MANY people are wondering out loud at the deafening silence from the State House upon the announcement that the Seychelles’ Anglican diocese has elected Father Danny Elizabeth as its new Bishop. Elizabeth will take over from retired Bishop Wong, who has already left the country for his homeland, Mauritius, after an allegation of a big fallout with his former best friend at the State House. To date, State House has made no mention whatsoever of the election of Father Danny to head Seychelles’ second biggest religion and, more importantly, the same religion from which hails President Wavel Ramkalawan, who is furthermore an Anglican priest himself!
The seat of the government has always been on the ball when it comes to congratulating Seychellois achievements, so ignoring this one sticks out like a sore thumb and raises many questions. These questions become more loaded when one digs a little into what went down the day Father Danny became Bishop elect.
Sources who were present recount a most disturbing incident. According to them, the election of the new head of the diocese was overseen by an archbishop from Madagascar. According to the religion’s rules, it is an electoral college made up of two representatives from each church/parish, which elects the bishop from the short-listed candidates. When the former bishop announced his retirement, the upcoming vacancy was published throughout the region.
According to those who have spoken up against the election of Father Danny, only one candidate, Father Jerome, hailing from South Africa, had submitted his application. This newspaper has learnt that it is a fact that initially the diocese had informed that there was only one candidate, but that before the deadline, two others, both locals, also stepped forward and submitted their applications.
The committee that did the triage shortlisted the two local candidates, as they felt they were the most suitable ones and presented them to the electoral college for the final vote. It was then that the furore happened. More than one source indicated that the objections in a very loud and unpleasant manner were led by none other than Wavel Ramkalawan, aka Father himself, who launched into a tirade that these two cannot be the candidates and that this is not how things are done and so on. He had the backing of some four or five others.
The sources say that the presiding archbishop took the matter well in his stride and simply let Father Wavel vent his spleen and then asked him if he was done and if so, could he (the archbishop) continue with the procedure! Father Wavel eventually walked out, followed by those who supported his stance. This tainted an otherwise joyous moment for the Anglicans in Seychelles, as they elected the second Seychellois to lead them. The country still remembers Archbishop French Chang Him, who was at the helm for years and led with kindness, compassion and a gentle but firm hand. The man epitomised forgiveness and love, and it was he who ordained both Father Wavel and Father Danny as priests, as he did for most of the others.
The uproar in the cathedral is something which would have offended his sense of propriety, and it surely hurt those who always strive for unity in the church.
Maybe Father Wavel wanted the post for himself after the September 2025 elections, but was this the best way to object, rather than seek an explanation quietly? Or was the outburst driven by a man who just cannot stand anything to be done in any other way than his way? Was it the ego of a drunk-on-power president which had come into play once again and in a setting where it had absolutely no place, or is the man cracking under the pressure of the impending general elections, he looks set to lose?
The public is having a hard time understanding why he cannot be happy that a fellow Seychellois will once again hold the reins in the diocese, and as such, have an even better understanding of the local dynamics to the advantage of the church.
While people bemoan the incident and wish it would quietly disappear, some are looking deeper into the matter and referring to prior instances when the president had let it be known that if his political career did not pan out, he would be in the running for the post of Bishop of the Seychelles diocese. Analysts are concluding that he may have vented his frustrations, as it is clear that with a Seychellois Bishop, his chances of attaining that office any time soon, should his presidential bid fail, are quasi non-existent. Things are not looking up for the priest president lately!
