Category: News in Brief

Tribunal orders CSC to reinstate job of DPRS Superintendent Husham

The Employment Tribunal has today ordered the Civil Service Commission (CSC) to reinstate Mohamed Husham to his job at the Department of Penitentiary and Rehabilitation Service (DPRS) after the tribunal determined that he was terminated from his post without grounds as specified in the Employment Act.

Husham was a Superintendent at the DPRS and the head of Maafushi Prison.

According to the tribunal he was terminated on September 7 last year. Haveeru  reported that during the hearings Husham claimed that he was terminated for refusing to obey “unlawful” orders.  He claimed that he was transferred from Maafushi Jail to an office in Male’ where he was not even provided with a chair for one and a half years.

The CSC was ordered to consider Husham as an employee of the CSC and to pay his full salary and allowances from September 7 until his reinstatement. The order also obliges the CSC to pay Husham within 15 days and to then inform the tribunal.

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DRP factions clash over use of party logo, resources

The opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party’s (DRP’s) faction loyal to former President Maumoon Abdul boycotted last night’s council meeting, where members from the rival faction expressed concern that the party’s logo and resources were being used without knowledge of either the DRP leadership or secretariat.

An unnamed council member told newspaper Haveeru that the DRP office was being billed for air time bought by members of the Gayoom faction without official approval.

Former Deputy Leader Umar Naseer, who was dismissed from the party in December, however told press today that “any member of the party has the right to use the logo.”

Umar also criticised the DRP council’s decision last night to finalise its 2010 audit report ahead of today’s deadline, claiming that the report makes no mention of the Rf500,000 (US$38,910) outstanding debt the party was ordered to pay Island Aviation by the Civil Court.

Umar claimed further that the audit firm was not given either adequate time to complete the report or proper details of the party’s expenses.

With the internal strife intensifying, MP Ahmed Mahlouf meanwhile told local media that the Gayoom faction was preparing to submit an amendment to article 119 of the Decentralisation Act to ensure that councillors who are dismissed from his or her party shall not be stripped of their seat.

The DRP Youth Wing President claimed that he had learned of schemes by DRP Leader Ahmed Thasmeen Ali’s faction’s to dismiss councillors who did not side with them.

“If we have to, we will seek the [ruling Maldivian Democratic Party’s] MDP’s help with this,” said Mahlouf, suggesting that “Thasmeen faction” MPs would not vote in favour of the amendment.

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Ameen Construction to gift 100 homes to Addu City

Abdulla Mohamed, owner of local company Ameen Construction, has announced that the company will build 100 houses in Addu City under a philanthropic effort, reports Haveeu.

Abdulla explained that the Rf6 million (US$466,900) project will begin as soon as plots are finalised while citizens of Addu City will be able to apply for the free housing units through the City Council.

Ameen Construction was recently awarded government contracts for 25 housing units and a convention centre in Addu City, work on which is currently ongoing.

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MPL employee arrested on suspicion of stealing baby goat

An employee of the Maldives Ports Limited (MPL) was arrested by police yesterday on suspicion of stealing a baby goat from a cargo ship, according to Haveeru.

A police media official explained that the employee was taken into police custody and handed over to the customs authorities while he was attempting to smuggle the infant goat out of the MPL lorry parking area.

The media official added that the investigation will begin once customs sends the case over to police.

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Cabinet proposes tripling import taxes on tobacco, double for alcohol

Cabinet has proposed the doubling of the import taxes on alcohol, pork and certain plastic products, and tripling the taxes on tobacco, in an amendment to the Maldives Import and Export Act.

Tariffs will be dropped 15 percent on milk products, if parliament passes the amendment.

Regulation to permit the sale of pork and alcohol to foreigners in large hotels on inhabited islands was scuttled in February 2010 after opposition from conservative groups. A licensing system was phased out in the lead up to the regulation and was not restored following its repeal, leading to a flourishing black market trade in the banned commodity.

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Bhutanese Prime Minister to visit the Maldives

Prime Minister of Bhutan Jigme Thinley will meet with President Mohamed Nasheed later today, during a visit to the Maldives.

Press Secretary for the President Mohamed Zuhair told Haveeru that the talks would focus on a proposed ferry network to be established between SAARC member countries, and that Nasheed was seeking Thinley’s support.

Thinley will visit the tsunami monument and “other significant places in Male'”, said the President’s office. National Fflags have been put up at the ‘Lonuziyaaraiykolhu’ area near the monument.

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Maldives to face UN committee over continental shelf extension

The Maldives will today claim an extension of its continental shelf before a UN committee in New York.

The claim for an additional 168,000 square kilometres of exclusive economic zone (EEZ), is expected to be opposed by the UK and Sri Lanka. The claim overlaps with one made by Sri Lanka, while the UK will likely want to preserve the integrity of the Britain Indian Ocean Territory.

The UK is likely to vigoroursly oppose the Maldives’ claim given its interest in the US-run Diego Garcia airbase south of the Maldives.

Following a Wikileak US diplomatic cable on the topic, the UK’s creation of the BIOT, the world’s largest marine park in the Indian Ocean was been exposed as less of an ecological project than a means to “put paid to resettlement claims of the archipelago’s former residents” and retain the area for military use.

In the leaked US embassy cable, Colin Roberts, the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s (FCO) Director of Overseas Territories, is quoted as saying that the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) has “served its role very well”.

“Establishing a marine reserve might, indeed, as the FCO’s Roberts stated, be the most effective long-term way to prevent any of the Chagos Islands’ former inhabitants or their descendants from resettling in the BIOT,” the cable read.

“[Roberts] noted that the establishment of a marine reserve would require permitting scientists to visit BIOT, but that creating a park would help restrict access for non-scientific purposes. For example, he continued, the rules governing the park could strictly limit access to BIOT by yachts, which Roberts referred to as ‘sea gypsies’.”

National Security Advisor Ameen Faizal, Attorney General Abdulla Muizzu, Deputy Foreign Minister Haula Ahmed Didi, Brigadier General Abdulla Shamal and Major Mohamed Ibrahim from the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) are part of a delegation now in New York to argue the case.

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Regional transport links on the agenda during SAARC Secretary General’s Maldives meeting

Fathimath Dhiyana Saeed, the recently appointed Secretary General of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), has met with President Mohamed Nasheed this week in the Maldives ahead of hosting an annual summit in Addu City later this year.

Saeed, a Maldivian herself as well as the first woman to be appointed to SAARC’s most senior post, used her visit to discuss a number of the association’s key policies with the president, including connectivity between the various members states through the development of a cargo ferry link.

During the discussions, Nasheed called on SAARC to try a reach a “material outcome” on the transport project by the time of the Addu conference expected to take place in May.

The association aims to cooperate over economic and social development issues and consists of eight member nations that include Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka as well as the Maldives.

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Swimmers complain of rashes after STELCO pipe leaks

An area of Male’s ring road Boduthakurufaanu Magu was closed yesterday after an oil pipeline belonging to the State Electric Company Limited (STELCO) burst.

Six barrels of oil were pumped from the area of the leak, reported Haveeru.

Swimmers at the track have reported oil seeping in the water. According to the Maldives Swimming and Lifestyling School, which spoke to Haveeru, oil has been leaking into the water for almost a year.

“For the past ten days the amount has been very high. No matter how much we wash our swimwear it doesn’t get washed off,” Head of the School Mohamed Shizleen told Haveeru.

“There are some two or three students with rashes around their necks who complain of an oil taste in their throats,” Shizleen said.

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