Troukler

PRESIDENT MICHEL DISSOLVES NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

The Electoral Commissioner went on SBC TV last Sunday and gave the impression that the National Assembly election will be held in mid-October. He sounded convincing but Mr Gappy also hinted that should the President decide to dissolve the National Assembly he will have no difficulty in organising elections in the districts. “All the logistics are in place to hold an election at short notice”, Mr. Gappy said. Last year Mr. Gappy tormented over the date for the Presidential election. This time around he sounded confident and at ease with the situation. Mr. Gappy must have known something we did not. In fact Mr. Gappy set the stage for the dissolution of the National Assembly by President Michel in his State of the Nation address. Mr Michel wanted the surprise element; he got it from the most unlikely source - the office of the Electoral Commissioner.

It did not come as a great surprise though. The ‘invisible man’ was telling everybody who wanted to listen at the ‘Pirates Arms’ that he had it from confidential sources that Michel would do away with the National Assembly. This, he said, would be done to prevent the leader of the opposition from replying to the State-of-the-Nation. Michel could not afford for the real State-of-the Nation to be laid bare by Wavel Ramkalawan. The devaluation issue - one of the broken promises from the last presidential election will be too much to hear Ramkalawan tear into. The price increases of all commodities in our shops is another factor Michel did not want spoken about. In fact there is a long list of complaints Michel could not bring himself to be reminded of by Ramkalawan. He took the easy way out and dissolved the National Assembly thus calling for early legislative elections.

In his address to the National Assembly on Tuesday, March 20th, 2007, President Michel in dissolving parliament, stated clearly live on TV that he wrote to the Speaker of the House, Francis MacGregor, on the 12th of March, 2007, giving notice of his intention to do so. However the Seychelles Nation the next day on Wednesday, 21st of March, 2007, ignored that fact completely. We reproduce here the exact reporting of the Seychelles Nation on that particular piece, “In accordance with article 110 of the Constitution of the Republic of Seychelles, I have given due notice in writing to the Speaker of the National Assembly, my intention to dissolve the Assembly. This takes effect as of tomorrow (Wednesday 20th March). The Electoral Commissioner now has the task of organising the election, including the fixing of the appropriate date as per the legal provisions”. Why did the Seychelles Nation missed out on this vital piece of information?

In conclusion, the President himself has not followed the Constitution to the letter. According to the supreme laws of the land the National Assembly is dissolved on the day after the publication of notice to dissolve appears in the Official Gazette. The notice appeared in the Gazette of the 21st of March - therefore dissolution took effect the following day on Thursday, 22nd of March. Can Speaker Francis MacGregor please inform the people who he owes an explanation to - why was the Leader of the Opposition who represents 46% of the tax paying public not allowed to reply to President’s Michel address on Wednesday, which was the day after his address and the day before the legal dissolution of the National Assembly? Is this the legacy Mr. Francis MacGregor is to be remembered by? Complicity and non-accountability to the people he purports to represent? An undesirable legacy if you ask Troukler!     

  

March 23, 2007
Copyright 2007: Seychelles Weekly, Victoria, Mahe, Seychelles