National Assembly approves three new nominations for ambassadors |13 December 2022

Kenneth Racombo

The National Assembly yesterday approved three motions for the proposed appointment by the president of Gervais Moumou, Kenneth Racombo and Georges Tirant as ambassadors.

All three motions presented by the leader of government business, Hon. Bernard Georges, were approved.

The National Assembly learned more about the three candidates through the committee stage when they were able to interact with them, question them on their appointment’s merit and what they hope to bring to the table if they were to be appointed.

Firstly, it was Gervais Michel Moumou, 40, a resident of Au Cap, who is the current Chief of Protocol since March 2021. Mr Moumou, whose career in protocol spans over ten years, started his career in diplomacy in October 2009 as Protocol Officer in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he was promoted two years later to Chief of Presidential Protocol, which he occupied for five years.

From January 2017 to July 2019, he provided protocol support to the Office of former President James Alix Michel in the capacity of Personal Assistant to the former President until he returned to the Foreign Affairs department to assume the position of Director of Protocol until February 2021.

Mr Moumou holds a Bachelor's in Physical Education and Sports from the ‘Escuela de Educación Física y Deporte’ in Cuba, a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Leicester, United Kingdom and a Diploma in Diplomacy which he obtained from the Diplomatic Institute of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Portugal.

Mr Moumou described himself as a calm, patient, tolerant, disciplined person who is respectful towards everyone regardless of their social status.

He said he is a hard worker and strongly believes that hard work is the most honest way for a person to progress in both their professional and personal live.

When questioned on whether he was ready to take up such an important post, Mr Moumou said he was ready and has the qualities needed to represent Seychelles.

He said to become an ambassador, a person does not only need to have extended knowledge of current affairs and geo-politics but a strong character and personality.

“You should always be conscious at the back of your mind that you are going to be serving the people and the country and you should be ready to do this. I would say that being in protocol, which is the basis for diplomacy, the career in which I spent over ten years, has been able to prepare me for this role by strengthening those qualities and values,” he said.

The second candidate, Kenneth Jacques Gervais Racombo, 44, a resident of Perseverance, is currently the principal secretary for Blue Economy. Mr Racombo, who took up the post since February 2019, has extensive years working for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs which he joined as economist soon after his university studies. He rose to the post of senior, and principal economist and in 2011 was appointed Seychelles’ First Secretary in its South African embassy.

Mr Racombo, who holds a master’s degree in Strategic Management, has also served in the International Economic Affairs Division in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and was promoted to Director General when the division changed to Development and Regional Integration.

In May 2017 he worked for the SADC Tourism office as the Head for Resource mobilization and development but was soon after appointed as acting chief executive until November 2018.

When outlining his major achievements during his career, Mr Racombo cited his participatory role on the team that negotiated the economic partnership agreement with the European Union. He was later the person that led the team to negotiate financial support to assist with the implementation of the agreement, which gives Seychelles favourable terms of trade with the EU. Seychelles secured a facility worth 10 million euros.

Mr Racombo also formed part of the team that renegotiated Seychelles re-entry into the Southern African Development Community (SADC), between 2006 and 2008 and assisted with the re-opening of the country’s high commission in Pretoria.

He was a member of the team that finalised the establishment of Seychelles’ four maritime zones earlier this year.

“When you are appointed ambassador you must be ready to serve any jurisdiction assigned to you and I am confident to be able to serve anyone assigned to me,” he told the National Assembly.

Mr Racombo, who also described himself as a patriot, highlighted the importance of having diplomatic presence overseas.

“Since I have an economist background I would say that when you have an external presence, it puts you in a more advantageous position to mobilise resources and any resource that you manage to mobilise, that has a ripple effect on your country’s development , has a spillover effect on everyone in that country,” he said.

The National Assembly also interacted with Georges Jude Emmanuel Tirant, 45, a former priest, who is presently the chief executive of the Public Enterprise Monitoring Commission (PEMC). During his career, Mr Tirant has worked for the Central Bank of Seychelles in 2008 as the supervising officer of insurance companies and later as director.

He took up the post of director at the Fair Trading Commission in 2011, where he was tasked with putting in place mechanism to protect consumers, and was promoted to the post of chief executive.

The married father of four, told the National Assembly that other than his personal achievements, which he holds highly, he is proud of his professional achievement.

«I have developed a deep understanding and appreciation for good governance and all its principles, which include integrity, fairness, accountability and transparency. And through my various studies, professional paths, I strongly believe that putting humans at the centre of every decision, is primordial,” he said.

The members of the National Assembly who intervened during the debate spoke positively of all three nominees and were confident they had the ability to represent Seychelles on the international arena.

Hon. Bernard Georges, who presented the motion, said the interventions and opinions were words of encouragement from the members.

“We are not voting for a person because we are friends with him, or we like where he grew up, or which party he supported but we are approving somebody because of his competency and all three today have shown proof of their individual competency,” he told the National Assembly.

At the end of the debate, all three candidates’ nominations were approved by 29 votes, with no vote against and no abstention.

Patsy Canaya