Seychelles

WHEN prominent Seychellois lawyer and political figure, Alexia Amesbury, decided to contest a seat on the country’s human rights commission, she came up against an apparently immovable obstacle: the law disqualifies candidates who hold office in or are employed by political parties from sitting on the HRC. Undeterred, she contested the constitutionality of the relevant sections of the law in the constitutional court of Seychelles.

AFTER many months of unpleasantness, uncertainty and threat of impeachment, Chief Justice Mathilda Twomey of Seychelles – the first woman to hold this position in her country – has been completely exonerated by a tribunal of inquiry. The tribunal’s report, published on Friday, was written by three prominent jurists: recently retired Australian judge Michael Adams, SA judge John Murphy and Nigerian judge Olufunmilayo Atilade.

WHEN the Southern African Chief Justices’ Forum heard that one of their members, Chief Justice Mathilda Twomey of Seychelles, was to face an inquiry and possible removal for alleged misconduct the forum asked the government of Seychelles to allow a fact-finding mission. The investigation into the chief justice was particularly troubling as this as it was the second current investigation into a senior judge in Seychelles.