National Assembly Vice-President Afif answers questions concerning ministries under his portfolio |12 July 2023
Vice-President Ahmed Afif was in the National Assembly yesterday to answer various questions concerning ministries under his portfolio.
The first question tabled by the elected member for Mont Buxton, Hon. Gervais Henrie, related to the percentage of local television production aired on the Seychelles Broadcasting Cooperation (SBC) that are produced by staff members, including the number of local programmes obtained from outside sources as well as the amount paid to employees for work done outside their normal working hours.
The question was answered by Berard Dupres, SBC’s chief executive who was accompanying Mr Afif.
He said that 134 hours of local programmes were produced in 2022 by SBC’s Production Unit, which represented 74% of local programmes while 33 hours (18%) of locally produced TV programmes were bought from outside sources.
He noted that SBC also bought 16 hours (9%) of local programmes from its staff done from outside their scope of working hours.
As of January 2023 to June 2023, Mr Dupres stated that 75 hours (59%) of local programmes have been produced by SBC producers compared to 30 hours (24%) bought from outside producers.
He noted that SBC have also bought 22 hours (15%) of local programmes from its staff done from outside of their normal scope of work.
With regard to payment for programmes, Mr Dupres said that in 2022 a total of R1.219 million was paid to SBC production TV staff while R2.4 million was paid to outside TV grogramme prodcucers.
As of January 2023 to June 2023, R669,000 have been paid to staff employed with SBC compared to R7 million paid to outside TV producers.
He noted that payment to staff comprises two categories; those who use SBC resources where the cost for the use of those resources are deducted and the other category that use their own resources, who are paid on the same level as outside producers.
Mr Dupres said that SBC has capped a sum of R10 million on an annual basis to buy local and international programmes and they are working on a strategy to manage the sum in an effort to buy more local programmes.
Another question put to Vice-President Afif was the country’s recent downgrade on the World Press Freedom Index. The elected member for Port Glaud, Hon. Egbert Aglae, wanted an explanation with regard to the slide.
Mr Afif said the reasons were unclear to the administration and that none of the criteria used to assess the media landscape in the country were properly investigated, which included media independence, environment and self-censorship, legislative framework, transparency and abuses, none of the above mentioned were properly investigated.
He noted that the country had attained an average of 33rd position for the last three years which is very good compared to past positions with an average of 86th position held before the new administration was sworn in office.
Compared to the current 34th position, the country among 180 on the index, was in 93rd position in 2013, 103rd position in 2014, 96th position in 2015, 92nd position in 2016, 87th position in 2017, 85th position in 2018, 69th position in 2019, 63rd position in 2020, 52nd position in 2021 and 13th position in 2022.
Vice-President Afif added that government was not even consulted during the assessment and given that the press is freer than even before to express their opinions and with no one being oppressed or jailed among others, the administration have clues as to what could have caused the downgrade.
He stated the country has not done any wrong actions to merit the 34th position on the index and the new administration’s intention is to continue to remain frank and transparent in dealing with the press and to continue to protect them.
Another question to Vice-President Afif related to arts. The elected member for English River, Hon. Andy Labonte, queried about the role of the Seychelles National Institute for Culture, Heritage and the Arts to help local artists, especially the young ones, recognise the value of the creole identity and local traditions in a bid to improve on their work.
The secretary general of the institute, David Andre, who was accompanying Vice- President Afif, said the institute has been working with various partners to help especially young artists to discover Seychelles’ cultural heritage and use it to develop their cultural instinct and products.
He added that since the formation of the institute, various programmes have been organised for artists to develop their potentials, from amateur to professionals.
He noted that such programmes and others to raise artists’ level on the international scene, will continue.
Patrick Joubert