The National Assembly of Seychelles hosted a Coco-de-mer planting ceremony this morning on Friday the 02nd of July, 2021 in front of the National Assembly’s building. The Speaker, Hon. Roger Mancienne also took this opportunity to officially unveil the new theme of the 7th Assembly which reads as ‘Serving a Modern Democracy’.
Speaker Mancienne announced that this event is in commemoration of the ‘International Day of Parliamentarism’ that took place on the 30th of June, the date in 1889 on which the Inter-Parliamentary Union was founded. The Day was established in 2018 through a United Nations General Assembly Resolution. Instituting an international day for parliaments is particularly important at this critical time for parliamentary democracy. The International Day of Parliamentarism is a time to review the progress that parliaments have made in achieving some key goals to be more representative and move with the times. The Speaker reminded all present that strong parliaments are a cornerstone of democracy. They represent the voice of the people, pass laws, allocate funds to implement laws and policies, and hold governments to account.
The two coco-de-mer were planted by the Speaker of the National Assembly, Hon. Roger Mancienne along with the Deputy Speaker, Hon. Gervais Henrie. The Deputy Clerk of the National Assembly, Ms Alexandria Faure, also assisted with the planting of the coco-de-mer as she is the Chairperson of the Environmental Policy Implementation Committee (EPIC) of the Secretariat. Planting the two coco-de-mer is in line with the National Assembly’s environmental awareness plan to have more endemic plants on the parliamentary grounds.
The Speaker thanked all who had a hand in making this event a success, namely the Seychelles Islands Foundation (SIF) who assisted the parliament by donating the two coco-de-mer. Furthermore, he extended his appreciation to the NGO – Terrestrial Restoration Action Society of Seychelles (TRASS) who have aided in providing the right advice to ensure the coco-de-mer were handled with the utmost care. Finally, Speaker Mancienne thanked the Secretariat for their efforts and the NGO – Sustainability for Seychelles (S4S) who has helped the National Assembly in its environment action plans following a month-long Sustainability Audit that was carried out in 2019 as part of an internal initiative. This initiative embraced the challenge of improving on the energy usage of the parliament whilst promoting environmental awareness.
This ceremony was also attended by a few Members of Parliament, namely the Leader of Government Business, Hon. Bernard Georges, Hon. Regina Esparon, Hon. Andy Labonte, Hon. Jany Letourdi, Hon. Georges Romain and Hon. Sylvanne Lemiel. The Chief Executive Officer of the Seychelles Islands Foundation (SIF), Dr. Frauke Dogley was also present and was accompanied by Mr. Julio Agricole.
