President wants social scourges under control |07 June 2011

Speaking at the start of his second elected term in office, Mr Michel said ways must be found to cut consumption and trafficking of drugs, crime, delinquency, anti-social behaviour and other ills.

Our successes in the economic sector will be at risk if we are not careful, and unless we take strong actions against such negative types of behaviour in our society.
 
“During the new mandate you have given me, we shall all have to find lasting solutions to the serious problems threatening the fabric of our society,” he said.

He said more support must be given to the agencies responsible for law and order, security and peace, to enable them perform with greater effectiveness, discipline and professionalism.

“Our children must be able to live and walk freely in our beautiful country, without us parents being worried about them becoming victims of drugs and alcohol. The main cause of anti-social behaviour is linked to the abuse and trafficking of drugs. This is one of our major challenges,” he said.

“In the New Seychelles, this fight becomes our common fight. Let us do it for the love of our children.

Mr Michel’s call was clearly meant to step up action already started against the scourges and the dangers they pose to children, and was urging intensification of efforts to find solutions.

In his State-of-the-Nation address earlier this year, he said reforms in education were entering a new phase with a new community-based approach with school councils offering communities the opportunity to contribute in the educational lives of the children.

“This is a good start. But we want to do more in our undertaking to get our communities moving. Let us aim for a community where all children are considered our children, where social ills are our common concern, where all the opportunities are seized upon fully, and where the sense of ‘my community’ is my concern and is inculcated in the youngest to the oldest,” he said.

“Your collaboration, along with the cooperation of all parents and children, are of utmost importance in addressing the problems of discipline and delinquency in our educational establishments. It is in these contexts that the Ministry of Education is introducing Civics Education in all schools.

He announced the ministry will also increase the assistance it gives to the Catholic Church for the training of teachers of religion in all schools, adding the moral and spiritual education of our children is indispensable in the creation of a society that is stable and solid.

He said he refused to accept that we cannot join forces and declare war on drugs to eliminate the scourge once and for all.

“Violence, delinquency, prostitution, theft, crime, anti-social behavior and other social ills in our society are often directly linked to substance abuse. This scourge is not only robbing our youth of their energy but it is also robbing our Seychelles of its future.
“There is serious work to be done by all politicians and the entire nation to eliminate this suffering. There is a need for a sincere and honest commitment.

The fight against consumption and trafficking of drugs is not my fight alone. It is not the fight of the church alone, or the government alone. It is a fight of all of Seychelles. It is a fight to protect our workforce. Drug addicts cannot work, and if we are unable to rescue our youth from drugs we will continually have to look for foreigners to do the work Seychellois can do. Each time a drug trafficker is taken to Montagne Posee, it is for me a victory for the youth of Seychelles.

I commend the NDEA and the Police for the good work they are doing in this field. But the judiciary has to be more active in the pursuit of the criminals who are destroying our young people.

He said his well-known position on drugs is zero tolerance, for there can be no negotiations on the issue of drugs.

Now, with his renewed call to step up the fight against social ills, it is clear that this is one challenge that President Michel will not give up on.