Suspended provisions of Associations Act would kill civil society, Ceps says |12 August 2023

The team from Ceps during the press conference (Photo: Yann Dinan)

The Citizens Engagement Platform Seychelles (Ceps) has expressed its satisfaction over the provisions of the Associations Amendment Bill, 2023, which suspends certain provisions of the Associations Act 2022, which it feels would be detrimental to civil society.

Although not yet enforced, the Associations Act 2022 was assented to by President Wavel Ramkalawan on April 28, 2022, following the National Assembly’s seal of approval on April 16, 2022.

During Wednesday’s National Assembly sitting, the Minister for Finance, National Planning and Trade, Naadir Hassan, declared that the amendments serve to suspend certain provisions of the Act, which will soon come into effect.

He explained that while Seychelles needs to enforce the law at the soonest so as to become compliant with Recommendation 8 of the Financial Action Task Force (FAFT), government has felt it necessary to consider the views of civil society.

As per vice-chairperson of Ceps, Michel Pierre, Ceps is appreciative of the fact that government listened and acted on its concerns, as certain provisions of the law would see the end of civil society if enforced.

“The Act stipulates that when an Association has elected its committee, it needs to seek the permission from the Office of the Registrar for the member to be able to discharge their functions. We had said that our associations are guided by a Rule of Association which clearly states the timeframe for the mandate, and when elections should be held and such. We felt that this was a direct interference from the government which should not be the case. Our work is in line with Article 23 of the Constitution, pertaining to right of Association,” Mr Pierre stated.

Upon approval of the 2022 Act, Ceps engaged in dialogue with government to reconsider a second provision which stipulates that once a committee is elected, they are allowed to serve for two three-year mandates only. This provision would impact on the operations of non-profit organisations and lead to the end of a number of associations, Mr Pierre highlighted, noting that non-profit organisations are founded or led by a small pool of people with a particular interest.

Chairperson of Ceps, Françoise Larue, shared similar sentiments as she noted that the first three years after the establishment of an association is mainly to lay the foundation, explain its vision and find the right strategy to achieve the desired objectives. The following three years is when the actual work starts, she added.

The platform however expressed its disappointment that it was not necessarily consulted when the 2022 Act and 2023 amendments were tabled before the National Assembly, as stipulated by Article 10 of Ceps’ memorandum of understanding (MoU) with government, which states that Ceps must be consulted when proposed legislation is still at green or white paper stage.

Renewing the MoU was one of the points of discussion with Vice-President Ahmed Afif on Thursday, among other matters.

“There will only be minor changes and the provisions are still relevant but we just need to put them into practice.”

“For instance, our MoU makes provisions for a working group comprising government and civil society representatives but this has not been the case for the past two years. We reinforced the need to put this into practice, to allow us to bring pertinent matters that require discussion, and also keep them informed on what is happening in civil society,” Mr Pierre added.

In previous years, Ceps had regularly engaged in dialogue with the Registrar to review the law pertaining to associations, which dated back to 1959, to reflect the reality of contemporary society, echoing the voices of its approximately 80 members.

Ceps made its views heard on the matter during its second press conference, held yesterday at its headquarters.

Also present was chief executive Alvin Laurence, board secretary Marion Orphee and board member Justin Freminot.

Laura Pillay