Land compensation claims now with new land tribunal |19 August 2017

The leader of the Truth and Reconciliation Committee in the National Assembly of Seychelles, Wavel Ramkalawan, has clarified the situation regarding land claims lodged with the committee now that an administrative land tribunal has been set up to look into all pending cases of compensation related to land in line with Part III of Schedule 7 of the Constitution.

The tribunal came about after a recommendation of President Danny Faure in his address to the Nation in the National Assembly last month. Its aim is to deal with land acquisition cases by government from 1977 which also followed a Court ruling in 2012 whereby the Court recommended that it would be preferable to have a tribunal deal with compensation cases as opposed to taking cases to Court.

It is worth noting that people who are not satisfied with what they have been compensated with, are also legible to lodge a claim.

Mr Ramkalawan, who is also the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, said he has to shed light on the current situation of these claims, which he said amount to about 115 cases, as a number of people are a bit confused on what was happening now with the complaints lodged with the committee following the setting up of a tribunal for that purpose.

“I want to make it clear that the work of the land tribunal is in line with the work the committee on Truth and National Reconciliation is doing. Except now we have a tribunal where people will be able to present a case and the tribunal will listen to their case and make appropriate awards for their loss,” he said. This means the role of the tribunal is in line with that specific schedule and part of the constitution.

He assured members of the public who have not yet lodged their case or have lodged it a little bit late not to worry about not being able to be heard.

“Have the confidence the tribunal will listen to them,” he said.

Mr Ramkalawan also said the tribunal will soon announce the procedure to be put in place to deal with these cases. And they on the Truth and National Reconciliation Committee will also assist by providing information to the people.

“If the tribunal wants to set up their regulations under an act or as a piece of law, this will come to the National Assembly where they will help the claimants to better understand how to go about their case,” he explained.

He also clarified what was first published when the land tribunal was set up where it said the cases from 1993 will be looked into.

“It is important to note that 1993 is the year that the constitution was adopted. And it is in the 1993 Constitution Schedule 7 Part 3 which states ‘A procedure for past land acquisition.’ But all land acquisitions from 1977 will be dealt with.

The five-member tribunal is chaired by Joseph Athanasius, with other members being Hubert Alton, Alain Savy, Roy Cadence and Sabrina Zoe, all surveyors and quantity surveyors from the private sector except for Ms Zoe who is from the Ministry of Habitat, Infrastructure and Land Transport, formerly MLUH (Ministry of Land Use and Housing).

Mr Athanasius has said the arrangement is for all pending cases with the above-mentioned ministry will be transferred to the tribunal which will draw up a database to know the cases and better prioritise them. Mr Athanasius added that the length of time spent on a case will all depend on its complexity. The tribunal was to meet again in two weeks to start looking at these cases before moving on to new claims.

The Truth and Reconciliation Committee has other issues to deal with like disappearances, people who have lost their business, those who emigrated forcibly, just to name some.

Regarding the Islands Committee in the National Assembly which Mr Ramkalwan also chairs, he said they are in the process of inviting any person who has an interest in how they would like to see their islands in the future, to make presentations.

“Because we have many Seychellois who have worked on the islands, fishermen who have been there or around, those in the sea cucumber or tourism businesses etc.. In fact different people with different interests. So we will invite anybody with such interests to contact us so that the second phase of our work will be for us to listen to their propositions which will form part of our recommendations,” Mr Ramkalawan said.