In the National Assembly Opposition members stay away from Speaker’s address |09 March 2022

The first ordinary session of the National Assembly for this year following the President’s State-of-the-Nation address, started on a bad note yesterday morning with opposition members staying away from an address Speaker Roger Mancienne made at the start of the session as well as an explanation he gave in relation to the private notice question the leader of the opposition Sebastien Pillay was about to ask.

In his address, Speaker Mancienne gave the public an overview of the work conducted by the Assembly during the past year as well as what the institution is planning to accomplish this year.

“The aim is to emphasise the role of the Assembly and the work it does as an institution to better clarify many issues of national interest in order to better inform and educate the public on what the Assembly does and the difference it is making,” Speaker Mancienne said.

Meanwhile, he has described the year 2021 as an active one for the Assembly in spite of different interruptions in its deliberations and other circumstances brought about by Covid-19. But he noted that the pandemic has forced the institution to adapt to changes in its operations and there have been two instances where sessions have been suspended for a few days.

“But in general the institution continued its work unperturbed and I believe this is because we responded promptly to appeals to take the necessary precautionary health measures including to be vaccinated with the Covid-19 vaccines,” Speaker Mancienne noted.

Speaker Mancienne went on to touch on different challenges and issues that may have an impact on the work of the Assembly and the country as a whole.

Meanwhile, members of the opposition – United Seychelles ‒ took their seats in the Assembly as soon as Speaker Mancienne concluded his address.

An argument between Speaker Mancienne and Mr Pillay regarding the way the Assembly conducts its work ensued as soon as the latter was called upon to put his private notice question to Vice-President Ahmed Afif.

Mr Pillay argued that there was a lack of tolerance on the way the Assembly conducts its proceedings and that Speaker Mancienne had no right to give an explanation on the question he was about to ask and that the VP could have done that.

Given the opportunity to ask his question which concerns new allowances the ministers are believed to have received for telephone expenses, VP Afif confirmed by a simple “No”  following which Speaker Mancienne affirmed that there was no need for a supplementary question as VP Afif had pointed out that there were no allowances.

 Mr Pillay insisted to ask supplementary questions but these were considered out of order. The morning session ended with a continued exchange between the two leaders. 

Marie-Anne Lepathy