Ceps commends President Ramkalawan’s actions in first 100 days |02 February 2021

In most communities, the civil society is the watchdog which makes sure that the government respects all civil and moral laws.

The Seychelles NATION newspaper contacted the Citizens Engagement Platform Seychelles (Ceps) to have its comments on the 100 days of the new administration under President Wavel Ramkalawan.

Ceps chairman Jude Fred had this to say: “Much time was taken up by the Covid-19 pandemic that included meetings at several levels including the Cabinet. Despite, a lot of work was done with Cabinet ministers in view that they are new in their posts and they spent a lot of time discussing proposed changes to fit the new structure. The President was meeting on several occasions with staff of the Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning and Trade for the purpose of acquainting himself with the current economic situation.”

Meanwhile, people were asking what was going on as most of his staunch supporters wanted to see concrete actions, e.g. removal of public servants in certain posts, better service delivery at public services etc., added Mr Fred.

What have been done so far?

“The President also travelled to the UAE (Abu Dhabi) to negotiate for the Sinopharm vaccines and the vaccination campaign against Covid-19 is ongoing. The President took a few actions on files that had already been worked on by the former President, e.g. appointment of the chief justice, opening of a housing estate where he presented keys to the new owners and the La Digue hospital project. We commend the President’s action for meeting up with civil society organisations to organise methods of partnership for the betterment of the country,” said Mr Fred.

Ceps also noted a delay in producing a national budget, which is understandable due to the effect of Covid-19 on our economy.

In addition, Mr Fred added that “there needs to be more consultations on national issues e.g the Air Seychelles case which the civil society strongly believes needs wide consultations with all stakeholders and the general public before a final decision is taken.”

“Generally, the President is still analysing and studying the status of the country while he is also taking some bold decisions where there is a need to and that is very commendable,” concluded Mr Fred on behalf of Ceps.

Vidya Gappy