THE EDITOR CALLS A PRESS CONFERENCE
The Editor of Le Nouveau Seychelles Weekly, Ralph Volcere, called a press conference earlier this month, Monday December 3rd, 2007, to state his position after being asked through a letter received on 28th November to make other arrangements for printing LNSW. This is the second time this year Le Nouveau Seychelles Weekly finds itself without a printing house willing to print the paper. In July, 2007, Printec Press Holdings (Pty) Ltd, LNSW’s printing house for the last six years changed management. It did not take long after for the new management to act. In August this year PPH decided to stop printing the Seychelles Weekly. Dr. V. Ramadoss the new owner could not stomach articles in LNSW criticizing the SPPF Government. In a meeting at his office at the Pirates Arms Dr. Ramadoss warned Volcere that “you need to tone down like Regar”, he said. Volcere did not heed his warning. LNSW was given its marching orders by Dr. Ramadoss and PPH on 17th August through a letter signed by Mr. S. Palani.
Consequently, the final ultimatum came in a letter faxed to LNSW’s office on 28th November, stating whilst Regar Printing accepted to print Weekly in support of freedom of expression and the work of the opposition, Regar Printing cannot accept to continue in the position of assisting to publish lies and insults about themselves. This is scant excuse in defending what many sees as unfair and a great injustice towards the Weekly. Prior to the letter of 28th November, in fact the day before, the Editor of Weekly Ralph Volcere had assured Mr. Roger Mancienne, Managing Director of Regar Printing, in a telephone conversation that Le Nouveau Seychelles Weekly would stop featuring articles on the SNP’s officials if that was proving to be problematic. The last issue of LNSW, No. 43, November, 30, 2007, bares testimony to that.
Mancienne wrote, “Further to our conversation and after discussion with my colleagues, I am informing you of our position regarding printing of Seychelles Weekly” – “Therefore, we would be grateful if you would make other arrangements for printing as of next week.” So the decision had been made and the offer not to feature articles on SNP’s officials was never considered. The press conference was called to make LNSW’s position clear following Regar Printing’s decision to stop printing the Weekly.
During the press conference Volcere described what had happened as “a sad day for our democracy, freedom of the press and freedom of expression”. Volcere further stated that “when someone decides to embark on a political career and is paid by public funds, that person should be prepared to accept criticism. In a true democracy, people’s opinions should always be tolerated especially by those who are willing to govern. It is important that anyone having an opinion, as long as it is not defamatory, should be made public.” Volcere said.
The press conference was aired in the news bulletin that same day (03/12/07) in the evening at 8pm on SBC TV. It was well received by SBC TV viewers making it the talk of the town the following day. Le Nouveau Seychelles Weekly is now being printed outside of the country until arrangements can be made for the purchase of LNSW own printing machine. Anyone willing to assist LNSW in acquiring a printing machine should not hesitate to contact the Editor on tel: 225777 or email: editorlnsw60@gmail.com – thanking you all for your support during 2007, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year, 2008! God Bless……
