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Joint committee’s budget evaluation underway

A parliamentary joint committee formed to evaluate the 2011 state budget was underway today, though a finalised plan for national spending is still thought to be a few days away, Acting Finance Minister Mahmood Razee has said.

Speaking briefly today during a recess of the joint committee, which is formed from members of both the finance and economic committees, Razee said that the discussions would likely be ongoing during the next few days and that he was unavailable to comment on any outcome before then.

Haveeru reported yesterday that Gasim Ibrahim of the Jumhooree Party (JP) had been endorsed as chair of the evaluation committee that consists of 21 MPs. The paper reported that 12 votes will be required to pass any matter through the committee.

The Chair position was contested by nominations from the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), which favoured Bilehdhoo MP Ahmed Hamza, and the Dhivehi Rayytithunge Party (DRP), which proposed Parliament’s Deputy Speaker, MP Ahmed Nazim. Both nominations failed to receive the required number of votes, Haveeru said.

The budget approval, which is constitutionally required to be complete before the end of the year, has come amidst a period of upheaval within the Majlis over the appointment of ministers, which includes a head of finance for the country. This upheavel resulted in Acting Finance Minister Mahmood Razee delivering the state budget after the country’s Supreme Court ruled on December 10 that that ministers rejected by a parliamentary vote could not hold their positions.

Parliament allowed Acting Finance Minister Mahmood Razee to present the 2011 state budget, despite Speaker Abdulla Shahid said that he would be seeking legal advice over whether this was permissible.

Deputy Speaker Mohamed Nazim put forward a motion to declare a “special situation” whereby Razee would be granted the authority to formally present the motion. The chamber voted 55-9 in favour.

The text of the Constitution requires the “Minister of Finance” to submit the budget for approval “prior to the commencement of each financial year” – in the Maldives, the calendar year.

Seven ministers – Finance Minister Ali Hashim, Education Minister Dr Musthafa Luthfy, Foreign Minister Dr Ahmed Shaheed, Fisheries Minister Dr Ibrahim Didi, Home Minister Mohamed Shihab, Defence Minister Ameen Faisal and Attorney General Dr Ahmed Ali Sawad – did not receive a majority of votes from 42 MPs in attendance within parliament last month.
Following the vote, Ahmed Thasmeen Ali, head of the opposition DRP, took the case to the Supreme Court arguing that Ministers rejected by parliament should be dismissed from office.

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New tourism slogan remains elusive despite news report

“Value for Money” will not be replacing “The Sunny Side of Life” as the slogan to entice holidaymakers from all over the world to come to the Maldives, with a final decision yet to be made on the future direction for promoting the nation’s central economic income source, the country’s Tourism Minister has said.

The Maldives National Broadcasting Corporation (MNBC) yesterday reported that the “Value for Money” slogan had been settled on in order to reflect a changing focus in enticing travellers to the Maldives by targeting a more middle-income audience.

However, while the new tourism slogan to replace “The Sunny Side of Life” is expected to focus on “value”, Minister for Tourism, Arts and Culture, Dr Mariyam Zulfa claimed that news of the slogan had been “reported incorrectly” during an address to 200 Italian journalists.

Speaking to the journalists at Male’ International Airport as part of a visit to celebrate ongoing support from the country’s travel market, Zulfa said that she believed her comments had been taken out of context.

“I said we will probably go towards a slogan reflecting a value for money product,” she added.

Zulfa said that she “didn’t think any final decision on a slogan had been made,” and that any eventual agreement would involve “lots of meetings” with stakeholders such as the Maldives Tourism Promotion Board (MTPB) before a final decision is announced.

When contacted by Minivan News, a spokesperson for MNBC claimed that the report had been based on comments made by the Tourism Minister to one of the company’s journalists.

In a statement, the Maldives Tourism Promotion Board (MTPB) said that the reports had been incorrect, but added it would be announcing a new slogan in the next few weeks.

“However, we can confirm today that the new slogan will not be ‘Value for Money’,” the promotion board stated.

Echoing the Tourism Minister’s statements, the MTPB added that it remained in discussions with as wide a group of tourism industry stakeholders as possible in attempts to better serve the market.

“The Minister has made it explicitly clear that the new slogan will be designed so that it appeals to a wide range of potential tourists; including those with high incomes as well as tourists seeking a more affordable holiday in the Maldives,” the MTPB added.

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Maldives signs UAE banking agreement

The Maldives Monetary Authority will cooperate with the Central Bank of the UAE on issues of technical assistance and battling money laundering and terrorist financing under the terms of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed yesterday.

The UAE’s Central Bank’s governor, Sultan Bin Nasser Al Suwaidi, signed the deal along with his counterpart within the Maldives Monetary Authority in order to work together to try and ensure banking in both nations is in line with international standards on sound financial practices.

“This MOU puts a mechanism to cooperate in banking supervision [regarding] financial institutions operating in the two countries and exchange of supervisory information, in line with the international standards relating to exchange of information between banking supervisory authorities,” said the Central bank of the UAE in a statement.

The MOU agreement is also said to include assistance and training for staff at the Maldives Monetary Authority both in the UAE and the Indian Ocean at educational institutions that focus on banking supervision and examination.

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Space concerns still exist at Male’ International Airport: Miadhu

Overcoming a lack of space for planes landing at Male’ International Airport continues to remain a long-term problem for the site’s new operators, according to Miadhu.

Citing a “reliable source” at the airport, Miadhu reported that craft flying to Male’ International have been consistently delayed in the air for periods of about an hour over a number of years due to limitations at the site in regards to space and the time required to service flights.

Up to seven aircraft have been reportedly left queuing in the airspace around Male’ at a single time waiting for clearance to land, the paper reported.

President’s Office Press Secretary, Mohamed Zuhair, told Miadhu that he believed the recent privatization agreement signed between the Government and multinational infrastructure group GMR would help to try to speed up the processing time for visitors with additional security outlets and luggage reclaim facilities being made available at the airport.

“Flights that land can be serviced quicker, allowing them to leave on schedule,” the paper quoted Zuhair as saying.

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Climate change key element of Maldives foreign policy

Climate change has emerged as the most important aspect of Maldivian foreign policy, writes Anand Kumar for the Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis.

“Therefore, it is hardly surprising that President Nasheed has been trying to highlight the issue at all global fora. Most recently, while speaking to students in Oxford University, he urged them not to work for oil and coal companies which were responsible for major carbon emissions into the environment. He also pointed out that these companies were also funding campaigns to deny the existence of climate change. He pleaded with the students to instead join those companies engaged in the area of alternative energy sources and green technologies.

“However, his campaign on climate change has come to be mired in some controversy after a UK media report, citing documents leaked by Wikileaks, suggested that Maldives had pushed for US $50 million assistance from the US government in exchange for unequivocally backing the Copenhagen Accord.”

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Political figures join protests in surge of anti-Zionist sentiment

Anti-Zionist protests continued over the weekend reflecting the anger of some Maldivians about Israeli medical assistance being supplied to the country, leading to a rally held by the Tsunami Memorial on Friday with a host of high profile political figures speaking at the event.

Hundreds of people gathered at the protest with some carrying banners in both Dhivehi and English with messages ranging from “Say no to Israeli terrorism” and “Jews said Allah is poor” to “We are with anyone who fights Israel & USA” and “Bloody Zionists”.

The protests are said to be directly focused on deporting an Israeli NGO called Eye from Zion that is conducting eye surgery at a number of hospitals around the country. The religious NGO Islamic Foundation of the Maldives (IFM) said the protests were also targeted at rising concern over “President Mohamed Nasheed’s decision to have closer ties with Israel.”

A host of speakers including State Minister for Islamic Affairs, Sheikh Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed and former Deputy Leader for the opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP, Umar Naseer, addressed attendees, voicing their opposition to accepting any aid from Israel amidst anger at its foreign policy towards Palestine.

Miadhu reported that Sheikh Shaheem spoke during a sermon on the day of the protest claiming that “the history of Jews was deception, trickery, rebellion, oppression, evil and corruption.”

“So it is not it is not acceptable that one who would stab the ummah in the heart could heal the eyes?” he reportedly said. “This philosophy is not acceptable.”

Alongside these comments, Naseer claimed that no aid should be taken by an Islamic state such as the Maldives until Israel settles the issues of occupation in Palestine in solidarity with other Muslims. The IFM claimed that other similar protests were held in Addu Atoll and Fuamulaku over the weekend.

Some 739 people in Male’ and 879 in Addu and Fuvahmulah had registered for treatment at eye camps run by the NGO as of December 9.

Last week, the co-founders of the IFM said that although they were not directly involved in the protests, it would not discourage its members from joining so called anti-Zionist demonstrations such as flag burnings and peaceful protests that have taken place over the last month over concern about the visit of ‘Eye from Zion’.

IFM co-founders Ibrahim Nazim and Ibrahim Fauzee said that they did not wish to “prohibit its members” from taking part in the ongoing protests that it saw as a “spontaneous reaction” to concerns over Israel’s attitude towards Palestine.

Nazim said that the IFM did not favour violence as an organisation and claims by “other organisations in the country” that Jewish people were planning to take over the country were setting back legitimate concerns over the visit of Eye from Zion and Israeli foreign policy.

“What I feel is that some groups are trying to win publicity by making radical statements,” he said. “We do not believe this is good and in the long-term it is not be favourable [towards effectively opposing Israeli activities in the Maldives].”

Fauzee added that he believed the protests reflected the fact that “many people in the Maldives do not accept Israel as a state.”

In response to the anti-Zionist protests and criticism that the government was engaged in a pro-Israel agenda, Press Secretary for the President Mohamed Zuhair said that the government “holds friendly relations with Israel, as it does almost every other nation in the world.”

“We are not at loggerheads with any states, though we have some differences with Burma over the treatment of [formerly arrested dissident] Aung Sun Suu Kyi,” he said. “There is nothing special in terms of agreements with Israel.”

Though Zuhair claimed that the Maldives government has been “consistent on criticising Israel over Palestine and other foreign policy issues it did not agree on”, this was not a barrier to humanitarian cooperation, he said.

Zuhair added that by having bilateral relations with a large number of nations, the Maldives was able to benefit from cooperation based on technical assistance, education and humanitarian aid.

He claimed that the medical expertise offered by Eye from Zion was a strong example of this.

“We ourselves don’t have the means for this type of surgery, which has so far treated 140 patients in Male’ and 40 people across islands in the outer atolls,” Zuhair added. “In this case, the patients that thankful for the treatment they have received, which outweighs the protests against [the doctors].”

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UN “ignored Maldives’ vulnerability” in decision to graduate country, Ambassador tells WTO

The Maldives has appealed to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to soften the impact of the country’s graduation from Least Developed Country (LDC) to middle income status.

The Maldives will graduate on January 1, 2011, and lose access to both concessional credit, certain trade concessions, and some of the foreign aid upon which aspects of the country – such as civil society – have historically depended on for both skills and financial support.

The country’s Permanent Representative to the WTO, Iruthisham Adam, told the organisation’s general council that while the Maldives welcome the graduation as a “positive
step in the country’s development”, the country would nonetheless “continue to require special treatment and support from international partners.”

The Maldives ,said Ambassador Adam, remained ”acutely vulnerable at economic, commercial and environmental levels” and would therefore require “certain flexibilities”, particularly in regards to trade.

The UN had “ignored the issue of vulnerability” in its decision to graduate the Maldives from the list of LDC countries “on the basis of its strong socio-economic development over recent decades.”

She noted that the Maldives will be the first member of the WTO to graduate and suffer the deprivations attached to loss of LDC trade concessions.

A World Bank Economic Update Report released last month showed a per capita Gross Net Income (GNI) for the country of US$4090 for 2010, up from US$3690 last year.

However it noted that fiscal consolidation – reigning in the ballooning budget deficit with austerity measures and the introduction of taxation on business profits – “remains the foremost challenge in the coming years”.

“A less destructive political climate” will be needed to maintain recent positive developments, the World Bank cautions.

“Despite having posted better-than-expected fiscal results in the first half of the year, the country will be hard-pressed to sustain this in the medium term.”

Minivan News understands that the government will be announcing its plans later this week for mitigating the impact of the graduation.

State Minister for Finance Ahmed Assad has previously told Minivan News that while the government has included the graduation in its financial predictions, the Finance Ministry had banked on the Majlis passing the tax bill by June 2010.

“Some people say [the graduation] will increase borrowing capacity and give us more independence,” Assad said. “But like becoming an adult, it means taking on both freedom and responsibilities.”

An internal report by the World Bank, obtained by Minivan News in May, revealed that the doubling of spending on state salaries in 2007-09 crippled the country’s economy, and left the Maldives “facing the most challenging macroeconomic situation of any democratic transitions that has occurred since 1956.”

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Gayoom mulling presidential prospects amidst Maldives return: Umar Naseer

Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, the former Maldivian President and previous leader of the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) is reportedly considering a return to active politics ahead of travelling to the Maldives campaign during the local council elections, the party’s former Deputy Leader Umar Naseer has claimed.

A number of DRP MPs, including Naseer who was dismissed from the party earlier this month, said that although Gayoom has not yet committed to standing once again as party leader and a presidential candidate in 2013, discussion on the matter remained “open”.

Naseer, who served as a deputy leader of the DRP until being dismissed on December 2 by a party disciplinary committee, claimed that he travelled to Malaysia this week with a number of party representatives to discuss both Gayoom’s and his own political future within the DRP.

DRP Deputy Leader Ibrahim Shareef said the party has not sought to talk with Gayoom or contact him regarding the rival faction in the party, and added that he was not concerned over the potential involvement of the “honorary leader.”

However, Naseer told Minivan News that Gayoom had committed to begin travelling around the Maldives during the local council elections to try and win voter confidence, as well as personally backing him in the dismissal dispute.

“Mr Gayoom believes that the dismissal was illegal and he wants the party to abide by its own constitution and still believes that I hold the office,” he claimed.

Naseer added that he was confident that the Maldives’ general election commissioner would in time rule that his dismissal by the party was improper and will not stand.

“There will be nothing to renegotiate, the position is illegal and I believe this will be supported by the election commission,” he added.

Alongside trying to secure his own future in the party, Naseer said that the former president was needed to prevent defeat in local council elections taking place in February next year.

“As it stands, we have requested he should come back and take charge [of the DRP],” he said. “Without him, we might not win.”

Naseer’s sentiments appear to have changed since an interview with Al Jazeera in November 2007 alongside (now) President Mohamed Nasheed and then-Information Minister Mohamed ‘Kutti’ Nasheed, where he stated that Gayoom had “failed” and urged him to step down.

“The best thing for the Maldives at the moment is for Mr Gayoom to step down,” Naseer said. “He has failed in all areas. As far as Education is concerned, he has failed. Security he has failed. Corruption, he has failed. All these areas, he has failed. He must step down,” Naseer said, as President of his own Islamic Democratic Party (IDP).

Responding to calls today by Naseer and MPs such as Ahmed Mahloof in calling for the return of the former president to lead the party, Shareef said there was no concern about the impact the meetings could have on their position.

Shareef said that DRP MPs could meet with anyone they wished, but they must abide by the rules and constitution of the party in relation to appointments and dismissals.

“Every member of the party has a right to go wherever and meet whoever they want,” he added.

Naseer’s trip to Malaysia on Friday with a number of MPs still active in the party to meet with Gayoom come amidst a war of words has escalated between the ousted Deputy and current Leader Ahmed Thasmeen Ali.

Just last week, a meeting at the DRP headquarters resulted in violent clashes between members alleged to be loyal to Naseer and Thasmeen represented growing animosity within the party about the decision to remove the former deputy leader from his position earlier this month.

Ibrahim Shareef said that the current party leadership had not been in contact with Gayoom about the meetings with Naseer as they believe there is” nothing to be discussed” with the man he said remained the party’s “honorary leader” and did not believe a split within the party was imminent. Shareef insisted that it was ultimately not in either “the party or nation’s interest” to try and cause a split within the DRP.

Considering any potential meetings between Naseer, DRP and Gayoom over appointments and the outcome of this month’s disciplinary committee on Naseer’s political future, Shareef claimed that Naseer had been removed in accordance with the party’s rules and constitution.

“Umar Naseer was dismissed in accordance through all the relevant processes required by the party,” He said. “[Naseer] also declined from making an appeal to the committee about the appeal.”

With the dismissal of Naseer now having taken place, Shareef claimed it could not be rescinded.

Dismissal

Naseer was dismissed as a DRP Deputy Leader on December 2, after a disciplinary committee voted four to one in favour of removing the senior politician on a day that also saw the party headquarter’s stormed by a dozen or so of his supporters.

The exit of Naseer, who has been at the centre of an acrimonious war of words with DRP leader Ahmed Thasmeen Ali, has led one party MP to claim a split may be imminent within the country’s main political opposition.

“There will be a split in the party for sure,” DRP MP Ahmed Mahlouf told Minivan News following the disciplinary committee decision. “He is someone with a lot of support in the party, and to date he has done a lot of work for us. He is very loyal to the former President, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.”

Mahlouf also claimed that the decision to remove Naseer due to disagreements with party leadership was against DRP policy and conventions that he said required a two-thirds majority at the party’s congress to remove a serving Deputy Leader.

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DRP deputy cannot “accept” Gayoom return: report

Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) Deputy Leader Ali Waheed has said that despite the respect he holds for former Maldivian president and party head Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, he “cannot accept” his possible return to power, Miadhu reported.

In an interview with DhiFM, Waheed reportedly said that having already ruled the country for 30 years, Gayyom’s potential return could set back the DRP, adding it was “not fitting” for him to rule again.

The report added that although there had been no official confirmation that Gayoom had any plans to return to active politics following his retirement earlier this year, Waheed claimed that some members within the DRP have made “outrageous statements” about the former leader and his intentions.

“I respect Maumoon. I support him a lot. I hold him with great reverence. But still I cannot accept his return to power,” Miadhu quoted Waheed as saying during the DhiFM interview.

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