Citizenships in brief - Tomorrow's grief

By: Patrick X

The donation of citizenships by the PL to pretty much any foreign national who is interested in 'investing' in Seychelles may indeed be a quick way to make a buck or two for both the country and its leaders, but what we as a nation are facing in the long run is a line of problems that stretch from State House all the way to the pockets of every single Seychellois(not every Seychelles citizen).

By acquiring Seychelles citizenship one is given the right to the same priveleges as a a Seychellois born in addition to extra rights that we others can dream about. That however is another issue and another problem. The donation of citizenships to the likes of Ramadoss, Jeyasingh and others who see Seychelles as a have where they can spread their wings and get fat in short time is in the long rung going to put us all on a long and painful diet unless the practice is stopped immediately and/or reduced to an absolute minimum.

Our population has in the last 20-30 years grown from approximately 65.000 to a whopping 80.000 souls, a remarkable increase indeed for such a small place. Many will think that this is excellent as a larger population will mean more labour, more economical growth etc. Wrong! Our population has grown, but never have we had more expats than now working in our main industies. One would think that our population would be sufficient enough to supply the manpower needed for our hotels, fisheries, small factories etc, but alas this is not the case. Expats are being flown in and many are staying with freshly obtained passports blessed by Dept of Immigration on behalf of the PL.

The population in Seychelles also consists of a majority who are below 35 years of age and it is this part that is going to be a major concern in the not so distant future. Having a retirement age of 65, 62 for some, we will in the near future have a pension boom that will knock the economy off its feet, that is if it has managed to get back on its feet by then. We are talking about pension expenses being a major part of the country's national budget in a mere 30 years or so, i.e before we have even finished paying off debt acquired prior to the financial crisis. The SBS should be able to supply figures stating how many will reach their pension age each successive year from now on and he next 50 years.

Now, what does this have to do with the giving away of citizenships to any Tom, Dick and Harry? Well, let's say Tom has a wife and 2 children and so do Dick and Harry. That means for every citizenship we approve, another 3 are liable to be approved too according to the law meaning that every new citizen becomes 4 newbees to our community. So with our three new citizens we suddenly have 12 newcomers to our country and eventually our pension box, a case of exponential growth that they apparently didn't teach our Minister of Finance during his studies in Cuba. So let's say that we on average get 200 new citizens per annum the next 10 years, it will mean a population growth of 200x4x10 = 8000 new citizens just through the PL's CDS(Citizenship Donation Scheme).

This again means that by the time that generation reaches their pension age and decide to retire excercise their right and return to Seychelles as pensioners, the pension queue bill will have to be shared with them even if they have never worked in Seychelles nor contributed a cent with Social Security. Again, like all PL cock-ups, the bill will in good socialist spirit be sent to guess who? That's right, those of you who can afford it least. Imagine yourself as a a pensioner after working hard all your life and having to live on a minimum because the money available for pension has to be shared with 8000+ others who havn't contributed with a single cetnt to get theirs. That's socialism at its best.

Some of our new citizens will indeed work in Seychelles and contribute to the cause, but the majority of our 'new citizens' will not, but will more than eagerly collect their 'rightful share' of the dealings in due time, rest assure. I have my doubts that our government's financial brains have even give the problem a single thought either due to lack of knowledge or lack of will to deal with realistic problems. The PL are also not exactly known to think long term unless it is about something they will personally benefit from. We are already facing a challenge where new citizens who own apartments at Eden Island are using their rights as Seychelles citizens to rent out their property hence threatening other legitimate businesses'(hotels and guest houses) existence. Let us now make sure that they do not threaten our existence as pensioners when that time comes.