Budget 2022: Day 2 Assembly approves nine more budget heads |26 November 2021
The National Assembly continued with its work considering different budget heads yesterday, approving the 2022 budgets for the Information Commission; Seychelles Media Commission; department of administration; the National Institute for Culture, Heritage and Arts; the Mayor’s Office; the Electoral Commission; the Office of the Auditor General and the Constitutional Appointments Authority.
The budget allocation for ‘other wages and salaries’ was also approved.
The sum approved for the Information Commission to use in 2022 is R2.7 million, an increase of R256,000 compared to 2021.
During her presentation before the House, chief information commissioner, Mumtaz Hasan, stated that one of the commission’s targets for 2022 is to address current challenges such as communicating the roles and efforts of the Information Commission to the public.
“We have three strategies for next year. One of these is public sensitization – we will target schools, youth of the country to explain good governance to them aside from MNAs and government institutions they know. Our second strategy is to decrease reliance on public funds – we will undertake some fund raising, get grants for our publication, adverts, communications and promotion materials which are not provided for in the budget. The third strategy is partnering with the civil society,” Ms Hasan stated.
The budget for the Seychelles Media Commission was approved with 28 votes for a sum of R2.5 million to cover its expenditures next year.
It was represented by its chief executive, Ibrahim Afif, and media secretary, Tessa Henderson.
“Our budget for this year was R2.57 million while the budget for next year is proposing R2.515 million. Our expenses relating to salaries remain the same and there has been a slight decrease in goods and services for next year,” Mr Afif detailed.
This was followed by the department of public administration with a budget of R17.4 million, some R2 million increases compared to its R15.4 million revised budget in 2021.
The National Assembly further approved the sum of R313.3 million for ‘other wages and salaries’ which is managed by the department of public administration.
It was the chief secretary for the public service, Jessie Esparon, who answered questions relating to the department’s budget as well as that of ‘other wages and salaries’.
Newly created entity, the National Institute for Culture, Heritage and Arts, an amalgamation of the different bodies that fell under the responsibility of the previous Ministry of Culture, also saw its budget of R122.7 million approved by the National Assembly without much fuss.
Mayor of Victoria, David Andre, who heads the institute, explained that not much has changed with the creation of the new body and the relevant agencies will still operate as is, except following the philosophy of the institute. This institute falls under the portfolio of the Office of the President.
Aside from money slated for administrative work, the institute is putting R6 million for the development and promotion of the Creole language; R12.4 for the development of arts and crafts; R15.7 million for the preservation of heritage assets; R24.7 million for the creative industries and R43.4 million for conservation research and access to cultural information.
“In regards to the board of the institute, the President has yet to name the people that will be on the board. But, in line with the spirit of the institute, the people that will be on this advisory board will be those passionate about culture and the art, and who not only wants to promote the arts but also to ensure that our heritage is preserved[…] they will also be representative of different segments of our society,” Mr Andre stated.
As for compensations to staff of the National Library and Archives that were affected by the fungus in the building, Mr Andre acknowledged that some staff have been paid while some others are yet to be paid, due to budget constraints. No money has been placed aside in the institute’s budget for 2022 for them.
“I understand that the Ministry of Finance has a plan for them although the money is not available right now. It may be deferred to the next year but a plan to pay them their compensations is here,” he stated.
The institute’s budget was approved with 21 votes in favour and 11 abstained votes.
The R6.3 million budget for the Office of the Mayor of Victoria was also approved with 19 votes in favour and eight abstained votes.
The day concluded with votes for the Electoral Commission which has a sum of R10.6 million budgeted for 2022. After a brief interaction with the MNAs, the commission received 19 votes in favour and 9 abstained votes.
The National Assembly also approved the budgets of the Office of the Auditor General (R19.8 million) and Constitutional Appointments Authority (R1.8 million).
Elsie Pointe