Country report: Spotlight on Seychelles

Some basic facts

Joined Commonwealth: 1976
Capital: Victoria
Population: 84,600 (2006)
GDP p.c. growth: 1.6% p.a. 1990–2006
Official language: Creole, English and French
Time: GMT plus 4hr
Currency: Seychelles rupee (SR)
Last Elections: July 2006 (presidential), May 2007 (legislative)
Next Elections: 2011 (presidential), 2012 (legislative)
Head of State: President James Alix Michel
Head of Government: The President
Ruling Party: Seychelles People's Progressive Front
Independence: 29 June 1976

What is the recent political history in Seychelles?

In December 1991, the France Albert René government passed legislation to provide for a multiparty alternative to the one-party system. Eight parties were registered by July 1992, and a constitutional commission elected to prepare a new constitution which paved the way for elections in July 1993 for the presidency and to the National Assembly. René took 59% of votes in the presidential election and Sir James Mancham 36%, and the Seychelles People’s Progressive Front (SPPF) gained a large majority - 27 of the 33 seats - in the National Assembly.

In March 1998, in the second multiparty presidential and legislative elections since independence in 1976, René was returned for another term as president and his SPPF won 24 of the 25 seats in the National Assembly (30 of 34 when seats allocated on a proportional basis were included). René polled 67% of the votes and Mancham, who polled only 14%, was overtaken by Wavel Ramkalawan of the United Opposition party (19%) as opposition leader.

Following the 1998 elections Ramkalawan formed a new party, the Seychelles National Party (SNP), to succeed his United Opposition party. In an early presidential election in September 2001, René was returned to office receiving 54% of the votes, defeating Ramkalawan (45%), in a much closer contest than in 1998.

Though SNP significantly strengthened its position in the parliamentary elections in December 2002, with 11 of the 34 elected seats and 42.6% of the votes, the ruling SPPF remained in control of the National Assembly. Following the elections the SPPF chose vice-president and finance minister James Michel as their candidate for the presidential contest due in 2006, René being allowed only two terms under the constitution. In April 2004, after almost 27 years as head of state, René stood down and Michel became president. René continued as head of the ruling SPPF.

Michel was endorsed by the electorate in the July 2006 presidential contest, when he defeated Ramkalawan by a similar margin to that in 2001 when René was last returned.

In the parliamentary elections held in May 2007, the ruling SPPF, with 56% of the votes, again won 23 seats and the SNP, with 44%, won 11.

How does the Commonwealth Secretariat help Seychelles?

The following articles describe some of the Commonwealth’s projects, which aim to assist this small state:

· Improving negotiating skills of East African public servants

Commonwealth programme looks to build up a critical mass of seasoned negotiators in East Africa

· Commonwealth participates in presentations by small island states to the UN

Focus is on securing exclusive access to potentially lucrative resources of the seabed

· Seychelles police receive human rights training

Programme primes police officials on how human rights principles can be best integrated into their work

· Heads of African Public Services commit to wide-ranging reforms to improve delivery of public services

Over fifty delegates from 17 Commonwealth countries in Africa attended three-day forum

· Managing and measuring performance in the public service

Delegates from 18 African Commonwealth countries meet at Forum in Seychelles

· Mauritius and Seychelles prepare for historic submission to the UN

Countries will have exclusive access to seabed resources

Case study (2009): Restructuring public sector salaries in Seychelles

Benchmarking civil service pay with market rates to attract and retain staff

Effective public sector pay, says Emmanuel Kwami, is a crucial incentive in boosting morale and motivating public servants towards improving their productivity. This is the outcome he hopes to achieve in Seychelles.

"The goal is to attract and retain staff in the public service," explains Mr Kwami. "If public sector salaries are not sufficiently attractive to young, talented and skilled Seychellois, they will join the private sector or be lured overseas by better prospects, so Seychelles will constantly face a brain drain."

Mr Kwami, a Ghanaian national, was first posted to Mahé in 2005 through the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Cooperation (CFTC), to design plans for an overhaul of Seychelles' public sector pay and grading system. The initial placement was triggered by the government’s realisation that reward management for its 15,000 public servants had become outdated. Ad hoc measures to adapt needed to be replaced by a revised and integrated remuneration system, following job evaluations to benchmark salaries against the private sector. From 2005 to 2006, Mr Kwami undertook a survey of private sector salaries in the country, reviewed allowances, designed a job evaluation plan and put together a proposal for an integrated salary structure.

By 2008, the Government of Seychelles had decided to introduce the scheme, and looked to Mr Kwami to implement his recommendations.

Mr Kwami's career, which has included advising a civil service capacity-building project in Liberia and heading the Human Resources Division at Ghana's Community Water and Sanitation Agency, demonstrated the necessary credentials for the job. His experience has also involved the redrafting of civil service regulations in the British Virgin Islands (also with the CFTC); training future managers at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration; and working on a World Bank-funded project on Ghana's public sector management reform. The Government of Seychelles decided that he was the right man to oversee a complete overhaul of its public sector pay scales.

When Mr Kwami returned to Mahé in February 2008, his first move was to train 100 senior public servants on the new job evaluation methods and the commensurate salary scheme, ensuring they understood the thinking behind the pay revision. At the time of writing, he was reviewing benchmark positions, collating documents and examining terms of service in line with job specifications and requirements.

Officials from the Department of Public Administration have been involved at each stage, and a committee of Seychellois public servants has been formed to oversee the evaluation process. A local counterpart has also been trained to take on Mr Kwami’s role on completion of his two-year assignment in 2010.

Meanwhile, Mr Kwami says his posting in Seychelles has increased his "knowledge base, skills, attitude and outlook" on the public service of the Indian Ocean state. He applauds the Government of Seychelles in its decision to overhaul public sector pay, so as to reward civil servants and attract talent that may otherwise be lured by market rates in the private sector.

Mr Kwami hopes the new pay scales can be implemented by 2010, that this will lead to happier and more efficient public service employees, which in turn will translate into better services and improved productivity.

For more information on Seychelles, click here 

Secretariat Links:

• Country Profile: Seychelles