President Ramkalawan’s message on the International Public Service Day |23 June 2022
President Ramkalawan
‘Public servants should always follow the path of righteousness’
“Public servants should always follow the path of righteousness while performing their duties,” President Wavel Ramkalawan has said.
President Ramkalawan said this in his message on the occasion of the International Public Service Day being celebrated today, June 23.
The theme for the day is ‘Building back better from Covid-19: Enhancing innovative partnerships to meet the Sustainable Development Goals.’
The full text of President Ramkalawan’s message reads:
“Today, we celebrate the values and virtues of the many who serve the public service. The women and men who teach our kids, maintain our roads, protect our environment, enforce our laws, keep our food safe, process our social security benefits, guard our prisons, and do countless other things for us every single day. Things that we tend to take for granted. Too often, their contributions go unnoticed by the very people that benefit from their actions. We know that throughout history, human progress has been propelled not just by famous leaders, but by ordinary men and women who believe that change is possible.
“Today, we appreciate and recognise the work of public servants in the discharge of their duties to the communities they serve as well as their contribution to the national development and the prosperity of the Seychelles in line with the aspirations of the fulfilment of Vision 2033. We therefore celebrate the public servants who dedicate their lives to providing public services.
“While we celebrate public service day, we need to also remind ourselves of the 2030 Agenda and the targets we have set ourselves to accomplish the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and our collective promise to ‘Leave No One Behind’. An important part of the 2030 Agenda is SDG 16, which includes a commitment to building effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels. Clearly our public servants have a crucial role to play in this. In fact, an effective, accountable and inclusive public service is key to the delivery of all the SDGs and Seychelles has achieved major milestones in this trajectory. We have put in place many supporting mechanisms to facilitate this process and the government will continue to support such endeavours.
“We are cognizant that Covid-19 has brought about many challenges to the public service. The pandemic has disrupted to varying extents the regular functioning of state institutions and affected key government functions and processes, and the way public institutions interact with people. The Covid-19 crisis has also brought new needs for digital government services, new ways of doing things and more demand on existing services. Government institutions are responding by finding innovative ways to managing its wide ranging impacts and mitigate these adverse effects on broader economic and social impacts. Public servants are adapting to a new normal of providing service in the public service and thus demonstrating resilience and becoming more resolute to adapt to ever changing circumstances. To this I commend you.
“I acknowledge the contribution of all public servants for their dedication and effort in their own respective works, towards the development of our country. Public servants should always follow the path of righteousness while performing their duties.
“Let’s dedicate today to showing all of our public servants how much we appreciate them. And let’s carry the spirit of this day with us for the rest of the year.
“Thank you for putting others first. Happy Public Service Day!”
Wavel Ramkalawan
President of the Republic of Seychelles