Restore Seychellois sovereignty |06 February 2018

The current use of Assumption Island by the Indian government for military purposes has already compromised the sovereignty of the Seychellois nation. Now the idea of leasing Assumption Island on a long term basis to the Indian government to build a naval base will turn the situation into a violation of Seychelles sovereignty. Our government owe the people of Seychelles a moral and legal obligation to ensure the safety and well-being of our nation and obtain the consensus of the people before going any further with their plans. Just because Wavel Ramkalawan went to India to establish his roots and just because we have allowed Indian entrepreneurs to settle in Seychelles and we have lived together in harmony and there is money in the offering, are not good enough reasons for our government to compromise and violate our sovereignty. If they continue down that path the people of Seychelles will legally challenge the government for their planned misdemeanours.

Presidential immunity

Our Supreme Court has ruled that our President is immune from liability for civil damages based on his official activities but he is not immune from criminal charges. Violating our sovereignty is a criminal act in anybody’s law book and can be challenged in the local courts and if the local Judiciary is found to be wanting in any way, then the matter can be taken to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the United Nations Council. Our presidents past and current owe a fiduciary duty of care to the people of Seychelles to preserve and protect our heritage as a nation and if the President is unsure of his grounds then he should consult the people through a referendum especially if the subject matter is so controversial. Presidents come and presidents go, some are good and some are bad but the sovereignty of a nation cannot be decided by one man and his Cabinet because their decision will have dire consequences on our generations to come well after we have taken leave of this life form.

Presidents do not enjoy immunity from prosecution because we no longer live in a world of the legal maxim of “rex non protest pecarre” meaning the “King can do no wrong”. James Michel when he was our President, under our Constitution, had no authority bestowed upon him to negotiate our sovereignty with the Indian government or any government for that matter without first consulting the people. He did so and now we are experiencing what the word “take-over” means to different people. The use of Assumption Island by the Indian naval personnel was not his decision to take alone neither with the agreement of his Cabinet. Members of the Cabinet have no mandate to negotiate our sovereignty without the consensus of the Seychellois people because they are not elected by the people, they are hand-picked by the President but even if they were elected by the people, they still have no mandate to negotiate our sovereignty. In so doing they have allowed a foreign nation to occupy part of our sovereign territory and this ambit does not form part of their appointment criteria. In my opinion they have aired on the side of committing a crime singularly and severally. It is now the preserve of President Faure and our current members of the executive to reverse this ill-conceived misdemeanour. The Indian government, with due respect, must now vacate Assumption Island and take with them their equipment and restore Assumption Island to its original and natural state as our jurisdiction and under our control. The day the Indian government military personnel landed on Assumption Island they committed an Act of War and we know what that means and just because we are a small nation others should not take advantage of us.

Taking a lesson from history

Going back to Romans times the Roman Emperors exercised their absolute power in such a situation because they believed they were not bound by any laws and during medieval Europe the feudal aristocracy did the same until the people started to object at the loss of their sovereignty. In Law the government is expected to observe “de jure” which are legally recognised practices which do not violate the citizens’ rights especially in modern day scenarios where territories are being defended with the threat of nuclear war, God forbid the world ever goes down that route to resolve sovereignty matters. All parties must put conservation at the top of their agenda and we Seychellois are proud to boast that 30% of our land mass is given over to conservation then we go and do such a stupid thing and want to place a military base only 705 miles from Victoria. It is bad enough we have not made preparations for us to survive a tsunami now we invite the opportunity for foreign military wars to be fought on our territory. What kind of nation are we?

At least Mr H. Savy in 1908 used Assumption Island to grow coconut trees and when guano, created by nature with our abundance of bird life proved more profitable, Mr Savy switched to cultivating this natural gift from our Lord. He did not destroy our environment. When the Americans tried to negotiate a military base on Assumption we told them “no Amigos” because Assumption forms part of our natural Unesco protected group of islands which includes Aldabra, our most precious conservation heritage. Now our government has seen it fit to go against the people’s will and allowed some foreign entity to occupy our sovereign territory just for the sake of a few dollars. We the Creole first nation of Seychelles must ask the Indian government to please vacate Assumption Island because we know that once we make one iota of concession the next thing is we will be taken over by India the way it happened in Mauritius.  Sorry this will not happen in this lifetime.

Seychelles Civil Society (SCS) hereby demand that our government requests the Indian government to vacate Assumption and “ad statum restituere”(rerestore it to its original state) and that way the Creole nationals can live in peace and harmony with all our Indian friends and colleagues who have settled here and are doing very nicely, thank you.

Contributed by:

Barry Laine FCIM, FInst SMM, MCMI, MBSCH

Seychelles Civil Society

Disclaimer:

The views expressed in this article are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Seychelles NATION newspaper