Author: JJ Robinson

Q&A: Former CEO of IGMH Cathy waters

CEO of Indira Gandhi Memorial Hosptial (IGMH), Cathy Waters, left the Maldives on Friday after more than a year at the helm of the country’s largest hospital. Waters, along with Nursing Director Liz Ambler and Medical Director Rob Primhak were recruited in January 2011 by UK-based NGO Friends of Maldives (FOM) and the Maldives High Commission to improve the quality of local healthcare. Ambler and Primhak have also left. Minivan News spoke to Waters prior to her departure.

Waters provided detailed briefing notes on the state of the hospital to accompany this interview (English)

JJ Robinson: What was the state of the hospital at the time of your departure?

Cathy Waters: There are now systems and processes in place so key decisions can be made. People know how to make those decisions and know where the systems and accountability now lie. Patients may not see that initially as a benefit, but we were making sure the foundation and systems were right.

I’m confident those in now in place. Clinical systems to ensure patient care are now there, and there are things such as a proper patient complaint system.

Equally we have introduced a zero tolerance policy to protect staff. We’ve noticed the number of verbal and violent attacks against staff has gone up. I don’t know why – but certainly over the last few months we’ve seen an increase in violence against staff. Now if you go into IGMH you’ll see posters and leaflets in Dhivehi and English.

JJ: One of your main innovations was the introduction of triage. Was this a hard concept to introduce?

CW: Maldivians tend to panic about things you or I would describe as fairly minor healthcare issues. If you were to cut your finger and it bled, you would probably hold a tissue on it, wrap something around it and deal with it yourself. Here, people panic at the slightest bit of blood.

A really good example of this was when we had some of the casualties coming in from the recent protests. A little bit of blood and people wanted to bypass the triage and go straight into the emergency room, when perhaps all they needed was to put a wad of padding over it and have it stitched up in time. There was no urgency about it, but people panic.

The most challenging part has been persuading people that they don’t need to be in the actual emergency room – that it’s acceptable to wait if it’s not something urgent. That has been so difficult to get across. But it is working, and was brought into place in November 2011. Now it’s been in place for a few months we know there are alternations we need to make it more effective.

JJ: You said earlier that you’ve had politicians ringing you up to bypass triage and go straight to emergency?

CW: Absolutely. I think they see it as their right to get access to treatment and the [in-patient] rooms really quickly, and I think in the past that’s why the triage system has failed, because people back down and say ‘OK, come straight to the emergency room.’

We’ve stuck to our principles and said we have to do this properly, because if we start letting politicians in or whoever just because they think they should be in, the whole purpose falls apart. very clear stick to principles.

JJ: Were you able to train triage staff to the point where they could resist that pressure?

CW: Yes, we had to do quite a lot of work, and there’s still a lot to do. We had instances when there were quite a few people waiting and instead of being triaged, they were just waiting for treatment. Then the doctors said let’s just cancel triage and let people into the emergency room. That defeats the whole purpose.

It’s about explaining to people. The most difficult area was when parents come in with children they believe are very sick, when actually it’s not urgent and they just need to see a doctor. But they panic, and that’s the area with the biggest problems. A lot of it is education and helping people realise that they don’t always need to come to hospital – that there are straightforward, basic things they can do.

JJ: How has the Aasandha scheme (universal healthcare) impacted IGMH?

CW: Now Ashanda has been opened to ADK and private health clinics, it’s created major problems for IGMH, because we still have loads of patients coming to IGMH, but we also know that those patients are also going to ADK and private clinics. The dilemma for us is that a lot of the private clinics are run by doctors who work in IGMH. That a fairly difficult area.

JJ: So the doctors end up working less at IGMH?

CW: They would probably argue this, but I would say the difficulty for us is commitment. The average Maldivian doctor will get a third of his income from IGMH, and two thirds from a private clinic. There is a huge incentive for them to do more and more private clinics.

For example, anecdotally a doctor in IGMH may see 6-20 patients in a clinic session. Apparently some of those doctors are seeing 70-75 patients in the same session at a private clinic.

It’s a big problem and the government needs to think about it. If you want doctors to be 100 percent committed to IGMH, you need to do something about increasing their salaries or minimising the amount of time they can do private work.

JJ: How sustainable do you think universal healthcare is in its current incarnation? Does there need to be a monetary barrier to entry?

CW: My view is that it was introduced far too quickly without thinking about what checks and balances needed to be in place. Some patients have already spent their Rf 100,000 (US$6500) entitlement. People see it as their right to spend Rf 100,000, and there wasn’t a public education campaign beforehand so people understand how to use it properly.

There are reports of people going from clinic to clinic and seeing more than one doctor in a day. If they’re not quite happy with what they got from one doctor, they’ll go to the next.

At IGMH the number of non-attendances for appointments has increased because people aren’t paying for it any longer. The patient doesn’t feel they are losing anything, although they are because they are using up their Rf 100,000. We have gaps in our clinics because patients have suddenly got an appointment at a private clinic quicker. And of course we have to work on our appointment system and how people access the hospital.

JJ: We have previously reported on tensions between local and foreign doctors over pay and allowances, such as accommodation. Were these resolved?

CW: It’s still an issue. The problem is that there are lots of inequities. Expat doctors get accommodation, Maldivian doctors don’t. But Maldivian doctors have the ability to do private work, which the expat doctors don’t, so there are some tensions.

Having said that, there are teams of doctors who work really well together. One of the things we have been doing is making sure the clinical heads of department meet once a fortnight, to try and make sure people are working together.

JJ: You have spoken about a contract IGMH had with the State Trading Organisation (STO) to supply medical equipment and consumables, at four times the going rate. What was behind this?

CW: The contract was initiated well before I started at IGMH. It was done for good reasons because there were huge problems with supplying medical equipment, but what we found was that we were paying hugely over the odds for goods we were receiving. Some of the issues with supply are still there, but generally speaking it has radically improved.

We had to do a lot of work on our side. Doctors had been stockpiling, so we have to educate them now that there is no need to stockpile, because it is increasing our expenditure.

It was also a major battle to understand our financial situation. When I first started people were spending money left, right and centre, and there was no financial control. Now we are are very clear about where we are – we don’t like where we are, because it’s not a very good financial position – but at least we know where we are. We are trying to enact a financial recovery plan, but we haven’t been able to go as far with it as we’d like.

JJ: What about the Indian promises to pump money into IGMH? Did you feel they were persistently interested in it?

CW: They came and pledged this money a considerable time ago. The project was supposed to start in April, but it slipped and slipped. It desperately needs to happen. The building is old and bursting at the seams, it is not able to cater to the needs of patients it has, and when it rains it leaks like a sieve. Things like the electric wiring are very old – it all needs to be redone.

JJ: You initially signed for another year, but mentioned concerns about job stability. How did things change at the hospital after the recent political turmoil? Should that be affecting a hospital?

CW: I don’t think it is – the Finance Ministry said, the same as the previous government, that we could not change salaries or appoint new people. So we have vacancies and we have to hold those [closed], with the exception of clinical staff. We argued that we needed to replace senior doctors if they leave. But we are carrying an excess of admin staff we desperately need to reduce. But the previous government stopped us doing that. To enable us to become a more effective organisation we need to do that.

JJ: What was it like working at the hospital, personally? Did you face challenges as a foreigner?

CW: Our chairman said it was not about me as a foreigner, it was about management. There was a general resistance to administration, which I detest. We have tried to bring together management and clinical staff, so we have a stronger team. What was happening before was that you would have different departments working in silos. Yes there’s been resistance – I came in with different ideas, trying to bring in a different style of working, empower staff to make decisions and come up with the solutions. They have the answers.

The language barrier was very frustrating. I was very vocal about not being politically driven, and saying what I thought. But at senior meetings in the Ministry of Finance they would always make a big thing about saying ‘Sorry, we are holding this meeting in Dhivehi’ – even though these were senior people with a good understanding of English.

At one particular meeting they spent most of the meeting slagging off IGMH. Fortunately I had taken another member of staff who was frantically writing things down. They would ask for a response but I couldn’t argue as I didn’t know what had been said. I found it really frustrating and I felt they used it sometimes.

JJ: You said you were keen for a Maldivian to take over after your departure? Is that capacity available locally?

CW: I think that given another six months we would have had a number of people ready to take it on. I had appointed a director of operations, who potentially could.

I made clear in my final comments to the new health ministers that they need to get the right person, and not necessarily make a political appointment, because it is such a key job driving change in the health system. Ultimately it’s their choice, though.

JJ: What do you feel like you’ve got out of the experience personally?

CW: I think I’ve become much more tolerant and patient, and politically aware – with a small and a large ‘P’. Diplomacy skills have been honed greatly. I also had my eyes opened about living in a small place where everyone knows everyone else. If someone was in the same classroom as the President, they think nothing about calling the President and telling him what they think of you.

It also really opened my eyes to the complete lack of confidentiality. People don’t think twice about leaking highly confidential information to whomever.

JJ: What are the top three areas the hospital needs to focus on right now?

CW: Firstly, getting to a stable financial footing, be that through the health insurance scheme, although it is not bringing in enough to allow IGMH to stand on its own two feet.

Secondly, the government needs to decide whether IGMH is a public or a private hospital. That’s a fairly difficult tension they need to resolve.

Third, let whoever is running IGMH run it, and have the confidence to run it, and stop all the political interference. That was the number one frustration – not being allowed to get on and do my job. We’d have a plan, then something completely unrelated would come in from the side and stop something I tried to enact. It was so difficult to keep people motivated when that happened.

There are some fantastic staff at IGMH. Liz the nursing director was also leaving, and we had an amazing leaving do, in traditional Maldivian dress. There are some really special people there.

If I can add a fourth priority: to continue to try and change the work ethic so people only take sick leave when they are genuinely sick.

Some of the senior team are very good, and have taken no sick leave – I haven’t had a day off sick the whole time I’ve been at IGMH. It never crossed my mind to take sick leave unless I was genuinely sick. But people just take loads of sick leave – they see it as their right.

I will miss it. It’s been a fascinating experience.

Biographical note: Cathy Waters arrived at IGMH in Feburary 2011, first as General Manager, and then CEO. In June/July 2011 she was asked to take on the role of Managing Director of the Male’ Health Services Corporation (MHSC). She has 32 years experience working in health care and health care systems, and has previously worked in the UK’s NHS as a CEO and as a Director of a small consultancy company specialising in organisational development and change management.

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Don’t follow our example, Pakistani civil society warns Maldives

Civil society organisations in Pakistan have expressed alarm over the political crisis in the Maldives, urging the country not to make the same mistakes as Pakistan and calling for the Maldives’ suspension from SAARC until democracy is restored.

Civil society activists from organisations including the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research, the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum, Sindh Development Forum, former Supreme Court judge Nasir Aslam Zahid and human rights activist Iqbal Haider addressed the Maldives’ situation at a joint press conference on Saturday.

“At least two countries in South Asia – Pakistan and Bangladesh – that have faced martial laws and coups in the past know very well how people suffer when democracy is brought down,” the civil society representatives said, according to newspaper Pakistan Today.

“We believe that democracy and governance are two different matters and the failure of governance should not be equated with the failure of democracy. An elected regime is brought in by the efforts and votes of the people through the institution of elections and the exit of an elected government should also follow the same procedure.

“There is no way use of force or coercion should be allowed to overthrow a democratically elected government. We also believe that if South Asia is to progress as a region, it will have to adopt democracy as a system of governance,” the representatives said.

“We also stress the need for the Pakistani government to take a strong stand with regards to the events in the Maldives. There are a lot of similarities between the Maldives and Pakistan. Like the Maldives, the elected government of Pakistan too came to power after a very long struggle against military rulers that had held power unconstitutionally for a long time,” they said.

The Pakistani civil society representatives warned that the Maldives was now following the same path of decline that had mired Pakistan in political, religious and economic turmoil.

“The growing strength of religious forces in the Maldives seeking to assert their political prowess and their role in the overthrow of the government is also a point where Pakistan could relate to its South Asian neighbour. The elected governments in Pakistan have battled and are still struggling with the same phenomenon.

“South Asia, as a region, has lost resources and valuable time over the quest by powerful military institutions to assert dominance over the state. This has to be discouraged and a culture of promotion of democracy needs to be cultivated,” the representatives stated.

“We also urge the government to call for the activation of the SAARC mechanisms to prevent the undemocratic move in the Maldives. A joint stand from the platform of SAARC needs to be taken to condemn the events in the Maldives. We also urge all South Asian publics to take this matter seriously and support their respective governments in condemning the action.”

Civil society organisations in the Maldives have been noticeably quiet since the controversial events of February 7-8.

Off the record, several civil society figures have said they have avoided making a stand for fear of politicisation.

“I don’t think taking the right stand means we are politicised,” said another, on condition of anonymity.

“To be frank, we’ve really tried to work on these issues but we’ve hit a wall with the media, [particularly broadcast]. We’re just not getting the time and attention we used to [under Nasheed’s government].”

Several NGOs, including Transparency Maldives, the Maldivian Democracy Network, the Maldives NGO Federation and Democracy House sent a letter to new President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan on February 29 – three weeks later – requesting observer status on Dr Waheed’s Committee of National Inquiry (CNI) into the circumstances surrounding the change of government.

The NGOs subsequently met with Dr Waheed and the CNI in an attempt to ensure the composition was acceptable to all political parties, as Nasheed’s MDP has currently boycotted the inquiry claiming it consists of key Gayoom loyalists.

The NGOs sent a second letter on March 15. Minivan News understands that they are still awaiting a reply.

“The onus is on the President to change [the composition], as the CNI has said it cannot,” said an NGO representative.

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“My romantic ideas of how to deal with a dictator were wrong”: Nasheed

Allowing former dictator Maumoon Abdul Gayoom to live in peace following the 2008 election was a bad decision, former President Mohamed Nasheed has told Time Magazine.

The Maldives’ experience with the remnants of autocracy should serve as a lesson for other countries in the Arab Spring said Nasheed.

“The lesson is we didn’t deal with Gayoom. That’s the obvious lesson. And my romantic ideas of how to deal with a dictator were wrong. I will agree with that,” Nasheed told Time, in a striking reversal of his magnanimity in 2008.

Nasheed observed that “you can get rid of a dictator, but you can’t get rid of a dictatorship. You can get rid of a person very easily, but the networks, the intricacies, the establishments — you have to flush them. And to do that is not an easy thing. We have to be mindful with other countries going down the same line — for instance, Egypt, Tunisia, Libya. They’ll have good elections, they’ll probably come up with a better leader. But then the dictatorship will always try to come back. And it’s going to be impossible to hold them from coming back from within the system.”

Gayoom stepped down peacefully in 2008 after losing the country’s first multi-party elections election to Nasheed, a former political prisoner who was quickly dubbed ‘South Asia’s Nelson Mandela’ by international media outlets. The peaceful transition from autocracy to democracy was held up as a model for other countries by human rights and democracy organisations, including the Commonwealth and UN.

Nasheed, despite heavy resistance from key supporters, pledged to leave Gayoom in peace, acknowledging his contribution to the development of the tourism industry and encouraging him to assume a role as a respected elder statesman.

“Be magnanimous in times of victory, and courageous in times of defeat. The test of Maldivian democracy will be how we treat our former President,” said Nasheed at the time.

His sentiments were echoed during a state visit from the President of Timor-Leste, Jose Ramos-Horta.

“I prefer to be criticised for being soft on people who committed violence in the past than be criticised for being too harsh or insensitive in putting people in jail,” said Ramos-Horta, during a visit to the Maldives in February 2010.

“Our approach fits our reality, an approach the president of the Maldives and I share – the need for magnanimity. Immediately after our independence in 1999, I said: ‘in victory be magnanimous. Don’t rub the wounds of those who feel they lost. Make them feel they won, also.’”

Exactly two years later Ramos-Horta would become the only world leader to condemn “the obvious coup d’état”, and the “unsettling silence of big powers”.

After the 2008 election Gayoom continued to lead his Dhivehi Rayithunge Party (DRP), but in January 2010 announced his intention to bow out of politics ahead of the DRP congress, anointing Ahmed Thasmeen Ali as his successor and become the party’s ‘Supreme Leader’.

“The Maldives is a young country, and only will progress if youth become involved in politics and leadership,” the 72 year-old said during a live press conference on January 25, 2010.

“I am not young any more. I have spent many years in office, and I want to spend time with my family. I need to give the younger generation the opportunity [to lead the party] – they are capable,” Gayoom said.

A senior government source at the time observed that Gayoom’s announcement was not met with celebration by the country’s leadership.

“There is no jubilation here. It was very hard on some people when Gayoom publicly denied he ever harmed anyone,” the source said.

With Gayoom absent from the DRP, a power struggle quickly erupted between the vigorously uncompromising faction of Umar Naseer, a former policeman, and Thasmeen’s mellower, more conciliatory approach to opposition politics. The struggle came to a head with the expulsion of Naseer from the party in late 2010, a decision that sparked Gayoom’s return to active politics with a dramatic attack on Thasmeen’s leadership in a 12 page open letter.

Backed into a corner by the party’s Supreme Leader, Thasmeen did not respond, while the infighting – occasionally violent – culminated in Gayoom’s faction splitting from the party and forming the Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM), backed by the People’s Alliance (PA) of his half-brother, MP Abdulla Yameen.

The PPM actively led protests in the lead up to Nasheed’s downfall on February 7, opposing everything from the “idolatrous” SAARC country monuments in Addu to Nasheed’s detention of Criminal Court Judge Abdulla Mohamed, an ill-fated last-ditch attempt to reform the judiciary.

Speaking to Time Magazine this week, Nasheed said he had pushed against a “witch hunt” after coming to office: “We didn’t want to purge the military, we didn’t want to purge the police.”

“There were mistakes,” he confessed. “One thing the international community finds it difficult to understand was the arresting of the judge. He asked a child to re-enact a child-abuse case in the court. The whole country was disgusted by it. The very next week, he gives an order for a murderer to be released because the Ministry of Health didn’t have a death certificate. And then [the released man] goes out and murders again. It was like releasing a hit man so he could go out and make another hit. The whole picture was getting very, very clear with gangs, drug dealers and with Gayoom and his cronies,” Nasheed told Time.

The government had begged the international community for assistance after detaining the judge, Nasheed said.

“Unfortunately, I kept on asking everyone – the Commonwealth, the EU, the Indian government – to assist us in reforming the judiciary. But they were very late in coming. And we didn’t get the necessary help from them,” he said.

“Also we were bringing in reforms very rapidly. We were liberalising the outlook of the country very, very rapidly. Especially with Islamic radicalism. Our ideas of moderation, the moderate Islam — there were some small, entrenched sections that reacted strongly against me. I thought they were odd people here and there. But there was a core of radical Islamists who fueled the coup through media and harping on about how un-Islamic I am. I must confess, I’m not the most pious of the people. But I am a strong believer.”

Nasheed predicted that Gayoom would make a move for the presidency “when he thinks it’s in his hand, when he feels the field is skewed enough in his favor.”

“His designs are to have a stronger hold on power. He would avoid an election. I am sure he would avoid the scheduled election in 2013 as well. He’d try to push back the elections as much as they can. He would talk in words that the international community will like. We had elections in 2008, 2009, 2011 that were all free and fair. But suddenly the US government is saying, ‘Oh Gayoom says, there might be a problem with the election commission.’

“This is very strange. At the same time, [Gayoom] will start running things through the military. My fear is that we’re not going back to pre-2008 Maldives. We’re going back to pre-2008 other countries, to Pakistan, perhaps, where the military becomes so strong that they call the shots.”

Nasheed said he was “shocked” at the speed with which the US, India and other countries recognised the new government, especially after “we did so much to encourage internationalism, encourage liberalism, to bring Indian investment — to get rid of anti-India phobia. We tried to have good relations. But when push came to shove, we ended up in the wrong. Somehow we were not the right people to talk to. If you want to be a regional leader, you must be sensible. And consistent. And you should lead. They should protect democracy, and they should be on the side of democrats and human rights.”

Nasheed said they tried to encourage him to form a national unity government, “but my point is, why should we try to unify the dictatorship? The coup is not unifying the country – it’s bringing back the old dictatorship. We didn’t want to have a part in it. We beat them in the elections. It’s wrong to talk about governing with Gayoom because he was rejected by the people.”

The international community had slowly begun realigning itself after realising that the ousted government was refusing to be supressed, and had backed early elections – “they should have been the first to say it, not me,” Nasheed noted.

India in particular “has the means” to push for early elections, Nasheed observed.

When those are held, “I am very, very confident that the people will decide upon us. And the thing is not who wins an election – it’s the fact that you have to have one. It’s the fact that a government is formed through the people.”

Read the full interview in Time Magazine

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Dead fish washing up on beaches in northern atolls

Large numbers of dead fish have been washing ashore on resorts and inhabited islands in the upper north of the Maldives in Noonu and Haa Atolls, reports the Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture.

The dead fish are overwhelmingly red-tooth trigger fish (odonus niger, locally known as vaalan rondu), but include several other species of reef fishes including Acanthurids (surgeon fish) and Serranids.

The Marine Research Centre (MRC) is currently investigating the incident.

MRC Director General Shiham Adam said a series of similar incidents were reported from June-December in 2007. Tests showed the increased presence of the bacteria Staphylococcus in the spleen of fish samples, but the investigation was inconclusive.

“We sent samples sent to the US and it seemed be related to a bacterial infection in the gills that causes them to suffocate,” Shiham explained.

“A lot of people say it is global warming and environmental change. [Fish kill incidents] are not something that normally happens, so we are worried about it,” he said.

Minute changes in the environment during critical periods of a species’ life-cycle could trigger such events, Shiham explained.

A red tide can be a sign of an algal bloom

In a statement, the Fisheries Ministry noted that the Maldives lacked the capacity to deal with such large scale incidents of fish-kill, “so we have to resort to collaboration with institutes and individual parties from overseas. As such we are awaiting results from fish samples which have been sent to laboratories in India and Denmark.”

Marine biologists have also reported ‘red-tides’ in the lagoons and beaches of some resorts, which sometimes attributed to algal blooms, such as trichodesmium.

“Phytoplankton (or algal) blooms are reported to be a very common cause of fish kills around the globe,” noted the MRC’s report into the 2007 fish kill incidents.

“Controlled populations of several groups of potentially harmful algae usually belonging to the dinoflagellates) exist) in the marine environment. When conditions become favourable (nutrient enrichment of the waters, changes in physical conditions of the surrounding waters, etc) the microalgae (usually also associated with the secretion of toxins) populations burst causing mass mortalities of fish,” the report noted.

“These toxins are not necessarily always associated with fish kills, but rather the planktivores that feed on these dinoflagellates accumulate the toxins, which in turn affects higher predators (including human beings) that feeds on the toxin-accumulated fish.”

The statement from the Fisheries Ministry advised the public to not to eat the dead fish or go into murky water, as it may be potentially harmful to health.

The MRC requested that sightings of fish kill incidents and/or red tides be forwarded to MRC staff Ahmed Najeeb ([email protected]) or Faheeda Islam ([email protected]).

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High Court upholds Civil Court injunction against investigation of Judge Abdulla by judicial watchdog

The High Court today upheld a Civil Court injunction against the Judicial Services Commission (JSC)’s investigation of Chief Judge of the Criminal Court, Abdulla Mohamed.

Abdulla Mohamed was a central figure in the downfall of former President Mohamed Nasheed, following the military’s detention of the judge after the government accused him of political bias, obstructing police, stalling cases, links with organised crime and “taking the entire criminal justice system in his fist” to protect key figures of the former dictatorship from human rights and corruption cases.

Abdulla Mohamed obtained the Civil Court injunction against his investigation by the judicial watchdog in September 2011, after it produced a report stating that he had violated the Judge’s Code of Conduct by making a politically biased statement in an interview he gave to private broadcaster DhiTV.

The JSC appealed the injunction on January 24, claiming that the Civil Court had disregarded the commission’s constitutional mandate which allowed it to take action against judges, and argued that the court did not have the jurisdiction to overrule a decision of its own watchdog body.

The commission further argued the Judge Mohamed did not have the authority to seek the injunction preemptively as the commission had not yet taken action against him.

The JSC had therefore requested the High Court to terminate the injunction, citing contradictions to legal and court procedures.

However presiding High Court Judge Dr Azmiralda Zahir contended that the commission had not provided the court “any reason to terminate the injunction”.

Zahir further observed that the High Court would be violating the court procedures if it decided on the injunction before the Civil Court had reached its own verdict in the case.

She also added that that JSC could not establish a connection between the Civil Court’s injunction and jurisdiction of the court, and concluded it is not a reasonable argument to terminate the injunction.

Therefore, she ruled that the judges who evaluated the case had found no grounds to change the civil court’s injunction.

Former President’s member on the JSC and whistleblower Aishath Velezinee for several years contended that Abdulla Mohamed was a central, controlling “father figure” in the lower courts, answerable to former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom and a key figure responsible for scuttling the independence of the judiciary under the new constitution.

“When Abdulla Mohamed [was arrested by Nasheed’s government] I believe the opposition feared they were losing control over the judiciary, and that is why they came out on the streets. If you look at the so called public protests, it was opposition leaders and gang members. We did not see the so-called public joining them – they were a public nuisance really,” Velezinee observed, in a recent interview with Minivan News.

“For nearly three weeks they were going around destroying public property and creating disturbances. It wasn’t a people thing – we can say that. We locals – we know who was there on the streets. There is footage and evidence available of it. We’ve seen the destruction they were causing in Male’ every day.”

Following the arrest of the judge, Nasheed’s government appealed to the international community – in particular the Commonwealth, the International Committee of Jurists (ICJ) and the UN – for assistance in resolving the spiralling judicial crisis. A Commonwealth team arrived in the Maldives the day before Nasheed’s government was overthrown after a group of police sided with opposition demonstrators, attacking the military headquarters and seizing control of the state broadcaster.

Velezinee bemoaned the local and international focus on the arrest of the judge rather than the decline of the institution that led Nasheed’s government to such desperate interference in the judiciary.

“To the international community [the protesters] were a crowd of people – and to them that’s the public. It’s a public protest to them. But it was not. We need to consider who was involved in the free Abdulla Mohamed campaign. These are the same people I have previously accused of covering up and being conspirators in the silent coup,” Velezinee told Minivan News in an interview in February.

The first complaints against Abdulla Mohamed were filed in July 2005 by then Attorney General Dr Hassan Saeed – now Dr Waheed’s political advisor – and included allegations of misogyny, sexual deviancy, and throwing out an assault case despite the confession of the accused.

Asked in February this year whether he was satisfied with the investigation into the judge’s conduct and the action taken since his complaints in 2005, Dr Saeed replied that “under that constitution [President Gayoom] was the head of the judiciary. So it was my legal and moral obligation to raised that issue with him, which I did.

“I did not know if it was followed up. Obviously if there are issues it has to be resolved in accordance with the established laws and institutions.”

During the same interview, President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan said it was “for the judiciary to decide what to do with him, not for me.”

“I don’t want to interfere in the judiciary. I want our constitution to be respected, and work with everybody to make our constitution work. This is a new constitution, and it is the first time we are trying it out. And so there are difficulties in it. We need to find ways of solving it. It is time for us to work together, and if there are problems with the judiciary we need to work together to solve them – they are intelligent good people in the judiciary and the Judicial Services Commission (JSC).”

The Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM) last week summoned former President Mohamed Nasheed, former Home Minister Hassan Afeef, and former Defence Minister Tholath Ibrahim for questioning over their detention of the judge. It had promised to conclude the investigation by April.

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Nasheed appears on WNYC, Letterman show, in US tour for Island President film

Former President Mohamed Nasheed is touring US media for the launch of the Island President, appearing on the Late Show with David Letterman and WNYC’s Leonard Lopate Show, among others.

While the environmental message of the film was the subject of most interviews, many interviewers also focused on Nasheed’s claims to have been ousted in a coup on February 7, and his expressed disappointment in the US response.

“The UK government has been the only government that has been straightforward. I was shocked by the Indian and US governments in the rapidness with which they recognised the new regime,” Nasheed said, on the Lopate program.

Challenged over whether his resignation had been at “gunpoint”, Nasheed said this was a phrase used by a journalist to describe what had happened during the day.

“The military had arms. The rebellious police were outside the base and the mutinous military were inside. They said if I did not resign within the hour there would be bloodshed. ‘Gunpoint’ was a journalist’s description – but yes, for all practical purposes I was forced to resign,” Nasheed said on the Lopate program.

“They tried to arrest me in the presidential residence, but a few hours after the event some military officers who were still loyal helped me slip out of the presidential residence and go to my family home. A whole lot of people came out in support of me, and [the new government] have not been able to get me because of that.”

The new regime “is the old dictatorship we voted out of office,” Nasheed said. “Gayoom is back in the country, His children are in cabinet, he is in power. Dr Waheed is just a facade.”

Nasheed said it was “ludicrous” to claim that his government was brought down by “undemocratic practices”.

“The election was not enough to consolidate democracy. We have to build capacity within these institutions. The new constitution envisaged a fair and free judiciary, but the first elections brought a new executive, followed by the first free and fair parliamentary elections, but there was no election for the judiciary – and all the all the judges were handpicked by Gayoom.

“They were shielding the dictatorship from human rights abuses and corruption cases. We had to break the circle, and the body trusted to do that was the JSC. To argue that it was our undemocratic practice that brought us down is ludicrous. To argue that this was a reason for an uprising… there was no uprising.”
As well as speaking to several newspapers and film magazines, along with Island President Director Jon Shenk, Nasheed also appeared on the popular Late Show with David Letterman, which averages four million viewers a week.

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Amnesty calls on government to investigate allegations of sexual harassment of female detainees by police

Amnesty International has called on the government to investigate allegations that police beat and sexually harassed four women detained during an anti-government rally.

“While in detention they were forced to undergo naked body checks on the spurious suspicion of concealing drugs in their genitals. They were forced to strip and squat several times while in prison,” Amnesty stated, after gathering testimony from the women.

“There is no indication that the women protesters were involved in any acts of violence during the rally. Their detention therefore was arbitrary. Cases of molestation and other humiliating sexual acts against women have been reported in the past, but these latest allegations highlight a new police drive to suppress political activity under the pretext of body searching female detainees for alleged possession of drugs,” the human rights organisation stated.

“The beating and sexual harassment of political detainees under the pretext that they are suspected of possessing drugs must end. None of the four women detainees had been arrested on that suspicion so there was no justification for the searches, said Amnesty researcher Abbas Faiz.

Amnesty sought testimony from four women.

Twenty-two year-old Yusra Hussein told Amnesty that she was arrested by four female officers on March 19, who “beat me as they handcuffed me. They beat me on my stomach, which was very painful as I had had a caesarean section in the past. They grabbed my breasts and twisted them.”

After she was taken to Dhoonidoo detention centre, “They beat me with electric cables. I still have marks of their beating on my body. They then forced me to strip naked and made me squat on the floor. They took a urine test and did a body check on me.

“They forced me to sit in that position for a body check several time. Each time I felt sick but they paid no attention. They just wanted to humiliate me as they were shouting filthy words at me all the while,” Hussein told Amnesty.

Aishath Muna told Amnesty that police arrested her after she had taken another female protester to hospital.

“Police had pepper sprayed the protester and she had been feeling sick. When Aishath Muna returned to the MDP offices, two police women arrested her. She said the handcuffs which they used on her were very tight. She complained but they took no notice. She was then taken to Dhoonidhoo detention centre where she was forced to take off her clothes and undergo a body check,” Amnesty reported.

Another woman, 44 year-old Mariyam Waheeda, told Amnesty International that two women police officers who detained her on 19 March beat her “and dragged her along the floor. They grabbed her breasts and twisted them while handcuffing her. She said they took her to the police station and only released her after she convinced them she had not taken part in the protest rallies.”

The fourth woman, Aishath Aniya, “said she had been forced to undergo a urine test, was made to take off her T-shirt, bra and jeans, and was told to squat three times.”

“The Maldives has an image as a luxury holiday destination, and over the past few years, it had established a positive track record on human rights. But the fact is at the moment, not only is repression of peaceful political protest an everyday reality, it has taken an appalling new twist with this cruel and degrading treatment,” said Faiz.

“The government of Maldives must ensure that these allegations are investigated and that those found to be responsible are brought to justice.”

Amnesty noted the police response denying the allegations and recommendation that the women concerned contact the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM).

“HRCM has told Amnesty International that they have serious limitations in terms of trained investigative staff and dealing with human rights issues in a highly politicised environment is an overwhelming challenge for them,” Amnesty noted.

“By referring cases of police abuse of power to the HRCM, when it is clear that such investigations are beyond its capacity, the government is in effect forfeiting its own responsibility to enforce respect for human rights within the police force,” said Faiz.

HRCM had yet to complete investigations into the alleged sexual harassment of female detainees in 2004, Amnesty noted.

“This is the wrong message to give to the police as it will encourage police officers to violate human rights with impunity. The Maldives government must ensure that the right to freedom of assembly and expression is protected at all times.”

HRCM is currently investigating former President Mohamed Nasheed’s detention of chief Judge of the Criminal Court, Abdulla Mohamed. Former Home Minister Hassan Afeef was summoned for questioning yesterday.

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Police charge driver in 2011 Kuredu quad-bike crash that killed British newlyweds

Police have forwarded a case against the driver of a quad-bike that crashed and killed two passengers on Kuredu Island Resort to the Prosecutor General (PG)’s office.

The recently-married British couple from West Yorkshire, Emma and Jonathan Gray, were riding on the quad-bike as passengers when it collided with a tree around 4:00am on August 6, 2011. The pair had been married for just seven days and had a six-month old son, Jake.

Police subsequently identified the driver as 23 year-old Swedish national Filip Eugen Petre, the son of a shareholder of the company that operates the resort, who was employed by the company as a trainee guest relations officer.

Petre, who was injured in the crash, was charged under section 88 (d) of the penal code, Police Sub-Inspector Hassan Haneef told Minivan News today. He confirmed that Petre was in the Maldives and was free to move about, “although his passport has been retained.”

The section cited broadly refers to “Disobedience to order authorised by Sharia or law”. Article (d) reads that “Where such disobedience resulted in the death of a person the offender shall be subjected to punishment described by Islamic Law.”

UK media reporting the charges have noted that the maximum extent of these punishments include the death penalty, however while this sentence is still given by the courts it is usually commuted to up to 25 years imprisonment and was last implemented in 1953: Hakim Didi, by firing squad, on charges of practicing black magic.

Several MPs in parliament, including Jumhoree Party (JP) MP Ibrahim Muthalib and Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP Ahmed Rasheed have previously submitted amendments to the relevant Clemency Act demanding that such sentences be carried out if upheld at Supreme Court level, however they have not been passed.

The prospect of Petre facing such a penalty was “shocking. It’s absolutely horrendous,” Jonathan’s mother Cath Davies told the Halifax Courier.

“We never expected there to be an outcome like this. It’s good they have dealt with it. It’s great they have investigated it properly. But I wouldn’t want it to be carried out. It’s not going to bring Jay and Emma back. It’s not going to make us feel any better. It doesn’t seem right. I just find it quite abhorrent,” she told the paper.

“It’s not like he set out to maliciously hurt or kill them. He never intended it. What happened was a tragic accident and not the result of wilful or malicious intention.”

Hearing of the charges had “brought back all the events that happened and what we have gone through since,” she said.

“We don’t want to keep revisiting these things. We want to move on and we want to remember Jay and Emma for the lovely couple they were and not always being brought back to the tragic event that ended their lives,” she said.

Following the incident in 2011, Filip’s father Lars Petre provided a statement to Minivan News in which he described the accident as “by far the most tragic event in my life, and words cannot describe how saddened we are. I and my family are deeply concerned with errors on some of the media reports and we are also deeply saddened by some accusations made at my son.”

“My son Filip Petre (23 years) was taking the two guests home, to the other side of the island, when he experienced some difficulties with the bike, and crashed headlong into a tree on the road. The crash took two lives and badly injured my son.

“He fell unconscious with the crash and woke up some time later to find the two deceased also lying on the road. He immediately called for help and worked alongside with the doctor who arrived to try and save the victims of the crash, while he was bleeding himself.

“The quad bike which my son was driving was registered and my son Filip is licensed to drive such vehicles. My son Filip and his brother Tom (who was the first to arrive at the scene of the accident with the doctor), the management and staff of Kuredhu have been cooperating with the police investigation fully, and I give every assurance that they will continue to do so in the future.

“We understand the grief of the families who lost their loved ones in the accident, and we also respect the duty of the Maldives Police Service to investigate the matter. However the fact remains that what happened on August 6 is an accident, a very tragic fatal event, which my son no anyone else had the power to change.”

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CMAG “deeply concerned” at lack of progress in all-party talks

The Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) has expressed “disappointment and deep concern” at the lack of progress in the all-party talks, intended to lead to an early election and resolution of the current political crisis.

The MDP has said it remains committed to discussions around setting a date for early elections, however the former opposition parties with strong representation in the newly reappointed executive, including the Dhivehi Rayithunge Party (DRP), Adhaalath Party (AP), Jumhoree Party (JP) and the Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM), withdrew from the talks following the disruption of parliament on March 1, after the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) refused to allow Dr Mohamed Waheed to deliver the presidential address to the opening session. A similar stand-off is expected on Monday, with the MDP maintaining that Dr Waheed’s presidency is illegitimate, and the new government reluctant to set an election date, citing the need for “conditions to be right”.

In a statement issued on Friday, CMAG said it “continued to be strongly of the view that the earliest possible expression of the will of the people was required to establish universal faith in the legitimacy of those who govern the [Maldives].”

CMAG – the Commonwealth’s democracy and human rights arm – “urged all parties to engage in dialogue without delay, in earnest and in good faith with a view to achieving agreement on the date of early elections, and the processes required to do so, including any necessary constitutional amendments and supporting legislation.”

Following a fact-finding mission in February and an extraordinary meeting on the situation in London, the Commonwealth suspended the Maldives from participation in CMAG and called for an internationally-assisted independent inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the change of government on February 7, which former President Mohamed Nasheed contends was an opposition resort owner-sponsored and police and military-led coup d’état.

The Commonwealth also expressed concern about early efforts on behalf of Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan’s new government to arrest former President Nasheed, following the issuing of an arrest warrant in the immediate days following the change of power.

In its most recent statement, CMAG expressed regret over the disruption of parliament on March 1, and “urged all parties to engage in dialogue without delay, in earnest and in good faith with a view to achieving agreement on the date of early elections, and the processes required to do so, including any necessary constitutional amendments and supporting legislation.

“The Group also noted that the Commission of National Inquiry in Maldives had commenced its investigation into the events between 14 January and 8 February 2012, but that it had not secured cross-party support. In this context, CMAG acknowledged that international assistance for the investigative mechanism has been requested, and noted that the Commonwealth could be of potential assistance. It reiterated its strong belief in the importance of the work of the Commission and the conviction this should carry in Maldives and internationally.”

A programme of assistance for the judiciary will commence shortly, CMAG stated, and noted the arrival of the Commonwealth Secretary-General’s Special Envoy, Sir Donald McKinnon, on March 16.

“During his visit, the Special Envoy hopes to meet all the principal stakeholders to promote the consolidation of democratic culture and institutions and Commonwealth values and principles, to encourage inclusive agreement among political leaders on a way forward from the current situation, and to oversee further Commonwealth support for Maldives, including technical assistance,” the organisation noted.

Meanwhile the Maldives remains on CMAG’s agenda. The group will meet in decided to retain Maldives on its agenda, noting that it would meet in April when further steps could be considered in light of progress over the next month.

The most recent CMAG meeting was chaired by Dr Surujrattan Rambachan, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Communications of Trinidad and Tobago.

Other Ministers participating in the teleconference included Senator Bob Carr, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Australia; John Baird, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Canada; Bernard K Membe, Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Tanzania; and Ebun Jusu, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Sierra Leone.

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