Three new ambassadors receive their Letters of Instrument |12 January 2023

The new ambassadors accepting their Letters of Instrument from President Ramkalawan: (l to r) Gervais Moumou, Kenneth Racombo and Georges Tirant

The three newly appointed Seychellois ambassadors – Kenneth Jacques Gervais Racombo, Georges Jude Emmanuel Tirant and Gervais Michel Moumou – received their Letters of Instrument from President Wavel Ramkalawan in a ceremony yesterday at State House.

All three ambassadors are now officially accredited to serve Seychelles but they have still not yet been assigned to a specific country. This will be done after thorough discussion with the minister and principal secretary for Foreign Affairs.

After the meeting with the Head of State, Ambassador Racombo noted that this new role is a step forward in his career.

“I have been working for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for many years and have risen among the ranks. And then I was appointed as principal secretary for the Blue Economy, a post I held for four years. This appointment means I am going back to a field that I am more comfortable with as I did my studies in diplomacy. To serve my country as ambassador is an honour for me. In the meeting, the President shared with us his views on foreign policies and what we should push while serving our country internationally,” Ambassador Racombo said.

Ambassador Tirant worked as the chief executive of the Public Enterprise Monitoring Commission (PEMC) and during his career he also worked for the Central Bank of Seychelles in 2008 as the supervising officer of insurance companies and later as director. He took up the post of director at the Fair Trading Commission in 2011, where he was tasked with putting in place mechanism to protect consumers, and was promoted to the post of chief executive.

“Personally, this is another step in my career as I have done 14 years in the public service. This is a new step for me to serve Seychelles and help in protecting and defending Seychelles’ interests internationally.,” he said.

Although he does not have much experience in diplomacy, Ambassador Tirant explained that in many countries “ambassadors are being appointed from the Foreign Affairs department or professionals from a specific field. With my experience in Trade and as chairman of educational institutions, those appointing me think that I have this capacity within me”.

Ambassador Moumou is a well known figure in the Protocol unit as he has been holding the post of Chief of Protocol since March 2021.

“I am very humble with this appointment as I was not expecting this. I was shocked with this news as I was always working in the background. Now taking a role in the foreground, I feel I am ready to take up the new challenges ahead and will find ways to keep promoting my country,” he said.

In the discussion with the President, Ambassador Moumou shared the President’s expectation from the ambassadors to make sure that they make the Seychelles Flag fly high wherever they are.

“Open the doors, and even if there are no keys, create one and open the doors and explore different areas to intensify our cooperation so that Seychelles and Seychellois can benefit,” Ambassador Moumou quoted President Ramkalawan as saying.

Ambassador Moumou also shared that the President spoke how to promote tourism and his vision of how to transform Seychelles and make it a united country and move towards the same objective.

Ambassador Moumou will still be based at the Foreign Affairs department for some time to ensure the smooth transition for his replacement.

Present at the ceremony yesterday morning were the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Tourism Sylvestre Radegonde; principal secretary (PS) for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Vivienne Fock-Tave; the secretary of state (SS) for Cabinet Affairs Mohamed Afif.

Vidya Gappy

Photos: Joena Meme, Emma Ah-Kong