SEYCHELLES REALITY

  Over 60% of  the financial help to Seychelles as seen on this chart goes to repay old debt. Only 5% spent on education, 2% on economic infrastructure and services and  4% on health. Official development assistance has been criticised by several economists for being an inappropriate way of helping poor countries. Aid leads to a chronic dependency on donors. Because poor countries are dependent on donor handouts they fail to prioritise the generation of domestic resources. This creates a chronic dependency on aid, stifles creativity and undermines the dignity of a country. A country, used to receiving official development assistance, may be perpetually bound to depend on handouts. Let's also ask ourselves another question. Just how did Seychelles become so seriously dependent on handouts? Yes, of course poor governance, poor leadership and corruption contributed to this. An entire nation and system that is focused on solutions to their problems tha...

LONDON (Alliance News) - Communications business Cable & Wireless Communications PLC Monday said that it has agreed with Bahrain-based telecommunications company Batelco, to unwind its shareholding in Compagnie Monegasque de Communication SAM. Earlier this month, C&W Communications said that it was considering options for its Seychelles business after the sale to Batelco Group fell through because it did not receive the necessary approvals. It had completed a deal to sell the majority of its operations within its Monaco & Islands division, including in the Maldives, the Channel Islands and Isle of Man, South Atlantic, Diego Garcia and the Seychelles, for USD580 million on a cash and debt free basis earlier in the year. It had delayed the sale of the Seychelles in August, setting a new December deadline, because it had not received regulatory approval. Cable & Wireless Communications said that it now has re-paid Batelco the USD100 million it paid for t...

Dec 08, 2013 The Seychelles Minister responsible for Tourism & Culture, Mr Alain St.Ange has beed named by the Pacific Area Travel Writers Association (PATWA) to sit on the World Tourism Leader’s Summit. The subject of the Summit is World Tourism- New Initiatives and this will be taking place during the 2014 ITB Berlin. Other Invited Speakers will include Taleb Rifai, the Secretary General of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), Martin Buck, the Vice President of Messe Berlin GmbH, Martin Craigs, the CEO of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), Roger Dow, the President of the US Travel Association, Michael Frenzel, the Chairman of WTTC, and Casimir Platzer, the President of the IH&RA. Tourism Ministers from Kenya, Indonesia, Egypt and Malaysia are also expected to sit on the invited panel of speakers. PATWA is the leading travel writers organization representing members from all over the world. The aim of PATWA is to promote professional deve...

With Ethiopian Airlines pulling out the Seychelles is no longer served by any Star Alliance Airline. After starting up with much fanfare last year have news now emerged that Ethiopian Airlines will halt their flights to Mahe from March 2014 onwards after apparently failing to make a significant impact vis a vis traffic carried to the archipelago compared to their own forecasts and expectations. The airline was flying 4 times a week between Addis Ababa and Mahe’s International Airport and the flights are no longer visible after March 2014 in any of the common reservation systems, a clear indicator that the flights have been ‘offed’. The Seychelles, one of the world’s most sought after destinations’, literally sells itself according to other airlines and yet has Ethiopian failed to capitalize on the appeal of the destination and its global standing. Inside information from Addis Ababa speaks of internal discussions, some apparently contentious, over the airline’s de...

The word "innocent" never makes an actual appearance, but is strongly implied in Thandeka Nene's version of what happened in the Seychelles in the past month. Nene is best known for earning nearly R80-million through her company Bonelena from state-funded construction at President Jacob Zuma's homestead at Nkandla. "We wish to state that there was absolutely no merit to the allegation against Mrs Nene hence she was allowed to return to South Africa," lawyer Phyllis Jailall from Durban firm Jailall, Yusuph & Associates said this week. Jailall was not available to confirm that she acted on behalf of Nene when the Mail & Guardian first reported that Nene had been arrested and was being held in the Seychelles, accused of trying to perpetrate fraud worth around R7-billion. But with Nene back in South Africa, her lawyers lashed out against the charges, saying Nene had been wrongfully detained in the first place, and insinuating th...

Durban - President Jacob Zuma ’s controversial Nkandla homestead builder, Thandeka Nene - who was bust on allegations of fraud in the Seychelles just before Christmas - is back in South Africa, a free woman. Her Durban-based lawyer, Phyllis Jailall, confirmed on Friday that the glamorous Nene paid a fine of 50 000 rupees (about R43 464) after her last court appearance in the Seychelles last Friday. She arrived back in South Africa on Monday in time to spend the festive season with her family. Nene’s company Bonelena Construction obtained contracts valued at up to R78.2m for government-funded upgrades to the Zuma’s Nkandla complex. However, the company faced liquidation for owing R175 000 for vehicle rentals. A month later, her company was bailed out by the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) with a R30m loan. 'False' document Jailall, of Jailall, Yusuph and Associates, said the Seychelles fine was not an admission of guilt, but was paid for being in posses...

Dec 23, 2013 The CEO of the airline of La Reunion, Mr Marie-Joseph Male last Sunday morning met with Minister Alain St.Ange, the Seychelles Minister responsible for Tourism and Culture in the presence of President Didier Robert, the President of the Regional Council of La Reunion, Mr Pascal Viroleau, the CEO of IRT (Ile Reunion Tourisme) and other Senior Management of Air Austral. The meeting that took place at the Head Quarters of Air Austral at St.Denis Roland Garros Airport was for Air Austral to continue on discussions to restart their twice weekly service between La Reunion and the Seychelles. "The number of tourists coming from La Reunion has dropped since the decision by Air Austral to discontinue its service to Seychelles. The connection via Mauritius is not working and the cost is exorbitant" said Minister St.Ange of the Seychelles. The economic situation to restart the air service it today seen as being more favourable with the number of p...

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has  completed the eighth and final review under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) for Seychelles.   The completion of the review will  enable a disbursement of SDR 3.3 million ( about US $5.1 million), which will bring total disbursements under the arrangement to SDR 26.4 million (about US$ 40.7 million). The EFF was approved in December 2009 for an amount of SDR 19.8 million (see Press Release No. 09/472) and was extended by one year in 2012, with an augmentation of access of SDR 6.6 million (about US$10.0 million). Strong policies have fostered economic growth, brightening Seychelles’ near-term outlook. A robust rise in tourism earnings in 2013 supported growth, as well as a reduction in the current account deficit as a share of GDP. The exchange rate strengthened slightly, at the same time as the central bank accumulated more international reserves than expected. Inflation decelerated below 5 percent, and the g...

She had negotiated her way out of tight situations before. But on a hot and cloudy afternoon in late November, the Seychelles police pounced. By that night Thandeka Nene – President Jacob Zuma's Nkandla homestead builder, mansion owner, lover of expensive cars and the finer things in life generally – was behind bars and seemingly out of options, accused of being a member "of an international fraud syndicate". Nene and two others (one thought to be South African and the other from Sierra Leone) now face charges of attempting an enormous, barefaced and surprisingly unsophisticated bank fraud that could, if they are convicted on charges that include forgery, earn them long jail terms. Police in the Seychelles say the syndicate approached BMI Bank on the islands to open new bank accounts that would be funded by what they said was €500-million in available funds held by HSBC Bank. This, apparently, came as a surprise to HSBC, which informed its Seychelles...

Vice President Danny Faure, took to the front lines before a teeth less gutless, National Assembly, to present a new pay scale ladder for the Public Sector and all government employees, civil servants and politicians alike on the heels of Christmas. Ladders and Scales   Mr. Faure announced a new system of ladders and scales to raise salaries. He defended the inclusion of political appointments posts, and elected posts to the civil service scale on the grounds that they too deal with high profile issues, pressures, physical and mental. He said that politicians too, need a certain level of caliber and qualification to do the job at hand and that should be reflected in the salary pay scales. To add insult to injury, to depoliticize the raising of political salaries once and for all, he said now that this is a law, the law changes in pay scales will be done by regulations in the future, so PL can avoid the SBC camera’s on the issue and the Public will likely not have a ide...

As Christmas draws near, we should all be in a festive mood. But many Seychellois are facing the struggles and pains of Five (5) years of IMF economic management of the SPPF PL economy. It is their economy, they bankrupted Seychelles, they ushered in the era of Black Market, they called IMF, and they raise their salaries 38% in 2008 and added a pension for life for Ministers and MNA’s alike, the People did not do all that. When the People of Seychelles suffered to the bone core between 2008-2013, in economic reform, the politicians had the easiest life doing little, but earning a lot. The people were called by Michel to over work and get under paid. He even ran adverts calling on us all to “Leve Debourye” . What makes PL think we have not been working under their failure all these years? The People of Seychelles must open their eyes to this great betrayal of raises and blame game. Why? Because they will do it again. Majority Suffers For Christmas Small Minority Enj...