Defence and security committee holds first meeting with president |26 December 2020

Members of the committee during their meeting with President Ramkalawan (Photo: Jude Morel)

The newly formed defence and security committee of the National Assembly on Thursday met with President Wavel Ramkalawan for the first time since its members took their pledge.

The meeting at State House was an opportunity to introduce the seven-member committee and set out its mandate to the President.

Also present during the meeting was Vice-President Ahmed Afif.

Although President Ramkalawan is familiar with most parliamentary committees as he is a former member of parliament and leader of opposition, the defence and security committee is a recent addition formed by the seventh cohort of the National Assembly.

The committee was set up to allow the parliament to better tackle the budget of the Seychelles People’s Defence Forces (SPDF), the Seychelles Police Force, the Seychelles Intelligence Service and other national security agencies.

This is particularly significant when it comes to budget allocation dealing with sensitive and confidential national security details.

The State House meeting was meant to formally introduce the committee to the President in his capacity as Commander in Chief of the SPDF and to also discuss other pertinent issues in relation to the defence and security budget for the year 2021.

The committee is chaired by MNA Clifford Andre, vice chaired by Hon. François Adelaide, and has five ordinary members, namely leader of opposition Sebastien Pillay, Hon. Michel Roucou, Hon. Doyace Porice, Hon. Churchill Gill, and Hon. Sandy Arissol. They are assisted by National Assembly secretarial officials Godfra Hermitte as secretary and Gillian Samson as assistant secretary.

All members had earlier this month taken the oath of secrecy not to communicate or divulge any matters which are brought before the said committee and which are entrusted to them under secrecy.

“Our meeting with the president was to make him aware of our work plan and also request for his support in helping us deliver on our work. The president was also able to explain his plans to us. The defence and security committee is one which has a certain level of confidentiality and there are things that we will not be able to share with the media until the president feels it is appropriate to bring to the attention of the public,” said the committee chair.

“We will be going ahead with a series of meetings with these national security agencies ‒ we have already had a meeting with the secret service that has set down its priorities for the coming year ‒ and this Monday we will be meeting up with the police force followed by the SPDF,” explained Hon. Andre.

He noted that the committee will be undertaking rigorous research work on field, such as visiting police stations, to have a better understanding of the agencies’ needs when budget 2021 comes before the National Assembly.

“It is important for us to conduct this groundwork and complete the investigative work so that when the budget comes in January, we will be prepared.”

Elsie Pointe