AIR SEYCHELLES PANDERS HISTORICAL LIES TO ITS INTERNATIONAL PASSENGERS
The Chairman of Air Seychelles, Captain David Savy is not, it seems, contented in publicly expressing and being seen to be associated with the ruling party, the SPPF, but has resorted to dragging Air Seychelles into his personal politics.
In the current issue of the national airline magazine, Silhouette, Savy commissioned an unknown individual by the name of Gitanne Rose to write a two page article entitled Come Celebrate Seychelles. In it she claimed “ Prior to Independence Seychelles was one of the most impoverished country in the region. At the turn of this country’s independence, illiteracy was high, so was unemployment, there was poor sanitation and below average health care, malnutrition was omni present and the country had experienced all the ills of society that accompany poverty. Thirty years later we pride ourselves as islands of opportunities.”
One doesn’t know the age of the writer. She obviously wasn’t born 30 years ago or she was perhaps just a baby then. One cannot tell also if she had swallowed SPPF propaganda hook line and sinker or is just regurgitating them parrot fashion as a paid agent. But her lines resemble very much what is and has been pandered to the population in creole, especially during the one-party state. It was only after the multiparty system was introduced in 1992 did the new generation learn, for example, that the First President of the Seychelles was not France Albert Rene but James Richard Marie Mancham. And thousands came to greet him upon his return.
Poverty did exist in Seychelles before independence, but much less than in all the countries in our region bar La Reunion. In 1976, according to a World Bank document entitled Seychelles Economic Memorandum published in 1979 our country was a middle income country with a GDP per capita of US$ 1110 – greater than that of all the countries in sub-Sahara Africa classified as middle income, and just under that of those countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The World Bank document also placed our crude death rate at only 8 per thousand compared to comparable African countries which was 16.4. Life expectancy at birth was 66 years while for comparable African countries it was only 50 years. In Seychelles in 1977 there was a doctor for every 2760 persons against comparable African countries which was 14,508. 94.5% of Seychellois had access to excreta disposal. The number of Seychellois per hospital bed was 194 versus 1141 in comparable African countries.
According to the 1977 Census, 45% of all the houses in Seychelles were classified as in Good Condition while 35% were in Fair Condition. 39% were made of stone or bricks while 57% were made of wood or corrugated iron. None were made of cow dung. 47% of all households had treated tap water while 24% could get access to a stand pipe relatively close to home. 33% had flush toilet but 62% had pit latrines. On Mahe 48% of all households were connected to electricity. In 1976 TB had been irradiated in Seychelles and the previous TB hospital was converted into one of today’s major surgical wards. In 1977 Mauritian tourists came to Seychelles to do their shopping.
At independence Albert Rene was the Prime Minister, and Minister responsible for housing.
