Seychelles, unique by a thousand bribes

A recent report by the Auditor General where investigations were done on the SPDF accounts revealed unorthodox practices that point in the direction of gross corruption within our armed forces, our foremost protector that these days are battling Somali Pirates at sea and protecting ourt outer islands. The same force seems to have quite a bit of its own pirate activity going on within its own ranks. Lack of documentation accounting for how and why SPDF funds have been used to buy buildings materials and electrical supplies without any building activity within the force has raised certain suspicions. An officer has also been recieving salary despite leaving the force and no longer being on the payroll list. Other cases were discovered, cases that could not be accounted for in addition to suspicions regarding conflicts of interest. Our army, SPDF, has in other words also joined the trend of corruption within the public sector.

Not so long ago, the Krejcir saga proved that corruption was evident within our Department of Immigration where an authentic false passport was issued to the Czech fugitive who already had a legally obtained Seychellois passport. With new identity, Jules Egbert Savy, all on a passport issued by Immigration through an officer who later got suspended, Krejcir left Seychelles and flew to South Africa via Madagascar, but was arrested upon arrival there where he seeked asylum and has stayed there since. The loss of Krejcir as a citizen with priveleged rights was convenient for the then SPPF government who no longer had use for his services(read: money), but an embarrasment caused by a scandal within immigration was quickly hushed down when the alledged corrupt officer was suspended from his job after many years of service, but no legal charges were made against him nor anyone else in immigration. The officer himself claims that he was used as a scape goat as the orders of making the 'authentic false' passport for J.E. Savy came from higher up in the ranks.

Our police force is another department of public service that has been cursed by corruption. The previous Chief Of Police, Waye Hive, resigned suddenly like lightning on a clear day and has kept a low profile ever since. Rumours say that one of the reasons why he resigned was that he was forced to do so by someone 'higher up' after failing to deal with criminals in his own family, more precisely his brother who is a known and reputated druglord in Seychelles. Several officers have also been reported to have been suspended from their positions, but none of the cases have been followed up by the media since the announcement.

Reports by a blogger claim that corruption has even reached our Health & Welfare system where the morgue in Victoria has become a good source of income for its workers each time a deceased is kept refrigerated whilst for example waiting for relatives living abroad to arrive for the burial. Refrigeration is free the first few days, but a price of SR 1000 is charged every suceeding day. Upon leave the workers are known to 'offer' a discount where the family(or the funeral agent) pays for a number of days whilst the books say the deceased was refrigerated for only one or two days. Refrigeration for up to a week or more is not uncommon for the dead with relatives travelling from far so such cases give a nice little earner for the workers, infact a good month's salary each time.

The list of corrupted offices, departments and ministeries goes on never seeming to take an end, but few are willing to talk about it let alone deal with it. With that, questions can be raised as to how corrupt we are as a nation at whole. If indeed corruption has reached our health and welfare system, would it be unfair to say that this corruption exists because we, the users and clients of these services, participate actively in keeping the wheel turning? A saying says 'no smoke without a fire', I say 'no fire without wood' and as long as wood is kept on being thrown on the fire it will keep on burning.

James Michel and his government has through the IMF been forced to take actions against corruption nad has to a certain extent shaken the tree and rotten apples have fallen down. Michel's problem now is not gatting an apple in the head, but rather straight in the face so shaking too hard can prove to be taboo, but shake too little and the IMF may end up shaking him instead. A difficult choice between two evils indeed and if falling rotten apples in the face is bad enough, falling snakes from the same tree could indeed do more harm to him. All happening in the Garden of Eden, unique by a thousand bribes.

Patrick X

E-mail: patrick_x@live.co.uk