May 12, 2006

Letters to the editor

LTD- MONEY TO BURN

Road at Les Canelles waiting to be  refilled with tar for a third time

Sir,

One of the areas of greatest need for improvement in Seychelles is the inadequate state of our roads. The authority “responsible”, the Ministry of Transport frequently informs us of the difficulties associated with obtaining sufficient tarmac material to cover the areas that are deficient on Mahe, due to foreign exchange constraints. Several foreign governments/organisations have from time to time come to our aid in this endeavour. Yet we see this apparently scarce material being wasted. A perfect example is a section of road at Les Canelles.

About three months ago, a large section of the road was dug up in an effort to stabilise a section that appeared to be falling apart. This work took more than two and a half months to complete. The section of road (lane) was closed off during this period.

Several weeks after the road was reconstructed a fresh load tar was laid. Unfortunately, within two days of traffic use the road subsided as the compaction had not been done and the tar surface became uneven. An additional coat of tar was placed to bring the road up to a flat surface level two weeks ago.

One would assume would be the end of the story. No way!! We do things the “Seychelles way” over here. This week the Ministry concerned has now removed all of the tar that was placed previously (two weeks ago), to a depth of five inches and replaced it with a load of sand fill. I presume the intention is at some time in the future to refill it a third time with tar.

One can only wonder as to the credibility and ability of those given to managing our scarce resources, if this is an example of effective road construction and maintenance.

Name withheld

SPPF = LIES AND MORE LIES

Sir,

This week a significant portion of the content of “The People” rag bag, has concentrated its attention on the interview that Sir James Mancham gave to the press in Mauritius. The fact that the SPPF have concentrated so heavily on it, is in itself an indication of the impending fear that they are in their last throes as managers (sic) of the economy.

The concentration of SPPF propaganda is so skewed in such a way as to present Sir James as “money grabbing”. Given the way the SPPF has “partage la richesse” between its little ‘clique’ is the best available example of greed. Firstly, the fact of the mater, as every Seychellois knows, is that the SMB Supermarket belonged to the family of Sir James. During its heyday it was always fully stocked quite unlike SMB today.  Secondly, the Constitution of Seychelles obliges the SPPF government to return or compensate fully, at market prices, all those who suffered under the dictatorial policy of acquisition of property.

Sir James, as I understand it has been trying, as is his Constitutional right, to seek a return of the property or a semblance of adequate compensation. To date this has not happened. Every Seychellois no matter what his political allegiance, is entitled to justice before the law and society.

It is high time, that the SPPF recognised this fact and passed the property back to its rightful owners.

Observer