New LDS executive committee elected at convention |28 March 2022
The newly elected executive committee in a souvenir photograph with President Ramkalawan
A new executive committee was elected during the Linyon Demokratik Seselwa’s first convention since coming to power in October 2020
Saturday’s convention at the International Convention Centre Seychelles (ICCS) was held under the theme ‘Committed to this transformation’.
Roger Mancienne remains the party leader and chairman of the committee, while the new secretary general is Gervais Henrie and Devika Vidot is the new treasurer.
The eight elected committee members are Satya Naidu, Philippe Monthy, Regina Esparon, François Adelaide, Kelly Saminadin, Wavel Woodcock, Flory Larue and Jean-François Ferrari.
Amid the ongoing health restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic, attendance had been restricted to a limited number of delegates.
In his acceptance speech, Mr Mancienne thanked all the members for putting their trust in the new executive committee.
“It is an honour to get the trust and appreciation from people while being the leader of the party. I will need your support, your solidarity and your trust to bring forward our party. Being the leader of the party for the past years, taught me how sensitive and delicate this post is. The biggest challenge is to keep the party as an organisation that functions, listens and tries its best to bring forward propositions and conduct activities that will reinforce the party,” said Mr Mancienne.
In the delivery of his special address to the convention, President Wavel Ramkalawan congratulated the newly elected executive committee and right at the beginning noted that the number of men and women being voted is not balanced and suggested to the committee to co-opt female members.
He also thanked all the outgoing office bearers.
President Ramkalawan also stressed on the fact that this is the first time he was addressing an LDS congregation after their victory in 2020 in both the presidential and National Assembly elections.
“The task of the newly elected committee is enormous, but I am sure under the leadership of Mr Mancienne and the support of the VP (Ahmed Afif) and myself, they will be able to carry out the job. We know exactly where we are going as a party. I remain LDS and it is under this banner that I will bring democratic changes in the country. This is why now everybody has the chance to talk and express themselves freely. As a supporter of LDS, you have the right to say that you do not agree with what is happening. It is actually healthy to have this within the party. When something is not clear, please ask questions – first to your MNAs. ‘Travay I la’ and even though things are tough we all have to persevere and work for the country. Together we will work towards transforming our country and our society. The transformation will happen with the way we think and talk to people,” said President Ramkalawan.
He concluded his speech by thanking all the activists and people who voted for a change.
During the convention seven resolutions were adopted:
- All members and citizens engage themselves in this profound transformation in unity to change the country and all the institutions for the welfare of the country.
- All members of the LDS party thank Mrs Simone de Commarmond for her contributions and devotion as the SG of the LDS party during the last six years.
- This convention thanks Mr Errol Fonseka for keeping the accounts clear and transparent for the last six years.
- This convention demands the party to embellish a structure that will allow a political party with continuous presence on the field and National Assembly to have access to a piece of state land to allow them to have a proper headquarters through transparency.
- This convention asks the government to continue to support the youth to enhance their skills, their engagements in their education, business and profession.
- This convention asks the government to enforce their fight against drugs and to help the youth who fall prey of the drugs to come out of this situation.
- This convention recognises and encourages the national consultative council and the new executive committee to think profoundly how the party will be engaged in this transformation process for good governance, democracy and for justice in Seychelles.
During the convention, outgoing secretary general Simone Decommarmond and treasurer Errol Fonseka presented the secretary’s and treasurer’s reports.
Flory Larue presented the constitutional amendments of the LDS party followed by the election of the executive committee.
In the second part of the convention, Bernard Georges talked about land allocation for political parties; Mervin Cedras spoke about the ‘Call for youth’; and Gervais Henrie talked about the party in transformation. Those were followed by a questions and answers session.
The convention was attended by First Lady Linda Ramkalawan, ministers of the current administration and activists from all districts.
Vidya Gappy
Photos by Louis Toussaint
