National Assembly marks 30th anniversary with symposium |28 July 2023
A souvenir photograph
The National Assembly of Seychelles yesterday organised a symposium under the theme ‘Our Constitution: To better serve a modern democracy”, to commemorate its 30th anniversary on July 30, 2023 and that of our Constitution on June 18, 2023.
The aim of the half-day symposium held at the Judiciary Auditorium, Palais de Justice, was to discuss the relevance of the Constitution, in terms of the changing aspirations of the people after 30 years of the Third Republic. It was also to seek suggestions going forward to challenges faced in constitutional duties by the executive, judiciary and legislation.
The symposium was facilitated by five speakers, namely the Speaker of the National Assembly, Hon. Roger Mancienne; the Minister for Transport, Anthony Derjacques; Chief Justice Rony Govinden; the leader of government business, Hon. Bernard Georges; and the leader of the opposition, Hon. Sebastien Pillay, who had their exposures on various parts of the constitution.
In attendance were the President of the Court of Appeal, Anthony Fernando, ministers, judges, members of the National Assembly and representatives from the Attorney General’s Office, the Constitutional Appointment Authority (CAA), the Ombudsman and staff of the National Assembly, among other guests.
In his opening remarks, Hon. Mancienne, who gave an overview of the historical context of our three constitutions from our Independence as a sovereign state in 1976, to the creation of our Third Republic in 1993 after the coup of 1977, thanked the participants for attending the discussion which he stated reflected the goodwill and the cooperation extended to the National Assembly.
Noting that the National Assembly is seen as the guardian of the constitution, succeeding the Constitutional Commission that drafted the document in 1992, the event symbolises the belief that our Constitution is a living document that must respond to the changing aspirations of the people for which it is made, and in response to evolving standards in democratic governance across the world.
“This means that we do not wish to take it for granted or to consign it to the shelves. We want to take the occasion to look into it and ask how are we doing? Does it convey all that we want, what is in it that provides exactly for what we need by way of democratic governance, where and how should we consider putting it in another way, in other words how do we keep it relevant to our needs as a nation,” Speaker Mancienne said.
In his presentation on the relevance to some parts of the Constitution, especially on the charter on fundamental rights and freedom, Speaker Mancienne said that the two categories of rights – the political and civil rights and the social and economic rights – are being implemented to different degrees. The political and civil rights, such as the right to life, the right to liberty, the freedom of expression, the right to property and so on, are emphatically stated, backed by clear and enforceable laws and the Courts including the Constitutional Court can be relied on to ensure these rights. However the social and economic rights, such as the right to work, the right to health care, the right of working mothers, are not as categorically stated.
“For instance, while it is said that ‘every person has the right to life’ which is clear and categoric, when it comes to the social and economic rights, it says ,the state ‘recognises’ the right to work . That there should be a difference is understandable. While we can be clear to guarantee the right to life, how far should we go in ensuring the right to work,” Speaker Mancienne said.
The next speaker was Minister Derjacques who based his presentation on the difference between a presidential and parliamentary style of government including on our country’s presidential executive rights, functions and powers under the Constitution.
“A presidential system of government compared to a parliamentary system serves the country well as ministers can be sourced from the country as a whole rather than from the National Assembly which under a presidential system is independent and can play the role of check and balance on the executive and other bodies,” said Minister Derjacques, who noted that all three constitutional branches – the executive, judiciary and legislature – are independent and have separate powers.
Minister Derjacques stated that the post of a Designated Minister is relevant in a presidential system so that the higher authorities can relied upon in case of absence. He noted that there is discussion in government in relation to the Constitution as to whether or not to move forward with the proposal to have fixed Presidential and National Assembly elections to allow both outgoing and opposition parties to be better prepared, separation of duties of the president as head of government and head of state, including proposal for means testing the health care system and to consider amendments to allow Seychellois overseas to take part in elections, among others.
Taking the podium, Chief Justice Govinden, who had his presentation on the role and challenges of the judiciary under the Constitution, said that given that freedom in a modern democracy is through respecting the rights and freedoms provided in the Constitution, for this to occur there need to be access to the courts with legal representations.
He noted that there is the need to improve the structure of the judiciary, especially that of the two superior courts, the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal, vis a vis their adequacy in terms of access to justice.
With regard to the idea of delinking the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal, CJ Govinden stated that given judges are presently ex-officio justices of appeal while justices of appeal are justices of appeal and not judges, all judges appointed at the Supreme Court can sit on the Seychelles Court of Appeal.
“Things have evolved and with the new amendments of the judiciary act which has added seven justices of appeal, maybe it’s time for us to consider the total delinking and removing judges as ex-officio justices of appeal. This will go a long way in delinking and creating total independence which the Constitution calls for. In our system the Seychelles Court of Appeal is a separate court from the Supreme Court although presently it is a joint administration,” said Justice Govinden, who noted that the judiciary has to remain an independent and impartial body to carry out its constitutional functions.
Justice Govinden noted that the manner the judges are being appointed and removed from duty should also include the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, the President of the Court of Appeal and the Attorney General on the Constitutional Appointment Authority (CAA), as ex-officio judges in the decision-making given that all three of them are consulted when it comes to judicial appointment.
In his presentation to situate the legislature in the context of the Constitution, Hon. Bernard Georges pointed out that the National Assembly must achieve its status merited alongside the executive and the judiciary. He added that the legislature covers 41 articles in the Constitution compared to 25 articles for the executive and 19 articles for the judiciary. He also recommended for members of the legislature to be treated on par with other members of the executive and judiciary at national events.
“For too long the legislature has been kind of neglected. Everything that happens happens around the executive and then the judiciary and the legislature is like a poor boy. I think it is time to bring it on par with the two,” said Hon. Georges who noted that in the 1993 constitutional setting, the legislature was the second branch of government.
He added that the assembly must take its place as a co-branch of government in practice and not only in constitutional name including for the members to behave, work and deliver at the same level as ministers and judges to achieve the status of the executive and judiciary.
For his part, Hon. Pillay said that given the Constitution has grown and become more important to the concept of democracy, the time has come for it to be reviewed with the consideration of separation of powers with an addition of a five collective branch consisting of the Ombudsman, the Electoral Commission, the Constitutional Appointment Authority (CAA), the Auditor General and the Human Rights Commission.
He stated that the reason for the Ombudsman to be present is to look into the actions done by government, the Electoral Commission to ensure clear and fair elections and the CAA to underpin every single appointment processes, the Auditor General to ensure financial accountability and the Human Rights Commission to look into human rights violations.
“So they are no longer just side notes of the Constitution, they are part and parcel of the process of ensuring the separation of powers. They have to be independent to make the state act better and be more effective,” said Hon. Pillay.
Speaker Mancienne later said that the suggestions and feedbacks from the interactive discussion will be compiled into a report which will be presented to the executive branches of government and other organisations for consideration.
Patrick Joubert
