Next hearing over salary raise pitting President against National Assembly Speaker set for Oct. 22
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(Seychelles News Agency) - The hearing in the petition brought by President Danny Faure against the Speaker of the National Assembly, Nicholas Prea, has been set for October 22.
The Constitutional Court comprising of Justices Ronny Govinden, Laura Pillay and Gustave Dodin convened on Tuesday morning and set the date, citing the urgency of the matter.
The Court had given Prea’s counsel, Joel Camille, until October 1 to file his objections on the merits of the case.
On Tuesday morning Camille informed the court that he has already filed his objections to show that the National Assembly did not interfere with Faure’s constitutional rights when it annulled the SI 18 2019. The Statutory Instrument (SI) is a regulation which makes provision for a five percent increase for government employees.
Faure, in his capacity as Minister Responsible for Public Administration, had initially filed two petitions against the National Assembly’s decision.
The court on September 17 dismissed the first petition which was requesting that the Supreme Court exercise supervisory jurisdiction in relation to the National Assembly's quashing of the Statutory Instrument.
In the second petition, the Constitutional Court ruled the case had merits and dismissed all the five objections presented by Prea’s lawyer. Camille will now make his submissions on October 22 during the half-day hearing.
It is the first time in the history of the third republic of Seychelles, an archipelago in the western Indian Ocean, that a Speaker is being held accountable for the decision taken by the National Assembly.
On March 19, the government presented the Public Service Salary Amendment Bill 2019 to the National Assembly for approval. The bill included a five percent increase across the board for government workers who qualified for the raise.
Opposition members who are a majority in the National Assembly objected to the budgeted amount being shared equally with employees who qualified. The members quashed the regulation brought as the S.I which is a form of delegated legislation allowing the government to bypass the parliament.
