Taxi association disappointed with government promises |08 May 2018

The Taxi Association of Seychelles has expressed its dissatisfaction with several promises made by the ministries of tourism, transport and finance, and they have submitted a petition to President Danny Faure.

A communiqué from the Taxi Association of Seychelles wrote that on February 21, 2018, the Taxi Association of Seychelles submitted a petition with a list of grievances addressed personally to President Faure. Three ministries (Tourism, Transport and Finance) followed up on the grievances at the request of the president and monthly meetings were set up with the ministers responsible for tourism and transport with their respective technicians.

This was followed by a series of working meetings chaired by the principal secretary for transport with the Taxi Association and representatives from ministries or departments of transport, tourism, road commissioner, Vehicle Testing Station, finance, licensing among others, adds the communiqué.

 The communiqué adds that an important meeting was set for May 7 at the last meeting chaired by the minister for transport in the presence of the minister for tourism where the points discussed and agreed to by the working committee would be tabled for final discussion.

And yesterday, taxi operators from Mahe, Praslin and La Digue turned up for the meeting only to be told that it had been cancelled in the minister's diary.

“No one had the courtesy to advise the taxi operators who were acting as representatives of an important transport industry of Seychelles. The PS for transport in his last minutes of the working committee meeting of April 19, 2018 confirmed the follow-up meeting with the ministers,” writes the communiqué.

“The Taxi Association of Seychelles feels that today's cancellation of the meeting showed a total lack of respect for taxi operators and a slap in the face for President Faure who had mandated the tourism minister to coordinate the meeting to analyse the grievances submitted to his office. "Taxi operation is a line of business reserved for Seychellois nationals and today it shows the little to no respect being shown to the working Seychellois man and woman," said a representative of the taxi operators gathered at the ministry of transport for yesterday's meeting. Another representative said that ministers change but the ministries are expected to continue functioning for Seychelles and for its people.

The Taxi Association of Seychelles has now written to President Faure to express their disappointment and ask for him to personally meet them as they have lost faith in government ministries who they say have no respect for Seychellois.