La Tet Koson Bradley

Seselwa y ankor pe pey la tet koson SPPF

I pareyl sa la tet koson SPPF kis seselwa y ankor pe peyeLONG, long ago, before even the Editor of this newspaper could remember, there was a man here in Seychelles known as “Dr. Bradley” (not to be confuse with Dr. Ramadoss). During those days the locals could not afford meat, especially pork. According to legend the ordinary man ate pork only twice a year - on Christmas and New Year's Day.

Bradley, it is said, was the great saviour of the time, if one could call him that. After slaughtering the pigs he reared for sale to those who could afford to eat pork at the time, Bradley would sell the heads on credit to those who could not afford to pay up front. If it happened that there were too many heads and not enough takers, Bradley would hang the pigs' heads outside the house of his employees. Whether you like it or not, you were indebted to pay for a pig's head, which the employees could not afford to buy in the first place.

No one ever knew how much the pigs' heads cost. The workers had to pay and keep on paying. It never stopped, hence the local saying “Ou pe pey la tet koson Bradley”.

The same analogy can be drawn today between the era of Dr. Bradley and that of the SPPF. We are paying,  and we have been paying for the last thirty years, but we do not know what we are paying for and for how long we will continue to pay.

So from now on we are going to term this situation, “NOU PE PEY LA TET KOSON  SPPF!”



May 16, 2008
Copyright 2007: Seychelles Weekly, Victoria, Mahe, Seychelles