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New UN representative presents credentials to President Nasheed

Andrew Cox, new United Nations Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative, presented his credentials to President Mohamed Nasheed yesterday afternoon.

The meeting focused mainly on the UN programmes being carried out in the Maldives, and in the assistance the UN system could provide to the country in its transition from the Least Developed Countries (LDC) status.

Cox assured the president of the UN’s support to the Maldives through graduation from LDC, and congratulated him on the Maldives recent election for a seat in the UN Human Rights Council.

Cox has worked with the UN system since 1999 in different capacities and several countries around the world. He has worked in Sudan, the USA, Afghanistan and Sierra Leone.

Before working with the UN, he worked with several NGOs in Sierra Leone, the UK, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Côte d’Ivoire.

Cox said that “the UN system is a long time friend and partner to the Maldives.  I am personally committed to deepening this partnership and to helping strengthen the capacities of the government, civil society and the people of Maldives in achieving the country’s aspirations and development objectives.”

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Bangladeshi national died in boat accident

A Bangladeshi national working on a boat belonging to Sony Hardware in Malé died on Sunday afternoon.

The boat, named Assidha, was unloading cargo from Thilafushi at the T-Jetty.

The incident was originally reported to police as an accident between a boat and a crane, but was later discovered that the man was loosening the anchor rope on the boat and his chest hit the bow of the boat.

He was taken to IGMH but died during treatment.

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New training programme for communications officers has started

A new training programme began yesterday for communications officers in the government, state-owned companies and independent institutions.

The programme is being organised by the President’s Office, the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, and the Maldives College of Higher Education.

The programme is being facilitated by Terry Anzur, a communications expert from the USA.

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Maldives Accreditation Board renamed

The Maldives Accreditation Board has been renamed Maldives Qualifications Authority (MQA).

The MQA will act as a regulatory body to assess and ensure authenticity of teachers and the performance of educational institutions.

It will be managed by an independent governing body under the Ministry of Education.

The MQA will regulate and standardise the higher education sector of the Maldives.

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Business incubator “a new era” says Wataniya

Chief Operating Officer of Wataniya Abraham Smith has said that the introduction of Wataniya ICT incubator services to the country would be successful “like the tourism industry.”

A press release was issued by Wataniya yesterday said the incubator will provide infrastructural, business development and investment support to the incubates including fully-equipped ‘plug and play’ cubicles with free phone and internet services, free meeting room space and secretarial support.

Abraham said that it was not a overnight project.

”It will take 18 months to two years term to see its effect,” he said.

The ICT incubator was developed in partnership with the National Center for Information Technology (NCIT) and Communications Authority of Maldives.

Minister of Communication and Civil Aviation Mahmood Razee also spoke in the event held to lauch the Wataniya ICT incubator, saying he was confident that the incubator would be successful and would deliver jobs and assistance for businesses.

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President ratifies Decentralisation Act

President Mohamed Nasheed has today ratified the landmark bill on decentralised administration but vetoed the complementary bill on local council elections.

Addressing press today, Nasheed said Attorney General (AG) Husnu Suood advised the president’s office that although the decentralisation bill would not hamper the implementation of government policies, some provisions were “legally questionable.”

“If the bill becomes law, both the attorney general and this office has noted that there could be legal problems in enforcing it without amendments,” he said.

As the constitutional deadline for local council elections elapsed in July last year, he added, a further delay was not advisable.

Although the opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) removed the concept of provinces from the government’s bill, Nasheed said the Act does not prohibit the creation of province as it stipulates that new legislation would be needed to form “province councils.”

Opposition MPs argued that grouping atolls into seven provinces was unconstitutional as 21 administrative areas or atolls were clearly specified in the constitution.

Nasheed stressed that it was important to distinguish between political decentralisation, or the formation of local councils, and administrative decentralisation.

The constitution empowers the president to create posts and offices in the atolls to provide services of various government ministries located in Male’, he explained.

“For example, the ministry of economic development registers companies,” he said. “In the past, to register a company you had to come to Male’, fill out the form and get the seal.”

Apart from providing services directly to the region, he continued, the province offices would work together with island and atoll councils on speeding up development projects.

13 points

A statement highlighting 13 legal points raised by Attorney General Husnu Suood regarding the decentralisation bill was issued by the president’s office today.

Suood noted that the bill does not preclude either the creation of provinces or collaboration among constituencies or administrative areas.

Moreover, the law does not prohibit either a government ministry or an independent institution from targeting services to two atolls or undertaking development projects for one or more atolls.

Thirdly, as the bill distinguishes between the central island and the capital island of an atoll, the powers and administrative framework of former atoll offices would be transferred to the atoll council.

It will therefore be left to residents of an atoll to to designate an island for the administrative office of the atoll council.

The AG notes that the composition of city councils specified in the bill was unfair as the city council of Male’, with a population of 125,000, will have 11 members, while the atoll council of Addu, with a population of 29,000, will have 12 members.

Further, the bill does not prohibit island councils from entering into agreements with the government’s utility companies, created for the seven provinces, to provide electricity, water and sanitation.

As the guidelines specified in the bill for island councils and atoll councils to offer municipal services differed significantly, “it is important to streamline the guidelines for providing these services.”

In the case of Fuahmulah, the only island in the Maldives that is also an atoll, the AG points out that its eight island councils with three members each, in addition to a six-member atoll council, was proportionately a high number of representatives compared to other atolls.

While the 9,000 people of Fuahmulah would have 30 elected representatives, the 125,000 people of Male’ would have 11 representatives on its city council.

Moreover, a government minister has to be on the board of the local government authority and is required to answer to parliament, but might not be elected as the chair of the board.

If the minister is not elected to the chair, Suood notes, it is doubtful whether he or she could report to parliament as mandated by article 140 of the constitution.

The AG recommends amending the law to require the chair of the board to report to a minister designated by the president.

Meanwhile, a provision that would allow councils to plan and organize services provided by government ministries was “unconstitutional” as it would strip the ministry of its authority and ministers could not answer to either parliament or the president.

Granting powers to local councils to invalidate contracts and agreements made in the constituency after the ratification of the new constitution “did not make legal sense” and was “unfair” as it could leave third parties without any avenues for redress.

On the twelfth point, the AG recommends designating council members apart from the president and vice-president “non-executive” members with lower pay.

As there was going to be around 1,200 council members in the country, between Rf400 million to Rf500 million would be needed annually for salaries and allowances.

Since the Decentralisation Act stipulates that elections must take place within 150 days of ratification, Suood notes that the local council elections bill must be ratified before June 15.

Local council elections bill

Although the president vetoed the bill on local council elections today, he conceded that he would sign it into law If parliament passes it again without an amendment to allow remote voting.

Fuad Thaufeeq, president of the Elections Commission (EC), told Minivan News earlier this month that the two bills had to be ratified within 28 days of each other to comply with the periods specified in both pieces of legislation.

At the press conference, President Nasheed denied claims by opposition parties that the government was stalling the elections to prolong the tenure of appointed island and atoll councilors.

Nasheed said the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) proposed at the Special Majlis that the parliamentary and local council elections should have preceded the presidential elections.

The number of island chiefs and deputies appointed in the past was above 800, he said, while the number of councilors would not exceed one to each island.

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Zakir Naik venue “only for football”, says Youth Ministry

The Youth Ministry has denied the Islamic Ministry use of the Maafaanu football ground for the sermons of visiting Islamic scholar Zakir Naik.

Minister for Youth Hassan Latheef said that the ground was a football stadium which was used by many young people every day, ”so it is very difficult to give that land.”

Latheef said that if the ground was given for the sermon then “others” will also start requesting use of the venue.

”That land cannot be given to do anything other than football,” Latheef said. ”If you take a look, you can see people playing everywhere, in the middle, sides and outside also.”

Latheef said that the Youth Ministry was now speaking with the Islamic Ministry to see if they would like to have the ‘Alimas’ Carnival Stage instead.

”We spoke with the Municipality council and they said the carnival stage was possible,” Latheef said, ”but the Islamic ministry said that land was not large enough.”

He said the Islamic Minister Dr Abdul Majeed Abdul Bari had telephoned him while he was out of the country, ” and told me the Islamic Ministry was hosting a sermon by Zakir Naik and asked if the football ground was possible,” Latheef said. ”I said yes, let’s see whether it is possible.”

He said the Ministry has now received another request from a religious group requesting the Galolhu national stadium for a religious event.

State minister for Islamic Affairs Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed said that the Youth Ministry had recently told him that the football ground was available, but now denied it.

”Later they said it was a land only for entertainment purposes,” Shaheem said.

He said the Islamic Ministry was now searching for another venue to host the event and would announce it very soon, but he noted that the carnival stage was not big enough for the expected turnout. The Islamic Ministry has previously claimed that Naik’s visit will be the biggest event ever hosted in the Maldives.

”There are many challenges that we face,” Shaheem said, ”from many people and in many ways. I want to tell everyone that by God’s will we will host the event – everyone be patient and don’t commit any violence,” he said.

The Adhaalath party meanwhile expressed anger over the issue on their English language website, noting that the Islamic Ministry “has spent a large amount of money to print posters mentioning the stadium grounds as the venue.”

“The decision of the Youth Ministry not to give the stadium grounds for holding the lecture event will only add to the piles of questions about this government’s loyalty to the religion of this nation,” the party said, in a recent post.

“The pretext given was that they cannot do without the ball for one whole week. The youth who play there may not like it. What about the thousands of Maldivians who want the event to be held in the most spacious and suitable ground available? Don’t their feelings count?”

“The irony is that the majority of the people who will be attending Dr Zakir’s lecture will be youth,” the party said.

“Such blatant acts of obstruction to Islamic activities will only help in further plummeting the popularity of this government. It would appear that this is a ‘tit for tat’ by the secular minded people in the establishment because the Islamic Ministry and many citizens of this country criticised the Akon concert.

“What these people do not realize is that the people of Maldives are watching. Everyday their actions are exposing them for what they are: men who don’t care about the wishes of the vast majority of Maldivians. They continually forget that this is a Muslim country. They have very little, if any, loyalty to Islam and the nation.”

President of Adhaalath Party Sheikh Hussain Rasheed told Minivan News that the land “should be given equally to everyone.”

”The Youth Ministry just don’t like it because it is religious event,” Sheikh Rasheed claimed.

Sheikh Rasheed said that there would also be youths attending the event.

”I just want to thank the youth ministry for raising this as an issue and campaigning like this,” he said. ”Before we were expecting 10,000 people for the event, but now we are expecting 20,000.”

Speaking in a press conference on decentralisation today, President Mohamed Nasheed said the government would endeavour to provide a venue for the event, “and there is no doubt about that.”

“There is freedom of expression in this country and people should be able to express their viewpoints within the basic boundries of our law, so we have to find a venue for them,” he said.

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President dismisses outcry over Gitmo inmate resettlement

President Mohamed Nasheed has dismissed public outcry over the resettlement of a two Guantanamo Bay inmates in the Maldives as “political waves through misty clouds.”

“I don’t really think there is much of an outcry. I first mentioned this sometime last year in December, and this has been public knowledge since then – not a single person has said anything about it all this time,” he said.

The agreement, in which the United States will fund the transfer of two Muslim inmates to the Maldives on humanitarian grounds, has met with consternation from opposition parties who argue the move will make the Maldives look like “a terrorist paradise rather than a tourist paradise.”

“I will say again, they are not terrorists,” Nasheed said during a press conference today. “It was very clear back then that people were arrested [and put] in Guantanamo without proper checks. People were just taken from all over and incarcerated. Today, when the jail is being dismantled, and the Maldives is among the few 100 percent Muslim countries in the world, if we can’t care about them, where is the example we are showing to the international community and other people of the book [Jews and Christians]?”

Nasheed said the Maldives and the US State Department had “looked into who [he] is, and who his relatives are.”

“Just think, these people have been kept in a small cell in handcuffs and chains for six or seven years when they’ve not done anything at all [to deserve it]. Do you know how they kept? We’ve seen the photos. So when we help one of them and people talk about it [negatively], I don’t really want to listen to it at all.”

Vice President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan meanwhile told newspaper Miadhu that “overreacting” to the resettlement of the Guantanamo Bay detainees risked “losing the focus on more realistic issues.”

Parliament’s National Security Committee had arranged a meeting on the issue on Wednesday to identify potential legal problems with the resettlement, however Minivan News understands this has been rescheduled.

Nasheed meanwhile said there were no obstacles in Maldivian law, constitution or customs preventing the Maldives from resettling the inmate.

“I don’t think that the people of this country is against such a humanitarian assistance or deed,” he said.

Speaking to Miadhu, Foreign Minister Dr Ahmed Shaheed derided opposition criticism of the move as politically motivated, noting that the same party that had led a no confidence motion against him for strengthening the country’s diplomatic relationship with Israel now disproved of the Maldives helping Muslims.

The inmate was a Palestinian man who was arrested and taken to Guantanamo while preaching in Pakistan, Shaheed said.

“According to the information I have, his home was demolished by Israeli troops and that many of his family members are being intimidated by Israel,” Dr Shaheed told Miadhu.

The only Maldivian held in Guantanamo Bay, Ibrahim Fauzee, was flown to Male in May 2005. Fauzee was arrested in May 2002 in Karachi, where he was studying.

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MNJA condemns threats against two journalists covering Addu protest

The newly-formed Maldives National Journalist Association (MNJA) has claimed that two journalists were threatened and attacked while covering a Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP)-led protest in Addu Atoll on Friday night.

The MNJA claimed a journalist from Maldives National Broadcasting Corporation (MNBC) and a journalist from daily newspaper Haveeru were attacked and threatened, and that pictures taken by the journalists were deleted by the protesters.

MNJA expressed regret that DRP Vice President Ibrahim Shareef was leading the protest and took no action against the incident.

However, Vice president of DRP Ibrahim Shareef said he was “not surprised” by the reports.

”MNJA is a organisation containing a majority of Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) supporters,” Shareef said, ”so they will say stuff like that about us.”

He condemned the MNJA for “misleading people.”

The Haveeru journalist allegedly attacked that night, Ahmed Arsham, said that the protesters became angry at them because they were taking pictures of the protesters damaging the name board of the Addu province office.

Arsham said that he and a TVM reporter were forced away from the incident.

”They grabbed the camera lense and broke it,” he said.

On March 8 a DhiTv Journalist and cameramen was forced out from a Maldivian Democratic Party rally.

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