Letter From The Office Of James R. Mancham
Seychelles founding president stands behind March carnival
Mr. James R. Mancham, founding President of Seychelles, recently sent a letter to the editor of Nation Publishing in Victoria, which was published and circulated throughout the islands. Here, eTurboNews shares with our readers, Mr. Mancham's letter, verbatim, showing his support of the "Carnaval International de Victoria" to be held in March and the importance of providing funding for this event:
I read with interest in your issue of 22nd January, 2011 that a Carnaval lottery is being organized to raise fund for Carnaval International de Victoria, which should be rightly considered and promoted as an annual event falling within the framework of the promotion of the Seychelles tourism industry. But the idea would not be sustainable without adequate funding.
In this connection I have two suggestions:
(i) That the Government considers a special carnaval stamp issued that will be put on sale in the month of March or beyond. To start with, 6 stamps could be issue depicting the first carnaval in Seychelles organized in 1973. Some of these designs can already be seen on some promotional materials now in circulation to promote this year’s carnaval. The best six floats of Carnaval 2011 could be selected for the issue of carnaval 2012 and so one.
(ii) That the Government fully supports my initiative to create a special tortoise race that would become a special feature of the Seychelles tourism scene. Some years ago, I tabled a motion about the possibility of a tortoise race when I was the Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly. Sadly, the motion was summarily defeated without much consideration.
In today’s world the gaming industry falls under a multiple number of ideas. You have the traditional casino operations, you have horse racing, you have dog racing, you have camel racing – and recently in Australia I participated in a crab race organized by one of the leading seafood groups in Queensland. So what is wrong with a Seychelles tortoise race?
I am at the moment in the process of registering a company to promote and organized tortoise racing in Seychelles and in this connection, I am interested to discuss possible participatory support from any seriously interested party. The idea is as follows:–
(i) Find a suitable area around Victoria which is accessible to public gaze.
(ii) Demarcate an area for say 10 tracks.
(iii) Get 10 tortoises to be sponsored by 10 different hotels or institutions.
(iv) Involve SBC radio – both MW and FM and television to actively support the race with regular coverage and announcements.
(v) The race could start at a certain time and finish at certain hour.
(vi) At finishing time, the tortoise who has advanced most towards the finishing line, would be deemed the winner of the race.
(vii) There will be betting and odds placed on the different tortoises.
(viii) People could bet on the tortoise of their choice through agents in Victoria.
(ix) The concierge facilities at different hotels would also act as betting agents and see the event as being the creation of an activity which could be attractive to the hotel clients specially on a rainy day.
(x) The radio will cover the race announcing every half hour which tortoise is in front. In between popular music of a carnaval nature could be played for the enjoyment of all, and also in between advertisements could be broadcasted.
These are some brief ideas under consideration – and I am mindful to consider other suggestions so that we can make the Seychelles tortoise race idea a permanent feature of our overall growing gaming industry – and what is more important, will be our commitment to hand over 30% or more of the nett profit to the fund supportive of Carnaval International de Victoria.
Best regards,
James R. Mancham
Comments
I read James R. Mancham's letter to the editor on January 24th with interest and partly with amusement as I was on the brink of starting to believe that some of his proposals were intended to amuse more than being taken seriously. First I must say that all suggestions with the intention of keeping the Carnival alive and sustainable shall be most welcome and be taken seriously, but when those suggestions are more intended for personal gain rather than for the cause mentioned I cannot help expressing my opinion which I sincerely hope you will be so kind as to publish.
First of all, the idea of a stamp collection to promote the carnival is indeed a good one, but common sense would state it more natural that such a collection would contain carnival related images, not that of President Michel although I would find it totally natural that he too as elected head of state may have a stamp to commemorate his service to the country the same way James R. Mancham had his on bank notes and coins. However, using the carnival as an excuse to do so is to my opinion not appropriate. If there should however be any human faces on stamps to promote the carnival I believe that it should be that of Alain St Ange who is after the main drive behind it.
Secondly, a lottery is a good idea indeed and wouldn't be anything new, but the motivation of participating in such a lottery should however be to support the carnival and not for personal gain. Prizes sponsored by local businesses and for instance airlines which fly to Seychelles would be appropriate, but dealing out pieces of land to foreign nationals and on top of that giving them "special residence status" is an insult to every Seychellois who cannot afford an own piece of land to build his or her own home on and not least a grim reminder of the era where Seychelles passports could be purchased with a "special residence status" called diplomatic immunity, a practice that was strongly frowned upon by the international community. A statesman and global citizen like James R. Mancham should know better than that and refrain from making such sugegstions in public.
The amusing part of James R. Mancham's letter however was the tortoise race part which indeed made me crack up in laughter bringing back childhood memories of tales about the tortoise and the hare. The idea is amusing indeed, but the objectives of it seem to be more for personal gain rather than for funding the carnival. The author writes that the tortoise race could become a "permanent feature of our overall growing gaming industry", a statement itself that should raise questions about James R. Mancham's real intentions with the idea, namely starting yet another form of gambling that can flaw even more Seychellois of their hard earned cash. We need not look further than the entrance the "Amusement Centre" in Victoria minutes before it's opening time to see a line of pensioners amongst others just waiting to blow away their last pennies due to their addiction to gambling, an ever growing national disease. Most disgusting of all however was James R. Mancham's proposal to donate 30%(he did add 30% or more though) of the net profit to the fund supporting Carnaval International of Victoria. To that I wonder where Mancham intends to donate the remaining 70% of the net profit. If there is anything we should be doing regarding gambling it is to reduce it and eventually eradicate it, not promote it.
I truly hope that james R. Mancham continues to promote and advocate good ideas, but also hopes he does so for the cause he is promoting them for, not for his own personal gains. Being a great statesman also means being a great example, a lifetime obligation for a president.
Gerard Payet
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