The mythical “kingdom” that makes up almost half of Seychelles
Imagine living on a group of small islands where there are two Presidents –one for the country and another for some of the islands within the group. One set of rules applies to the country but a different set of rules applies to the smaller group of islands.
The ministries and agencies that serve the main country do not have any authority on the smaller group of islands because they fall under the aegis of a body corporate with its own rules.
The islands in this smaller group were supposed to be developed for agriculture to help feed inhabitants of the main country but they have ended up hosting exclusive resorts for the rich and famous, and you as resident of the main country can hardly afford to go there, let alone step ashore. However, things has change slightly over the last few years. That second President has his own equivalent of a Cabinet of Ministers in the form of a Board of Directors and at the snap of his fingers enjoys the use of luxury boats, a private jet and luxury villas on these islands.Sounds like an exclusive group of islands in the Arabian Sea ruled by a rich Sheikh? Sounds like a fantasy place that you’re envious of and where you would like to be adopted as a citizen?
This place is Seychelles, fellow blind Seychellois. Wake up and smell the seaweed on our shores.This fictitious sounding yet real place –is our own country–was described last week by Seychellois Anthony Derjacques in a brilliantly set-out and clear expose to the Truth Reconciliation and National Unity Commission.
This privileged group of islands to which Derjaques was referring are of course the ones run by the Islands Development Corporation (IDC) with “head of state” Glenny Savy and his “cabinet” aka Board of Directors. The leader of the Opposition; Honorable Wavel Ramkalawan as chairperson of the Island Committee in the National Assembly had promised a report on the outer islands since three years, nothing has come of it. The IDC board comprises Chairman Patrick Berlouis, CEO Glenny Savy, and members Veronique Antat, Patrick Lablache, Sherin Renaud, Willy Confait, Christian Lionnet, Angele Lebon and Denis Matatiken –mostly current or former government civil servants.
It is to be noted that it has long been customary in Government for the CEOs of Government companies and Parastatals to choose their own boards for appointment by the President, and that these are generally chosen based on their disposition not to ask many questions to the CEO].And as if the Kingdom of IDC was not enough, with such jewels in the crown as Desroches, Platte, Cosmoledo, Alphonse, was not enough, the main government has just handed over to it Coetivy Island where we are told to expect another Prawn Farm project at perhaps no small cost for good measure.Although we have returned to multi-party democracy, the SPUP turned SPPF turned Parti Lepep turned currently United Seychelles (US) have kept using state structures to retain power and control, says Derjaques.
He said: “IDC was created under the Companies Act, and as such is neither a parastatal nor a Government institution. This means that the Sovereignty of Seychelles and the democratic institutions of the country does not cover half of our territory.
“The concept of IDC started off by being part of the Development Plan of Seychelles where emphasis was going to be on Agriculture and Fishing but it has become corrupted into being a place for high quality tourism and mostly in the hands of foreigners.“Instead of our Ministries and instruments of state being able to have oversight on these islands, like they have on say an island such as La Digue, in the case of IDC it’s all controlled by a nominee, a CEO (Glenny Savy) who has been there for 40 plus years”.
Lawyer Derjacques went to great lengths to explain how Seychellois are, to all intents and purposes, living in the Second Republic whilst being in the Third Republic. The Flag and National Anthem have changed, but in many ways the Seychellois people are still living in post-Coup d’états mode, he intimated, since many of these structures were created post 1977 in order to keep as much of Seychelles as possible under the control of the State.So, as Derjacques pointed out to the Commission, from AlbertRene to James Michel to Danny Faure through the “pas baton” succession the island-flavoured Communist teachings of Marx and Engels has survived the test of time, sometimes unnoticed by the Seychellois people who are about to head to the critical Electionsin October.
And in case you blinked and missed there was a time not so long ago when the Kingdom of IDC, the Kingdom of our skies in the form of Air Seychelles, our national airline, and the kingdom of everything to do with promoting and marketing Tourism to Seychelles were all in the hands of Glenny, David and Francis Savy –three brothers from the same immediate household of France Albert Rene, the benevolent Socialist and savior of the Seychellois people.
