Ton Pat throws down the gauntlet Will Ramkalawan accept the challenge?

The schism in the Linyon Demokratik Seselwa (LDS) Alliance has effectively turned into open warfare as Pat Pillay, the Leader of Lalyans Seselwa and Wavel Ramkalwan, Leader of the Seychelles National Party (SNP) traded insults and accusations over the social media. It will be recalled that the two parties along with two other smaller parties joined forces to contest the second round of the last presidential election and the ensuing legislative elections under the banner of Linyon Demokratik Seselwa. The rough and tumble between the two men got rougher after Pat Pillay resigned as Speaker of the National Assembly and withdrew his party from the LDS Alliance.

Using a fake profile by the name of Ray Cat, SNP accused Ton Pat of corruption and embezzlement of funds. Ray went as far as to state that the acquisition of citizenship by the Tunisian, Sakher El Materi, son in law of the deposed Tunisian President, Ben Ali, was an act of corruption in which Pat Pillay benefited considerably financially. An irate Pat Pillay took exception to the accusations and hurled back with allegations of his own. Not only did he deny the statement, but insinuated that the Leader of the Opposition, Wavel Ramkalawan, was the one who benefited from the transaction. Pillay maintained that El Materi has records of conversations and emails between himself and Ramkalawan as proof that indeed Ramkalawan did financially benefit from the acquisition of citizenship by El Materi.

Pillay, went even further to challenge Ramkalawan to summon him and El Materi before the National Assembly’s Finance and Public Accounts Committee (FPAC) of which Ramkalawan is the Chairperson, so that the truth be known.  Ramkalawan, has in the past been overzealous to call his opponents to FPAC on the flimsiest allegations, and all aired out on the national TV network, to have them humiliated. The last case in point was that of the former Speaker Dr. Patrick Herminie, who legally sold his shares in a private company to the shareholders of a company doing maintenance at the National Assembly. The final report was a total distortion of the deliberations, and to all and sundry was obviously a witchhunt. Others who have been publicly humiliated by Ramkalawan and his friends, on FPAC included Min. Jean-Paul Adam, Alain Butler-Payet and Lise Bastienne, all of whom are Parti Lepep stalwarts.

So will Ramkalawan accept the challenge? Will he call in El Materi and Pillay to prove his innocence to the Seychellois public? The general public is more than anxious to watch this slinging match. Most political pundits agree that Ramkalawan will chicken out as emails circulated on Facebook earlier this year seemed to indicate that the allegations by Pat Pillay may after all be true. Sources close to Ramkalawan told us that Ramkalawan is even more fearful of Pat Pillay’s call to have forensic accountants from the offshore jurisdiction of Cape Verde brought in to thoroughly investigate Ramkalawan.  It makes one wonders what exactly does Pat Pillay know about the dealing and wheeling of Ramkalawan?

But the whole saga also points to another worrying trend in the existing co-habitation; a systematic cheating and thieving at the highest echelon of power in the country. Will May de Silva of the Anti-Corruption Commission take note or will she once again turn a blind eye because it involves her friends. Has Ramkalawan been caught with his hands in the cookie jar?? This is the question.

Independent

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