The Lablache Family Reacts
THE Independent is being vilified by the general public for showing total insensitivity to the late Jaquelin Lablache who passed away recently. The controversial Ah-Mane who has a knack to shock, published a labyrinth of the deceased's shortcomings in a lame attempt to contradict the many good things said about Lablache in both Regar and Le Nouveau Seychelles Weekly.
However, most agree that the article was in poor taste and totally uncalled for. Ah-Mane, who has been forced to apologise to Lablache's family has already published an apology in the latest issue of Independent to Lablache's family and friends whose feelings were genuinely hurt by the article.
It is not the first time Ah-Mane has found himself in hot water. He was successfully sued for defamation by Sir James Mancham a few years ago for thousands of rupees which caused the closure of his first newspaper.
Ah-Mane, who is yet to pay a single cent of the judgment debt to Mancham, also put his foot in it yet again when he controversially drew a cartoon depicting Chow and Ramkalawan in a compromising sexual position.
The cartoon which was designed to simultaneously shock and ridicule caused public outrage and disgust. Many wondered how far will Ah-Mane push the envelope and get away with it. Both Chow and Ramkalawan lodged complaints to the Seychelles Licensing Authority, and the Commissioner of police and action was duly taken against the notorious Ah-Mane.
Lawyers were also instructed to sue Ah-Mane for defamation of character yet again, and the latter conveniently stopped publishing his paper and sought refuge in a high tech hospital in Chennai, India, courtesy of Doctor Ramadoss, where he underwent a tricky triple heart by pass surgery and lived to tell the tale.
Ah-Mane is today full of praise for the Indian Surgeons who gave him a much needed new lease of life.
Recently Ah-Mane has been back on the scene and lining up the SNP leadership as the target of his poison pen. Both Ramkalwan and Jean-Francois Ferari have been featured prominently on the pages of Ah-Mane's Independent. Ralph Volcere, Le Nouveau Seychelles Weekly's editor, also makes a cameo appearance in this paper every single week for reasons best known to Ah-Mane himself.