The UNWTO elections have passed, our exemplary candidate to the World, Alain St. Ange from the tiny island of La Digue population estimate 2016 stood at 3200 people, has been struck out by Big Brother Black Africa because he was too white for them.
Their candidate of choice from Zimbabwe did not win, and just as we said all along, by not supporting St. Ange, Africa would lose a great opportunity, and it did.
The loss for the continent blinded by racism cannot be quantified. Tourism for Africa will remain an enigma industry for years to come, if not generations. The stakes for Africa were so high in this election, that it clouded the minds of the feeble in spirit.
African Union Blind To Ingredients of Success
Clearly the African Union has been blind to the ingredients of success. Those ingredients are what made Alain St. Ange a successful Minister of Tourism, a successful author, and a success after the UNWTO elections, in spite of Africa Unions failure. Here are some lessons in success for you on the Continent waiting for Tourists.
Inclusive Vs. Exclusive
First and foremost, Tourism must have a all inclusive agenda vs. a exclusive agenda for benefiting only a few. St. Ange pressed a dramatic change in Tourism in Seychelles. He advocated an inclusive approach that insured all Seychellois had a role to play and a direct benefit from Tourism. With that,they took ownership of the Industry. His door was always open to musicians, artists, dancers, as well as developers, hoteliers, taxi drivers, ambassadors, priests from all faiths.
In Africa, Tourism remains an exclusive domain benefiting only a few investors, a few high government officials. We see it in the streets everyday.
Offer All Products
Under St. Ange, we saw product quality increase. Seychelles went from " a five star destination with a three star product" to a Five star destination with Five Star, Four Star, Three Star, Two Star, No Star, Six Star products". Product offering swept the spectrum of possible demand and guest wishes. Seychelles became accessible to the world, as a result, the planes inbound increased load factor, became profitable, increased frequency, resulting in heavy competition by airlines. This resulted in competitive fares inbound to the most beautiful islands in the World, the African Union dare suggest should be subject to sanctions .
While our flights inbound dropped in price, in Zimbabwe they were increasing and flights being dropped out right.
Create A Winning Brand " Seychelles is Another World"
St. Ange created a exclusive brand for Seychelles" Another World" , where racism does not exist, inclusivity is the rule, promotion of our culture and heritage as a people is the natural order of the day. This branding was accented with cultural heritage programs, carnivals in the streets, people dancing, singing, enjoying life, and this joie de vivre ( enjoy life to the fullest) was captured for the world on video, camera, international journalists, at times 125 per event, to show the World the tender and joyful side of humanity, as opposed to the gun laden bullying side, draped in green olive uniforms,we see on continental Africa.
People searching for a holiday want to have fun, this promotional line connected with Europe, Middle East, China, and visitors came from across the globe to see some magic in this paradise. Meanwhile, they chose to avoid the African continent in large numbers.
The Humanity of The Man
Not one person who has known St. Ange will be able to say he man is not down to earth and simple, but tenacious he is, with an energy to move things in the right direction, get things done.
This grouping type of " can do people" are getting fewer and fewer in the our country and the continent. Political leaders in African Union and Seychelles need to smarten up if they want to inherit the success wave of people like St. Ange, surround yourself with " can do people" not " cannot do anything people".
Yesterday is gone, tomorrow is still on the horizon for us all......even for the African Union.
Sesel Pou Seselwa!
May God Bless All Freedom Loving Seychellois....
Even Abhorrent Judges that Do Not Have Love For Their Own People!
36 comments:
With all due respect that I have for you Mr Gill, I must say I smell something with this recent article of yours. I will point out why.
1. The problem Africa have with Seychelles & St Ange, is the fact that the Zimbabwean was unanimously approved by AU to run for the high office.
2. Had Seychelles abstained at that meeting or put St Ange name forward at that particular AU meeting, then I will not have any issues supporting St Ange.
3. In life one has to diffrentiate between right and wrong. It was simply WRONG for GOS to endorse St Ange knowing full well that we had previously supported Mzembi at the AU meeting.
4. Any blind man would tell you that St Ange would never win this UNWTO top job due to the controversy surrounding his method.
5. Had St Ange thrown his hat in the ring much earlier and had he gone head on against Mzembi prior to the AU meeting, then it would have been a different story altogether.
6. With regards to St Ange success, let me remind you that it was Sylvester Radegonde who started it all before he was ousted for not being politically correct.
7. The previous Seychelles Tourism strategy under FAR and JAM up to 2007 was 'sales preventative measures'. Hence our tourism did not boom.
8. Seychelles is some 30 years behind to were we should be today in terms of tourism - all due to the SPUP/SPPF/Pl mentality.
9. Had you put Jo Guny or Trouclaire once you have liberated everything in 2008 - even these 2 would have increased our tourism arrivals.
I use to enjoy reading freeseychelles now.
Seems like it's now about Alain St. Ange glorification.
care to explain the 100,000rps cheque from St. Anne to Alain St. Ange when he was Minister??
6:22 - of course I appreciate the respect. I hope I will not disappoint you in reply:-
1. If the Zimbabwe candidate was approved unaminously by African Union Seychelles should not have submitted another candidate according to young the African Union. This logic is fine pre Facebook era, post colonial Africa, when member states had to follow a strict line. Today, international regional body member ship is fickle and members views shift from time to time. UK seeking Brexit is one example, USA asking Mexico to pay for a wall and threats of breaching NAFTA and calling for a re negation by Trump is a livid example, that when dealing with regional organizations, nothing is cast in stone these days.
2. Whether or not Seychelles abstained, Seychelles is free to cage its mind, amend its position and she should not be subjected to bullying tactics. We all have to stand up against bullies. AU has conducted itself as a bully and in the process has overtly discredited itself.
3. I agree with you. We must differentiate between right and wrong. Here, AU is clearly wrong, for resorting to bullying and making a big fuss over little tiny Seychelles advancing its own candidate. I am simply shocked that St. Ange rattled AU to thaextent, wherein they would place their own credibility on the line to question a candidacy, submitted, within his rights, his country submitted, within her rights.
4-6 we will never know if st. Ange would have won or loss. We do know Mzembi lost, therefore he was the wrong candidate, and AU made a blunder of it. Radegonde did not have time to do anything, so he started nothing. Right and wrong dictates that we give credit to a son of Seychelles for a job well done when it is so, regardless of political affiliation. The Tourism Success Story of Seychelles has been master minded by Alain St. Ange and the people that gave him input during his tenure. To suggest anything but this is simple intellectual dishonesty and I know exactly where this style of poor thought comes from.
Sesel Pou Seselwa!
Christopher Gill
Pascal Denousse
We are not glorifying St. Ange. We are writing on a issue of national debate.
St. Ange articles regularly breech 1000 views a day. Two articles concerning him are in the top 10 - look to the right of the blog and you will see what people like to read.
We wish you well, hope you can live in your skin of belittling a Son of Seychelles, who has done only good for us. The SCR. 100,000.00 check as you know, but choose to invoke the polical tool of deception, was a check signed by two authorized signatures of Beachcomber Seychelles, if Beachcomber is missing money, as a company, it should deal with it. So far, they have ignored your false allegations.
Intellectual dishonesty, usually has only one address in Seychelles.
Kind regards,
Christopher Gill
May I suggest Mr Gill joins forces with Mr Volcere to start a new publication ' Independent-Free Seychelles Now'.
8:33
Now you will simply have to do better then that.
The point Remains African Union is a dubious organization, any member state in th day and age is free to do what I pleases.
Every time you lose the argument, you hide and tell me to join forces with Volcere. It exposes a feeble and sensitive mind, like the man who screams " murder" any time he is simply touched on the arm. Seychelles today, does not need crystal glass leaders as yourself. Get serious, and respect people if you expect to be respected, which remains a tall order, but we are trying, in spite of yourself.
Sesel Pou Seselwa!
Christopher Gill
Addendum to 5:22am
" Pascal Denousse" aside from the political lessons we can learn from the St. Ange saga, I wrote the last article to test a point: " is it certain that readers like reading St. Ange articles" , since there are two (2) articles in our TOP 10 list of articles, which the public can view on the right side of the blog.
TOP 10 admittance is usually when a blog has over 1,000 hits in a day, or in two days.
This article is near TOP 10 as it was posted late afternoon yesterday, and 24 hours will run after 2:30 pm today. The views have already reached 800 at this early morning as the sun rising on our beautiful country.
In sales and marketing, such a situation proves a simple point: St. Ange is highly marketable, whether you love him, loathe him, or prefer something in between.
I tried posting our articles on other leaders,mouth the viewer ship just does not move as it does on St. Ange.
So relax, chill with the state of affairs. In time, we will all find our way. Learn to be less venomous towards each other, love your country, in that effort, learn to be kind to each other, find common ground, move the country in the right direction. Right now our reserves are down 108 million because of your follies in the National Assembly.
Stop being an ass hole, as hard as it may be.
I will now finish my tea.
Sesel Pou Seselwa!
Christopher Gill
St Ange is of course highly marketable, that is without question. But then again so is "Kim Jong-Un"... Just because St Ange will bring you 1000 viewers per day doesn't mean you have to glorify him. You can still write an article without being biased.
I don't think anyone cares what Beach Comber does with their money,what you should care about though is that a tourism minister was receiving a 100k check and his name was on it. This merits an investigation in my book. Not to mention the many other allegations.
You may try to dismiss this as "false" allegations. But St Ange came to the national assembly and admitted to the authenticity of the check and then gave us some B.S story about how it was actually a check for E-turbo news... please.
We're not that gullible. I don't buy it and maybe free-Seychelles now should investigate this.
I can see that I hit a nerve as my 3 line comment on your article was awarded not one but two replies from you. First at 8pm last night and one lengthy reply at 6am this morning! so my comment was clearly still fresh on your mind way before 6am today. Wow, Simon you shouldn't loose sleep just for me.
I like that you have advice to share. "relax, chill with state of affairs.. move the country in the right direction..." You should really listen to your own advice.
According to you "MY" follies in the national assembly has put the reserves down 108mil??
I didn't know I was part of the N.A? That's news to me.
Maybe if we didn't waste so much money on St. Ange "Carnival" our reserves wouldn't be so low. The carnival cost us tax payers so much and brought no returns.
That is not an achievement. It is merely just putting on a show.
You tell me to "Learn to be less venomous towards each other, love your country, in that effort, learn to be kind to each other, find common ground"
And then you call me an asshole. Ironically, people who are good at giving advice. Find it difficult to follow their own.
Do as I say, not as I do. Reminds me of a few people.
On that note "Simon Gill"
Keep calm and lead by example because people will follow your example, not your advice.
Cheers
Pascal Desnousse
9:54 - sour grapes make bad wine!
Write your article on St. Ange, express yourself as you wish, I will do the same.
Jealousy is a sin.
Sesel Pou Seselwa!
Christophe Gill
As an observer, I see no Jealousy on the part of Mr Desnousse. I am enjoying a good strong debate. Keep it civilised. So far Gill 3 points & Desnousse 7 points. I've just got the popcorn & coca cola, so keep the debate live....
Just a friendly reminder.
Remember this Gill Blog.You will never gain from him,he will interpret his own way when he lose an agreement especially if you badmouth St Ange .That is why a I stayed away from it until today! You know what? I just break my new year resolution!
3:07, 3:28
It looks like you are all in la la land. If you are pay there, by all means enjoy your ti there.
The jealousy in Denousse comments are as clear as day light. Denousse and other unpatriotic coconuts like him, would prefer an incompetent minister of Tourism who works for Robert Mugabe be chosen over a exemplary candidate from Seychelles to the post of UNWTO because he fell out with Ramkalawan and went on to become the best minister tourism Seychelles ever had, registering 12%, 14% 18% 21 % and this year, from St. Ange performance, we expect 25% nation wide. We hope Praslin will not be left behi again. The success of St. Ange speaks for self. You who critic him, need to know why he succeeds. I have critic St. Ange when he was left footed in my view, he never tried insult me over it. Instead, he would put forward counter arguments worth replying to. Fomenting just low kan kan does not advance the envelope for any one. You just look incompetent and defeated.
Sesel Pou Seselwa!
Christopher Gill
Mr. Gill i always enjoyed reading your articles, and always thought you to be a gentleman and a professional. Thank you today for proving me wrong. I only wanted a good debate from you. In the words of shake spear:
"I was hoping for a battle of wits but it would be wrong to attack someone who’s totally unarmed."
I want to just make it very clear. I have never supported the candidate for Zimbabwe. You need to stop inventing fairy tales.
I believe the first comment on this post does a decent job at explaining the tourism boom after 2008. Even the simple minded can understand that.
I will advise you Mr. Gill to practice what you preach. Turning to insults when you can't handle a simple debate only results in you lowering yourself(and to use your own words... "makes you look incompetent and defeated")
Everyone's entitled to saying stupid things once in a while, but you really abuse the privilege.
When you ready to have a civilized conversation let me know.
Until then,
Pascal Desnousse.
Mr. Denousse, have you read your post? Read the first post. You accuse a man of high regard integrity, proven results, that has delivered Seychelles, of stealing SCR. 100,000.00 when that claim is unsubstantiated. What is worse, you know yourself the cheques were counter signed, meaning, crossed approved by beach comber staff. You refer to this as intellectual? You quote Shakespeare in your defense?
You expect me to be polite as you attempt to assassinate the good character of a man that has done only good for Seychelles?
Maybe you should read Shakespeare less and get a real job, earn a living, work from 5:00 am to 12:00 pm as so many decent Seychellois do everyday.
Ill wind never blows anyone any good! Guess who said that?
Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy,wealthy and wise. Guess who said that?
Sesel Pou Seselwa! Guess who says that?
Christopher Gill
Have I read my post?? After your last reply I am in utter shock... have "YOU" read my post???
"care to explain the 100,000rps cheque from St. Anne to Alain St. Ange when he was Minister?? "
Is this what you call accusing a man of stealing?
I even went as far as saying:
"what you should care about though is that a tourism minister was receiving a 100k check and his name was on it. This merits an investigation in my book. Not to mention the many other allegations."
And your conclusion is "stealing"???
I fail to see any logic behind your reasoning Mr. Gill.
I hope your 1000's of viewers enjoyed the debate...
Well on your part it consisted mostly of trying to belittle your opponent using insults without reasoning (can hardly call that a debate)
I'm out. And will not stoop to your level.
I will however leave you with this advice:
"relax, chill with the state of affairs. In time, we will all find our way. Learn to be less venomous towards each other, love your country, in that effort, learn to be kind to each other, find common ground, move the country in the right direction."
Have a nice day Mr Gill.
Pascal Desnousse
9:20 for one who reads Shakespeare you have little knowledge of the subtle side of the English language.
Your citing of the 100,000 cheque in regards to St. Ange is an inference of theft. Shakespeare uses inferences in his writing. He takes credit for them. You as a learned reader of Shakespeare should take responsibility for your inferences and wearily wearily not play with minds sharper hen thou, unless you intend to gauge those minds with a knife, and not a pen. For well chosen words are as powerful as a dagger to the heart.
If you have something solid on st. Ange expose him. If not bequeath upon him what he merits after years of toil and sweat for bleeding Seychelles, you rouge fellow, who chooses to bellow only vile to the South east wind, chase windmills to the Northside, when gross plunder and abuse lie before your crooked feet, which are not distinguishable by the sergeants call of left, right, left , right. Out, out now brief candle.
Sesel Pou Seselwa!
Christopher Gill
There are so many things one can think of that makes more sense here then stealing.
I hope your little mind can wrap itself around that.
What a disappointment.
Good bye,
Pascal Desnousse
Pascal Denousse do no run so fast.
The statement is your statement, not mine.
I infer what is reasonably plausible from your unsubstantiated statement.
Since you have a big brain mine is little, please oblige, advise me what you were inferring bye statement made on St. Ange.
It will help him rack up some damages and recover some money from the slander after he tracks your IP.
By all means substantiate.
Sesel Pou Seselwa!
Christopher Gill
In Seychelles there are 3 or so people determined to undermine St. Ange's success. it reflects more on them than it does on him or anything else. sour grapes indeed
Desnousse i vreman anvi son 15 minutes of fame. Partou ou gete ou war son bann ti comment grenn. I wonder if he is this antagonistic at family gatherings with the St.Ange clan. Or is he, as a concubine, not invited to such important gatherings? Christmas dinner would be rather awkward with him there. Is he this hateful towards all his uncle-in-laws? He can't really afford to be spreading and publishing such lies and false allegations against St.Ange when he himself is knee-deep in drama of his own. mn tande his father-in-law is the sender of several disturbing letters to young girls; i wonder if it is true?? but it is not the first I am hearing of it. mn tande a lot was done back in the day to hush these allegations up, but the letters remain. these girls are starting to come forward with the truth. selman, St.Ange may need to consider suing Desnousse for publishing false allegations - it would do Seychelles a lot of good to have this kid's tail squeezed a bit. i hope he can afford the lawsuit - mn tande cesar got a big payout in court this week for libel
DESNOUSSE: RUMORS ARE CARRIED BY HATERS, SPREAD BY FOOLS AND ACCEPTED BY IDIOTS. now do Seychelles a favour and go to work, pay your taxes and contribute to the economy of this country. you don't have a leg to stand on in your slander of others when you are gallivanting off to Fregate or to the Amirantes or to the other end of the world while others slave away in their desk jobs. we can't all expect a hand out in life. the more you open your gob on social media, the more you invite unwanted attention on yourself
Inclusion vs Exclusion politics - this is s choice leaders make.
Mugabe says - exclusion, Zimbabwe fails.
St. Ange said - inclusion, with respect for our people and culture. Seychelles succeeded.
Michel said - ek nou pa ek nou ! He failed.
Faure said inclusion and has taken deep steps at reconciliation and national heeling. He is on the right track.
Ramkalawan - exclusion politics.....cannot ever succeed.
This is the leson.
Let us learn from it.
Sesel Pou Seselwa!
Christophe Gill
Agreed
Christopher Gill thank you my man for highlighting and defining what this beautiful country is facing. We get confused at times. I admit I have applauded Mr. Ramkalawann politics of exclusion many times in the rallies. But I was drunk. If Ramkalawan can change he will be a better man for it.
We can do so much better than Ramkalawan, a tired politician with questionable ideals. A new party must start up now. St Ange would be a force to be reckoned with
We encourage debate of ideas not personal attacks on the blogger.
LET YOUR VIEWERS SEE.
ITS NOT PERSONAL ATTACK.
ITS THE TRUTH.
IF NOT WHY DELETE.
THERE ARE TWO SIDES OF THE STORY.
THEN VIEWERS WILL DECIDE,NOT ONLY THE ADMINISTRATION.
BE FAIR TO THE ONE THAT IS AGAINST YOURS.
THIS IS REAL DEBATE!
GOD SAKE DONT DELETE IF YOU A MAN.
Agree with your comment.
Let read both side and can agree and disagree.
Numbers of viewers does not mean nothing!.
8.00PM
YOU STATED THAT THIS BLOGG HIT 1000 VIEWERS PER DAY ON YOUR BUDDY.
HOW COME ONLY FEW ANONYMOUS ARE PARTICIPATING?
A FREQUENT OBSERVER.
Any one who raises Seychelles and makes her shine, is my buddy.
Any one that disgraces Seychelles,mis not my buddy.
The alarm on st. Ange is not that his article hits 1000 per day, it is that they join the prestigious grouping of the top 10 , which is an indication of his marketability.
Naturally, if St. Ange has led SNP and Ramkalawan had gone back to priesthood, SNP would not need Pillay to remain viable. St. Ange is marketable because he is civilized, decent, thoughtful, intellectually. He is not reactive, vindictive, and crass. These qualities make the subtle but important difference in a national leader.
Look at Faure. How can you compare Faure leadership to Michel. Faure does not insult the public. Faure does not shame Seychellois. He is defending us. He is looking for ways to correct injustice. This is very brave.
That's life, chill, relax, let nature take its course. For a seed, once planted, its character is set by the course of nature, not blogs, or observers.
Merci.
Sesel Pou Seselwa!
Christophe Gill
Hey my buddy I don't know Alain too much but I can see him being an Ambassador sometime in near future.This is a procedure that PL had adopted since Pillay,Affif and Andre were demoted or resigned.
No sense on wasting talent
Ambassadors are posts for people you need to get rid of.
St. Ange will see through these games.
Good one.
Pierre is hiding in Sri Lanka.
Pillaynwas left homeless in UK it infuriated him.
Radegonde complained no money to y taxi inner zyork. Took the bus.
Jumeau spent most of his time promote environment in gay bars of New York.
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