Author: Minivan News

Maldives Organisation for Elderly People receives US$40,000 UAE Health Award

The Maldives Organisation for Elderly People has been presented with the UAE Health Award during the World Health Organisation (WHO) meeting in Geneva, reports Gulf Today.

UAE minister of health Dr Hanif Hassan Ali Al Qassim, presented US$40,000 to the winning organisations, which also included the Society for Progress Association in Chad.

The award is annually granted to those individuals or organisations that provide various services in the medical and health development.

The Maldives Organisation for Elderly People provides a number of psychiatric and social services to the elderly in addition to health awareness programmes, physical education training sessions, yoga and physiotherapy either at home or at the centre.

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Expatriate slashed with machete

An expatriate man was badly injured after he was attacked with a machete in Henveiru Park in Male’ yesterday evening, reports Haveeru.

Police said they had no leads on the attack on the man, who was reportedly a food cart worker.

SunFM reported that a group of men asked the expatriate for a cigarette, and attacked him when he refused.

The injured man was taken to Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) in a police car.

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Maldives will starve in three months: future Adhaalath head

Potential future President of the religious Adhaalath Party Sheikh Imran Abdulla has reportedly claimed that the Maldives will starve once the country exhausts its foreign reserve in three months.

Sheikh Abdulla told press that the party had been informed of this during a meeting with the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA).

Sheikh Abdulla made the claims during an event at Kalaafanu school to announce that the party would be competing in the 2013 Presidential elections. He is currently running unopposed for leadership of the party, which is in coalition with the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP).

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President talks business tax increases as part of economic reform plans

President Mohamed Nasheed has pledged further economic reforms including the planned implementation of a general business profit tax in July and the possible increase of the Tourism Goods and Services Tax (GST) from six percent to 3.5 percent.

Speaking yesterday during his weekly radio address, the president claimed that serious reorganisation of state finances was needed as the Maldives graduates from the UN’s list of nations with Least Developed Country status.

This reorganization strategy includes a managed float of the rufiyaa to effectively devalue the currency against the US dollar .  The move was designed to try and allow the local currency to be traded within 20 percent of the pegged rate of Rf12.85 – a decision that has led to ongoing protests in Male’, said by organisers to be focused on escalating living costs.

“Reducing public expenditure and increasing state revenue to reduce budget deficit; stopping money printing to prevent devaluation of currency due to increased  supply; and corporatising government services to increase participation of efficient private parties,” were outlined by the president  as the government’s key aims for the economy.

In order to meet these goals, Nasheed claimed that the government would look to begin collecting business profit tax from the private sector on July 18 as well as trying to impose a minimum wage for local people.

In addition, the president also claimed that he was considering increasing the Tourism Goods and Services Tax, which was first implemented as of January 1 this year, to six percent from the introductory rate of 3.5 percent.

Criticising national spending policies under former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, Nasheed claimed that his government had reduced a budget deficit that stood at about 30 percent of the nation’s GDP back in 2008 to just above 10 percent at present.

While generally supporting initiatives to reduce costs that have led to ongoing public protests in the country, the Treasurer of The Maldives National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MNCCI), Ahmed Adheeb Abdul Gafoor, said that the the planned addition of a minimum wage and a Goods and Services Tax (GST) on all enterprises operating in the country needed to be gradually implemented.

Speaking earlier this month, Abdul Gafoor claimed that gradual introduction of taxes would be vital to ensure the nation’s fledgling economy can cope with any potential changes.

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Maldivian Red Crescent raises US$33,296 in donations for Japanese tsunami victims

The Maldivian Red Crescent has presented US$33,296 in donations from Maldivians to the Red Cross Society of Japan for victims of the tsunami and earthquake in March this year.

Donations would be used for search and rescue operations, and for providing aid to rescued victims, the MRC stated.

Funds were handed over by the Maldives Ambassador to Japan, Ahmed Haleel.

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Third-grader allegedly beaten for refusing to attend class with a Barbie backpack

A third grade student at Iskandhar school in Male’ was reportedly beaten by his mother after refusing to enter the classroom with a pink ‘Barbie’ backpack, reports Haveeru.

The newspaper reported that many parents and children witnessed the scene, which occurred on Tuesday afternoon.

Principal of Iskandhar School Hussein Saeed told Haveeru that he had talked to the parent and learned that the boy was upset at being made to go to school with “a girl’s backpack”.

The school bought the boy a boy’s backpack and the child was now attending classes, the Principal said.

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Clock is ticking for Nasheed and Maldivian economy: Frontline

Nasheed’s supporters say that his government inherited the “worst economic situation of any country undergoing democratic transition since the 1950s”, writes R K Radhakrishnan for India’s Frontline magazine.

“The budget deficit stood at 31 per cent of the GDP, inflation stood at 12 per cent, and the economy was reeling from a massive fiscal expansion, which saw the government wage bill increase by almost 400 per cent between 2004 and 2009.

For the Maldives, the belt-tightening could not have come at a worse time: it had barely recovered from the effects of the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami when the slowdown in the West (which affected the flow of tourists) hit home. This was followed by the serious disturbances in the Arab world, a region that the Maldives is tied to historically.

The protests were organised by the opposition parties even though these were labelled as youth-led. This led to a bizarre situation. Since the main opposition, the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP), claimed that it had nothing to do with the protests, the government was left with no one to talk to. The government had maintained that a faction of the DRP [Z-DRP], led by former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, was behind the protests. It said that Gayoom was inspired by the events in Cairo’s Tahrir Square and that he was hoping to overthrow the government after crippling its functioning.

“There are indications that the current violence taking place in Male has… everything to do with a political struggle for who should lead the main opposition party, the DRP, into the next presidential election. It is unfortunate that that struggle is being played out on the streets of Male rather than, as should be the case, by holding an open and transparent primary,” the Maldivian Foreign Minister, Ahmed Naseem, said in Colombo last fortnight when asked about the protests.

Reports indicated that the number of people detained was about 300, but the Foreign Minister dismissed it. “Only 16 persons have been held,” he said. The Maldives Police Service said on May 8 that of all those arrested during the previous week of protests, six remained in detention under judicial warrant. All six had previous criminal records, it said.

“The government understands that many people are concerned about the economy and the recent price rise, and is committed to working to address these concerns through a process of dialogue. For example, yesterday [May 5] the Cabinet decided to halve the import duty on diesel fuel. However, the current economic difficulties reflect, at their heart, deep-seated structural problems inherited from the former government…. The government is working closely with the IMF to address these problems. This has already resulted in the deficit being reduced from 31 per cent to 16 per cent,” the Foreign Minister added.

The government looked forward to receiving credible, alternative economic proposals from the opposition, said Mohamed Zuhair, Press Secretary with the President’s Office.

For now, the protesters have gone home. But with better ferry connectivity, ironically put in place by President Nasheed, they can come back anytime and paralyse Male.

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