National Assembly |17 November 2023

Five budget allocations approved on fourth day of debate

The National Assembly yesterday approved five budgets on its fourth day of discussion with various government entities regarding their budget allocation for next year.

The Anti-Corruption Commission’s budget of R75.719 million was approved with the backing of 22 MNAs of the Linyon Demokratik Seselwa, while the 10 opposition members voted against the sum. Commissioner May de Silva answered questions related to their role, capacity-building of their staff, ongoing education programmes about others to justify the sum allocated.

She was followed by Minister Flavien Joubert from the Ministry of Agriculture, Climate Change and Environment who led his team to justify a proposed budget of R213.607million for next year. Part of the sum – R99.230 million – is allocated to the department of climate change and department of environment, while R114.316 million is budgeted for the agriculture department. After a one and a half hour debate, the House unanimously approved the sum to cover various programmes and projects.

The Landscape and Waste Management Agency, which is responsible for the cleaning and beautification of Seychelles, will be functioning with a budget worth R287.775 million next year, after 20 members of the ruling Linyon Demokratik Seselwa party approved their budget, while the ten opposition members abstained.

Two budget proposals were approved unanimously without any debate; firstly a sum of R17.484 million for the Seychelles Meteorological Agency, followed by R20.792 million budgeted for the Seychelles Energy Commission.  

Today the House will take the budget proposals for the Ministry of Health, the Public Health Authority and the Health Care Agency. They will also take a vote on the budgets of four entities without any debate, namely the Seychelles Nurses and Midwives Council, Health Professional Council, the National AIDS Council and the Seychelles Medical and Dental Council.

Patsy Canaya