OPINION
THE FUNNIEST MAN ABOUT TOWN?
We are being laughed at behind our backs by people with an interest in the local election process, especially by the international community and their local representatives in particular. The situation got ridiculously ridiculous last week after a superfluous brainstorming session with the stakeholders. , what a brainstorming session it must have been - with the participation of only two people out of the lot with authority to speak freely without any form of hindrance imposed upon them. The rest were tongue tied, limiting their ability to participate objectively; they had come there to wag their little tails and to make up the numbers for window dressing purposes as is the case more often than our democracy deserve.
According to the ‘Seychelles Nation’ (18/05/05) it was the first of a series of meeting to relook at the electoral process and what improvements can be brought to it, at this late hour. It does not end here; the Electoral Commissioner appeared on the people’s television screens that same evening and told a few gags at the expense of transparency that is expected from his office and by his paymasters, who incidentally is the taxpayers something which looks as if it had slipped his occupied mind.
The Electoral Commissioner started off by saying that equipments used in previous elections are old, broken and need replacing. It must be noted that the last election was in December 2002. It took the full time office of the Electoral Commissioner four years to appreciate that fact - questionable, is it not? We were further informed that some equipment is already here and more are expected soon and only then can the date of the election be known. Democracy is being held to ransom on the pretext of a few ballot boxes that might already be here.
In administering this news to us the Electoral Commissioner seemed pleased with himself and grinned like Charlie used to in the old black and white. What a Movie!
(Ralph Volcere)