PHEW!! Sighs Desperate Dan-Lousto comes to the rescue
In sheer desperation that may turn out to be a masterstroke according to his supporters, President Danny Faure has changed his colour overnight and picked a total party outsider as his running mate in the October 2020 elections.In true political chameleon style he has ditched the party tradition of picking one of their own and in the process surprise many observers, shocked many staunch party supporters, but created a significant watershed in the trajectory of his party (see Opinion).
Given that the country was awash with rumours with the name of an ex-goalkeeper on T-shirts found at Customs, the chances of some diplomats to be called, and the casting aside of people in his own party who are constructing five-storey mansions, it could well have been said that Danny was running out of options with the last lap to go before the October elections.Among those who had been whispered were accountant Suketu Patel, who did a video endorsement a few months ago, a few ambassadors, a former fellow Seychellois student in Cuba, and even former speaker Patrick Herminie had not been discounted.While the juggling was going on, Maurice Loustau-Lalanne was himself busy juggling the FA4JR figures in the Ministry of Finance, dodging the interminable barrage of questions from both sides of the National Assembly, or ducking into his car to avoid a taxi driver disgusted that he hadn’t been reimbursed his Covid-19 losses.Then almost like ‘Jack-in-the-box’ out jumps Loustau-Lalanne with the nonchalance of a man deftly climbing out of a dustbin in the Control Tower of an airport under mercenary attack, shakes a few bits of dust off his crisp shirt in James Bond style, and enters the fray, muttering a string of expletives under his breath.We do not know yet how and when the call, or the whisper after the Cabinet meeting, came through, but we know that in this moment of reckoning Danny knew that he could count on the Seychelles’ best known seasoned civil servant, and the faithful civil servant knew that his moment had come and he couldn’t refuse to save Danny and the sinking ship.
On the 1st August the party will officially endorse the nomination, and if we all know how parties work, things will go like the proverbial clockwork. People who know Loustau-Lalanne well are saying that he is probably the best choice Faure had considering several individuals had declined the offer.His journey in Government can fill a whole book as well as career-guidance talk on Administration and at one time he seemed set to be an eternal Principal Secretary having glided his way through Environment, Health and Foreign Affairs until gaining Minister status in Tourism & Transport, and more recently as Minister for Finance, Trade, Economic Planning & Investment.Loustau-Lalanne is married with two daughters, one of whom works as Principal Secretary in the Department of Blue Economy in the office of the Vice-President.
