National Assembly   |04 October 2023

Youth, Sports and Family matters addressed in Question Time

The National Assembly’s morning session was dedicated to the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Family, which had to answer a dozen questions from members regarding its portfolio.

Among the youth-related questions, was an enquiry by the elected member for English River, Andy Labonte, who wanted to know the status of the youth centre located in the district, including its current function and future plan. The centre is presently being used to treat drug users who are following the methadone treatment.

Minister Marie-Celine Zialor told the National Assembly that a decision has been taken to return the centre to the Seychelles National Youth Council (SNYC).
She said that technicians of the ministries involved, namely health and youth, will work on its modality and communicate the information as soon as it was ready.

“The methadone service will no longer be at the centre and the place will be used to offer other youth-related services,” explained the minister.

The matter of obesity in the country was also raised with the elected member for Anse Boileau, Phillip Arissol, questioning the minister on plans to educate young people and the general population to engage in sporting activities to reduce obesity.

Mrs Zialor referred to the president’s announcement earlier this year of a nationwide campaign to fight obesity. In July, a multi-sectoral committee to address the matter, chaired by the head of state, was launched.

“A national campaign will be launched on October 15, during the week where we commemorate World Food Day,” she announced.

Various departments are on board and will be carrying out activities throughout the year to sensitise the population about the problem, according to the minister.

Sports-related questions referred to the judo dojo in Praslin. The member for Grand Anse Praslin, Wavel Woodcock, wanted to know the status of the project at the former STC warehouse, close to the Grand Anse Praslin primary school and the start of the construction.

He highlighted the urgency of the project, considering there were over a hundred athletes awaiting the venue to be able to practice their sport.

The minister said that following the government’s decision to allocate the place for the project earlier this year, the NSC visited the site along with the Seychelles Infrastructure Agency (SIA). A scoping exercise will also be carried out soon to evaluate the project’s cost.

“The next stage would be to host a meeting with the Praslin sporting community to decide which sport will use the space as we do not want to take that decision on our own,” she said.

Beau Vallon’s elected member, John Hoareau, tabled a question on the state of the district’s football field and queried on the ministry’s plan to maintain the field.

The ministry informed the National Assembly that the NSC has entered into a partnership with the Beau Vallon football club to maintain the playing field, and this includes renovation of the toilet facilities being carried out by the NSC, which was expected to be completed later this month and the installation of lights by the football club.

According to the ministry, the club was seeking outside funding for the lights and this would materialise soon.

For her part, the elected member for Perseverance, Desheila Bastienne, questioned the minister on plans to integrate other sporting events that are popular internationally such as handball, petanque and beach soccer, into the schools’ physical education programme, so as to encourage more young people to practice such sports.

Minister Zialor said they were already having a discussion with the education ministry to review the entire programme and the process is expected to be a long one.

“But in the short-term, through extracurricular activities (ECA) clubs, some disciplines that were not included in the school programme were being integrated into some schools. There are also various clubs and associations such as boxing that is working in partnership with secondary schools. I encourage other federations, such as netball, petanque, to come forward and approach the NSC to see how we can work through this collaboration with the Ministry of Education,” said the minister.

There was also a question tabled by the English River MNA, Andy Labonte, on the ministry’s strategy to prioritise renovation work of homes for the elderly across the country.

The National Assembly heard that a detailed evaluation of all nine homes was carried out last year by the Seychelles Infrastructure Agency and the priority will depend on the outcome of the study as well as budget availability.

The ministry presently has budget for renovation work on the Au Cap home for the elderly, which will take place this year.

It should be noted that the question time session was in the presence of the LDS members only. Speaker Mancienne had ordered two members of the United Seychelles party out of the assembly, namely Egbert Aglae and Johan Loze, while the leader of the opposition walked out, followed later by all the US members.

The US members had expressed their discontent over the Speaker’s decision not to grant them Point of Order and Matter of Privilege, stating their points were irrelevant.

Patsy Canaya