President Ramkalawan receives TRNUC’s fourth interim report |10 August 2021
President Ramkalawan accepts a copy of the report from Mrs McIntyre (Photo: Joena Meme)
President Wavel Ramkalawan has received from the Truth, Reconciliation and National Unity Commission, a copy of the fourth interim report on the work undertaken by the commission for the last six months.
It was the chairperson of the commission, Gabrielle Louise McIntyre, who presented President Ramkalawan with the report at State House yesterday afternoon.
Following the presentation, Mrs McIntyre and the other commissioners ‒ Micheal Green (vice chairman), Marie-Thérèse Purvis, Marie-May Léon, Archbishop James Wong, Eline Moses and Jacques Gbilimou-Koui ‒ held talks with President Ramkalawan. Also present was Vice President Ahmed Afif.
The presentation of the report is in accordance with Section 11(2) of the TRNUC Act 2018 where the commission is required to submit interim reports on its work and functions undertaken, including recommendations to the president, every six months. The commission has just completed two years out of its mandate and the report follows the third one that was filed on February 9, 2021.
Speaking to the press during a break in the two-hour meeting, Mrs McIntyre explained that the report identifies the achievements, challenges and discusses amnesty, reparations, the challenges going forward and the given timeline with respect to how long the commission will take to complete certain aspects of its work.
“So this is an update of our progress and what we have to do towards completion of our mandate,” Ms McIntyre explained.
She noted that although the pandemic prevented the commission from holding public hearings, causing some delays, it did not impact on its ability to discharge its mandate as it had an additional one week of sessions at monthly sittings to catch up on the hearings.
Ms McIntyre stated that reconciliation would not be achievable just by the work of the commission as it is a national process involving all national, religious and community leaders joining together to push the agenda.
“The commission is just a step in that process and I believe we will contribute to it, but we will not be a panacea of problems in Seychelles,” she stated.
Mrs Mclntyre noted that there is no necessity to extend the TRNUC’s mandate as they will get to finish the work, including presenting the overall final report made at the conclusion of all of its enquiries on time, when their mandate expires on August 9, 2022.
She added that although the commission has encountered a lot of obstacles with regards to obtaining requested documents in the past from government agencies, the cooperation by these agencies in providing the commission with documents has improved a lot more recently.
She explained that a full commission will not be required to oversee other small administrative functions among some other small other duties that will need to continue once the final report has been handed over.
“It won’t require a full commission or a full staff in complement, but it will require at least maybe one commissioner perhaps and one staff to make sure that we close in an orderly fashion and we preserve our records appropriately,” added Mrs McIntyre.
Mrs McIntyre also said it is not within the commission’s mandate to seek funds to pay out compensation to victims other than making recommendations. She added that the commission is working on a reparation policy which will be completed by September 2021.
The next report will be submitted in February 2022 and the final one on August 9, 2022.
The TRNUC takes up cases of human rights violation that is linked to the coup d’Etat of June 5, 1977.
Patrick Joubert