Is the ASSUMPTION INDIA AGREEMENT; NULL AND VOID?

Is this agreement yet another example of an economic crime against the people of Seychelles?

On the 20th of December 1994 The Government of Seychelles leased 11 islands to a private company, Island Development Company Limited (IDC) for 99 years for the yearly rent of SR1. Sometime later Astove, Assumption and St Pierre were added to the original agreement making a total of 14 islands in all. IDC was supposed to develop the islands. The kind of development was never clear and ordinary Seychellois was always in the dark. Because the ordinary Seychellois were in the dark to this day, I guess they were happy enough that once a year they got birds eggs from those islands, until about two or three years ago when we were told that helicopters were needed to transport the eggs and that was why none was available. Nevertheless, there was a plan why the 14 islands were leased to IDC. The plan was to transfer the assets of IDC to another Limited company in the British Virgin Islands at a later date but fortunately the plan failed. This never made any sense to anyone until one understands that this was “attempted theft”.

The original 1994 lease agreement

Seychellois lost the benefit of his 14 islands to some dollar millionaires. We are not even allowed to set foot there. Many fishermen have complained about being denied a place to “maske” during rough weather conditions because they are chased off by armed guards.

Despite the ordinary Seychellois not benefitting in any way whatsoever from the “development” taking place on these 14 islands, up until recently millions of rupees of our tax money was poured into IDC every year. Is this not an economic crime perpetrated against the people of Seychelles?

For the last 40 years the SPUP/SPPF/Parti Lepep regime has been committing crimes against its citizens, however this one cannot be forgiven by the people. So what is the crime this time? Is it one of committing fraud on an international level? The signed renegotiated agreement between the Seychelles Government and the Indian Government for a military base on Assumption has yet to reach the National Assembly for ratification; the military base is now disguised as a joint venture. Where was India when our EEZ was infested with pirates? The UNODC and EU came to our rescue. For any agreement to have legal validity, it needs valuable consideration. What is the consideration for this Agreement? India gets its military base on Seychelles soil to counteract China’s military base in Djibouti and Seychelles gets WHAT? The use of a military base to wage war against the tuna, turtles and dolphins in our waters when we are attacked by them?

The Leader of the opposition may have used a couple of loose words on a recent trip to India but LDS is a movement grander than any one person. LDS is not like Parti Lepep and they are not rigid and deaf on the People of Seychelles. In principle, LDS is against any foreign military base in Seychelles and like the campaign song, it is clear the deal upon reaching the assembly should be “Zet Anba”. Danny Faure, the Unelected President of Seychelles, stated his belief in transparency, but now his Administration is being exposed as a perpetrator of yet another economic crime against the citizens, because we do not see the benefit for the ordinary Seychellois. They keep losing out.  The revised agreement has never been made public and this lack of transparency has caused massive confusion in the population. Furthermore, LDS must also ensure that the original agreement by the Michel administration is made public.

The benefit to Seychelles of having a military base on its soil does not make any sense except of course to those who might have benefitted in some way or another from it. Just out of curiosity who drafted the Agreement?

IDC website

Once again and very recently, in an interview with the Editor in Chief of Today in Seychelles, Raj Meetarbhan, on 28th of March 2017, The CEO of IDC confirms the ownership of Assumption. Therefore, any agreement for Assumption and the Indian Government should have been between the Lessee, IDC and the Indian Government. It is very strange that the CEO of IDC has been very quiet. Is the agreement between the Seychelles Government and the Indian Government not worth the paper it is printed on? Is this agreement another economic crime against the people of Seychelles?  India get its military base  and we get the birds eggs!!! It is clear some public officials are more suited to the Magic Circus of Samoa. It is also clear that the Danny Faure Administration will not make it to 2020.

CEO of IDC confirms ownership in interview with Today in Seychelles

The people must insist on the immediate removal of the Danny Faure Administration as this could be the biggest embarrassment internationally for Seychelles of all time. Lastly, is IDC Ltd wholly owned by the Government of Seychelles? If it is, why was IDC incorporated in the first place? However, be that as it may technically and legally any agreement regarding Assumption must be signed by the CEO of that limited company, the Lessee. The CEO was nowhere to be seen. End of Story!

Seychelles Citizen Watch

SEYCHELLES IT’S TIME!

I came across an article on the internet that got me thinking about the general feeling of malaise and discontentment of the people in Seychelles.  In my view a small elite owns the bulk of the land and wealth of Seychelles while the majority suffocates under an oppressive system that condemns them to poverty and hardship. Only the people’s revolution through the ballot box can turn the tide to ensure everyone gets a share of the pie

Most 'ordinary Seychellois’ are on their own. Seychelles, the tourist paradise has wealth in its ocean and yet the citizens pay crushing taxes and do battle on a daily basis with a paralysing cost of living.

Is this normal? Is this freedom? How is this independence? Why do the people still live like this, 41 years after the formal end of British colonialism? Where is the independence dividend? Who does this kind of democracy work for?

In Seychelles 40% or 30,000 of the population, have been without enough food, and shelter and other basic necessities of life according to official statistics. This 40% of the people live in poverty, and 40 years after independence things have not improved much. In some areas this figure has risen to 54%. How long will this go on? For how long will the people live like this?

Ex-presidents are entitled to an official car, an armed driver, an armed bodyguard and two police guards at home - on top of a hefty salary and allowances. What about those “ghost” accounts and contracts  (scams) in the name of national security? While citizens are told by the rulers that there are inadequate funds, what about government wastage and shady procurements? Co-habitation might be working for the politicians but its not delivering for the people of Seychelles.

How many super wealthy Seychellois are there? This tiny clique of super wealthy individuals control nearly two-thirds of Seychelles $ billion economy owning about a fifth of the country’s gross domestic product. The wealth distribution in Seychelles shows that a common thread running through almost all the dollar millionaires is their political connections as well as their ownership of large tracts of land. The wealthy political dynasties and billionaire landowners reflect Seychelles top political leadership.

Essentially, the last 40 years of independence have been about massive concentration of the nation’s wealth in the hands of a few people while the masses languish in poverty. Since independence, public office whether elective or appointive has remained the most important stepping stone to fabulous wealth through corruption, land grabbing and all manner of economic crimes against the people of Seychelles. The time has come to dismantle this system. The masses feel completely alienated by the current dysfunctional system and many remain very poor and are mostly landless. Who took their land and why?

National unity remains elusive. The country is deeply divided along political lines. Seychelles is yet to have a president whose mandate begins in the ballot box and this, despite having had four. The presidents from the Ruling Party deepen the political divide by rewarding their people with public resources and positions. They buy political loyalty by rewarding party elites and punishing entire groups by excluding them from meaningful development. As a result Seychellois generally think of themselves first as “ek nou e pa ek nou” members of their political groups and not citizens of a nation.

Can the people do something about the sad situation they find themselves in? Yes, firstly by the people asking for the return of their land. The people are fed up with the pampered political class. They want fundamental change, not another package of negotiated reforms. No amount of reforms can cure the ravages of years of elite politics. Other than revolutionary change, through the ballot box, nothing is going to improve the lives of the majority of Seychellois. The super-rich individuals will certainly grow richer, while the conditions of life of other Seychellois will worsen. The fabulous wealth of the dollar millionaires is not going to trickle down to the masses. Never!

The people themselves must dismantle this system. And they can. Most people never thought British colonialism would end. It did. Not many people imagined apartheid could be defeated by the people of South Africa. It was. Few people thought the deeply entrenched Moi kleptocracy would go. It did. It took the single selfless protest action of a young Tunisian street vendor, Tarek al-Tayeb Mohamed Bouazizi, (not some powerful politician or grouping!) to bring down the 22-year-old dictatorship of Ben Ali in 2011.

A new radical leadership must emerge. The ultimate political authority belongs to the people and they must use it to bring about the change the country so badly needs. They are not as helpless as some might think. They have the power to overthrow this predatory system and put in place a new one that genuinely serves their interests. We need a new consciousness. People ought to understand that their conditions of poverty, disease, insecurity, unemployment, landlessness, are not the will of God- or a result of lack of faith. Rather, the people are victims of an unjust order. This order must be destroyed, through the ballot box. This is the noblest cause that the ‘ordinary citizens’ of Seychelles must now undertake: the struggle for their own liberation from the clutches of elite politics.

Alexia G. Amesbury