Former President James Mancham’s book launch |15 September 2014

‘President Michel the right man to lead Seychelles’

He said it earlier this year and reiterated it last Friday night at the Espace building during the launch of his book entitled ‘SEYCHELLES – The saga of a small nation navigating through the cross-current of a big world’.

President James Michel is the right man at the right place and at the right time to lead Seychelles bring about the changes we need in this country, Sir James Mancham said.

He made this comment when he talked about the chapter of his book in which he writes about the future of the world.
“We cannot talk about the future of the world without thinking about the future of our beloved Seychelles,” he said.

“It’s a matter of my own conviction and I don’t mind being criticised for it. I believe President James Michel is the right man at the right place and at the right time to lead Seychelles bring about the changes we need in this country. Changes must take place but we do need a leader. You try to run an organisation without a leader and you tell me where you get to,” said Sir James Mancham.

The Founding President of the Republic of Seychelles added that “in the circumstances of today, we in Seychelles must be prepared to put aside all the sad happenings, and there’s been many, of the past to be able to move forward towards creating a nation where we live in peace and in fraternal harmony.”

“All of us must contribute our share towards this objective in providing full support to President Michel as he marches around this objective,” he said.
Proving to those present that the country has moved ahead and is getting the people to reconcile and leave in harmony, Mr Mancham said:

“My fiends it is really a pleasure to be with all of you, a pleasure to be here. Just imagine 20 years ago would we have had the opportunity to meet as we are meeting today? Speaking our minds as we are speaking today?  A collection of all political affiliations under one roof? If this is no indication of the fact that we have moved ahead then I don’t know what move ahead means,” he stressed.

The author of the 450-page book published by Mahé Publications also said the book is in his view very timely.

“It was in January this year when I was talking to my son Richard and he was questioning about what the reconciliation business is about. When I explained it to him he said: ‘Dad there’s a lot of people out there who do not understand about reconciliation. It is time you write another book so that they can better understand as I did not understand it myself but after listening to you I fully support your visions’.”

That evening Mr Mancham telephoned Gordon Anderson, president of Paragon House Publishers and editor in chief of ‘International Journal on World Peace’, to talk to him about the idea of publishing a new book.

Mr Anderson agreed to have the book published in spring 2015 and Mr Mancham stressed that it should come out this year to coincide with his 75th birthday.
“Mr Anderson said in this case we will need to have a special Seychelles edition and you have to send us the manuscript by the end of May 2014. I accepted the challenge and today we have this volume of 450 pages and I must first and foremost thank my staff who sat around the clock with me taking dictations and typing to finish his work on time,” said Mr Mancham.

The book is divided into seven parts, each covering topics of Mr Mancham’s life and insights into political, cultural and economic wisdom.
“The first chapter is about La Belle Époque, the good old days when Seychelles was connected to the outside world by one ship a month. This is the Seychelles I grew up in. Will such a belle époque come back to Seychelles again? I don’t think so. But being an optimist I take the view that the best is yet to come,” said Mr Mancham.

The chapter glances over the political conflicts when party politics started to invade our nation. It tells the story of Seychelles from the colonial times to independence, and covers the lives of the three Presidents – James Mancham, France Albert Rene and James Michel.

Part two is an overview of Michel’s government and the goals of his government. Reading this part, according to the publisher, one can "become an international expert on the current politics of the current Seychelles government."

Mr Mancham described the government of a day as “a determined nation on the move under the leadership of our current President James Michel.”

“Small nation on the move echoes very much my sentiment that no country is small if it is surrounded by the sea,” he said adding that this chapter also talks about the team surrounding President Michel as he endeavours to navigate to bring forward the objective for a more successful and happier Seychelles.
Another segment of the book is Seychelles and bilateral relations.

“I don’t know if everybody will be a 100% happy with this section because there’s been a lot of navigation in this area. You will read under this chapter my opinion with which you may agree or disagree about Anglo-Seychelles relationship, Franco-Seychelles relationship, Indo-Seychelles relationship, Sino-Seychelles relationship etc. concluding with a chapter about our special relationship with the United Arab Emirates.

“In this section you will read a story about the joining of Air Seychelles with Etihad described as a marriage made in heaven. Another story is about the special association and friendship and generosity bestowed on us by the ruler of Abu Dhabi and I my view it is not a matter of friendship but more a matter of love affair. Most of our diplomats will be interested to read this chapter,” he continued.

The book also contains a description of the most important outlying islands of Seychelles, including who owns them; an account of international organisations that Mr Mancham has been actively involved in, often in a leadership capacity; stories conveying an understanding of leading figures he has known personally ranging from Charles de Gaulle of France and Pierre Trudeau of Canada, Nelson Mandela and Queen Elizabeth 11 of UK to CIA handlers and the notorious Ugandan tyrant, Idi Amin.

Born in Seychelles on August 11, 1939, Mr Mancham studied at the then Seychelles College before he going to London to study law.

After becoming a barrister, he made a steady rise in Seychelles politics, under British rule – as a legislator, party leader, chief minister, prime minister and then as first elected president of Seychelles on June 29, 1976.

After only 11 months in office, at the height of the Cold War, Mancham was ousted by his former classmate and Prime Minister France Albert Rene, in a coup on June 5, 1977 and remained in London where he lived in exile.

Mr Rene invited Mancham to return after 15 years in exile in London and he returned to Seychelles in April 1992 and was involved in the process that led to the country’s return to multi-party democracy in June 1993.

In 2005 he stepped down as leader of the Democratic Party which he founded in 1962, and has since become a leading advocate for peace and reconciliation at international conferences.