The editor of Le Nouveau Seychelles Weekly, Ralph Volcere, has given the newspaper’s reaction following Regar Printing’s decision to stop printing Weekly.
The decision came after Le Nouveau Seychelles Weekly, which is the mouthpiece of the Democratic Party (DP), had allegedly made false statements and disparaging remarks about the Seychelles National Party (SNP) and its officials in previous edition of the newspaper.
In a letter dated November 28 to Mr Volcere, the managing director of Regar Printing, Roger Mancienne, wrote: “Whilst we accepted to print the weekly in support of freedom of expression and the work of the opposition, we cannot accept to continue in the position of assisting to publish lies and insults about ourselves. Therefore we would be grateful if you would make other arrangements for printing as of next week.”
During the press conference yesterday morning, Mr Volcere described what has happened as “a sad moment for our democracy, freedom of press and freedom of expression.” According to him, someone who decides to embark on a political career should be prepared to accept criticism.
Commenting on the alleged personal attacks made on SNP officials, Mr Volcere said this resulted from several statements made by the SNP leader, Wavel Ramkalawan, about the former DP leader James Mancham and the Democratic Party during the SNP’s convention held recently.
He stressed that the articles in question were strictly based on the statements made by the leader of the leader of the opposition.
Mr Volcere added that in a true democracy, people’s opinions should always be tolerated especially by those who willing to govern.
“What I want the public to analyze in the sad situation is whether those people (from the SNP) will tolerate criticism and accept opinions that are different from theirs if they ever come in power one day,” he said.
As for the future of Le Nouveau Seychelles Weekly, Mr Volcere said that necessary arrangements are being made for printing to be done abroad.