A motion to reconsider the reintroduction of STC franchises (retail outlets) in districts where there are none has been an opportunity for Linyon Demokratik Seselwa (LDS) to clarify its position on STC.  While LDS supports STC, it wants the state-owned trading enterprise to deliver better on lower cost of commodities.

Sandy Arrisol, LDS elected Member for St. Louis started his intervention in the National Assembly by acknowledging the good intention of the motion and stated, “The motion brought by Honourable Ernesta is of good intentions; he wants a service closer to his electoral district of Takamaka and for its inhabitants since Takamaka has been identified as the district furthest away.” 

Arrisol emphatically pointed out “before we can take the motion tabled by Honourable Ernesta into consideration, we must also take into consideration as a National Assembly that there are many of our Seychellois brothers and sisters that do not have a salary, a job or even know how to make ends meet. Some doesn't even know what or how they are going to put food in their children's lunch box. All these are situations created as a result of COVID-19.  It is important that whilst we are debating on this motion, that we also take into account the difficulties being experienced by our Seychellois brothers and sisters and also the implementation cost which will add an extra burden to the taxpayers.” 

During this time of uncertainty, where Central Bank of Seychelles (CBS) is unremittingly guiding everyone to be conscious of their spending, including the government, the implementation of these franchises is bound to create significant pressure on the government's spending, but is there an alternative? 

Arissol continued by pointing out the meeting of discussion that took place between LDS and the Retailers Association, whereby they discussed the current issues the organisation is facing due to COVID and what they can offer as remedies. "Why can't the government start a discussion with the Retailers Association on how they can collaborate to facilitate the need of the inhabitants to gain access to essential commodities at affordable prices and without incurring major financial expenses by creating STC franchises in various districts?" questioned the Members of Parliament for St. Louis.

During the numerous interventions on the motion, numerous areas of abuse during the previous franchise structure that was in place in the Seychelles Marketing Board (SMB) era were highlighted, whereas a lack of accountability and transparency that existed within the system aided in the continued abuse of the SMB franchises at the time.  It is worth noting that Seychelles had a franchise mechanism in place previously, where SMB dominated the retail and wholesale markets thus the question dying to be asked ‘why didn’t it work before?’ 

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Presidential candidate Wavel Ramkalawan appealed to political party leaders taking part in the upcoming election to speak to their supporters to conduct a clean election campaign. 

Ramkalawan, also the Leader of the Opposition (LOTO), addressed the public in a short video posted on social media following allegations that surfaced on Tuesday, 7 July of not one but two assaults involving the same young man and LOTO that took place 6 days apart. The allegation that Ramkalawan had assaulted a young man at Roche Caiman on 4 June was made public via a letter from an attorney at law demanding payment for the sum of SCR700,000 on behalf of his client for the injuries sustained during the alleged assault. The letter further stated that if payment were not made within 14 days, legal proceedings would commence.

The plot thickens when the same person was named in yet another allegation of assault involving Ramkalawan that supposedly took place at Freedom Square on 30 May, close to the location where APDAR dispense its methadone treatment. The allegation was made in a letter sent to the Commissioner of Police (COMPOL), Kishnan Labonte and printed in The Independent newspaper in the hope that an investigation will ensue, however, no such investigation has been pronounced by the Police to date. Ramkalawan confirmed that on the 30 May, he was in a meeting with some of the Linyon Demokratik Seselwa (LDS) representatives, therefore, he could not have been the one that assaulted the young man on that day around 1:30pm to 2pm. The letter to COMPOL also alleged that LDS MNA for Mont Fleuri, Jean-Francois Ferrari threatened the young man not to make a report of the assault. More doubts were raised on the allegation since Ferrari was on Bird Island with his family on that day and could not have possibly been the one threatening the young man.

The letter released publicly on social media is part of a dirty campaign to tarnish the image and reputation of Ramkalawan, as he prepares for the upcoming presidential election set to take place on 22, 23 and 24 October 2020. In the short video, Ramkalawan asserted that there is absolutely no way he could have been the person that assaulted the young man on the 4 June 2020, since he was chairing a live televised FPAC session on that day.

At this point, Ramkalawan categorically condemns such dirty political tactics to tarnish his reputation and he appealed to President Danny Faure and Alain St. Ange to plead with their party members and supporters to conduct a clean election campaign for the upcoming presidential election. Ramkalawan also pointed out that whenever there is an election, you bound to see this type of dirty politics.