Of Development Policy and Our Best Interest

I read with interest, the “Open letter from Minister Jacquelin Dugasse to Regar on planning and land issues “ of Seychelles’ Nation’s Letter to the Editor, 06.04.2010.

Perhaps Minister Dugasse was too taken up denouncing Regar’s cavalier reporting, to allow himself a moment of frankness. When has he, or any other of his colleagues of the Cabinet or Chief Executives of the Public Service, ever been forward with truthful and straight-forward responses to queries from the local political opposition on matters of public concern?

Admittedly, Regar, can most often be faulted over its enthusiastic dedication as the mouthpiece of the local political opposition rather than making any pretence at ethical journalism. But then, one has to factor in that Regar functions in a climate of partisan politics in which matters of public concern are managed by the Executive, the Public Service and Government (all in the unyielding hands of the ruling party) on the merit of their political impact. There is too often a marked paucity of information on any matter that could cause mud to be thrown at the Government. Never mind that this is supposed to be a Government of the people, by the people and for the people or that we were promised Accountability, Transparency and Good Governance!

To his credit, on the matter of the Sheikh’s mountain-top development proposal, Minister Dugasse steered clear of exercising the priviledge of his office and ruling on the case under Section 10 of the Town and Country Planning Act (1976).
That, in itself seems to be a loud suggestion that the development proposal was a hot potato which the Sheikh could have done well not to present the Government with.
However, Government had already enjoyed the largesse of the Sheikh and, as with all such cases, pay-back time could not be ignored. Some technician at the Ministry of Lands / Habitat must, at the behest of his Minister, have hatched a Cabinet Paper on the Sheikh’s appeal, arguing the merit of expressing our gratitude to the Sheikh and keeping blessedly quiet on developmental policy issues which had led to refusal of the development proposal by the Town and Country Planning Authority (TCPA).
Cabinet had only to duly stamp its approval and Minister Dugasse could proudly and justly claim the reversal of the TCPA ruling as a collective responsibility taken in our best interest.

In any other country where accountability, transparency and good governance have some meaning, perhaps one could have taken Minister Dugasse to task on how elastic is the interpretation of both the policy regarding skyline development and the country’s best interest.

The first has been around since the 1980’s, well before the sheikh took interest in our islands. Perhaps in a then, justified, if however vain, move to foreclose any further attempt to emulate the USAF “golf-ball” tracking station, built a few years before the current Town and Country Planning Act of 1976, that sat beacon–white atop the La Misere skyline, perhaps to the angst of those who were then deep into their “Yankee Go Home” campaign!

It is not the first time that the wealthy and influential are allowed to mar the islands’ skyline with their private developments. Each case debunks our publicised seriousness in the development policy, which seeks to restrict development to below the skyline and thus conserve as best as possible, the pristine appearance of our islands.

Minister Dugasse may have been too engaged in seeking to trounce Regar, to notice that he was inadvertently revealing that as a people, we cannot be entirely proud of those in whose hand we have entrusted the care of our best national interest.
In the mid 1990’s, therefore at the time land transfers in the Barbarons area were being managed for the Sheikh, the Government also transferred 10 acres (or 40,470m²) of state land in the same general area to the 2nd Former President.
The latter transfer was for a declared Rs.60,000.00 and provoked general, Regar-inspired outrage of the now (in)famous “Rann Sa 10”.

We can now thank Minister Dugasse for indicating that the 2nd former president had indeed benefited from some particular consideration in procuring state land at Rs.1.48/m², while at about the same time, other similar transfers were being made for costs averaging Rs.97/m².
In the 2nd former president’s case, Government seems to have lost out for at least Rs.3.865M!!
In that particular case, Regar did its thing, providing what scant information could be gleaned from public service registers and rachetting public outrage. Nobody from the Public Service came out to provide clarifying information. Those who were entrusted with the business of managing our best interest barely blinked as we lost Rs.3.865M on transfer of our assets.

With so many wealthy and influential groups out there with return favours to call in, the Executive is unlikely to tire of the juggling act between sticking to a coherent development policy and maintaining a semblance of managing our best interest. And we must perhaps be thankful to Regar for keeping them at their stations!