be in place for 2-3 years only, the man
promised. He lied! Not only did GST survive for almost a decade, but was
actually increased from 12% to 15%. It has now metamorphosed into VAT of 15%
and obviously here to stay.
9) I will put all “Escobars”big time drug traffickers)
behind bars, the man promised. He lied! Today, all the “Escobars” are free and
enjoying their ill gotten gains freely and peacefully. It is even alleged that
certain of them have state protection. The “escobars” business concerns keep
increasing day by day and consequently their ill gotten money gets easier to
launder. It sometimes baffled the imagination to see how easy it is for the
“escobars” to get license and planning permission to start a new business. This
is in sharp contrast to the bona fide businessmen who most of the time finds
the going through SLA and planning authority a really tough road to travel,
with several impediments that they have to overcome before they can start their
respective business. Those that are behind bars serving time today are the
small time traffickers and pushers, dubbed the “pti makanbale and pti ziblo” by
a well known Catholic Priest.
10) There will be no increase in electricity and water
tariffs under my charge, the man promised. He lied! Since then, there have been
more increases in utility tariff than the number of times a cock crows at dawn.
11) In 2006, shortly after coming off an oil research vessel
and wearing a yellow helmet, the man promised that in two short years (2008)
Seychellois pockets will be filled with petro dollars. He lied of course! Not
only was that promise the stupidest one ever made( Assuming that Seychelles at
that time had discovered oil, which, incidentally, it has not up until now),
because after oil is found offshore, it
takes up to 5 years before the product can be commercially viable. The only
person or persons whose pockets are filled with dollars now are those who
sucked up to wealthy Arabs, Russians and South Africans. And who have secret
offshore accounts to off load all their gains into them, as a way to escape the
scrutiny of the poor members of society.
12) Shares in government owned banks will be sold to the
public, the man promised. He lied! To date, government is still the major
shareholder in all its banks.
13) No air Seychelles employee will ever lose his/her job
under my charge, the man promised. He lied! A few weeks later, close to 300 Air
Seychelles employees lost their jobs.
We will not mention the funniest of them all that corruption
is only a perception. There are also several other lies the man has uttered
during the last eleven years. So many that he could easily be a top contender
for “ The World’s Top Liar” award.
