Press conference with Vice-President Vincent Meriton |25 March 2017

‘SNA will stay as an agency on its own’

“The Seychelles News Agency will stay as an agency on its own as it is a good source of information in our democracy and with a mostly foreign readership.”

Vice-President Vincent Meriton said this yesterday morning during a press conference in his office at State House.

When asked if the Seychelles News Agency will join with the National Information Services Agency as is the wish of a section of the National Assembly, VP Meriton answered that a lot of people ‒ locally and internationally ‒ refer to the agency’s website for credible information.

He added that “in the past a lot of foreign media houses were represented here whenever there was an event, but nowadays the foreign media use the information that is posted on the Seychelles News Agency website as a basis for their own stories. This proves that the Seychelles News Agency should stand on its own.”

The vice-president noted that the information department has been working on how the agency can generate revenue in the future as it receives a budget of R3 million from government.

He explained that “although we do not get any profit on investment, the work done by the Seychelles News Agency brings a lot of benefits to the country as it is good publicity through its unbiased reporting”.

As to the revised Seychelles Broadcasting Corporation (SBC) law, VP Meriton said it came up in the Cabinet meeting this week and the final touches are being added.

“It will touch on issues like the composition of the board, how the chief executive is appointed. If everything goes according to plan I will present the law in the National Assembly on April 11,” said VP Meriton.

Speaking about the laptop scheme, he said it will start at secondary one level and all students from public and private schools are eligible to apply for one from the start of the second semester of 2017.

The vice-president explained that an individual will also be eligible for a second laptop five years after obtaining a first one if he/she is still a student, adding that students can start making their applications for their laptops and government will make a R3,000 contribution while parents will pay the remainder of the cost.

Vice-President Meriton also talked about the Access to Information Bill, saying the information department has met representatives of the media, Ceps, chief executives, local leaders to discuss the content.

“On Wednesday this week, Cabinet approved the final draft of the law which is one among the many laws I will table before the National Assembly on April 11. This law will help budget-dependent organisations structure themselves and publish information on a regular basis on their website under the proactive disclosure provision. If a member of the public feels a certain piece of information he/she wishes to have is not on the organisation’s website, he/she can fill in a form addressed to the information officer within the organisation requesting for the information. If the person is denied the information he/she is requesting for, he/she can appeal the decision through a commission which is to be set up or even the Supreme Court,” said VP Meriton.

He added that the law also makes provision not to divulge some personal information on individuals.

“For example, if after taking a HIV test my result comes out positive. An individual cannot write to the information officer of the Ministry of Health requesting to have a copy of my test. Only the court can ask the ministry to make the result of my test available to that individual. This means the Access to Information Bill will guarantee access to information to everyone as prescribed under Article 28 of the Constitution, but at the same time there is also a need to protect individuals’ rights and the secret d’Etat such as security, intelligence and trade secrets. There must be a balance,” insisted the vice-president.

He added that organisations are being asked to identify information officers who should know how their organisations function and get them to publish their information on their website. At the same time, they will be briefed on what information they can release and what they cannot.

On internet outages and the high cost for usage, the vice-president said the government has started a series of discussions with the different operators.

“Government has never been part of a telecommunication company in Seychelles and there is a company that has been in operation in this sector for more than 120 years. Obviously it has a lot of advantages which other operators feel are at their disadvantage. We have to work together to promote free and fair competition. There has already been a drop in price but people still believe it is too high. Government is making sure that we have constant internet access which is very fast and at a good price. Internet is not a luxury, we need it in our everyday life ‒ in education, human resource, businesses, government services. It is a tool for economic development. We have to work on our legal framework, discuss with the operators to reduce the cost of internet even more,” said the VP.

He noted that internet outages were mostly beyond the Seychelles-Dar es Salaam segment, adding that “this is why we want to have a second fibre optic cable which will come in handy in case there is an outage. Just imagine the loss on any business when there is an outage”.

Although the project is still in its infancy, VP Meriton said it is certain it will not be financed from the government coffers.