Editorial - PRESIDENT JAMES MICHEL IS A BUNDLE OF CONTRADICTION

Editorial

PRESIDENT JAMES MICHEL IS A BUNDLE OF CONTRADICTION

President James Michel was responsible for a few sarcastic chuckles in his State of the Nation address this week when he embarassingly appeal to Seychellois entrepreneur to join the construction industry to speed up development in the country. The obvious contradiction is apparently the clear lack of foreign exchange in Seychelles which in turn has caused a dire shortage of construction materials. This is precisely what is slowing down the construction industry and not necessarily the limited amount of entrepreneur working in the industry. Another factor which has caused building contractors to reduce the speed of construction is the inability of the government to pay those contractors after they complete their projects. The delay in making payments now stretches into years instead of the usual months causing many to vent their frustrations by stopping construction altogether because of lack of cash flow.Whoever wrote the President’s speech deserves a slap on the wrist because this “faux pas” has definitely caused the president to literally put his foot in his own mouth on live television.

HAS PRESIDENT JAMES MICHEL FINALLY DECIDED TO DITCH ALLEEAR?

President Michel appears to have given in to public pressure this week and decided to get rid of Chief Justice Vivekanand Alleear. During his State of the Nation address on Tuesday the President singled out the judiciary as one of the pillars of our democracy which is not meeting the expectation of the people. As the SBC cameraman zoomed in on the Chief Justice for a close up, he appeared visibly shaken and gave the game away by his body language. The Supreme Court judges in particular have been very prominent in the independent press recently as unprecedented scandal after scandal surfaced putting the limelight firmly on the judiciary. One judge in particular shockingly felt pressured enough to take his fight to a political newspaper in the full glare of the public media further embarassing the institution that he represents. He was, rightly or wrongly, considered by many to be washing the judiciary’s dirty linen in public and bringing his profession into disrepute. The Court House has not fared any better than the Independence House during the past 20 years suffering from neglect and abandonment. The ceiling is currently missing in many Court rooms and in its place huge gaps and holes have appeared with electric cables hanging out everywhere. In fact , of the three pillars of our democracy, the judiciary’s building is cearly the worst and President Michel needs to address this problem quickly and do something about this worrying trend. It is a shame that this National Monument has been left unkept and allowed to dilapidate without much, if anything, being done about it. Whereas just a stone throw away from the Court House, the architecturally beautiful Liberty House, which now houses the Minister of Finance, has received a lavish face lift with the ceiling alone costing over 9 million ruppees.

Well Done Land Transport!

The decision of the Ministry of Tourism and Land Transport to introduce a two lane road in front of the Cathedral Church, albeit belatedly, has done much to clear the traffic jam and bottle neck along that stretch of road. This road was quickly becoming unbearable, especially during peak hours, causing frustration and road rage on more than one occasion. This clearly shows that the traffic problem in and around Victoria in particular, is not as serious as we may think. A little imagination and creativity goes a long way in solving our traffic problem. It is a pity however, that despite Weekly drawing the attention of this Ministry to the sad state of the Glacis road, nothing has been done about it. Come on, Mr. Gerard Lafortune, what is really stopping you?