‘Public very positive about the Commonwealth’ |07 March 2014

The public showed very positive attitude towards the role and functions of the Commonwealth though like all organisations it has its challenges and relevancy that are needed to be addressed to make it more effective in its functions.

This was the outcome of the Commonwealth panel debate held yesterday morning at the Seychelles Institute of Teacher Education (Site) at Mont Fleuri hosted by the Minister for Foreign Affairs Jean-Paul Adam.

The debate was held to mark Commonwealth Day which will be celebrated on Monday March 10.

In a brief introductory speech to officially launch the debate, Minister Adam said it was particularly fitting to have that discussion and as a former Commonwealth Games athlete himself, he can relate to what it means to not only be representing your own country under the banner of your own flag but also representing something which is bigger and broader but which is also something hard to find.

“So the challenge of the Commonwealth is obviously to create the space that is greater than some of its parts. This is what makes a team.  So this year’s theme is a celebration of the team spirit that unites the 53 countries that make up the Commonwealth and the values and aspirations that they all share in creating just and peaceful societies, in achieving sustainable social progress, in advancing democracy and in building economic resilience,” said Minister Adam.

He also said it is much more useful to see the strength of team Commonwealth as a series of individual performances that combine into a very strong total. Thus the Commonwealth being more than a sum of its parts.

“It is less useful to consider the Commonwealth as a football team where it has defenders and strikers striking on the same wavelength but more in terms of a relay team where the individual efforts of several come together to bring about the desired results,” he said, making reference to the poster of the theme which is indeed a relay battle.

Referring to a relay team which allows each individual member to prepare and train according to their own expectations, requirements and abilities, Minister Adam said: “Seychelles is a proud and long standing member of the Commonwealth and we consider that whenever we have to undertake our leg of the relay and we want to ensure that the baton is in safe hands. By joining other countries around the world to mark Commonwealth Day through the organisation of such activities like this debate, we are paying tribute to the important part of the Seychelles heritage as well as the strong partnership among Commonwealth members that is vital to our future.”

Questioning some of the commitments that Seychelles make to the Commonwealth, Minister Adam said they are part of what makes the Commonwealth a high performance team and he named the criteria that Seychelles believes contributes to the high performance – firstly team members can say exactly what they want; secondly member states trust each other enough to identify mistakes or inefficiencies and take steps to address them;  and thirdly we understand and value what each individual team member has to the whole team.

He also said that for many years the Commonwealth has brought together in a constructive way the diverse perspectives held by its membership on global economic, financial, social and environmental levels.

Referring to what some critics of the Commonwealth are saying that the organisation is simply a vehicle for the subpower of its more powerful members, he said it is therefore important that these criticisms are addressed.

He said the strength of the Commonwealth lies in the contributions of all its members. There are no voting blocs within the Commonwealth, there are no regional blocs. As a team, the Commonwealth has managed to melt together diverse challenging histories into something that is capable of delivering unity, peace, human rights, sustainable developments and therefore we believe we can be very optimistic about the future of the Commonwealth.  

Referring to the New Charter signed last year in which Seychelles was one of the countries which contributed towards its text and on the perception that the Commonwealth is all about the Majesty the Queen, he explained that the Queen only signs the charter after all the other heads of state have signed. She is the head of the Commonwealth but the organisation has no value without the existence and involvement of the 53 member countries.

Explaining what the future of the Commonwealth represents to Seychelles where half the member countries are small island developing states like us and where over half of the citizens of the Commonwealth are below the age of 35, Minister Adam said Seychelles has often argued that the future of sustainable development depends on being able to find a sustainable framework for island development. This is something we can achieve within the Commonwealth.

The debates were based mainly on the relevance of the Commonwealth nowadays and the audience were told that the organisation is not there to tell member states what to do but mainly provides technical assistance and that it depends on each individual state to resolve their issues.

The youth representative on the panel, Beryl Payet, noted the strong team spirit among the youths at the Commonwealth Youth Forum in Colombo last November and that whenever she speaks English she feels part of the Commonwealth.

Challenges facing the Commonwealth were also discussed during the panel debate.

Besides Minister Adam and Miss Payet, the other panelists during the debate were the Indian high commissioner Thanglura Darlong, chief executive of the Seychelles Media Commission Ibrahim Afif and the Mayor of Victoria Jacqueline Moustache-Belle, who was chairing the debate.