Pastor Terrence Payet meets President Ramkalawan |01 December 2021

Pastor Payet and his delegation in a souvenir photograph with President Ramkalawan (Photo: Jude Morel)

Health, education, religion and the well being of the population were some topics of discussion among other issues with regard to our country’s current situation between Pastor Terrence Payet of the Redeemed Christian Church of God Seychelles and President Wavel Ramkalwan at State House yesterday morning.

Pastor Payet, who is the country coordinator of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, was accompanied on the courtesy call to the President by senior church officers of the ministry.

He said they were very appreciative of President Ramkalawan to have welcomed and discussed with them issues of concern, an opportunity they never had before with a head of state.

“It was an honourable opportunity for us to meet President Ramkalawan for the discussion. We discussed a lot of issues affecting both the country and also the churches while we also had propositions and projects that we put to his attention. We also discussed our relationship or how to relate more cordially and more effectively between the state and the churches,” Pastor Payet said.

Elaborating on some topics of discussion, Pastor Payet said with regard to a concern affecting the churches, the country has no policy for land to be made available for churches to be constructed, especially in the community, like it has for residential, tourism and other businesses.

He noted that he shared the President’s opinion that churches have to be close to the communities as they form part of communities.

He added that he hopes that the topic will be discussed further with stakeholders that will allow churches to function and to play their role as it should be in the community.

Pastor Payet stated that the Redeemed Christian Church of God Seychelles has a cordial working relationship with other churches in the country to teach the population to walk in the path of god.

“We think that if everybody practice their religion like they should be practiced, the country would become more peaceful and we would get the reconciliation that we are hoping for,” said Pastor Payet who noted that it was an honour for them to know that President Ramkalawan does recognise their presence in the country and also the work that they are doing to help the people spiritually.  

He added that as has been the case in past relationships, the church does not meddle in the work of the state other than to offer spiritual advice and also to educate the communities on its (state) work being done for human development.

With its main local headquarters based at Les Mamelles adjacent to the administration office, the Redeemed Christian Church of God Seychelles has nine branches on Mahé and one branch each on Praslin and La Digue.

The Redeemed Christian Church of God is spread among 190 countries around the world and was established in the country in 2002.

Patrick Joubert