Letter to the Editor - The overriding importance of national reconciliation |21 May 2014

As we move towards the celebration of 50 years anniversary of the SPUP/SPPF/Parti Lepep, I would like to remind the people of Seychelles of what former President France Albert René said on February 22, 2001 in his State of the Nation address, when he described the last 25 years to have been years of peace, happiness and prosperity and also to remind the people of the comments I made with respect to Mr René's concluding remarks.

Conclusion of Mr René's address:
"In these 25 years, we have preserved and nurtured those qualities that make our country and our people among the most peaceful, the happiest and the most humane on earth. Together we have done an excellent job at building the national foundation. Now that we are embarking on a new chapter of our history, we will need more than ever before these very qualities, these very strengths, these very values that we possess in order to succeed.

We will need more than ever before this sense of unity, this sense of fraternity between us. We will need yet more love for Seychelles. It is for this reason that I have dedicated the year 2001 as the year of solidarity in Seychelles.

By solidarity, I mean the unity that should exist among us, the dedication of our country, the perpetual promotion of the culture of peace and the will to pull together for Seychelles.
That Seychellois brothers and sisters is the key for our happiness and our country."

The comments I made:
"It was certainly very comforting to hear the President speaking about more love for Seychelles, more of the spirit of 'caring and sharing', more about unity, more about fraternity and about the need to promote perpetually a culture of peace.

 But Mr President, let us face history for what it has been. These last 25 years have not been totally years of peace, happiness and prosperity. Let us not forget that after the unconstitutional coup d'état of 1977, there was a lot of turmoil within the Nation, which resulted in many people leaving this beautiful country for other land; let us not forget that there was a mercenary invasion with loss of life; let us not forget that this was followed by a military mutiny with also loss of life - and also another attempted coup by some who were once your close collaborators.

Mr President, we have just gone through a few weeks dominated by events organised by your Government to celebrate the 25th anniversary of our Independence. Those were grandiose events, with firework displays as colourful and impressive as those put out by some of the most prosperous Nations in the world. Unfortunately, those who organised these events were not motivated to promote your idea of a culture of peace, of more love, more harmony and more fraternity within the Nation. As it turned out, the whole exercise was a massive party political propaganda - when in fact the occasion should have been utilised to demonstrate what we have achieved together within the spirit of 'National Reconciliation'.

On Thursday June 28, 2001, you delivered a speech to the Nation to mark the 25th anniversary of our Independence. Unfortunately, this became a partisan exercise when you chose to speak on the historically controversial circumstances surrounding the birth of our Nation 25 years ago. For these reasons, we are sad that the Government did not utilise the occasion to display overtly its appreciation for the policy of reconciliation, which constitute the base of the existing stability upon which tomorrow's and today's stability must be based. Instead, a concert had been quietly organised to promote partisan politics to such an extent that the Protocol Office thought it best to suggest that I did not turn up for the event. Thus, I was forced to remain at home to view the perfidy on television - with my mind and soul telling me that the future of our Nation would have been better served if Mr René and I had been projected shaking hands, less concerned about our controversial past and more interested in forging ahead in the spirit of harmony and solidarity. Perhaps if that had happened, I could have allowed myself to sing "Belle manman mette ou gros jupe, desann pour lendepandans, belle mamzel mette zotte robe pour faire lake pour lendepandans."

Mr President, we in the Democratic Party see ourselves serious when we speak about reconciliation and the involvement in the promotion of a 'culture of peace.' Thus, we have agreed to respect the Structure of State and to provide you with all due respect as Head of our Nation and secondly, to adhere faithfully to the concept that dirty linens should be washed within the family. It must not be forgotten that prior to my return from exile, we had in London, "The Crusade for the Restoration of Democracy in Seychelles" and that one of the activities of this Movement was to issue news releases which put under microscope all negative aspects of the Government in Seychelles.

Mr President, you command today a structure and a political machinery, which is all powerful and which is backed by substantial resources to such an extent that there will be no unity and fraternity in this Nation unless you wish it to be so. I would be making a laughing stock of my philosophy of 'National Reconciliation' if I was not to spell out this point today. The SPPF Government may claim to have achieved many things for the country and its people, but history will not see it in a good light if it fails to achieve what is the most important element of national well-being - the unity of the Seychellois people. It was former Prime Minister of France who declared that modern politics must be founded on reactivating the duty of fraternity.

"What is politics and the management of a country all about?" Former Prime Minister  Edouard Balladur asked.

"It is about national unity which must be based on the sentiment and duty of fraternity amongst one and all. This is what gives value and respect to the politics of any country..."

"C'est le sens que nous devons donner a nos actions....inlassablement faire en sorte que ce sentiment de fraternité nationale inspire le comportement et anime nos résolutions."

James R. Mancham