By// Gervais Henrie.. IS IT POSSIBLE???.. So, it looks like the issue of National Reconciliation is back on the table! At least, that’s what I’ve read in two editions of “Today in Seychelles” newspaper this week. It needed 21 years, after the founding President of Seychelles, first uttered those words, in order for a leader from the ruling party to hint that it is possible. Mr. Albert René, in a recent interview with this party’s mouth-piece, “The People”, declared that the Parti Lepep has to embrace certain situations that involve corrections and adaptations more commonly known as Seychelles National Party Reconciliation. In his response to Mr. René’s un-expected admission, Sir James Mancham welcomed the idea, but cautioned, that “Speaking about National Reconciliation is one thing, but achieving National Reconciliation and consolidating it, is certainly something else.” According to my understanding, we cannot talk about National Reconciliation only as another vague idea about consensus, whereby political leaders come together to shake hands and pretend that nothing worth fixing has ever happened or may be happening. From just a quick browse through the reactions posted on the social media network, one can tell that the thought of forgetting and forgiving is too emotive for some people. Or more so, I was at the St Paul’s Cathedral on 05th June last year, when the memorial service for Son Chang-Him was held. I witnessed his three grown up children’s tears as they sat in the pew, remembering their father, who was cowardly shot in the back on that day, 36 years ago. This is proof enough that we need reconciliation... A total of 27 countries around the world, including Argentina (1983), Chile (1990), East Timor (2001) and South Korea (2005) amongst others have undergone a National Reconciliation process. But initially, it normally involves a truth commission or truth and reconciliation commission which is as-signed with the task of discovering and revealing past wrong doings by a government (or, depending on the circumstances, non-state actors also), in the hope of resolving conflicts left over from the past. So, is Pti Sesel ready to take that road, starting with us revisiting the episode of the infamous.. 5th June 1977 “coup d’état” and its after-math which resulted in illegal im-prisonments, forceful deportations, disappearances, tortures etc???? We have the examples of three neighbouring countries which have opened up their painful past just so they could bring their people closer together for the sole purpose of unity and consensus in the land. These were South Africa (1995), Kenya (2008) and Sri Lanka (2010). Mr. Mancham has led the call for national reconciliation since his re-turn to Seychelles in 1993, after spending 15 years in exile, but the ruling party has, to date, been un-responsive to his appeals even when he was backed by the opposition parties at different intervals. Now that the issue is back on the table, it had better not just be a vague idea. Since Mr. René has re-newed the proposal, the ball is squarely in his team’s court. The world is waiting to see what they will do next. What the populace needs is a clear and transparent plan that will bring all Seychellois together to develop and promote an environment which is conducive to peaceful existence and would help promote national reconciliation through unity and consensus in the country, based on democratic principles. No matter how difficult it maybe, I strongly believe that as a nation, Seychelles has to undergo the process at some point in the future. There is no other way around it. Like it or not, we are living in a country that is split right down the middle. Now, with Mr. Mancham and Mr. René on the same page, the onus is on the incumbent head of state to pronounce himself on the matter publicly... source // LSH...
Posted on: Sat, 22 Feb 2014 08:41:13 +0000
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