President Faure hails National Assembly’s work |01 August 2018

President Danny Faure has presented a token of appreciation to the Speaker of the National Assembly Nicolas Prea on the occasion of the Silver Jubilee of the National Assembly.

The token of appreciation in the form of a glass shield from President Faure was to say thank you to Speaker Prea and the National Assembly for the work they are doing and also for the good collaborative working relationship between the two arms of the State – the Executive and the Legislature.

The presentation took place yesterday morning at State House.

“It was a big surprise. Yesterday (on Monday) the National Assembly celebrated its Silver Jubilee under the Third Republic and we organised a celebration to mark the occasion and I just got a message that President Faure wanted to see me this morning (yesterday). It was a pleasant surprise that the President, on behalf of his government and the people of Seychelles, congratulated me and the National Assembly for the work we are doing and urged us to continue doing so along the same line for the benefit of the country and the people of Seychelles,” said Speaker Prea.

He said that the token of appreciation from President with regard to the work of the National Assembly shows the collaborative working relationship between the two branches and it will carry on in the same direction.

“Our celebrations as we marked our Silver Jubilee took place under the theme ‘Moving towards a modern democracy’ and this is the approach we have to take. The way forward is by re-enforcing democratic institutions and we have also opened the National Assembly to the public and I think the National Assembly and the executive have to continue to understand each other’s responsibilities,” said Speaker Prea who noted that up to now, President Faure has been acting on motions that have been approved unanimously by the National Assembly.

Speaker Prea also said that the National Assembly has achieved great heights with some members forming part of international commissions such as in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the Pan African parliament.

The glass shield, Speaker Prea said, will be an added value among other items to share with visitors in the National Assembly’s museum.

Speaker Prea was welcomed by a guard of honour on his arrival at State House.

The National Assembly celebrated 25 years on July 30 under the Third Republic and the President of the Court of Appeal Justice Francis MacGregor, coming from the Seychelles People’s Progressive Front (SPPF), was the first elected speaker of the house.  President Danny Faure was the first leader of government business and the late Sir James Mancham was the first leader of the opposition.