ENOUGH IS ENOUGH: Corruption
We promised you a short series of “Enough is Enough” leading up to the October Presidential and National Assembly Elections so that you can better make up your mind on how to vote.
We will start with CORRUPTION because this is plaguing our country and affecting our lives, to the point where as we are seeing in this week’s paper that it can even cause us to pay much more for our essential services of Electricity and Water.
Corruption doesn’t need to accompany a career in Politics but it has become so entrenched in many people’s way of lives that it becomes a drug.And the saddest part is that both the Party in Government and the Opposition condone it, or turn a blind eye to it, and benefit from it.
And when they do, the man and woman in the street feel they are losing out so they also jump on the bandwagon.We don’t have to look too far back to see how rampant it has become, and we have always drawn your attention to it over the years.
A few weeks ago when we wrote extensively on how the “Fantastic 8” South African police officers, the pets of Police Commissioner Kishnan Labonte, are drawing between them 1 million rupees every month while the benefits and allowances are being cut.We warned that if benefits and allowances are cut then officers will most likely resort to Corruption and this is exactly what we saw last week with the three female officers extorting SCR2,500/-from a lady motorist, who in turn for her part encouraged Corruption by paying it.
And that dear readers, as we say in Seychelles “Sa i zis Bouton!”This week is no exception. When the Editor of this newspaper Ralph Volcere called PUC CEO Philip Morin to request an appointment to discuss Corruption allegations in the organisation he runs he declined, but we know that there was panic at PUC where many people were rushing around trying to cover tracks.
And we also know that when a service provider deliberately pays more for the services it requires such as construction, where prices are inflated for kickbacks, where else do they recover the money but from their customers –through the Electricity and Water bills that Seychellois pay.
This week we also saw the wrangling of COSPROH (the Seychelles Parastatal that owned several hotels on Mahe and Praslin) exposed in a presentation to the TRNUC and the truth has yet to come out about who is the real owner of the Fisherman’s Cove and what maneuvers he did to own it. But come out it will!We have not even touched on what’s going on at the Ministry of Employment, and at the Passport Office, and at other places…….
…….but we have some 11 more weeks to go before you cast your vote.
