President Faure visits public sector offices |11 November 2017

President Danny Faure yesterday visited the office of the Ombudsman, the Constitutional Appointments Authority and the Public Service Appeals Board.

These were the first three workplaces and institutions visited by the President in a series of visits in the public sector.

The President and his delegation were welcomed by Nichole Tirant-Ghérardi who was appointed as the new Ombudsman in March 2017.

She said the visit was reassuring as the President gave his engagement of the full executive support from the President’s Office.

“He informed us that he has established a unit in the President’s Office headed by Mr Afif which will support and help enforce the Ombudsman authority,” she said.

The office of the Ombudsman has received over 150 complaints in the past 8 months and the majority of complaints are victimisation in relation to land distribution among other areas.

She said she has been very busy meeting individuals who have various complaints and grievances.

“I have tried my best to receive everyone and hear them out, and I have been busy with all the ministries, departments and parastatals,” she said.

Mrs Tirant-Ghérardi said the biggest challenge she faces is the limited capacity to treat all of the dossiers she has with only two staff members.

“Physical capacity is needed to treat all these dossiers,” she said.

She also noted that there is a lack of resources to enable in-depth investigation.

The second institution visited was the Constitutional Appointments Authority (CAA) which is chaired by Michel Felix, who was also appointed earlier this year.

Mr Felix told the President the various issues they face such as the cramped space in which they work, the lack of toilet facilities and only one exit is available at the office.

“We discussed the possibility to change the location of our office and we informed him of a space we have already chosen out and the President said he would look into it,” he said.

At the moment CAA is advertising the posts which have been approved by the National Assembly, a chairman for the Seychelles Media Commission (SMC) and a chairman and vice-chair for the National Information Services Agency (Nisa).

He said not much else is interfering with their daily work except for a case which has been brought to court against the CAA and they are letting it take its course.

Also present were the other board members.

At the Public Service Appeals Board (PSAB) the President met the chairman, John Renaud, and two board members -- George Gill and Amedeé Rose.

One board member is elected by the opposition and the other by the government, and these two members elect the chairman.

The PSAB which was formed under the Constitution in 1993 hears and determines appeals brought by government officers or public service officers.

For the year 2017 alone, they have received 94 cases to date.

Mr Renaud said majority of the cases are against the system and they work on a straight line.

“We do not owe any responsibility to the government, we do not take instructions from the government and it is the first time that a high government official visits our office,” he said.

In terms of accountability, every year a report is drafted and sent to the National Assembly.

The board even has the power to bring forth a case into the National Assembly as a motion to be debated on.

He explained to the President how they have been able to help the civil service to understand how to exercise disciplinary actions against employees.

 “Over the past 23 years we have never received a case against the board, which comes to show the work we have been doing,” he said.

He also expressed that the Ombudsman does not deal with employees cases in the civil service.

The accompanying photos show the President during his visits to the three institutions.