Africa-Press – Seychelles. Recognition Award to Marie-Anne Lepathy
For the third consecutive year, the French Embassy in Seychelles in collaboration with the Association of Media Practitioners of Seychelles (AMPS) organized a seminar-workshop for journalists to commemorate World Press Freedom Day.
At the end of the day, a recognition award was given to Marie-Anne Lepathy for her 35 years of service in the media, notably in the Seychelles NATION newspaper.
The journalists came from different newsrooms, the Ambassador of France to the Seychelles, Olivia Berkeley-Christmann as well as the Ombudsman Nichole Tirant-Gherardi also participated fully in this day.
This year’s theme ‒ “Shaping a Future of Rights: Freedom of Expression as a Driver of All Other Human Rights” helped to shed light on investigative journalism in Seychelles and the channels of information between journalists and bodies responsible for the defense of human rights.
On this occasion, three speakers presented their work and discussed with representatives of the media world: Mr. George Robert for the Seychelles Human Rights Commission, Ms. Nichole Tirant-Gherardi, Mediator of the Republic; and Mr. Laurent Decloitre, journalist and associate lecturer at the University of La Réunion.
The morning was dedicated to intense and rewarding work with Seychelles journalists.
Ambassador Berkeley-Christmann noted that “the small France team is happy to have been able to contribute again to such an activity. Your contribution to Seychellois democracy, to its consolidation, is also to question, to investigate, to highlight contradictions, to create a space for debate. And thus to explore the avenues towards more investigative journalism”.
The ambassador also underlined the importance of these days which help in reflection and debate of ideas but also in exchanges.
The president of the AMPS, Rassin Vannier thanked the French Embassy for their support for this day. “During the year we had several activities and two years ago during this day the journalists had signed a charter and I can certify that fake news is not reported by our press houses. We do our job with great professionalism and the public appreciates us. We are on the right track and our association will now focus on the working conditions of members of the media”.
Another key event of the day was the presentation of recognition awards to Ms. Marie-Anne Lepathy. This is the second year in a row that the AMPS has made this gesture towards one of its own.
Ms. Marie-Anne Lepathy (née Kilindo) started working as a reporter for the daily Seychelles NATION in January 1988 after completing a journalism course at the Seychelles Polytechnic School in 1987. She was then promoted to Journalist Grade III, then promoted to the grade of journalist II and in February 2001 she became deputy editor. In 2010, she held the positions of Deputy Director and Deputy Editor and on May 3, 2019 she was appointed Editor-in-Chief.
Ms Lepathy remained in the same job for 35 years and she learned journalism on the job and over the years improved her writing skills and this helped to build her confidence in the profession, more particularly in conducting interviews .
Over the years, she has attended several media trainings organized locally by Thompson Foundation, GenderLinks etc. She has also participated in several media training workshops in Madagascar, Réunion, Egypt, South Africa and China.
She has covered several missions abroad, for example the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Colombo, Sri Lanka in November 2013; the state visit of President Danny Faure to Mauritius in September 2017; Air Seychelles’ inaugural flight to Hong Kong in 2012, among others.
With the experience gained, she rose through the ranks to become the first female editor-in-chief of the Seychelles NATION newspaper on May 3, 2019, exactly four years ago.
Mrs. Lepathy could not reach this small ceremony in her honor and it was her daughter Sheryl Lepathy who accepted her recognition award.
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