Assembly committee members get updates on government assurances |30 August 2017
Members of the National Assembly Committee on Government Assurances (COGA) has been updated on the several assurances the president, ministers and other government officials made in the National Assembly through the State-of-the-Nation, budget addresses, statements, questions they answered and motions tabled.
This was during a 2nd meeting the committee had yesterday morning with the Minister for Finance, Trade and Economic Planning Dr Peter Larose, the principal secretary for Finance and Trade Patrick Payet and special advisor Sitna Cesar.
The committee is chaired by Gervais Henrie, elected member for Mont Buxton, and the other members are Clive Roucou (vice-chair), Norbert Loizeau, Sylvanne Lemiel, Wilbert Herminie, Sandy Arissol and Simon Gill.
Many of these assurances target capital investment projects, restructuring within the Ministry of Finance, Trade and Economic Planning and the review of financial laws to tackle issues that emerged during the Budget Address.
Mr Henrie said: “The committee notes all the declarations and promises the president, ministers and other officials make in the Assembly and follow them up through letters, meetings like this one where we get details on progress being made. We also carry out visits to assess and verify for ourselves the said progress before the committee submits its report to the Assembly and this will be before the presentation of the budget end October. This is for us to know how many promises the government has delivered on from the numbers made since September last year, the number not accomplished and the different reasons why.”
Mr Henrie added that the committee follows up on all promises but most importantly those made by the president during his State-of-the-Nation Address and those made by the Finance Minister in the Budget address.
He noted that the follow up is important to ensure that all these promises are delivered on and if not then at least there are very plausible reasons and explanations as to why they have not been accomplished.
Mr Henrie admits that there has been remarkable accomplishments especially with regard to housing where a number of housing estates have been completed and inaugurated and next month the committee is expected to meet officials from the Ministry of Habitat, Infrastructure and Land Transport for an update of progress in that sector.
One of the promises which Mr Henrie said the committee is closely monitoring is the cost of living as there have been questions and motions tabled by both parties and there have been lots of assurances from the government but consumers are yet to see remarkable decreases.
Mr Henrie noted that the cost of living does not only involve the cost of commodities but there are other aspects and elements involved and “we have to ensure that all the different components are in place and together with government find ways to address challenges that continue to impact heavily on prices consumers have to pay”.
Mr Henrie has expressed satisfaction with the working collaboration with the Ministry of Finance and has called on other government ministries to also be as forthcoming because the committee is disappointed with some ministries which are reluctant to provide information the committee requests. He said unfortunately this will come out in the committee’s report and will not reflect well on those ministries and the way they are delivering for the people of Seychelles.
Minister Larose admitted that government is not able to deliver on all promises made for several reasons such as the lack of sufficient human capacity, laws and regulations that need to be updated to include provisions to allow for present day reforms to be carried out.
With regard to local human capacity Minister Larose noted that it is a national problem which the country is trying to address but he also called for a change of mindset among our people in their attitude to work and to do away with the laissez-faire mentality and work hard and deliver as expected of them if we want our country to progress faster and make economic gains which would benefit all our people.
He said that the government alone cannot do all.