Day: May 4, 2023

The Divisional Officer of Mbanga, Nkefor Christian, has said the three security elements and the bike rider who were killed on May 1 in Matouké in the Moungo division by suspected separatist fighters from the Fako division of the South West region was as a result of zero collaboration of the traditional rulers, neighborhood heads as well as natives.

He vehemently declared this during a crisis meeting he chaired on May 2.

“What makes it so difficult for you the chiefs, quarter heads and your population to collaborate with security officials? What is difficult in doing so?” The D.O angrily asked.

“Collaboration is giving vital information. What I need from you is identifying. Identify among your subjects suspects and report to the forces of law and order or the administration. Identify because the attackers can’t enter here without passing through several people among you and you must know them. Why is it that you don’t want to denounce them? Use your guys, your elements you are talking about and denounce them!”

The civil administrator added that the time for leniency is over and it is now time for sanctions to reign.

“You need to take your responsibilities into your hands because from now we will take severe actions. That issue of village council should be abolished from today. The chiefs should work hand in gloves with the chief of blocs, so much so that you know what is happening in each bloc. If you were working with them you would have had information on happenings.”

As a security measure, the D.O officer ordered the main road leading in Matouké village to be enlarged.

“Chiefs from Matouké to Kotto Up, as you are going back today, see into it that farms that are beside the road should be opened to at least 2km irrespective of what has been planted there. It should be free, everything should be down,” Nkefor Christian emphasized.

The D.O. also announced he will visit the scene where the three security elements and bike rider were ambushed.

Source: Cameroon News Agency

The alleged kidnapper of 5-year-old Tiossock Tchouala Ezekiel, has been arrested this May 3rd by elements of the Bafoussam Judicial Police.

The commercial motorcycle rider reportedly kidnapped the child at their family residence in Kouogouo, a neighborhood in Bafoussam on Tuesday May 2nd and took him to an unknown destination. A family source says the child was returning from school when the tragic incident occurred.

“The bike rider intercepted the child as he was returning from school telling him that his mother wanted him to measure a pair of shoes she bought in the market. The little boy without hesitating, immediately climbed the bike,” narrates a source close to Ezekiel’s parents.

“The child was with his older brother who was not attentive enough when the incident occurred. The older brother was only surprised seeing Ezekiel on a bike going. That is how he alerted neighbors who also informed their parents,” the source adds.

The kidnapper and his team later called the boy’s parents, demanding the sum of FCFA 4 million which was paid for his release. Alerted of the situation, elements of the Bafoussam Judicial Police immediately launched an investigation by tracking the call. The kidnapper then fell into the dragnet of security forces after he had succeeded to withdraw the money according to security sources.

His arrest led to the capture of other gang members who are gnashing their teeth behind bars.

This situation is not the first of its kind in the region. Last year at Government Bilingual High Bafoussam, a man declared he was a manual labor teacher to gain access to the school where he successfully kidnapped a child.

Source: Cameroon News Agency

Seychelles has gone down 21 places on the World Press Freedom Index going from 13th place in 2022 to 34th in 2023.

The Index is published by the Reporters Without Borders (RWB), a Paris-based non-governmental organisation. The release of the ranking every year coincides with World Press Freedom Day on May 3, a date that celebrates the fundamental principles of press freedom around the world.

The 2023 reports highlights the fact that journalism is threatened by fake content industry and that the situation is “very serious” in 31 countries, “difficult” in 42, “problematic” in 55, and “good” or “satisfactory” in 52 countries. In other words, the environment for journalism is “bad” in seven out of 10 countries, and satisfactory in only three out of 10.

In 2022, the island nation was ranked 13th out of 180 countries and was the highest ranking in Sub-Saharan Africa.

RSF defines press freedom as “the ability of journalists as individuals and collectives to select, produce, and disseminate news in the public interest independent of political, economic, legal, and social interference and in the absence of threats to their physical and mental safety.”

The purpose of the World Press Freedom Index is to compare the level of freedom enjoyed by journalists and media in 180 countries and territories. The report is based on five indicators – political, economic, legislative, social and security.

Seychelles lost points in all five indicators and the most points were lost in the legislative and social indicators.

In 2022, the island nation scored 90.25 points in the social indicator placing it 11 but in 2023, went down to 41 with 80.23 points. For the legislative indicator, in 2022, Seychelles scored 83.31 points and was ranked 13 but went down to 43 in 2023 with 76.98 points.

A press statement from State House on Thursday said that “the government of Seychelles has expressed its disappointment with RSF on the ranking of Seychelles, given that Seychelles is a nation where freedom of expression, gathering and in particular the freedom of the media are totally respected, recognised and encouraged.”

The statement added that “the government feels that while it is promoting and encouraging responsible journalism and ethical reporting, the RSF failed to understand and analyse what was really happening in Seychelles, but rather depended only on the opinion of certain individuals that do not aspire to such standards.”

“Seychelles is committed to promoting the freedom of the media and calls on all media practitioners and media houses to do their best to achieve the highest standards possible in journalism by promoting the truth while abiding by the upmost ethical standards,” said the statement.

The chairman of the Association of Media Practitioners of Seychelles (AMPS), Rassin Vannier, who is also the chief editor of SNA, told reporters that “yes, Seychelles has gone down, but we can work with the authorities to get back into the first position in the Sub-Saharan region.”

On the question of the sharp decline, Vannier said it was partly due to the change in the RWB methodology used for the Index.

Vannier went on to explain that in order for the country to gain a better position in the ranking, “this simply meant there should be a readjustment in the expectations of the public.”

Seychelles, an archipelago in the western Indian Ocean, faced an eventful year in 2022 with the silent protest held by journalists in November following backlash due to an opinion-based programme aired on the national broadcaster Seychelles Broadcasting Corporation (SBC).

Other events that contributed to the decline in the ranking was the sidelining of journalists from the local newspaper ‘Seychelles Independent’ from the quarterly Presidential press conference.

The vice chair of the AMPS, Joanna Nicette, told SNA that “we cannot expect that side-lining a media house from an event and issuing a non-disclosure clause when covering certain official events among others will not have an impact on our international ratings.”

The secretary general of the Linyon Demokratik Seselwa (LDS) party, Gervais Henrie, said that “LDS believes the ranking is unfair and unjustifiable. During the last year, no journalists have been killed in the line of duty in the country; none have been sentenced to jail or fined by the Court; no media houses have been forced out of business by the government; whilst all branches of government have maintained an open-door policy to the media.”

He said that LDS noted two points made by the organisation in its assessment.

“One is a fine imposed on a journalist in 2020 and the other is the exclusion of certain journalists from the Presidential press conference. LDS believes that these points do not justify the sharp descent,” said Henrie.

He concluded by saying that “LDS is urging all concerned parties to focus on building a better Seychelles, one for its all children, where we can be all proud to be Seychellois which includes having an exemplary press freedom index.”

Patrick Herminie, the President of the United Seychelles (US) main opposition party said in his message for World Press Freedom Day that “press freedom is the foundation of democracy and justice.”

He said that the press is the 4th pillar of our democracy and that it is “unfortunate that the press especially social media that could bring harmony and knowledge in our community and our country is today being used for disinformation with the aim to make slanderous statements on citizens.”

Herminie said that press freedom is on the decline.

“We are sad that on the World Press Freedom Index, Seychelles has gone from 13 to 34. We hope that the government takes this development seriously so that Seychelles can regain the respect it had where press freedom is concerned,” he added.

Source: Seychelles News Agency

Seychelles is aiming to digitalise customs procedures for courier services at the Seychelles International Airport with the aim to limit errors and delays, said Vice President Ahmed Afif.

The announcement was made by Afif in a press briefing on cabinet decisions at the State House on Thursday.

Afif said that, currently, there is a lot of paperwork involved in this service which leaves margins for errors and this can cause delays in the end the client loses.

“So the intention is to modernise the service so that all the information entered by the courier agencies and airlines are captured by Customs. This will be used also by the clearing agents and will prevent delays caused by the much paperwork,” he explained.

Afif also gave details on the changes in the proposed environment levy announced during the 2023 budget address by the finance minister, which was due to become effective in April but was delayed.

The rates proposed last year were SCR 25 ($2) for small hotels with less than 25 bedrooms, SCR 75 ($6) for establishments with 25 to 50 bedrooms and SCR 100 ($8) for hotels with over 50 bedrooms.

He said that this did not take place because there were consultations being done between the government and all relevant partners, especially on how to collect the levy.

“What has been agreed is that it will be a fixed sum of SCR75 ($6) per night and will not apply to Seychellois citizens and residents. These are people with gainful occupation permits, residential permits, or dependence permits. It will not apply to children below 12 years and crew members. It will be implemented in the second half of the year and the date will be fixed and announced later. It will be collected like taxes,” he explained.

He said the decision was taken because it is simpler and whether a person stays in a small or big hotel, the impact caused on the environment is the same.

Afif also gave details on a report from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank aimed at the ways Seychelles conducts its capital projects.

Capital projects are infrastructures like houses and roads and last year SCR 1.4 billion was budgeted for capital expenditure.

“The idea is to look at how we plan, consult and implement it and the way we make payment and how we select people to do the projects. They also looked at the weaknesses and if we were taking into consideration the climate change taking place and how we are adapting. One thing raised is that we are putting SCR1.4 billion ($105 million) and often this sum is not spent and this is what we call under execution of projects. They looked at why we are not able to do it, where the problems are and how to improve the execution of procedures,” he said.

Source: Seychelles News Agency

A group of journalists in Seychelles learned more about investigative journalism in a one-day training event on Wednesday to coincide with World Press Freedom Day, celebrated on May 3.

The training was organised for the third consecutive year by the French embassy in Seychelles in collaboration with the Association of Media Practitioners of Seychelles (AMPS).

The theme was “Shaping a future of rights: freedom of expression as a driver of all other human rights” and the aim was to help media houses see how best to work with the Human Rights Commission and the Office of the Ombudsman.

In her address, the French Ambassador to Seychelles, Olivia Berkeley-Christmann, said: “The small French team is happy to have been able to contribute again to such an activity. Your contribution to the Seychelles democracy, to its consolidation, is also to question, to investigate, to highlight contradictions, to create a space for debate. And thus, to explore the path towards more investigative journalism.”

Journalists from various media houses attended the event.

The training included presentations from the Human Rights Commission and the Office of the Ombudsman aimed at raising awareness. Participants also acquired new skills and learned more about people’s rights.

During the event, there was a presentation of the Recognition Award to Marie-Anne Lepathy, the chief editor of the Seychelles Nation newspaper, who was represented in the ceremony by her daughter.

Lepathy started working as a reporter for the newspaper in January 1988 after completing a journalism course at the Seychelles Polytechnic School in 1987. She rose in the ranks of the newspaper and is the most experienced newspaper journalist in the country.

This is the second year in a row that AMPS has made this gesture for a journalism professional.

Source: Seychelles News Agency