President Danny Faure’s fourth live press conference |25 November 2017
‘I will finish my mandate’
Just over one year since he took over from James Michel as president, Danny Faure has once again said he wants to complete his mandate.
“Let me finish my mandate,” he told journalists during Thursday night’s fourth and last live press conference for the year.
Affirming that his calendar for next year is already complete, President Faure said: “I will honour my engagement and finish my mandate. I will work for the benefit of Seychelles. Some people want me to step down as president but let me assure them that whoever takes the post will not have a magic wand to solve all the problems we are facing. The work of a president is an enormous task. We need to build alliance and this is a golden opportunity for us to work together. I welcome critics as they help me to grow as a person and I will never do wrong to anyone,” said President Faure.
Air Seychelles’ future
As Air Seychelles’ partner Etihad Airways is also losing money, President Faure has spoken about a possible change of model for the local airline, adding that he does not foresee any problems for the staff for the upcoming three months.
Since the country adopted an open sky policy which is here to stay, Air Seychelles has been losing ground on other bigger airlines and the return of British Airways next year is making it even worse.
President Faure explained that “although Seychelles has been welcoming more tourists thanks to the increase in airlines coming to the country, this represents a real challenge for Air Seychelles. On December 10, Air Seychelles will meet with its partner Etihad Airways to study all options and discuss the way forward. I am confident that the Etihad board will take an important decision during their meeting. A change of model may be one of the options as we are living in a time of great competition. As long as the partnership with Etihad Airways stands, Air Seychelles will still be flying”.
The president also explained that Air Seychelles made some strategic mistakes lately by flying to Dusseldorf (Germany) and Durban (South Africa).
“I hope Air Seychelles has learned its lessons as there are consequences for all mistakes,” insisted President Faure who also pointed out that Seychellois who decide to join an aviation company should understand that this is a risky sector as competition is rife.
The president also pointed out that the next five years will be very good for the tourism sector and it is important for everyone to understand that tourism is our bread and butter.
No redundancy at STC
There won’t be any redundancy at the Seychelles Trading Company (STC) although the company has to revisit its mission.
The president explained that when he was the finance minister he was involved in restructuring the old Seychelles Marketing Board (SMB) to become the STB and at that time there were 300 workers.
“Now STC has 750 staff. All organisations have to bear in mind its size in relation to its mandate. STC’s role is to assure food security in the country, especially now with the many changes happening in the world. Therefore, Seychelles needs an organisation that is controlled by the government to act as a buffer,” said the president.
Respecting the professionals
Making reference to instances where members of the National Assembly have been tough on some Seychellois professionals and even asked them to resign, President Faure said “professionals deserve more respect”.
“We are a small country and cannot afford to lose professionals,” said the president who confirmed that he has not received any resignation letter from both secretary of state for foreign affairs Claude Morel and foreign affairs principal secretary Michelle Murray and that they are both working.
As for the foreign service allowance given to ambassadors, this is still being discussed and the president also explained that the workers who have left the foreign affairs department as a result of the internal changes have chosen the wrong forum to put forward their concerns.
Ill-discipline in schools
Talking about the issue of ill-discipline in schools, President Faure said “what is happening in schools is a reflection of what is happening at home”.
“We need to boost up the level of discipline in the country as a whole,” said the president who added that with the right programmes young people in Seychelles can be productive and stay away from trouble,” he said.
He even explained that putting children outside the classrooms will only help to make them roam the streets and become bandits.
The president has also asked all children to take their studies seriously, telling them that “they should not expect to gain something if they don’t work hard for it”.
He once again called on parents to take their responsibilities and not to tolerate any ill-discipline on the part of their children as it is their own children who will force them out of their own homes in the future.
Cost of living and workers’ welfare
When he touched on the cost of living and the workers’ welfare, President Faure said 54% of the labour force is expected to benefit with the new progressive income tax system and the 13th month salary.
And although several measures have been introduced but have not helped to lower the existing high cost of living, President Faure said the Central Bank of Seychelles has also done its part by loosening the monetary policy for more flexibility and he used the platform on Thursday night to call on banks, especially government-owned banks, to do more to help reduce the cost of living in the country.
The president also pointed out that the government has noticed an increase in consumption, meaning money is being lent for consumption purposes and that puts direct pressure on exchange rate.
“This has a direct impact on prices of goods and the cost of living. People need to invest more in assets and venture into business in the production sector,” said the president.
Exercising democratic and civil rights
After nurses, teachers and ordinary citizens marched peacefully onto Victoria to make known their concerns, President Faure said that Seychellois are today exercising their democratic and civil rights through peaceful protests.
“This is democracy in action and I will not interfere with that. However, I will only interfere if it disrupts the peace and safety of the country. Meanwhile, we should not develop a habit of taking to the streets to resolve all of our issues but we should instead explore all internal mechanisms to find solutions to our problems,” he said.