Seychellois Facing Big Challenges!
The Seychellois work force is facing big challenges in modern Seychelles. The country is the richest country per capita in Africa and has abandoned rank and file of the least economically developed countries, middle developed countries and joined ranks with First World Nations as a " Advanced Developed Nation".
Advanced Developed Nation
Per capita income exceeds $18,000.00 per year, it is nearing $ 20,000.00 per annum within the year or following year. This flag of success is daunting, but not all Seychellois are part of the success equation. The government led by left leaning SPPF promulgated a heavy social welfare package for over 20 years, socializing medicine and Healthcare, free elderly care to all, regardless of actual need, free education, pampering pupils with free lap tops, many were used for games, free bus passes, many were used for frolics, to get to booze bashes on the beaches frequented by international tourists. As in all socialist utopia, abuse has surfaced in all sectors, to the point it is now straining national growth, and capital expenditure projects and the Seychelles success story is now being challenged.
Enter Le Pep
Name change Le Pep under James Michel curried the abuse stewed over 12 more years, to garner political support, insure survival, and keep the public eye off him. Now the social welfare has gone in over drive, after Danny Faure has inherited Michel' s social welfare legacy of entitlement without the productivity and seriousness needed to run a Nation - State enforced by Rene and Mancham in the past.
Chaos looms on the horizon, unless President Faure can reel in the social welfare abuse, initially implemented to curtail historical abuse, which now has now become its own system of abuse on ourselves.
Twelve Months Work One Month Holiday
Workers in Seychelles enjoy an incredible 30 days paid annual holiday for each 12 months of work. In Japan workers get 5 days off per year. In USA, workers get 7 days per year. In Socialist France, 21 days and that has destroyed productivity in this fledging European state that once was a world contender in productivity.
13 th Month Salary Disaster!
Recently, the National Assembly passed the 13 th month salary, giving workers another entitlement for another 30 days pay without work productivity. This ridiculous measure has cause the private sector to loose trust and confidence in the opposition and the ruling party alike. The measure warns IMF, is reckless costing Seychelles 3% of her annualized Gross Domestic Product ( GDP). Ministry of Employment Minister Wallace Cosgrow could not have inherited a bigger headache. The country's work force is binge drinking on beaches and partying all year, leading to slow depreciation of the Seychelles Rupee and inflation Spurs caused by flex in Demand Curve for booze,
other soft items Indian merchants peddle. Without any price control in place, Indian merchants are making a killing at the expense of the Seychelles economy, many reinvesting in mother India. Foreign investors are weary of the labor laws and unreliable work force, hence pulling potential FDI which is 25% of the annual national budget. Without FDI, the Seychelles success story will be reversed.
64000 Seychellois Travel
Seychelles with a population of 87,000 people, has 64000 travelers per year on out bound flights. The numbers are staggering, but also alarming. When combined with the 12 month annual leave, 13th month salary, Seychellois will binge travel over seas, draining banks of hard earned dollars and euros, causing further rupee depreciation, further inflation, and reduce the national reserves. The Governor of the Central Banks' wishful and reckless logic that people should save their 13 month salary has fallen on death ears. Why should you save the 13th month salary if you did not earn it? Her logic defies reason.
Seychellois are known to be aggressive shoppers when over seas. Governor Abel stayed silent when she should have been sounding the economic fire alarm for the Nation, as the National Assembly plant ether seeds to destroy our monetary and fiscal policies. Now the commercial bankers want her head because she has allowed the seeds to be sown that will derail the sound monetary policy up until now.
Add Insult To Injury
To add insults injury to this rapidly darkening picture, Seychelles has 17 public holidays which workers are paid double.17 plus 17 equals 34 paid days. Nuts. To top up the welfare orgy to stay in power, or seek power as the case may so apply, we have 30 days paid sick leave. No one works on Monday expect foreign workers, 25% of the labor force. How can you justify a 13th month salary with all this sick leave?
From Success of Africa To Failed State
The reserves are dropping. We have no plan for food security when USA bombs North Korea or Syria next month and the Indian Ocean shipping lanes are blockaded.
Unless President Danny Faure musters the courage to change the course of this ship of state, Africa's success story in the Indian Ocean is heading towards a financial disaster. This........we cannot accept, ever!
My advise: chart your own fiscally serious course Mr. President, do not follow Michel or Ramkalawan. This will allow you to place the monetary policy back on track. You will earn the RESPECT of all Seychellois!
Sesel Pou Seselwa!
May God Bless All Freedom Loving Seychellois!
5 comments:
LDS pushed the 13 month salary. Le pep followed.
Now it is back firing.
Who to blame?
true.
Public holiday---costs and benefits.
Assesssing the cost of a public holiday on the economy is trickythere is no easy relationship between having a holiday and the Rate of GDP:while many see punlic holidays purely as a financial cost ,they can however boost certain industries.Some businesses in the hospitality businesses.retails sectors stand to benefti as workers spend their holidays shopping.eating out etc.et..Moreover,public holidays can have important individual,community and cutltral benefits;which ar hard to measur.
DOWNsides:WAITING FOR A MONEY TRASFER,FINALIZING AN OFFICLA PROCEDURE OR HAVING TO DEPEND ON LOCAL SERVICES FOR AN UNFI^NISHED WORK,MIGHT BE EVEN MORE FRUSDTRATING WHEN HOLIDAY BECOME AN OBSTACLEnote::MOST HOLIDAYS IN SEYCHELLES ARE reLIGIOUS .INGRAINED IN SEYCHELLOIS CULTURE,TRADITION AND BELIF FOR CENTURIES ,,WOULD NOT BE EAsy to get them give away these religous holidays.
Thus it is difficult to quantify thwe SOFT benefit of Public holidays.Overal,what can be said is that there are likely to be Winners and Losers,when it comes to the impact of public holidays on businesses and economy.
Having said that,in the context of Seychelles what we need to ask is:do we need all these public holidays which seem too generous or decadent by world standards?For nstance .GOOD FRIDAY and the Constitutional holiday could scraped.especialy when there are too many close together and people take annaul leave to BRIDGE over some of the holidays which can lead to losss of mementum and contribute toweakenng of economic performance.
PRODUCTIVITY:it is time to tackle unemployment in that spirit as Eunstien said"we can not solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them"First,we must adopt the right mindset,positive in outlo0ok ,in ambition.For optimism stems not from denying change but from recognizing the possibilites it present.
There must be a new policy designed to give seychellois priority over Expats in the job market,while at the same time reduce the aCTUAL 25 PERCENT OF EXPATS LABOUR FORCE IN OUR COUNBTRY,NBOT ONLY TO FULFILL THESE POSTIONS BY UNEMPLOYED SEYCHELLLOIS BUT KEEPING IN MIND THAT EACH YEAR HUNDREDS OF NEW sEYCHELLOIS JOB SEEKERS COME TO THEW JOB MARKETS FROM SCHOOLS AND THE PRBOLEMS OF AGINF POPULATION.....wE MUST RECOGNIZE THAT THOUGH EXPATS ARE USUALLY SERVED TO VOERCOME THE LABOUR SHORTAGE IN THE SEYCHELLES CONSTRCUTION MARKET,OVER-DEPENDECY ON EXPATS INDUCED HAVE BECOME A SERIOUS SCOIOECONOMIC PROBLEMS FOR OUR LAND.iT HAS CREATED A culture of dependency rather then helping to strengthen the system on outside assisitance ,that is why organization should pit training at the heart of what they do.
Moreover,Productivity can be attained through adequate lelvels of earnings,higher job security,higher education and life-long training ,including on the job training,good working conditions---a state of healthy working environemnt,an approach balalnce and job autonomy aND GREATER EMP'LOEEE PARTICIPATION AND EMPOWERMENT,INCLUDING SOCIAL DIALOGUE AND BETTER WORK-LIFR AND GENDER BALANCE.tHESE CAN STRENGTHEN HUMAN CApital formation ,including firm-specific human capital and increase motivation ,committment and efort.
Unemploment has deep roots.Combating it requires us to challenge conventional wisdom:by removing where possible disincentives to hire and to work,by ramping up apprenticship and mnetoring(A dual vocational education system could acheive that effectively at low cost and rapidly)
Finally .govt should remove barriers to job creation.Employers taxes ,for instance, increase the cost of employing someone ,if we want to boost emloyment,there must be smarter ways to riase revenue than taxing jobs.For instance,govt could rethink the Corporate tax...thus it is applicable only if profits are distributed..e.g in the case of the distribution of dividends.But,if the profits are lent out,reinvests,to recrute a new empoyee etc..etc. this will create excellent trading income as retained earnings can be lent out ,reinvested else where.
ON HEAlthcare ..employees should be made to pay a Healthcare insurance .....on their 13th monthl salry very< year to spomsor our health system and keep it sutainable .......
Or patience shounce pay from their pocket any medication cost lower than let us say ,Sr 200 ...
Above this ,let us say ,up to 1000 rupee the different is taken by patiences health insurance ...
Public Holidays
Many of the public holidays are political in nature and can be cancelled. These holidays are paid for in full bye private sector. It is immoral to over burden the private sector with a high number. Public holidays. A compromise needs to be struck, after all we all agree our work force is under productive and foreign workers do not come here for public holidays. Ten public holidays a year is more then reasonable.
Productivity
The battle for productivity is lost in our schools. Our students in public schools are ill inform, I'll advise of what the real world entails beyond their school and their homes.
Health Care
The abuse of the system is clear enough. Policies need to be reeled in to curb abuse..
Sick Leave
Is simply an abuse and tax on employer. It is a one party ensign. 7 days I sick leave is acceptable. If si after 7 days, pension or social welfare must kick in. Another tax on employer, another cost to doing business not fairly imposed on a employer when employees today window shop, change jobs often.
A nonsensical approach to resolving these issues is necessary.
If we have any pride left in us as a people, we must accept that we must become the most productive sector of the economy, not the least performing, with the biggest mouths, and biggest ideas on how to spend others money.
Sesel Pou Seselwa!
Christopher Gill
Even the richest countries such AS norway.Süden.switzerland etc. Make their citizens contribute to the country by taxing Themafor healthcare etc..and we small country with limited resources and a growingpopulation.aging population our citizens gegeht everything for free Come pl.
Citizens should all pay a one paymrnt annually for their health to Städte and that by deducting a percentage for their 13th monthly salary pl n LDS.......
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