Two more ministries – Foreign Affairs and Tourism, Education – secure next year’s budget allocations |26 November 2022
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Tourism as well as the Ministry of Education and the different entities that are part of their portfolios, yesterday secured their budget allocations for next year after they were scrutinized before being approved by the National Assembly.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Tourism secured the total budget for its operational costs together with that of its two departments – a sum of R331.439 million – after Assembly members voted unanimously for its allocation.
Department of Tourism – R201.940 million
MNAs voted unanimously to approve the budget allocation for the department of tourism – a sum of R201.940 million.
The budget allocation for the department of tourism yesterday received the unanimous approval of the National Assembly when 29 MNAs voted for, no one abstained and no one voted against the proposed sum.
Minister for Foreign Affairs and Tourism, Sylvestre Radegonde, was present in the National Assembly accompanied by the principal secretary for tourism Sherin Francis, the director for the Seychelles Tourism Academy (STA) Terence Max and other officials from the department.
While defending the budget, Minister Radegonde remarked that following the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic tourism is slowly but surely picking up.
“At the beginning of the year we set a target of 258,000 visitors but as of this morning (Friday) the number has surpassed 300,000 visitors and this is more than the 42,000 visitors that we were expecting. If no disaster strikes, I believe we can say with almost certainty that we will end the year with more than 330,000 visitors,” Minister Radegonde remarked.
He further added that statistics for up to October also show that the country's revenue through tourism is around US $823 million or 40% of last year’s revenue.
“The good results we are getting from tourism is not something that happen just like that but are the fruits of a lot of hard work. But we can always do better and we should do better and we are committed to doing better,” Minister Radegonde stressed while availing of the opportunity to thank all local and foreign partners as well as employees of the department of tourism for their hard work.
Minister Radegonde went on to highlight some of the department’s greatest achievements for this year namely the launch of ‘Lospitalite - Lafyerte Sesel’, tourism bazaars, complete cultural audits in seven districts paving the way to start some cultural tourism activities in those districts early next year.
With regard to the Seychelles Tourism Academy (STA), Minister Radegonde said it has succeeded in opening the Helvetia Restaurant as a commercial venture.
He said this is not only providing on the job training for students but also a means to collect some revenue for the academy.
He said a new agreement with the Seychelles National Institute for Culture, Heritage & the Arts to allow the STA to also run the Vye Marmit Restaurant at Domaine de Val des Pres will also provide another means for students to understand how to run a business and broaden their knowledge and understanding of the tourism sector.
Concerning the newly revamped mentorship programme, Minister Radegonde said it will step up its effort to ensure that the around 100 STA students who have completed their training from the Shannon College are strongly encouraged to remain in the industry.
Through questions MNAs raised and clarifications they sought, Minister Radegonde and other officials from the department of tourism detailed the challenges they still face to continue encouraging businesses to enhance quality of products offered to visitors as well as the different projects and programmes they plan to put in place next year, competition to the sector, among different other tourism related issues.
Department of Foreign Affairs – R129.498 million
Assembly members voted unanimously to give the department of foreign affairs its budget allocation for next year – a sum of R129.498 million.
Minister Radegonde explained that the R34.9 million surplus on the 2023 budget will provide for the 13th month pay and salary adjustments, overseas travel expenses, payment of subscription to international organisations.
Minister Radegonde was flanked by the principal secretary for the department Vivianne Fock-Tave and other key officials from the same entity who had joined him to defend the budget allocation for next year.
MNAs questions concerned allocation for recruitment of new first and second secretaries, allocations for new carport, renovations of Maison Queau de Quinssy, cost to run foreign missions, among other related issues.
Ministry of Education – R1,285,588 billion
The budget allocation for the Ministry of Education was unanimously approved by Assembly members yesterday afternoon.
Before answering MNAs’ questions and providing them clarification on the different education programmes, projects, challenges the ministry still faces among numerous related issues, the Minister for Education, Dr Justin Valentin went on to highlight some of the key priorities of his ministry for 2023 to 2025. These include reinforcing structures and mechanisms to make all education institutions more autonomous.
“Activities have started in 11 schools chosen to take part in a pilot project during the course of next year, the exercise to improve internet access in all educational institutions will continue, we will buy more IT equipment, for the different schools, we will continue to boost the capacity of schools to put in place a system that will better respond to their teaching and learning needs, we will put in place an education model based on values that will better address the discipline problem in schools, we will review the school programmes in general, we will place more emphasis on the development of sports, arts and culture as we introduce a school’s programme which is relevant for the Seychelles context in the 21st century, special emphasis will be placed in the following specific areas – environment, tourism, technical and vocational education, financial and entrepreneurial, we will integrate the inclusive education concept in education programmes.
“We recognise that education is a dynamic sector and that priorities can change,” Minister Valentin pointed out before going on to highlight to MNAs the different breakdowns of the big component of the national budget.
Minister Valentin was accompanied in the National Assembly by the principal secretary for education services, Merna Eulentin, principal secretary for education sector development John Lesperance as well as other key officials in the ministry.
Institute of Early Childhood Development – R41.865 million
National Assembly members voted unanimously to approve the budget of R41.865 million for the Institute of Early Childhood Development (IECD) to allow it to continue its different programmes and projects to improve the lives of the very young in the country. The chief executive of IECD, Shirley Choppy, and other key officials of the institute joined Minister Valentin to defend its budget.
Seychelles Qualification Authority – R9.627 million
MNAs also approved the budget for the Seychelles Qualification Authority – a sum of R9.627 million – after 25 of them voted for, no one voted against and one abstained. There was no debate on the allocation of this entity that also falls under the Ministry of Education.
On Monday the Assembly will scrutinise the budget for the Ministry of Health, the Public Health Authority, the Health Care Agency, the Seychelles Nurses and Midwives Council, the Health Professional Council, the National Aids Council, the Seychelles Medical and Dental Council.
Marie-Anne Lepathy