SNYC hosts living values workshop for members of parliament |15 December 2020

Ms Belmont addressing the parliamentarians during the workshop yesterday (Photo: Louis Toussaint)

Some members of the National Assembly yesterday attended a half-day workshop on living values facilitated by the Seychelles National Youth Council.

As representatives of different constituencies and hence looked on as role models, members of the National Assembly (MNAs) play a key role in showcasing good living values for youths to pick up on.

The workshop was aimed at ensuring that the members of parliament understood this critical role as ‘ambassadors of living values’.

Yesterday’s session was also attended by Speaker of the National Assembly, Roger Mancienne, and deputy Speaker Gervais Henrie.

It is not the first such workshop organised by the Seychelles National Youth Council (SNYC) for the parliament and forms part of the council’s living values programme, in which they hold talks and workshops in schools and workplaces.

SNYC chief executive Penny Belmont noted that members of parliament need to help the council in imparting good values to youths.

“We cannot say that living values are only taught in schools or at home, we need to also engage the members of parliament,” she said in an interview to the press.

Ms Belmont added that the youths learn a lot from how MNAs conduct themselves during National Assembly sessions and even outside the National Assembly premises.

“Their interactions and the way they conduct themselves rub off on the younger generation that looks up to them as examples. It is important that our living values programmes go beyond schools and workplaces, it should also be extended into the community with parliamentarians,” said Ms Belmont.

In response to whether she feels the MNAs act in an exemplary manner during their parliamentary sessions, Ms Belmont said: “We don’t judge people, everybody is different. As Elvis Presley said, values are like fingerprints and everybody is different but it leaves behind what you give out, so it is important that parliamentarians give out the best of themselves so that the whole community can follow them.”

She added that young rookie parliamentarians on the National Youth Assembly seek to emulate and learn from the National Assembly which is why it is crucial that the latter presents itself in a positive light.

On the agenda for the session were group work activities in which delegates were asked to identify what are values and share their own perceptions and views on the subject.

“Through this we can find that the way someone deals with a situation might not be the same as another would, these are the types of issues we want to bring to the forefront. There are often heated arguments in the National Assembly and we want our parliamentarians to understand that their speeches, actions and the manner in which they respond are important,” stated Ms Belmont.

Au Cap MNA, Kelly Samynadin, stated that the living values workshops would help improve on the values and qualities she already possesses and build on the others that might be lacking.

“I have to say that if I am an elected member of parliament today, my constituents must have seen some values in me that they deemed fit enough to represent them. But the workshop can help me improve on them,” she said.

The living values workshop yesterday was the last session organised by the SNYC this year, but these will continue in 2021 following the annual launch of the living values programme in January.

ElsiePointe