Thanks for printing it. GOD BLESS
Dear editor,
Please permit me a little space to make a brief comment on the recent article in The People of the 9th August 2007, entitled “Wake up Call”. The article in question relates to the alarming and ever increasing incidence of avoidable deaths through contraction of leptospirosis in Seychelles. The article criticises the Regar publications of the previous week for doing its duty of drawing the public’s attention to an alarming situation which, as usual, the SPPF government wishes were better left hidden from view. As the People article says “I smell a rat” actually many of them. The Government has for a number of years now failed in its public duty to safeguard our health by failing to import and provide sufficient poison to kill the rats and ceased its past monitoring and poisoning at strategic sites programme.
Additionally there are few traps available in the country for sale and these are expensive. The People article suggests quite dishonestly, that Regar publication is sensationalising the issue for political reasons and that Regar has the figures wrong. I ask you all to read the People and see who is actually being dishonest. The People rag bag tries to lie but even its lies are uncovered in its own article by being caught in its own smelly rat-like trap. They indicate in the first paragraph that only four people have died (as if this is inconsequential with little reference to the regret and hurt faced by the families of the victims). Then later in the article they quote the Ministry of Health (Communicable Diseases Dept), which says 7 and even possibly 8 people have died of leptospirosis. If the figure can jump from the 22nd July from their figure of four to eight by the 7th August, a doubling of 100%, only an idiot will not realise that this is a significant and drastic increase.
Of course this should be of national concern and we should all be grateful to those brave individuals who risk their jobs and humiliation from the SPPF government and the Party by speaking out and giving us the truth when it needs to be told. Hurrah to Regar and Weekly and to those many Senior Officers who have recently lost their jobs through so called restructuring, simply because they would not tow a dishonest line with either the SPPF or the SPPF government. We all are with you and we see your victimisation. Trust that God in his infinite mercy and goodness will deliver us all from the arrogance, vengeance and dishonesty.
TRUTH MUST ALWAYS PREVAIL
NAME WITHHELD
Dear Editor - Now that the national assembly is in recess, I wish to comment on the statement by Mrs Potter that she is satisfied with the performance of the SPPF MNA’s in the People of 9th August 2007... I must say, what absolute rubbish and dribble. It is frankly a joke as she herself was only lacklustre from her very first speech and totally insignificant after that. At least the Doctor had a big voice although much of what he uttered was trashy and he knows it. I would like to pose a question as to whether the SPPF so called MNA’s are taking an additional salary from their government or district work (also government paid) on the days that they are sitting as “flower pots” in the National Assembly.
Is there justice in denying the opposition MNA’s their fundamental rights to withdraw their labour, which is consistent with the numerous treaties of human rights and labour, particularly signed by Seychelles, when they are dissatisfied with the assembly’s performance or the introduction by the SPPF of a Constitutionally deficient Bill. Meanwhile the little band of very junior misfits, still wet behind their ears, continue to raid the people’s pockets by taking two or more salaries for days when they are obviously not in the office doing their jobs and their desk remains vacant while the poor suffering public try in vain to get them to focus on their second government appointed jobs.
Open your eyes to reality Seychellois, see the glaring injustice staring you in the face and yet you continue to pretend that if you put your head in the sand it might fade away. No it won’t, we the public are well aware of the situation and justice is sometimes slow to arrive but it does come around at the appointed time.
NAME WITHHELD
Dear Sir, please allow me a little space in your esteemed paper to voice my concern and frustration over the recent events which has left not only me, but probably the Nation in shock.
Ask any Personnel Manager (Human Resources nowadays) fifty years ago, what his job was and he would say to “hire and fire”. Gradually this concept changed and it became a more acceptable fact that the job of any Personnel Manager was to “recruit, train and retain”. The latter was embraced as any company spending money on recruitment and training, knew that as long as their employees had job satisfaction their services would be retained. This in turn ensures the smooth running of a company, and progress was guaranteed for both employer and employee.
During the past weeks, I have heard that people who have been working in government ministries and parastatal organizations for several years, trained both locally and overseas, have been made redundant for unknown reasons. Worst of all, the redundancy is done immediately, as from what I gathered, you are called and informed that either you do not fit in the new structure or our restructuring does not have a suitable post for you. Take for instance the Seychelles Tourism Board where a staff from who was the General Manager Corporate Services was made redundant only to see that another person filled her post. Coupled with this is the fact that you are not given your pay packet immediately, as you are told you will be informed when this will be ready for you to pick up.
Redundancies happen every day all over the world, but surely in a civilized country not handled this way for there are procedures, and the affected persons are counselled and assisted to cope with the situation. Here in Seychelles, it is done overnight without a thought for the welfare of the families affected.
Government you are dealing with human beings and should be more considerate.
I have few questions for the present government.
1) What has happened to the Employment Act?
2) How do you expect these people to fend for themselves?
3) Would the government have allowed a private company to do this?
4) What would have been the fate of a company not paying compensation to its employees who are made redundant?
5) Why is the government not informing the media about this?
In my career as a personnel supervisor I was guided by the parastatal manual and there were two popular ladies who, because of their authority, would not allow you to dismiss and/or terminate the appointment of anybody even if you had good and valid reasons. All the procedures in the “green book” had and should be exhausted before any termination. The green book is still there but like everything else, this applies to certain people only. Government, you make the laws and you break them, but one day someone somewhere will show you that your actions could have un-reparable repercussions. You are counting your chickens before the eggs are hatched and in life you reap what you sow.
As for those who are being given the tasks of calling these people up to give them the shock of their lives resulting in stress, depression and frustration, think of yourself and your family, how would you feel to be without a job tomorrow without knowing why.
Name withheld.