SEYCHELLES REALITY

 Where Is Seychelles When Cuba Needs Its Friends What is Patrick Herminie doing to support Cuba in the face of increasingly severe American sanctions? This is a question Seychellois should be asking openly. Cuba has stood alongside Seychelles for decades. It has sent doctors to strengthened our healthcare system, trained generation of Seychellois medical professionals, provided scholarships for Seychellois students to study medicine and supplied specialists to our hospitals. The Seychelles Government has repeatedly acknowledged the importance of this cooperation. President Herminie has praised the Cuban medical brigade and expressed support for stronger cooperation in health, education and other fields. Seychelles has also announced plans to open an embassy in Havana. Friendship is not only about ceremonies and warm words. When a country that has supported Seychelles for decades faces serious economic pressure, what practical solidarity is Seychelles prepared to offer? Will Se...

 Some principles are bigger than politics. Human dignity, freedom, equality and fundamental rights are not a bargaining chip. They are the foundations of a decent society. There are certain things in life that should never be compromised. A government that supports a genocidal regime is as criminal as the regime itself. An administration that prostitutes itself with a regime that murders thousands of civilian, women and children included a regime that engages in displacement of an entire population in order to steal their land is as criminal as the regime itself. No excuses can wash the blood from their hands.  Seychelles delegates remained seated when Netanyahu addressed the United Nations General Assembly. They were amongst the few countries that did not walk out. The excuse of staying neutral does not apply when there is blatant human rights violations, abuse and genocide.  However today we have learned that the government of Mauritius have refused landing rights to an...

People who publicly identify themselves with someone who spends his time on social media trolling, intimidating and promoting violence should seriously reflect on the message they are sending. Allegations that such individuals are rewarded and even welcomed into the company of the President of Seychelles are deeply concerning. Encouraging this kind of behaviour does nothing to benefit society. On the contrary, it fuels division, hostility and disrespect, dragging public discourse and the country reputation to an increasingly low level. Seychelles deservers better than the deliberate creation of division among its people The President clearly shows little respect for the dignity of his office. His behaviour and the company he chooses to keep project an attitude that is crude and unbecoming of a head of state. A President should unite and elevate the country, not contribute to division or lower the standards of public discourse. Seychelles deserves leadership that respects both the offic...

  Wavel Ramkalawan’s recent visit to the United States for President Biden’s US-Africa Leaders Summit last week left people with more questions than answers. Although ostensibly joining other leaders from across the African continent for a summit meant to focus on civil society, business, diaspora and youth leadership, one could not help but wonder whether or not the administration had other hopes for the visit. Seychelles, as is the case with quite a few other African nations, has been falling victim to Russian influence. The ongoing war in Ukraine has seen the Russian Federation increasingly isolated globally and looking for allies across the world susceptible to their narrative. Seychelles, under the leadership of Ramkalawan, is a particularly ripe potential ally, considering the central role that Seychelles has played and continues to play in providing offshore accounts to circumvent tax or sanctions, laundering money and facilitating extensive illicit activities. Ramkalawan ha...

  The story which one would have anticipated to be making waves recently in Seychelles is the surprising banning of the Seychelles Independent News (SIN) from presidential press conferences by   Wavel Ramkalawan . Claiming, quite strangely, that the country was “moving towards a more serious media”, the President took the decision to ban the publication from press conferences on the basis of the claim that they were publishing defamatory material about his administration. The move was strongly criticised by the Association of Media Practitioners Seychelles (AMPS), who condemned the President’s “ostracising” of the Seychelles Independent and sought to engage with the Statehouse on the issue to no avail. Strangely, despite the above-mentioned reasons given for the paper’s banning from presidential press conferences, the issue had never been raised with AMPS, whose responsibilities including addressing such issues among their media house members. Similarly, AMPS denied having any...

  President Ramkalawan, has for quite some time now, been overplaying the nature of the Seychelles relationship with the European Union. During a February visit to the Embassy of Seychelles in Brussels and in a meeting with European Union officials as well as EU ambassador to Seychelles, Vincent Degert, Ramkalawan made sure to, “on behalf of the government and the people of Seychelles express our appreciation for the strong partnership that exist between Seychelles and the EU”. The President similarly attempted to leverage this relationship during his recent address to the nation, where he made sure to emphasize cooperation between the European Union and Seychelles, conveniently ignoring criticism recently levied against his government’s activities in the human rights field. Of course recent developments in Seychelles have been followed closely by European Union officials, as well as international human rights organizations. All have expressed their concerns over the direction in w...

  The right of a defendant to legal representation is one of the most basic aspects of international justice. No matter how horrific the crime, every person accused of committing a crime is entitled to having their case heard with the help of an attorney in a court of law. This seems to be true everywhere but in Seychelles, where the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACCS), under the leadership of May De Silva, has been denying the Valabhji couple, defendants in the case sinisterly named “Operation Black Iron” their right to legal representation. Of course, the ACCS, and the foreign lawyers which they have employed throughout the course of the trial, such as barristers Michael Skelley & Ed Vickers of London’s Red Lion Chambers, are far too proficient in the technical aspects of the law to directly deny defendants legal representation. Especially in a trial that has been so heavily covered in the international press. Rather they have come up with an intelligent way of doing so while m...

  President Ramkalawan’s recent address to the nation, delivered on October 20th, was one of his most daring. Facing one of the toughest years of his political career, with the country undergoing a cost-of-living crisis, increasing crime, and facing severe domestic criticism surrounding the country’s ongoing politically motivated trial, his speech was an obvious attempt at deflecting criticism. His first all too obvious attempt at doing this was seen through his promise to raise salaries. Although marketed as an attempt to address his own government’s failures to combat spiralling prices, this strategic decision was obviously aimed at the addressing criticism surrounding severe instances of corruption discovered in his cabinet. Most recently this even included the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Ronny Govinden, who was accused of acquiring properties below market value and selling them at extreme profits. Raising salaries in a country suffering from flawed economic policy as wel...

  Recent developments in the prosecution trial against Mukesh and Laura Valabhji have quite a few people concerned. It appears that the government is, yet again, working to cover up its own illegal activities. The case of the 50 million never ceases to surprise, and has included, so far, allegations of government corruption, human rights violations and absolutely no respect for the rule of law. Most recently, the Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronny Govinden ordered that a visit to the Valabhji’s property be allowed. It is indeed not standard procedure to prevent access to a defendant’s property, no matter how high level the trial in question is. It appears that despite the court order given by the Chief Justice, the government thought it appropriate to intervene and to deny access to the property. Why this happened is not entirely clear. Of course the government has not rejected the request outright. They are too cunning for that. Instead, it has delayed the visit under the pretext t...

  There are some things that no longer come as a surprise to anyone. One of those is the ability of those in power to do everything and anything possible to cling to power. Such was the case with the   recent appointment   of the former Commander of the Seychelles Coast Guard, Colonel Jean Attala, as the new Chief of Staff of the Seychelles People’s Defence Force (SPDF). Despite the fact that its name suggests that its purpose is to protect the interests of the people, President Wavel Ramkalawan has once again proven that the sole purpose of the military is to uphold his own personal interests. The long history of the Seychelles with political instability, means that the most important component of staying in power is ensuring a loyal military. And that is exactly what the President has done, filling the most senior ranks of the armed forces with loyalists. This appointment follows a recent constitutional  amendment  according to which the government extended th...

  The nostalgia with which many reflect on Britain’s colonial legacies is not surprising. Tony Blair famously   stated   in a 1997 speech, “I value and honour our history enormously,” and that the country’s history of empire should be the cause of “neither apology nor hand-wringing”. The post-Brexit world has only encouraged this sentiment, which seeks to reinvigorate the spirit which once allowed Britain to rule more than half the world. Although the empire that is seen by many as a product of the British state, an often overlooked aspect of Britain’s successful domination of the globe is the role of laissez-faire capitalism, outsourcing and  public-private partnerships . The most well-known of these in the British context was the English East India Company, which by 1800 commanded a force larger than that of England. Ruling approximately one fifth of the world, philosopher Edmund Burke famously  referred  to this as, “a state in the disguise of a merchant...

  Corruption in countries like the Seychelles has become something which people unfortunately accept as a given. When there is little oversight, those that are in power take advantage. That doesn’t make it okay but it is expected. What people don’t anticipate is the extent to which those in power will go in order to shamelessly promote their own interests at the peoples’ expense. Such was the case in a recent expose published by The People, according to which Chief Justice of the Seychelles Supreme Court Ronny Govinden, took advantage of his position of power and proximity to the Seychelles leadership in order to acquire for himself a property portfolio unrivalled by many in the country. At first glance there is nothing wrong with acquiring properties. If you have the money and would like to invest in an extensive property portfolio, then of course it is your right. A problem arises however, when the price paid for the property is significantly below market value, raising questions...