The last Presidential Elections witness the forming of a new party in the opposition, the break away party of former SPPF ministers Alliance Party, led by Patrick Pillay. The Seychelles National Party, led by Wavel Ramkalawan remained in place steadfast, in spite of the duplicity of character of its leadership. The people in the opposition did not care about details.
Welcome To The Opposition!
On the forming of Alliance Party, a man contacted me and ask me not to attack the new party. I replied: " I have no issue with the new party, if they decided to break away from SPPF, it was not easy I am sure, and it will not be easy, I interjected. They will not need me making their life harder. "
At one point, I wrote an article welcoming these players to the opposition. Later, they had their fair share of brutal incidents to report to us: 1. Telephone calls in the night, 2. Dogs being poisoned, 3. Threats, 4 Patrick Pillay had a charge drummed up on him, by a Sri Lankan boy helper, who was terminated from employment. He was flown back to Seychelles, stayed in fine hotels, received fine meals, and was bustled about by his lawyer.
Normal, Normal, Normal
All these incidents Mr. Patrick Pillay reported are totally " normal" for anyone raising the bar in the opposition. This is the ordinary course of business in opposition affairs.
Unfortunately, such attacks tend to make leaders and their supporters bitter and revengeful. At times, such action can foment violence, calls to violence, ridicule, brash counter responses. It is after a normal and ordinary reaction.
Rap A Song: " Pil Lo Li"!
Ras Ricky, a rap star who has over 500,000 views of his you tube dances in Mauritius and has a popular following in Seychelles came up with this" Pil Lo li" song. This rap is played everywhere, in discos, bars, cars, and people go nuts, taking out their frustrations by dancing to the song. Is is normal? Yes. Should PL make it a big deal? No. They should ignore it. In time, it will like all songs loses popularity.
But is the song offensive? To the person who thinks the song refers to him, of course. But what is the point? Well, the point is this: in a Democracy, we must at times tolerate others as they make fun of us, particularly if you are a Public Figure. By tolerating others, even with their bad speech, you empower yourself. Crush their speech, you crush the Democracy, and destroy your image as a democratic leader.
It is a tough call, but that is leadership, making tough calls.
Should Pillay Encourage a The Song?
I believe it will be hard to initiate dialogue for National reconciliation, while we " Pil Lo li". The song is counter productive to the peace and dialogue in Seychelles. While many in the opposition will find it funny, I find the consequence of no dialogue between the parties as no laughing matter. In a phrase, we have chartered our country way way off course.
We need to get back on track, restore civility, and remember, in the opposition, the challenge is not to just expose the Ruling Party, it is also to handle ourselves, and our supporters in an exemplary manner, if we are to be considered a legitimate alternative.
A prisoner was beaten day and night for many years, as he remained chained to a wall. He prayed for mercy to The Lord. One day, he was set free by his beaters, they told him, now we are done with you, your government has paid for your release. He replied to his beater: " May God Have Mercy on You". Story of a prisoner of War in Vietnam.
It is by pardoning your enemies for their trespass that you are given new life. In Seychelles, we cannot start to think about Pardon, because in Seychelles, we do not even speak to each other.
Time to grow up folks! You are all playing with the future of our people.
Sesel Pou Seselwa!
May God Bless All Freedom Loving Seychellois!
7 comments:
An eye for an eye will leave the whole world blind- Jesus Christ
Like a n unckecked cancer,hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity.Darkness can not drive out darkness,only light can do thst.Hate canot drive out hate,only love can do thst.
Dissent and debate should be part of political battle.
Seeing the Opposition engage in a hatred battle with pl,does not make the Opposition as part of the solution in the eyes of many Seychellois but part of the problem.It makes us tend to believe the opposition choose such tactics because they lack the preparation needed for nationsl positions.Haters never win,negative energy always costs in the end.They become losers,and it is not good to feed this aspect...it is surely more intellligent to be constructive.
The opposition must not follow inthe footsteps of pl,but instead refrain from hate politics and promote the best interests of the country...and hate is surely not an interest.
If u hate ur enemies,u will contract such a vicious habit of mind,as hatred is a mind of narrow souls,they feed it wizh all meanness.
I call on u notvto hate,brcause it donot leave space for u to be fair and it makes u blind and chose all doors of logic thinking.
Hate must not be an extra motivation factor to fight pl,for it is a bad stragety,it is not a thought leadership but symbiotic parasites.
Be urselves guys,not a pl copycat.......it is bringing political embarassment for the opposition.
The 13 th month policy advocated by SNP in its manifesto is a perfect example of negative energy swallowing the Opposition.
PL has taken this bad policy and is now implementing it thinking it will help them retain votes.
Pl and SNP fault, and did not reflect carefully to see the proposal will clearly violate Article 27 of the Seychelles Constitution, The Equal Protection Clause, which guarantees that all persons ( which includes body corporate) are subject to equal and non discriminatory treatment. The 13 th month Salary is a highly discriminatory policy, government over steps it's position as facilitator and becomes accountant for private sector and manager.
Many will not afford to make these payments.
One hotel I spoke to that has 100 workers and 30 rooms, says this proposal in real terms will take his 980,000.00 salary bill per month and bring it to near SCR. 2 Million. What about maintenance of the hotel? What about bank debt? The Tourism Industry works well for 6 months a year, and accumulates debt the remaining period of low months. The policy will be struck by the courts, bring further embarrassment to PL and yes even SNP.
We need politicians to be serious, make serious proposals. We need dialogue to avoid populist blunders that will leave Seychelles suffering.
What we need to do is address poverty. Raise the minimum wage is the correct thing to to. My company has been paying well above this wage for years. Implement Night Classes to improve qualifications of our employees, this will increase their earning power. Implement Life Courses to show them how to spend money, budget for a family, set goals , share family vision, so everyone in a family know where they come from, where they are, where they are going, how will they get there.
A country cannot be left to drink and booze, drug, party all year long and government expect productivity and increase real GDP.
We need responsible and serious leadership decision making to keep Seychelles on the right track, as we face a potential World Recession.
Remember from experience, the good times never last long.
Sesel Pou Seselwa!
Christopher Gill
There is no ILO Convention on 13 Month salary. It is all BS.
Minimum wage there is a convention on it.
What a mad house.
The main problem that a 13th monthly causes to private sector is that it becomes a financial durben for them.It would need govt to review the tax system in place to ensure that the 13th salary does not kill businesses..For instance cancel the CRS Tax,.....Reduce VAT while imposing a ,let say,to 3% Imcome tax on employees 13th monthly salary.
Introduce a CARBON TAX,it will concern 70% of seychellois car owners,....much more contributors than sucking on businesses always.
Tax i.crease of imported goods avalailable locally such as fish,vegetables,fruits.......so that farmers and fishermen who are self employed can generate a sure revenue,therefore their own 13th monthly salary.
Higher tax on house complexes solely built to be rent to GOPS.....
In anothers, free businesses from being government sources of all its revenues,but instead find more balance taxes that affect the majority in society ,thus equal contribution to the country.......in order to stop the unequal govt dependency on businesses to finance all it policies.....and dito stop the endemic belief that state must give everything for free without all citizen contrbution and that living on state charity is neither productive nor szstainable in the 21st century.
This article could not come at a better time.
Have you seen the in fighting on Seychelles daily?
This highlights the need for more dialogue and reasonable posture.
Mr. Gill is correct on this line.
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