THE month of June brings with it the usual plethora of feast days and public holidays, amongst which is the
country's National Day. As is usual at this time of the year, the organising Committee has put together a programme,
which on the one hand tries to inject a sense of patriotism and national pride, while at the same time offering much
space for enjoyment and fun. To foster the spirit of celebration, the town is usually decorated with the national
colours and this year, the mini flags are dancing merrily in the wind, giving an air of cheer to Victoria.
Yet it is human to err, and in its enthusiasm to have the capital looking all festive, the National Day Celebrations
Organising Committee may have overstepped legal boundaries. The committee has commissioned artists to paint on
the surface of two National Monuments – the Bicentennial Monument, designed in 1979 to commemorate the 200th
anniversary of Victoria, from when it was founded in 1789, by the Frenchman Charles Routier de Romainville. It
depicts three pairs of extended white wings representing the three continents from which the Seychellois originate –
Africa, Asia and Europe. Its winged form also represents the birds, hence the creole name ( Moniman Trwa Lezel)
or three-winged monument.
The other monument, the Unity Monument, located at the south end of the capital, was designed 9 years after the
Bicentennial Monument. It depicts four white, upright open open-mouthed fish resembling the swordfish/ marlin
type, which bend towards one another so that their bills touch. It represents the four pillars of the country's economy,
tourism, fisheries, agriculture and small businesses, reminding all of the interconnectedness of its industries.
Each of these monuments stands in the middle of a busy roundabout, and as such, no one going through Victoria
can miss seeing them. They are protected under the National Monuments Act and are listed under it as being white!
Therefore, changing the colour or the details on either of these monuments amounts to desecration or an act of
vandalism! While getting all hyped up about making Victoria look colourful, no one on the committee bothered to
check the fact that one cannot change the facade of these monuments and that by so doing, the drawings they have
had the artists painstakingly produce amount to graffiti vandalising two National Monuments!
Did they get the permission from the National Monuments Authority to do so, and if yes, who gave said
permission? Livening up these two edifices could have been easily done without tampering with their surfaces. All
they needed to do was restore the coloured lights which used to shed beautiful lights on these monuments at night,
along with the fountain-like water works which went with them.
Sadly, it seems that all reason and caution has been thrown into the winds and now the country is left with two
monuments which have been painted over depicting different aspects of life on the islands, in colours which do not
necessarily complement each other and which leaves one with a sense of Ugh what have they done?
