Cabinet approves various legal and policy memoranda, Acts |20 July 2018

A cabinet meeting chaired by President Danny Faure on Wednesday, considered a number of legal and policy memoranda and various Acts were approved and which will be tabled to the National Assembly.

It was deputy Cabinet secretary for policy affairs, Margaret Pillay, and deputy Cabinet secretary for institutional affairs, Johnny Bastienne, who briefed the press on the different policies agreed upon like amendments to the Elections Act; the review of non-profit organisation sector and the registration of association Act 1999; amendments to the Animal and Plant Biodiversity Act, 2014; regulations concerning the contractual obligations of students, parents, teachers and school leadership in education.

The agreed policies also included the recommendations to ratify the United Nations Protocol to eliminate illicit trade of tobacco products; amendments to the National Monuments Act, 2013; the framework for the setting up of the Technical and Vocational School; consideration of the report submitted by the Review Committee on the review of the Public Service Salary Act, 2013 and on the status of implementation of the Recognition of Prior Learning where the cabinet gave its full support.

Elaborating on the Election Act, Mr Bastienne said the amended one will make provision for the post of a chief executive officer for the Electoral Commission where his/her role will be separate from that of the chairperson of the commission.

“This amendment will separate the role of the CEO from that of the chairperson. It will be added under Article 92, which will become 92A, which will provide for all the functions, qualifications, obligations, salaries and term of office of that CEO.

“This change is important because in future there will be new members who will be appointed. So it is important that everything is in place,” said Mr Bastienne.

Prospective CEOs will be selected and nominated by the Electoral Commission.

As for the non-profit organisations, there have been various recommendations from foreign partners like the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) and other bodies to review such organisations to make them on par with international standards where best practices are applied. Such organisations include non-governmental organisations (NGOS), and religious faith groupings.

As for the amended Animal and Plant Biodiversity Act, the current Act is recognised under the Seychelles Agricultural Agency (SAA). Therefore it needs to be reviewed so it becomes the only legal body that will represent all animals and plants in the country.

The contractual obligations of the Ministry of Education was explained to parents and various stakeholders in public meetings across the country.

“We need an education system where schools, head teachers and students perform their roles as they should be for an end-result and that will benefit both the system and the country as a whole,” said Mrs Pillay.

For the Public Service Salary Act, cabinet approved in principle the recommendations made by the committee but now it is the Ministry of Finance, Trade, Investment and Economic Planning which will assess the proposal from a budget perspective.

Students from S4 and S5 who do not perform well academically can now have the option to pursue another vocational activity in the intended technical and vocational school of his or her choice.

“Government will pay their tuition fees while private sectors will run the school,” Mrs Pillay explained. They will afterwards have two options upon completion of their studies  – either go to institutions such as the Seychelles Institute of Technology (SIT) for a diploma certification or join the world of work with their accrued qualifications.

Mrs Pillay also remarked SIT will be beefed up to meet such certification.

Recognition for Prior Learning is to make it possible for employees who have gained years of work experience but have no paper qualifications to qualify for a certain qualifications so as to allow them salary progression or promotions.