Inclusion and accessibility are two of the fundamental rights

“Removing barriers to create an inclusive and accessible society for all” was the theme of this year’s International Day for Persons with Disabilities. An aptly chosen theme that gives us all an ideal opportunity to reexamine the situation around us.

To be honest, it was the Minister of Social Affairs, Community Development, Vincent Meriton’s message last Sunday night that got me thinking, if only politicians were more sincere in their words.

The Minister’s message said this was “an opportunity for our population to focus on what each and every one of us can do, in the work that we do and in the community where we live to remove all types of barriers in our society.”

Do we have barriers in Seychelles? Certainly not against women or people based on their gender, religious belief or ethnicity. But for sure political exclusion is rampant in this small nation state.

The biggest barrier people who support the Opposition face is the attitude of the Government – “I pa avek nou.” The second barrier is the way the political power has created the political divide between its red camp and anyone else who doesn’t fit the colour profile.

We know that one should not be excluded from national dialogue and everybody should respect the views of each other. Yet the ruling Parti Lepep during the last 35 years has find a way to limit political competition; alienate the Opposition and stop them from participating fully in mainstream society.

Just like Minister Meriton’s call for all barriers limiting the disabled people to fully develop their potentials, the very ministry he heads - Community Development, has been the corner stone in segregating the Seychellois community based on their political colour and affiliation.  

For years, housing, land, jobs, scholarships have all been offered to people not based on their merits but their political allegiance to the ruling party. The political divide is stopping our people from gaining control of their lives and an equal chance to participate actively in their communities by providing support they have the abilities to. 

The Minister recognizes that inclusion and accessibility are two fundamental rights.  It is therefore, the right of those who choose to disagree with the Government to do so without being seen as ungrateful, unpatriotic and be denied the chance to be treated as equal.