Letters to the editor
DEATH OF RYAN LESPERANCE
Sir,
As a Praslinois I feel duty bound to comment upon the circumstances of the death of Ryan Lesperance. It is now known from his bodily injuries that the young man was murdered.
This begs the question, by whom? The rumours that are going around is that, this is a politically motivated incident possibly by members of the law enforcement agency or a security agency. One might have easily dismissed this as being mere speculation and rumours if it was not for the fact that about two years ago, another young Praslinois, Mr. Claude Monnaie also lost his life in rather mysterious circumstances, to say the least.
As many would recall, Mr. Monnaie sustained horrific and fatal injuries, when the pick-up truck in which he was sleeping caught fire. Immediately the fingers were pointed at members of the security forces, since the pick-up truck in question belonged to Mr. Walter Constance a well known S.N.P activist. Apparently members of the special branch had believed that Mr. Constance was in the pick-up truck at that time.
The death of Mr. Lesperance is also one of mistaken identity, the target being an S.N.P supporter who is closely connected with Mr. Lesperance. At this juncture a few pertinent questions need to be raised:
(i) Bearing in mind that certain security agency is not permanently based on Praslin, it cannot be a coincidence that the two mysterious deaths occurred at times when members of security agencies were on Praslin?
(ii) How many other mysterious and unsolved murders have we had on Praslin in recent years? and;
(iii) Who has the means, ability, resources and guts to commit such murders and to do so undetected?
The answer to the second question above is obvious, none. Therefore it speaks volume, that the only two such murders occurred when the members of security agencies were on Praslin. The answer to the third question above is also obvious. The persons, who have the means, ability, resources and guts to commit such murders and to do so undetected must be connected to a specialized force and must have the support and backing of the highest authorities in the land. Amongst the members of the force who were on Praslin, at the time of both murders, were some who received military training outside
At the very least, the Police should pursue as one of their lines of investigation, the possibility, that the members of a security agency murdered Mr. Lesperance.
Furthermore the Attorney-General should take his responsibility, to require a Magistrate to hold an inquest into the cause of death of Mr. Lesperance, and the circumstances connected therewith, as per section 347(9) of the Criminal Procedure Code. During such inquest, the members of the Special Branch should be called to give evidence.
If indeed it is the members of the law enforcement agency or a certain security agency who murdered Mr. Lesperance, there is only one word to describe them, COWARDS! Yes, you are cowards because you have abused your power to murder an innocent, helpless and defenseless young man. One day you will be brought to justice and that day is coming soon.
As for the family of Mr. Lesperance, I offer you my sincere condolences and ask you to take comfort from the fact that those who committed this callous act will be punished once this barbaric and inhuman government of the S.P.P.F is kicked out of the office by the people of
Finally it is apt to end with a quote from one of the songs by Jose Charles (on the S.N.P C.D) “zot dir nou viv dan paradi, me dan paradi in annan modi………”
A CONTRIBUTION FROM PRASLIN
Open Letter To The Seychellois Nation
SEYCHELLOIS UNITY IN DIVERSITY
Our nation as a whole deserves to be congratulated for showing such massive respect for the 30th Anniversary of our national independence. This will certainly remain a memorable manifestation of Seychellois unity in diversity. My question now is: why did we wait for 30 years to commemorate our nationhood? Why did we not celebrate the tenth or twentieth Anniversary of our real National Day??
National Day means the day when a nation attains sovereignty, in
My call to our government and entire nation is to henceforth re-instate June 29th as Seychelles National Day, as one way to further promote the spirit of a unified patriotism. This open Letter is addressed to all news outlets in the country, with a request for this call to be shared with all who truly aspire to enhanced unity of purpose and greater prosperity for our nation.
Yours with utmost respect,
Mathew Servina
A true Patriot
BLIND TO REALITY
Sir,
A great deal has been said recently by all three political candidates on the need for fairness and equity in the electoral process and in particular in the state-controlled media.
The election campaign began officially last night and the first signs of media coverage have begun. The Nation newspaper of the 7th July 2006, controlled by the SPPF government dedicated it first three pages largely to coverage of the candidates and their initial statements.
A break down of the relative coverage given to each candidate in the articles is as follows: SPPF- Michel (127 lines of text and three photographs on pages 1 to 3 inclusive); Phillip Boulle (40 lines of text and one photograph); Wavel Ramkalawan (40 lines of text and one photograph).
This kind of blatant preference for the SPPF candidate does not bode well for the Constitutional requirements for free and impartial State media coverage. One can only hope that the Electoral Commissioner has his eyes wide open this time.
The Nation newspaper should hold its head in shame and desist from pretending to hold the virtues of
READERS FOR A FAIR CAMPAIGN