Assembly leaders commend year of hard work, achievements in spite of differences |19 December 2022

As the year 2022 comes to its close and the National Assembly completed its last sitting late Friday afternoon after debating and approving the Seychelles Home Care Agency Bill, the Speaker of the House, Roger Mancienne, has commended members from both parties in the House for a fruitful year during which they have achieved a lot in spite of their differences.

“I believe we have worked as a responsible Assembly and members have each brought their contributions to advance the work of the legislature,” Speaker Mancienne stated.

He has called on all MNAs to continue the good work next year and he has called on all people in the different constituencies to continue supporting their Assembly representatives for the good of their districts and the development of the country as a whole.

Hon. Sylvanne Lemiel, the chief whip of the United Seychelles party caucus, described 2022 as a very interesting year but very challenging as well as it has been marked by instances of walkouts because of various forms of disagreements which all formed part of our work.

“But in spite of everything, the important thing is that members have managed to work together. We have been good working colleagues,” Hon. Lemiel stated.

She called on all her fellow MNAs to reflect on ways to further improve their working relationship next year so that they become good examples for the young people to follow so that they would be encouraged to become future legislators.

Hon. Lemiel went on to thank members of her caucus, her family, supporters and the LDS caucus for their support, understanding throughout the year a point that the LDS party caucus chief whip Sandy Arrissol also echoed.

He also commended the good working relationship, cooperation and understanding of opposition caucus members.

He also expressed heartfelt thanks to constituents for their trust and to remain interested in their work by sending questions and seeking clarifications on matters that matter to them.

For his part the leader of the opposition, Sebastien Pillay, noted that the work of a politician is not easy and it was for this reason that he expressed heartfelt gratitude to his family, his caucus as well as the majority caucus members for their support and understanding throughout the year.

Hon. Bernard Georges, the leader of government business, for his part described the year 2022 as exceptional in terms of the quality of debate in the House and the amount of work achieved by the two parties.

He has called on members of both parties to take time to reflect on their work and performances and to seek ways to work better together next year.

“We are on different sides of the House because we are different but our differences should not divide us but rather help us to work better together for the good of our constituents and our country in general,” Hon. Georges stated.

He also commended the work of the various committees of the National Assembly as well as the quality and level of support received from the National Assembly’s secretariat.

All leaders and members of the National Assembly send their heartfelt wishes of a merry and joyful Christmas and a happy and prosperous New Year 2023 to all the people of Seychelles.

The National Assembly has now gone into recess and sittings will resume early next year with the State-of-the-nation address by President Wavel Ramkalawan.

Marie-Anne Lepathy