Speaker of the Parliament and opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) MP Abdulla Shahid cancelled all sessions of parliament this week, after this morning’s session collapsed on points of order.
Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) Chairperson and MP Mariya Ahmed Didi said that parliament sessions had ceased since the Supreme Court issued an injunction on parliament’s endorsement of cabinet ministers last week, and accused the opposition of obstructing the parliament from debating any other matter.
“The Speaker and Deputy Speaker have tried really hard to put other items on the agenda,” she said, “but the DRP is not allowing it.”
“It’s very irresponsible, they can’t hijack an entire institution. There are so many things to be done,” Mariya said.
Attorney General Dr Ahmed Ali Sawad said that the Supreme Court’s injunction related “only to Majlis deliberations on the question of cabinet confirmation.”
“Parliament is best suited to determine the course of it’s [own] calendar.”
The DRP has meanwhile called the government’s filing a case in the Supreme Court as a “delaying tactic”.
MP Ahmed Mahlouf said during the party’s protests last week that it had been three months since the reappointment of Nasheed’s ministers following their dramatic mass resignation and “we want to hasten the process of approving the ministers and are pressuring the government to be faster. We do not believe these ministers are acting legally.”
The opposition favours individually approving ministers, while the government wants a ‘block’ endorsement.
Independent MP Mohamed Nasheed described these as ‘retail’ and ‘wholesale’ interpretations of the procedure. This, he said, represented a far greater divide than the current Supreme Court case over 171(i) of parliament’s rules of procedure.
“I think they are two different matters. 171(i) is the clause the government claims is unconstitutional, a clause which tasks ministers to appear before committee and answer questions regarding their sector [under oath],” Nasheed said.
“Parliament can freeze that issue until it is decided in the Supreme Court, and even while this matter is in court other business can continue. But the DRP’s argument is that matters cannot be debated without ministers present – and approved. Not a response to the Supreme Court’s injunction per se, rather they feel the government has filed the matter in the Supreme Court as a delaying tactic.”
The Supreme court today granted minority opposition party People’s Alliance (PA), headed by the former President’s brother in law Abdulla Yameen, access to the proceedings.
The political divide, he said, “is a far greater problem that will not be solved by a court decision.”
“The government, backed by MDP, want a block vote. DRP wants to dismiss six ministers. Those are the two extremes. 171(i) is minor.”
Unlike the recent deadlock over the interim period and the appointment of a Supreme Court, that was ultimately resolved by the two parties holding peace talks outside the chamber, Nasheed said the position was so polarised and both parties had so far to fall that it was unlikely any compromise would be easily negotiated.
“Parliament is now deadlocked. The main parties control 65 of the 77 seats. Even one person standing can disrupt the chamber,” he said.
The current situation is symptomatic of the heavily partisan politics in the Maldives. Nasheed’s ministers briefly resigned in the middle of this year claiming that the opposition-majority parliament was obstructing them from performing their constitutional duties. The former ministers then led several rallies, while the police investigated several MPs for corruption and treason over vote-buying allegations.
The symbolic stunt brought international attention to the political deadlock between the executive and the legislature, and led to a number of appeals for the President to respect the law and ‘play by the rules’. At the same time, plunging public confidence in the impartiality of the judiciary or its oversight body, the Judicial Services Commission, meant the executive had no third arm of government in which to resolve its disagreement. Less than two weeks later, all ministers were reappointed.
Parliament’s endorsement of the ‘resigned’ cabinet now appears to be the price the executive is paying for increasing the political heat in June. Press Secretary for the President Mohamed Zuhair has said that endorsing ministers individually would effectively amount to a series of no-confidence motions – theoretically, a “retail” interpretation of the procedure would allow the DRP to use its majority to dismiss cabinet in its entirety, except for Nasheed and the Vice President Mohamed Waheed.
The cross-party cooperation that finally achieved the appointment of a Supreme Court on conclusion of the constitution’s interim period suggested collaboration was not impossible, and drew widespread praise – even if much of the debate took place in secret peace talks outside the chamber.
Yesterday, UN Resident Coordinator Andrew Cox described many of the issues created by the spat between the executive and the legislature as “avoidable”, observing that political parties in the Maldives “have opposed each other and blocked key legislation as a matter of principle, even if there is no substantive disagreement.”
The UN and the international community, had, he said, “watched with concern as short term political interests have threatened to put the nation’s long-term interests at risk.”
Today, MP Nasheed noted that despite a great many bills remaining to be passed, five of parliament’s functions were now on hold with seemingly little chance of resuming until either side capitulated.
“Ultimately it is the country that is suffering,” he said.
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Ok. Can they also have their salary shut down if they don't work, too? 😛
Should deduct salary of MPs if they not function properly. Why huge salary - for nothing???
End of the day, it's money and power(of which atleast 3 quarters are ill-gotten), that we are fighting for or defending; it's never been public interest.
The country has seen the spark of hope out in the open again though, in terms of freedom, democracy and rights; and no matter how much water or earth the selfish elements pour in order to douse this fire, they should realize the rage of innocence can never be killed!
Why is 'Independent' MP Nasheed so concerned? He will be getting 'cash' from the parliament at the end of every month.
We are not likely to make any progress for the remainder of this Presidential term.
Imagine a role reversal, with the DRP in power and an MDP dominated Majlis. We will have the same fireworks for another 5 long years! The country is doomed.
It's easy to say that the only route is "dialogue". But "dialogue" only works when educated and intelligent minds get together. The current body of Parliament has the total IQ of a monkey house.
I think the people must go and protest at the Majlis to reduce the fat salaries they enjoy at our expense. DRP cannot accept anything other than getting back to power. During the Majlis elections ANI was sleeping at the wheels to allow these cooks to get back to the Majlis. We hope Anni will take appropriate actions to defeat these guys in all future elections.
Copy rasheed writes good dialogues for Divehi dramas. can we get him or Chilhiyaa to write a dialogue for the parliament that produces results?
We people need to decipline the MP's. We have to make a declaration and re-write the article in law related to MP's.
MP's against Govt both have imaturity behavior and they are not fit to lead this nation. We people are sufferring and our economy is in crise.
All Powers of the State derive from The People, or, so states the Constitution, Article 4.
Let us not forget the People are not those Seventy-Seven alone, and that the rest of the People can control those Seventy Seven.
We can 5 minutes a day to send a text message, e-mail, letter, to remind our MPs what we expect of our MP.
Never mind whether you voted for him/her or not, or what party he/she was yesterday, is today, or may be tomorrow. The one who sits on the seat representing your constituency is yours.
Revive the community spirit and visit your MPs as often as you can to share your concerns, express your vision, and demand your rights.
We people must exercise your powers.
Peep Peep.
Here comes the ice cream van...
All Powers of the State derive from The People, or, so states the Constitution, Article 4.
Let us not forget the People are not those Seventy-Seven alone, and that the rest of the People can control those Seventy Seven.
We can 5 take minutes a day to send a text message, e-mail, letter, to remind our MPs what we expect of our MP.
Never mind whether you voted for him/her or not, or what party he/she was yesterday, is today, or may be tomorrow. The one who sits on the seat representing your constituency is yours.
Revive the community spirit and visit your MPs as often as you can to share your concerns, express your vision, and demand your rights.
We people must exercise our powers.
Peep Peep.
Here comes the ice cream van…
The parliament was shut down, this cannot be blamed on any one individual.
No matter who the President is, given the tense, ‘violently’ impatient hunger for power in political circles, the most democratic spirited president will very easily be pushed to resorting to undemocratic behaviour to maintain even an iota of political stability. One wonders if Anni had been overly optimistic in terms of how democratic he was capable of being? At least, one excellent thing about him is that he is still passionate about maintaining democracy and building a democratic culture. I suspect, anyone else would have given up on trying to be democratic in the face of its seeming impossibility. yes, Anni may have done some undemocratic things. Yet I still believe he is Maldives best hope for the achievement of democracy. I could not even imagine that a Machiavellian such as Yameen (to quote Dr. Hassan Saeed’s description of Yameen some few years back ironically enough!) would even attempt to foster a democratic culture!
A functional democracy is not all about what is written on a piece of paper called a constitution. For a democracy to function, the people have to have open hearts, a willingness to compromise, they have to have motives for the welfare of the ppl rather than for themselves. Maldivian political life is so ecstatic, leaders are so worshipped that once the sweet taste of power has been had, thats it, it takes over the mind and it becomes very difficult to remain a true servant.
No matter how intelligent Yameen or Hassan Saeed are, both have had a taste of power, Yameen as the former Finance Minister and Head of STO, plus the power he derived from his notoriety as well as his being Maumoon’s Brother, and Hassan Saeed as attorney general. Yeah, they have tasted it, and they want it again, ten times stronger! I think Yameen finds it difficult to breathe if he does not have power!
If parliament were a company, and if all the managers of that company (the MPs) simply could not function and decided to go home and spend their large salaries - then the company's shareholders (the Maldivian people) - should be able to remove all the managers and get people in there that can actually do the job.
This is why we should Privatize the public sector - the only thing that delivered development for the people of the Maldives is the private sector.
Parliamentarians should not be paid for teh days they are not in session!!
It is our money, peoples money and we have agreed to pay them to work for us. If they don't, then they should not be paid.
Because simply they dont deserve it..
I do not want to pay MPs when they don't do their work.
@Hilmy,
Maybe you are a 100% right! But, it seems that we are owned by them from the day they take oath!
It is said, that their "gavaaidu" or in the constitution there is no way we peoples can throw them out if they do not work for us.
In reality, we deviate from reality and it back fires on us!
Maybe we would have to go back to savagery if we want to get them out or get them to work for us!