Launch of military and police Young Leaders’ programmes
President Michel welcomes new Young Leaders
New military and police young leaders programmes were officially launched by President James Michel at State House yesterday.
These two programmes are aimed at grooming determined young men and women to become future leaders and to bring more professionalism into the Seychelles Police and the Seychelles People’s Defence Forces.
Mr Michel, who is also commander-in-chief of the armed forces, said this when addressing the 20 military and 26 police cadet officers in the presence of former President James Mancham, Designated Minister Danny Faure, leader of government business Marie-Louise Potter and opposition leader in the National Assembly Wavel Ramkalawan.
Defence forces chief Brigadier Leopold Payet, police commissioner Ernest Quatre, the military and police young leaders programme coordinator Lucy Athanasius, members of the diplomatic corps and other high government officials were also there.
Mr Michel said that in his state-of-the-nation address he highlighted the desire of the Seychellois people to have a more professional and dependable police force.
There has been a shift in the types of criminal activity in the country, and now we are no longer outside the sphere of interest of those involved in trafficking dangerous drugs, he added.
“This shift in modes of criminality needs to be accompanied by a shift in how we deal with such crimes,” he said.
Mr Michel said the need to introduce new or updated laws was mentioned in his speech, but there is also a need for a better trained and more dynamic police force.
“I am counting on the 26 young police leaders to take their force into a new era of professionalism,” he said.
He said the issue of piracy is also a threat, and we must be vigilant and ready to continue the fight to protect our resources and people.
He told the future young leaders to put service before self and set an example as the first candidates to enrol on these programmes.
“Be the change that our country needs today, as the police and military forces are the guardians of our freedom,” he said.
Ms Athanasius said the two programmes are a novel strategy within the military and police forces, designed to develop a reserve of future young leaders for the forces.
She said a two-week induction course was recently held for these officers, who include in-service military and police officers as well as civilians.
This helped the newcomers to get the hang of things, working alongside the in-service cadets.
A total of 10 people from the military programme have dropped out, while all the officers from the police remain, Ms Athanasius said.
She said both programmes involve a one-year certificate-level course to be run locally at the defence and police academies.
The officers will be based in the different sections of the military or police so as to find their particular field of interest. This will be followed by a diploma and then a degree in a specialised field.
For example, in the military programme an officer can specialise in the coast guard, airwing or telecommunications, and in the police force in forensics or investigations, she explained.
Ms Athanasius said both the diploma and degree courses will be recognised internationally, and lecturers will come from abroad.
The courses will include both practical and theory work and will cover other subjects such as the history of Seychelles and our Constitution and economy. For the time being, all the specialist courses will be taken abroad.
Ms Athanasius said around 60 people enrolled on the two programmes, which were open to people already in the forces and to the public. After shortlisting and induction training, 46 are left.
Among the civilians who have joined the programmes, some were employed as IT technicians and in hotel management, and some came with A-levels.
She said the programmes underscore the importance of education, citizenship, leadership and physical fitness.
“The young people will be pushed to explore their strengths and identify their development needs in various activities and modules, and their learning environment will stretch their minds and personalities, and reinforce self-confidence,” said Ms Athanasius.
During the ceremony all the new cadet officers received their pips and flag patch from Mr Payet and Mr Quatre.
Hendrica Larue from the police force group and Waren Andre from the military thanked President Michel for such an opportunity and promised, together with their colleagues, to make the most of it for the benefit of the country and the people of Seychelles.
They each received a copy of the Constitution for their group.