ACCS marks Anti-Corruption Day with launch of youth action group |11 December 2019
Some student representatives who have chosen to join the action group (Photo: Jude Morel)
Recently introduced in secondary schools across Seychelles, the ‘Youth Against Corruption’ action group was officially launched yesterday during the commemoration of the International Anti-Corruption Day.
The event was hosted by Anti-Corruption Commission Seychelles (ACCS) at Palais de Justice in the presence of various guests, most notably the Minister for Finance, Trade, Investment and Economic Planning Maurice Loustau-Lalanne; Minister for Employment, Civil Status and Immigration Myriam Télémaque; President of the Court of Appeal Francis MacGregor; the ombudsman Nichole Tirant-Gerhardi; the attorney general Frank Ally; officials and board members of the ACCS and members of the diplomatic corps.
Held under the international theme of ‘United Against Corruption’, the event was also attended by special guest Dr Roger Oppong Koranteng, adviser and head of public sector governance of the Commonwealth secretariat.
The ‘Youth Against Corruption’ group is expected to play an active role in preventing and eradicating corruption in the country by empowering youths as ambassadors against corruption.
Their task would be to educate and inspire others through their exemplary behaviour and moral values.
It is an awareness campaign developed by the ACCS with the initial support of the United Nation Development Programme (UNDP), and further supported by the European Union (EU) through Transparency Initiatives Seychelles.
According to the ACCS’ prevention officer, Dorothy Pool, ‘Youth Against Corruption’ is active in both public and private secondary schools for students in S2 up to S5, as well as in post-secondary institutions and professional centres.
A few student representatives who have chosen to join the action group were present at the commemoration yesterday.
“The students will become our representatives wherein they will be taught how to discern and identify various forms of corruption and other issues relating to the fight against corruption, which they can pass on to their peers,” Ms Pool explained.
“Children are often more comfortable speaking to others their age so we will be teaching them how to approach their colleagues and communicate effectively.”
From her experiences in reaching out to students, Ms Pool noted that youths in schools are quite aware of corruption and its impacts.
“It is extremely surprising to discover the amount of knowledge that these youths have and they were interested to join this group. They are frank and honest in their interactions with us and from that we get to gauge their level of knowledge.”
On her part, the chief executive of ACCS May De Silva, stated that “it is encouraging to see young people at the heart of our work. We have been focusing on our future generation as we aim to educate the future decision-makers in our country.
“ACCS will continue to support the work of the ‘Youth Against Corruption’ initiative as they cascade their learning to other young people. They are our ambassador and I wish to applaud them for their commitment to take on this working.”
Seychelles is ranked 28th out of 180 countries in the Transparency International corruption index with a score of 66 out of 100 and has taken the lead in Africa in this domain.
In his remarks, Dr Koranteng congratulated Seychelles for this achievement since the country has greatly improved from its previous rankings on the corruption index but nonetheless noted that Seychelles should not become complacent.
Since its creation up to November 2019, the ACCS has recorded a total of 178 complaints out of which 75 are under investigation, 31 are still being processed and 8 have been referred to the Prevention and Education department.
A total of 64 cases have already been closed by the ACCS board.
Elsie Pointe