Assembly Should Adopt Commonwealth Standards

The National Assembly can become a more effective institution if it adopts the higher standards of parliamentary practices which exist in some Commonwealth countries like Mauritius.

I believe that the Seychelles legislature should adopt key principles such allocating the chairmanship of the Public Accounts Committee to the Opposition, and making better use of parliamentary committees. These are standards practices in all Commonwealth countries except Seychelles.

This is a personal observation I can make after returning from a visit to Mauritius as part of a seven-member delegation.

I will argue that Seychelles’ return as a fully paid member of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association will also help our National Assembly in its capacity build mission.

During the visit, our delegation learned about the benefits of high quality parliamentary practices and various Commonwealth parliamentary standards. Our delegation had a number of meetings with key parliamentary officials, including the Speaker, his Deputy, the Chief Government Whip and the Chairmen of various committees.

The role of the Assembly in the national political life, good governance, democracy and local government elections, as opposed to appointments were key issues discussed between the delegation and our Mauritian counterparts.

The re-launch of the Indian Ocean Parliamentary Association was also discussed.

The visit coincided with a week of exciting political events on the island which included an opposition walkout from the National Assembly after calling for the Education Minister’s resignation. The government is accused of poor disaster management, following days of torrential rains which left four people dead, including a young student.