By the end of September, the Seychellois electorate will be asked to decide who they want to lead the country for the next five years. Despite all the hoo-hah and bravado by politicians, when the hour of reckoning comes, it will be just the voter and his ballot paper. His decision will decide the path his life and the lives of everyone else in the country will take.
Over the past eighteen months or so, and especially after the CCCL explosion, which destroyed the lives of the inhabitants and businesses in the Cascade district, there has been a more vocal expression of discontent with the current administration. From quiet murmurings, the complaints have intensified to outright criticism and publishing on social media. To listen to the talk on the streets, one would believe that the current government is well on its way out.
Pundits, however, question the truth of that statement.
“I don’t know, the Seychellois have a habit of complaining about all the wrong things the government (whichever is in power at the time) does, but when push comes to shove, they play it safe and vote for the evil they know!” Mr. Dubois said.
His friend Labonté countered by saying that this is no longer so true, as in 2015 and 2020, the people showed that they can move away from traditional blind loyalty to a party and vote someone else into power.
“I truly believe the Seychellois now realise the power of their vote and let us face it, the disgruntled are not just the working poor or frustrated opposition supporters, and it includes people from all walks of life, even those who fanatically supported the current administration before. The public feels they have been let down and that everything that was sacrosanct to them has been violated!”
Some readers, who agreed to talk to SIN, pointed out that the government made use of their suffering to get to power and then conveniently cast them aside.
“I know nothing about what went on 43 years ago, I wasn’t even born then. But I always hear my father talk about how his father was victimised due to his political beliefs, and when the TRNUC sessions started, I listened in. I witnessed my relatives and others relive the suffering they went through. I was hopeful that they would find closure, be compensated and given some form of redress. The first disappointment came when they were told there was no money to pay for the compensation and that taxpayers could not bear this burden. This got me thinking about why, then, was the whole show put on!” a grandchild of someone who testified before TRNUC said.
Another said that for him the biggest betrayal was when President Ramkalawan recently said he had no case under which to sue former president James Michel for and that anyone who has a case against the man should come forward and sue him themself.
“That threw me. I know he has been going back on many things which he had promised during his election campaign in 2020, but that one took the cake. For me, it confirmed all the talk that he is in cahoots with Michel and does not care about those who stood by him all those years when he was an outcast. It’s amazing what power can do to a man! This is why I, for one, am not going to take it lying down, I will use my vote to kick him out of State House so he can go and join his best friend James in Abu Dhabi!”
“What voters need to bear in mind now is the fact that we do not owe gratitude and respect to politicians. They are nobody without us. The debt of gratitude is theirs to pay, and as we have seen, they cannot respect either us or their promises; we need to protect ourselves and cast them out. We can choose to keep them in power and continue to whine and moan, or we can allow a different group to do better. It’s my choice, it’s your choice! We decide. Let us make the best decision!” Labonte said.
