The Saint Ange Tourism Report Special Edition Issue 17 with Zilwa Publications

Election message

Your vote in the 2020 elections allows our democracy to live another day.

If enough people cast their ballots this month, they are acting in solidarity with, and protection for, the most vulnerable people in our society – those who have been neglected woefully since the 2015 elections and left to fall beneath the poverty line.

It is time that politicians are forced to sit up and take notice of those whom they are seeking to SERVE, not rule over. For far too long, politicians have been complacent to do the bare minimum, with no one to hold them accountable.

Seychellois have a chance in the upcoming elections to hold them accountable for their non-performance and broken promises over the course of their past term in higher office. US claim it as an advantage that President Faure is equipped to continue in his role because he is the safe option. With him, there is certainty, according to US. They say that with any opposition party there can only be uncertainty.

While that may be true for others, with One Seychelles we categorically deny this attempt at fear-mongering. What US really means about the future being certain with them at the helm is that continued poverty, unemployment and increased costs of living are certainties. The privileged and the powerful shall continue to be catered to, at the expense of ordinary citizens. No innovative changes have been proposed and change is never embraced by this political camp. The picture that President Faure has painted for the foreseeable future for our Nation and for Seychellois is bleak, with him promising difficult times ahead as our economy continues to struggle.

It is in President Faure’s interests to paint a grim picture for our future. He has lowered the bar so much that people cannot expect much of him during the next five years, and he has instilled fear in his followers that change would be a fate worse than death for them and the Country. Why accept the future that he is offering? Particularly when many, many things can be done to change it and to alter the course?

Change for the sake of change, as one would likely get with the LDS camp, would do little to alleviate the bleakness of the future that has been promised by President Faure. This can be deduced from their superficial and markedly unsubstantiated policies and plans for the future. Their aim seems to be to win the elections, with little effort being spent on fleshing out their plans for leading the Country if they did actually win. They have done little to reassure ordinary citizens of their genuine intention to cater to the needs of the vulnerable members of society with the sheer number of privileged, wealthy and powerful individuals chosen to be featured in the Party’s PPBs. These people have come forward publicly with their support for this party for a reason.

We implore you to vote wisely in the upcoming elections. Vote for someone who actually has the political will to bring the necessary changes that the masses have, for decades, been crying out for. Rather than vote for an individual who has been in the ring for longer than anyone should be comfortable with, because he is the "safe" or "familiar" option, vote for the candidate that has brought well-developed and thought-out policies and plans to revive the tourism industry; to end favoritism and nepotism within Governmental appointments; to alleviate once and for all the out-of-control poverty plaguing the vulnerable members of society; to take a definitive stance on key issues and to actually follow through on their promises; to lower taxes and the crippling VAT to help businesses thrive; to re-structure and revamp the fisheries sector to make it more efficient (it is presently top-heavy); and to give the agriculture industry the needed boost to encourage more farmers to enter into, and remain within, the field; and to push for sustainable methods and practices within both the fisheries and agriculture sectors to promote food security for generations to come.

Consider whether a politician has the requisite temperament, capability, skillset, political will, experience and proven track record of bringing innovation and change to the Nation.

Consider his motives for entering the political arena and whether he is in it for the right reasons, even after all this time.

The fate of our Nation’s economy and the wellbeing of Seychellois lie with you. The most important people on election day are not the politicians on the ballot paper – the voters are!

They have the power to choose whether Government remains the same, whether things remain as they presently are for a further five years, whether the Nation signs up for more acts of favoritism and decisions that are taken in naked self-interest, or whether we end this hard and trying year with fresh leadership, fresh policies and a new approach to solving problems that other politicians have clumsily and hopelessly tried to grapple with for the past four years.

No one should have a monopoly on democracy.

STOP PRESS

Before his candidature was announced, he was called up to State House and informed his job security could not be guaranteed.

This morning, he awoke to find his family’s vehicle had been heartlessly and senselessly vandalised.

As pressure mounts and political parties realise they are losing key districts, should the public expect more acts of aggression and violence?

And what if those responsible for this vandalism, whether directly or indirectly, were actually elected into higher office?

Would they truly uphold their duty to work for the benefit of all Seychellois and the Republic?

We sincerely doubt it.

THEY SAVED THE BEST FOR LAST

1. Mr. Ramkalawan, a regular feature on the ballot paper for nearly 30 years (we note that Albert Rene was actively involved in politics for approximately 27 years, by contrast). He spent a lot of effort in the first Presidential debate trying to distance himself from Government and the system’s many failings, overlooking the fact entirely that the National Assembly is a main branch of Government, next to the Executive and the Judiciary. He also seemed deeply annoyed when Mr. St.Ange pointed out that he had not brought, during his four-year term in office, any Private Members’ Bill to alleviate poverty or to otherwise push the agendas now included in his party’s shiny new manifesto. He has widely polarized the voting population, with some of his own supporters confessing to be voting for the party, not the individual.

2. Mr. Faure is also not a few face on the political scene. Never having won a Presidential election himself before, it is the first time he appears on the presidential ballot paper. He infamously created ripples of unease in his founding party and its devout followers that had sustained former regimes when he tried to alienate himself from it and create an entirely new party (US). However, as elections drew nearer, he back-pedaled and sought their support once more. He advocates strongly for keeping the state of affairs as they presently are, and never misses an opportunity to paint a bleak picture of our future as a result of COVID-19. Fearmongering is his party’s calling card, touting "change" as scary and uncertain, and something to be wary of.

3. The best for last. Mr. St.Ange is a seasoned technician within the field of tourism, world renowned on the global scale for his innovative approaches to solving problems – something which earned him the appointment as President of the African Tourism Board and a spot on the ‘Project Hope’ taskforce to rebuild the Continent’s tourism industry. It also recently prompted his recognition internationally as a "tourism hero", particularly in sustainable tourism.

While Mr. Ramkalawan tried to allege in the Presidential debate that Mr. St.Ange’s experience within the public sector was a negative, it can only ever be a strength. Not only has Mr. St.Ange worked within, and experienced for himself the constraints, of Government, but he has also worked extensively within the private sector – an advantage over his competitors. Having experience in both sectors has helped him to sculpt his action plan moving forward, and makes him well-rounded as a candidate.

His expertise within the field of tourism cannot even be denied by rival camps. As politician Gervais Henrie himself stated in court on 7 June 2018: "No one can deny that St. Ange would have had a real chance at winning this [UNWTO] election. He [is] charismatic, energetic, friendly and [a] guy who get[s] things done. He has proven himself working tirelessly to get Seychelles Tourism on the world stage. Under his leadership in 2016 Seychelles welcome[d] over 300 000 tourist[s] which is a record…There were plenty of warnings that the [African Union] and Zimbabwe for that matter would not have take[n] Seychelles’ deception lightly but for Faure and his Cabinet to wait until the last minute while St.Ange was already in Madrid after a five month grueling campaign to pull the plug on his candidacy for the UNWTO’s top job shows a lack of long-term planning and that it is still standing in the dark. [Faure's] administration has totally blind sided and humiliated St.Ange at the same time has tarnish[ed] Seychelles reputation in Africa."

Seychelles desperately needs real change. With both green and red camps making the election pitch for "national unity", despite all their recent actions contradicting the notion, they seem to have lost sight of the fact that voters no longer trust politicians whose actions do not match their words.

One Seychelles did not enter the race for higher office to split the opposition vote. They came to change the culture of local politics, and to bring REAL CHANGE for Seychellois by taking the reins and saving our crumbling tourism industry, and our weak agriculture and fisheries sectors, by doing what no other political party can: they shall be giving effect to a technocrat-led government, comprising qualified Seychellois at the helm of their respective departments and ministries who have been selected on the basis of MERIT, and not favoritism or favor returning.

These technocrats hail from both sides of the political divide. Political persuasion shall no longer taint governmental appointments.

SBC Live | Second presidential debate – 16.10.2020

SBC Live | First presidential debate – 09.10.2020