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The Constitution of Seychelles will be 27years old tomorrow |17 June 2020

The Constitution of Seychelles will be 27years old tomorrow

By Marie-Anne Lepathy

 

A new Constitution, the supreme law of Seychelles was adopted through a referendum on June 18, 1993, ushering in The Third Republic after the introduction of a multi-party system of government.

The new Constitution was drafted following four months of intensive discussions and debates during which representatives of different political parties, people in the communities, from the legal profession, individuals and different civil society bodies came together at the National House. Each day they discussed and reviewed different aspects that impact our daily lives and social wellbeing while at the same time being very conscious of their disagreements on some issues which led to more lengthy debates until a consensus was found.

The head of the two main political parties – France Albert Rene of the then Seychelles People’s Progressive Front (SPPF) and James Mancham of the Democratic Party – placed a lot of emphasis on tolerance, unity, understanding all throughout the consultative process.

As it is the case with all hot topics, most conversations in the homes, workplaces, at the market place and other public places touched on the then ongoing process to draft the new Constitution.

Until June 2014, June 18 was celebrated as Seychelles’ National Day, but a resolution was passed by the ruling Parti Lepep (formerly SPPF) in May 2014 to ask the government to make June 29 which marks the date Seychelles officially gained its independence from the United Kingdom as the new National Day from 2015 onwards and June 18 became Constitution Day. The decision was approved by the National Assembly in July 2014.

Since 2015 therefore to mark Constitution Day, various activities have been organised to raise public awareness on the importance of the Constitution. The activities and ceremonies paid tribute to the Constitution as well as the national flag and national anthem as the source of pride and patriotism for all Seychellois citizens.

But how much importance do the people of Seychelles attach to this important document?

“I believe all Seychellois attach great importance to the Constitution because it is very important as it tells us all our rights, duties and responsibilities but for the majority of our population they are so busy with their daily life activities they barely have time to think about the Constitution until one day when they find themselves in a difficult situation like with the law for instance and they are told that it is their right to be heard and to have a fair hearing,” a public servant who insisted on remaining anonymous told Seychelles NATION.

For Sylvanne Lemiel, elected member of the National Assembly for Anse Royale, there is a need for people to be more connected about the Constitution as it is a very important document.

“It guides citizens on their rights, duties, responsibilities… but at the same time I feel that a large part of our population hear a lot of talk about the Constitution but they do not really know what it contains. Through the way people talk, act and some of the things they do and say you realise they do not know their rights otherwise they would know what is within or outside the law. I also believe that the majority of our young people are vague about the content of the Constitution. They do not have this sense of reverence and ownership to this important document. I don’t know how deep their study of the document go but their attitude reflects that they are not attaching much importance to it,” Mrs Lemiel remarked.

She stressed that there is a need for civic education to feature as a subject on its own, starting with pupils from a very young age through different educational activities to help them retain important aspects of the Constitution, having to do with their rights and responsibilities... She further noted that educating the people on their rights as enshrined in the Constitution and about the supreme law of the country that it contains should be an ongoing process and not only on Constitution Day.

Mrs Lemiel commended the Lenstiti Kreol Enternasyonal for translating into Creole and also simplifying this important document for the public, but she pointed out that there is also a need for more awareness and more publicity on the availability of the translated document which makes it easier for people to read and better understand the different articles of our Constitution in their mother tongue.

The Creole version of the Constitution is available since June 2018 when the first copy was presented to President Danny Faure and other key stakeholders and partners.

Copies are also available at R150 at the Lenstiti Kreol Enternasyonal at Providence.

Work to translate the Constitution into Creole was initiated many years back by the then director of the institute Marie-Therese Choppy, followed by Leon Radegonde, Penda Choppy and presently Flora Ben David.

The latter pointed out that the objective of translating the Constitution into Creole is to allow Seychellois to access the document in their mother tongue which is one of their rights prescribed in the Constitution itself.

Mrs Ben David said they are encouraged that a lot of individuals as well as various organisations and teachers have come to buy their copies of the document.

She also noted that the people of Seychelles compared to years back today know some of their rights and many are coming to seek for a copy of the Constitution when they are in some kind of difficulty. But they know where to come for the document.

She noted that there are copies still available and people can continue to come and buy theirs.

The Constitution of Seychelles is also available online via the Seychelles Judiciary Seylii website.

 

 

 

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