The people of Seychelles seek the Truth and Justice |23 May 2018

We are Seychelles Civil Society (SCS) an NGO specifically created to ensure our citizen’s rights are not violated and if they are violated then we will engage in the necessary actions for remedy. Tourists perceive Seychelles to be Paradise on Earth but to some of us it is Hell on Earth. Some people have lost their possessions, their family has been dispersed all over the world and now all they have left is a little dignity sufficient to find the truth. There are in the region of around 30,000 Seychellois and their descendants living overseas who were unlawfully dispersed because they did not agree with the Communist ideology 40 years ago and now the time has come for the truth to be told and for reconciliation to take its course and closure achieved. The victims do not seek revenge nor retribution, they want the truth told unadulterated and undisturbed by politicians and they will decide whether forgiveness is the answer. We are still reeling in our Marxist era indebtedness with approximately US $400 million of external debt and a R10 billion domestic debt accumulated by Treasury Bills issued by the government. We, the people of Seychelles, own our country and the debts which a political party creates has to be repaid by that political party, this is called Odious Debt.

By contrast America is running a US $21 trillion debt which Trump keeps reminding the American people. However there is a big difference between America with 325.7 million people and enough food to feed all of them and Seychelles with 94,000 people and no food security, everything has to be imported which means if there is a crisis we get affected quickly and severely. This is why people are getting so angry with the revelations in the National Assembly and in newspapers that the rich echelon of our society have awarded themselves acres of prime land for R1.00 and resold some of the land for millions and lined their pockets. Many high ranking government officials are involved in these land deals and more names will be revealed in due course. These are crimes against humanity and the punishment if the land is not returned whether resold or not is imprisonment. Some of these pieces of land were confiscated from people in opposition at the time of the Coup D’état and sold for a song to friends, colleagues and relatives or given to their children. Acres of the Mont Blanc National Park were carved up, purloined and awarded to the children of those in power at the time and now these pieces of land must be returned.

It is a sad state of affairs when you consider that 40% of our population live below the poverty line and some mothers who come to my clinic tell me that some nights they do not eat because they have to save the food for the children to take to school the next day. We have to ask ourselves what the hell is going on. The Coup D’état was supposed to create Equality and Egality. The land confiscated was supposed to be distributed to the poorer people so that they could own a piece of their country but what really happened was the confiscated land was distributed among the rich and high ranking officials and their families and the poor people did not benefit from the Coup D’état. The Coup D’état did not create a level playing field for the Seychellois people and now the politicians want to choose their own Judge and Jury for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) to protect their buddies, well it’s too late the cat is out of the bag and the truth will be told come what may.

Copying South Africa’s Model of TRC

We believe and we can prove that the National Assembly Committee on Truth Reconciliation and Unity have copied South Africa’s TRC model as if what happened in Seychelles can be compared with what happened in South Africa. It is amazing how deceptive and destructive some politicians can be and how they lie to save their skin or cover up their actions and the higher you go in our society the more vociferantem (vociferous) they attempt to hide their misdemeanours. The National Assembly Committee proposes to bring in two foreigners to sit on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission as if foreigners understand our culture better than us or have any idea what happened to some of us. Some of our politicians have lost their marbles and are using the little power they have gained recently via the National Assembly’s slim majority of LDS to show how thoughtless they can be. Do foreigners really care about the way our people felt when they were banished from their home, killed, tortured, raped and disappeared into thin air and their land confiscated and shared among friends? The politicians also want to hold the hearings behind closed doors in secret to protect their friends and they want to give legal powers to a bunch of hand-picked associates and colleagues on the Commission so that they can abuse our due process of law. Look at what is happening to the Anti-corruption Commission, whose members were hand-picked by politicians to be their Judge and Jury, what progress have they made? They are printing leaflets, going into schools to teach the kids, chasing the small fish like the Judo Association and doing nothing about the serious crimes committed by senior high ranking officials which involve millions of rupees. What about the Land Tribunal again hand-picked by politicians to hide the amount of land they acquired illegally? Come on we may be poor but we are not stupid. Our sister NGO, Seychelles Truth Reconciliation and Peace Platform (STRPP) have researched this subject for two years and what happened in 51 countries and they will shortly be holding another public seminar for the public to voice their opinion because our politicians have failed us once again and they have not learnt their lesson on Assomption Island calamity.

Can the Judiciary deliver Justice?

People are asking us to explain to them what on Earth is happening to our Judiciary? The acting Chief Justice Judge Karunakaran has been suspended and now the Chief Justice Mathilda Twomey is being investigated and they say in order to achieve fairness they are bringing two people from overseas to participate in the investigation but what about when we, the ordinary people, have to go in front of Seychellois judges who may have a grudge against our family, what then? Is this fair and just or is it something we have to “lump it”? Some of our Judges are very fair and firm and they can see when a shenanigan is being played in their court room by the lawyers. It is unfortunate that a few young lawyers play on their mobile phone when important evidence is being given in court and one particular lady lawyer giggles and jokes with her colleagues throughout the court proceedings. Apart from not listening to the evidence their behaviour is unprofessional and mores malos (bad manners) because a court room is a place of respect and the judge is in absolute control of what happens in his/her courtroom. Lawyers put forward their cases but they do not tell the judge what to do.

Throughout history and to this day, the rich and powerful have attempted to “buy” justice in return for money, favour or sex. Sometimes sex is more attractive than money especially to those who already have money. Alternatively some rich folks and some people in high positions believe that they can employ high powered and expensive lawyers to defend their mala fide (bad faith) actions but the truth cannot be changed or altered by expensive lawyers, they can try to bend the truth but they cannot change the truth because wrong is wrong and right is right and it will be so for as long as we have a nose on our face, to put it politely. Furthermore some seasoned lawyers have been seen bullying younger and newer lawyers which is also not acceptable. We have some excellent lawyers but some folks tell us that they have paid their lawyer a sum of money and they have been waiting for 6, some say 8 years, and they have not heard a dicky bird from their lawyer. This is not acceptable because in most of these cases the people involved are older folks who are scared to challenge their lawyer.

Unfortunately too many lawyers in Seychelles give poor customer service and it is time for them to wake up because lawyers from overseas will come into Seychelles and reduce the amount of butter on their bread. Last week three lawyers were heard conversing in Hindi in Palais de Justice Lobby. Well competition gives the consumer an advantage. It seems Seychellois lawyers are overwhelmed with work so let us bring in some foreign lawyers to handle the back log and give customers a better service. What about the creaking metal benches that the People’s Republic of China (PRC) kindly installed in every court rooms? They creak and squeak and sometimes make hearing what someone is saying in court difficult especially when the microphones are not working properly?  What about the water log on the side of the entrance to Palais de Justice? This is an ideal breeding ground for mosquito larvae to hatch as guano from the pigeons provide the ideal breeding conditions for new born mosquitos to emerge and accelerate the spread of diseases. We rest our case.

Contributed by:

Barry Laine FCIM, FInst SMM, MCMI, MBSCH

Disclaimer:

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