La Digue faces bread scarcity |23 January 2024
The Seychelles Trading Company (STC) has affirmed its commitment to ensure a daily supply of bread to La Digue, to address the recent bread shortages on the island.
In a press statement issued on Saturday, STC said this initiative aligns with its mandate to unfold food security and the availability of essential goods nationwide.
“STC will transport white and brown bread loaves from its Bois de Rose bakery to La Digue every day to alleviate the scarcity of bread,” read the statement, calling on customers on the island to place their orders at least one day in advance through STC La Digue wholesale outlet to guarantee a consistent supply.
As part of its proactive measure, STC arranged for the delivery of a hundred bread loaves to La Digue yesterday.
STC’s statement on Saturday came a day after Glorious Bakery had issued a notice on its social media page on Friday announcing the “sudden and unforeseen closure” of its La Digue outlet, stating that further clarification would be provided in its upcoming publication.
The closure of Glorious Bakery & Snacks on the island was confirmed by the Seychelles Licensing Authority in a press release on Saturday.
“This is a result of the operator currently not meeting certain license conditions for the Baker,” cited the statement adding that “SLA wishes to inform that this is a private matter, outside its remit, which needs to be resolved between the parties concerned”.
“However, Glorious Bakery & Snacks have been advised on the necessary procedures that need to be followed in order to resume operations,” added SLA.
However, following SLA’s press release, Glorious Bakery took to social media on Sunday, refuting the statements calling it a “fascinating press release indeed” and condemned what it said was SLA’s attempts “to wash its hands and downplay its role in preventing us from obtaining the relevant licenses required in order to operate the outlet”.
It further added that SLA did not provide any advice to remedy the situation, contrary to its statement and the company was asked to cease operations on Thursday without any proper warning and total disregard as to how this would affect the La Digue customers.
“The SLA agent on La Digue came with police officers and told us he had been instructed by superiors on Mahé to close the outlet without giving us a formal document.”
Glorious Bakery further added that its license application on Friday was refused and attempts to reach the chief executive of the authority for an explanation was futile.
“We have been trying for years to obtain our own licenses but have been prevented from acquiring it despite having all the required documents. SLA has not been helpful in this matter. We had no choice but to use the licenses of the previous owner, which just recently expired.”
“Upon seeking legal advice and having the lawyer personally explain to the agents that their actions were infringing on our Constitutional Rights, the SLA finally decided to accept our application at 2.30pm on Friday with the promise of seeking legal advice rather than processing it,” it further added.
Seychelles NATION contacted representatives of Glorious Bakery late yesterday for an update on the situation and was told they would not comment for now as they were giving the authority enough time to rectify the matter.