Events of the past week
have indeed reinforced local skeptics’ views that we have a Government that is
bent on hiding the truth from the general public. Or should I say is determine to
stop the truth from getting out.
It’s been only four
weeks since the New Year but the Government is already facing a number of
scandals including the death of the unborn child of Seychelles Weekly Editor,
Ralph Volcere at the Seychelles Hospital which underlines the crisis in the
country’s health sector. Then there has been confirmation of a Tunisian
fugitive walking free in Seychelles, showing that our country as an African
Union member and an International member of the Interpol organization is still
willing to betray member countries. Also in the wake of the Union Estate
corruption investigation, comes the revelation of the controversial sale of
state land by former Minister, Dolor Ernesta which further highlighted the high
level corruption going on in Seychelles.
However, on all the
above issues the Government is remaining tight lipped. It has been clear over
the years that the strategy applied by this Administration over similar issues
in recent years is to say nothing at all until the stories eventually die out.
This is, because the Government thinks the Seychellois public forgets easily
and moves on with life fast.
The only hope left for
the Seychellois public is for the opposition press to keep the story alive by
reminding their readers of it week after week. In the past a degree of success
has been achieved by applying this strategy.
Managing public
information is something the Seychellois authorities are still grappling with.
Exposing sensitive information remains an important strategy in the eventual
opening up of state institutions.
Silence may be golden,
but for how long can one keep silent, when knowing too well that keeping silent
often says you have something to hide. But most importantly the truth always
comes out.
