Africa-Press – Seychelles. The Committee for Government Insurance (COGA) in the National Assembly says that for the moment it is quite satisfied with the insurance that the Ministry of Employment and Social Affairs has made from 2021 until now.
COGA President, Honorable Sylvanne Lemiel, says that some of them can be partially honored while there are others that they cannot honor.
Minister Patricia Francourt and her officers were giving a balance sheet to the insurers to see what they have completed, or to give evidence that they have arrived so far.
Among them was a sum of 30 million dollars provided by the World Bank to reform the Social Protection Agency to improve the services it offers and its benefit system.
In his explanation, the principal secretary for Social Affairs, Linda William Melanie, explained that the World Bank has not transferred all that money to the government account. Seeing that this is a program that will last for 4 years, the money will be paid as long as the government meets the targets within a time period that the two sides have agreed on.
Principal Secretary William Melanie said that with regard to the 13.5 million rupees that were supposed to be given in 2021, a portion for the first target is to ensure that there is this new instrument called ‘ODAS’ that would replace the Barthel Index (MBI) system that The World Bank was asking to put it in March.
“One million was poured, after which we were able to show evidence that the Ministry of Health had received approval from the World Health Organization to be able to use this instrument and what work to do to implement it”.
He said the second payment was 8 million dollars as a result of the progress made by the Social Protection Agency (ASP) during the Covid era to help as many people as possible.
William’s wife Melanie said that 9 million dollars was paid in November 2021.
4.5 million is the money that remains and of which 1.5 is related to legal work to bring legal frameworks.
They can show the World Bank that there are amendments to the Pension Fund Law, the Social Security Law, to be able to put this new board, which they say is a target group.
“This new board, which instead has two medical boards to evaluate people who receive disability assistance under the social security fund and disability under the pension fund, then the law is coming to have one board,” according to Ms. William Melanie.
It also says what to include in the care of the yard.
The main secretary says that the committee can do a lot of work this year to bring these policies before the council of ministers, and ensure that the law is drafted. According to him, two or three laws will come before the National Assembly this year.
The president of COGA, Honorable Lemiel, says he is satisfied with the response of the principal secretary about the way the money was spent and the reforms that are coming.
Where STrestricted cards were, there were certain failures regarding the number of people who had cards and did not use the money that was there.
He explained that in 2019, there were 1642 STC cards and government spending was 12.9 million rupees. It cost 84.3 million rupees to put on the STC card and there were 6660 applicants.
And with the reform in 2021, this sum dropped to 3.4 million rupees.
ASP says that at the moment there are only 18 people who have received STC cards and the majority are clients who are undergoing treatment for substance abuse.
Regarding the ‘Liberation Memorial Fund’, Morin’s wife also said that there are 8 beneficiaries, but this account goes directly to the Ministry of Finance and they don’t have details about it.
For the Department of Employment, COGA provides insurance on the Labor Market Information System platform, where the department’s representative, Susan Morel, chief policy analyst says it is being implemented.
The system that the number of registered workers is compared to those who are registered for employment, available jobs, those who have been suspended from work and those who are applying.
He says that even if there are technical errors, they are small problems that are resolved quickly, and the system is running.
Regarding flexible work in the country, the ministry presented its report to the council of ministers in Zen last year, where there were requests for more research. Mrs. Morel said that following the consultation with the ILO, the organization is helping Seychelles to find a consultant for this research, which will take 4 and a half months.
Regarding the insurance to build a place for young teenagers, PS William Melanie said 16.25 million rupees for this project is there but the land is not available in Cap Ternay.
Honorable Lemiel said that COGA understands what the situation is and what will come and go for a while, but the ministry has agreed to continue to keep them updated.
“We are satisfied that there are partially completed, and that they have honored the commitment where they can. But seeing that there is something going on, we will now expect their insurance to be complete and they will inform us, but overall COGA is generally satisfied,” Ms. Lemiel concluded.
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