Author: Daniel Bosley

Housing Ministry takes dispute with MCC to Human Rights Commission

The Ministry of Housing and Infrastructure has decided to involve the Human rights Commission of Maldives (HRCM) in its ongoing feud with Male’ City Council (MCC).

The ministry has forwarded a case to police as well as the HRCM in relation to its civil servants who have been assigned to work at the Dharubaaruge conference center.

President of the HRCM Mariyam Azra confirmed that a complaint had been received today regarding the right to work of these civil servants. She said that the HRCM will work with the CSC to resolve the issue.

In one of a series of jurisdictional disputes in the capital, the Civil Service Commission (CSC) informed the MCC in April that its Dharubaaruge staff had been transferred to the Housing Ministry following a cabinet decision to transfer the conference centre to the central government.

Upon receiving the letter, the MCC sent all members of staff home and locked the doors to the conference centre.

This prompted a swift response from Housing Minister Dr Mohamed Muiz who declared that the centre had been closed unlawfully. Police were sent in and the centre forcefully reopened.

Dr Muiz told Sun Online that Housing Ministry staff had been arriving for work at the conference centre since mid-April and being forced to stand outside as the MCC refuses to accept the legality of the transfer of ownership.

The minister argued that this situation contravened the workers human rights.

“Eighteen civil service employees of Dharubaaruge have to stay out in the sun every day after reporting to work. They can’t enter Dharubaaruge to work. So whether it’s City Council or another institution, they are denying these employees their rights,” Muiz told Sun.

MCC Councillor Mohamed Abdul Kareem denied that this was the case and said that the MCC had made interim arrangements with the CSC.

“No, they are not waiting outside, they are working at the Housing Ministry. We have arranged a temporary permit with the CSC to use our civil servants in the Dharubaaruge until the legal dispute is resolved,” said Kareem.

Mohamed Fahmy Hassan, Chairman of the CSC said that there was no prospect of Housing Ministry staff gaining access to the building until the MCC had agreed to the transfer and a full inventory of the facilities and equipment had been conducted.

“We have instructed the Ministry of Housing to make arrangements for staff to sign up and go home until the situation with the MCC is dealt with,” said Fahmy, though he was unsure whether these instruction had been carried out.

The legal battle between the MCC and the government continued to smoulder this week as the police, responding to a request from the Home Ministry, requested an order from the Criminal Court to dismantle the Maldivian Democratic Party’s (MDP) Usfasgandu protest area.

This area was one of 32 plots of land given over to the MCC as part of the 2010 decentralisation act and was reclaimed by the Housing Ministry on May 9 after its warnings for political activities in the area to cease went unheeded.

After some deliberation, as well as pleas from the MCC, the Criminal Court decided that this Usfasgandu did not fall under its remit, leaving the police to consider its next move.

The Ministry has Housing and Environment was this week renamed the Ministry of Housing and Infrastructure following the creation of the Ministry of Environment and Energy.

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Immigration Offices raided by ACC; investigators allege intimidation

The offices of the Department of Immigration and Emigration were raided by Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) officials with assistance from police after the granting of a court order.

The seeking of a court order followed thwarted efforts by the ACC earlier in the day to gain access to the immigration department’s offices across the greater Male’ area.

The ACC confiscated around 75 laptops, reports Haveeru, which had allegedly been given to staff as part of a Rf500 million (US$32 million) deal with the Malaysian company Nexbis to develop a new border control system in the Maldives.

According to Sun Online, the ACC has this morning filed a case against the Immigration Department alleging that its staff were intimidated whilst attempting to conduct their investigations.

ACC Vice President Muavviz Rasheed stated that investigators were locked in the building and that the lights and the air conditioning were turned off.

“It is a crime to obstruct ACC in its efforts to carry out its responsibilities. There are punishments for this. So we will take action according to the law. We will not be silent when people attempt to dishonour our authority in this manner,” ACC Vice President Muavviz Rasheed told Sun.

Assistant Controller of the Immigration Department Ibrahim Ashraf told Minivan News today that this intimidation did not happen, rather that the incident alluded to by Muavviz occurred when ACC investigators attempted to remain in the building past the office’s working hours.

“They wanted to stay in the building past the end of working hours – we have been instructed not to do any overtime because of financial constraints. This resulted in havoc,” said Ashraf.

Ashraf said that he had spoken to the person responsible for locking the building at the end of each day and had been assured that the doors had not been locked with ACC employees inside.

Ashraf stated that the ACC had attempted to search the offices without first obtaining a court order and without informing immigration staff. In addition he said that the ACC wished to search employees’ personal lockers.

He said that the ACC had eventually been granted a the court order at midnight, after which its investigators returned to the Velanaage headquarters.

It was at this point that the ACC confiscated the majority of the laptops which Ahsraf stated were part of the Nexbis project. He added, however, that the new Nexbis software was not yet installed on the confiscated computers.

Ashraf also stated that the ACC visited the residence of a senior department figure at around 5:00am to confiscate a laptop after the court order had expired.

The ACC began to investigate the bidding process by which the deal had been awarded soon after it was announce that Nexbis had won the tender in November 2010.

In late 2011, the commission forwarded cases against the Immigration Controller Ilyas Hussain Ibrahim and Director General of the Finance Ministry Saamee Ageel, to the Prosecutor General’s Office (PG), alleging that the pair had abused their authority for undue financial gain in granting the contract to Nexbis.

After the ACC ordered work on the project halted, the Civil Court ruled that the commission did not have the authority to make such an order. The ACC subsequently challenged this ruling in the High Court.

The ACC President Hassan Luthfee told Minivan News last week that a decision was anticipated by the end of May. He hoped the High Court would “delineate” the role of the ACC.

Both the President and Vice President of the ACC were unavailable for comment at the time of press.

Clarification on the powers of the ACC would alleviate confusion which has also arisen in the Thilafushi-Heavy Load reclamation project.

Heavy Load, a company run by the family of Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) Interim Chairman Moosa ‘Reeko’ Manik, came under the ACC’s radar after similar complaints regarding this project’s tender process.

Moosa claimed at the time that the ACC was not politically impartial. At a press conference today, MDP Deputy Chairperson Mohamed ‘Inthi’ Imthiyaz was asked about yesterday’s raid, responding: “A series of mini-coups follow coup d’etat. I believe this is one of those mini-coups”.

Last week, details emerged that the first phase of the Nexbis project had been completed even as legal issues remained unresolved.

This first phase had reportedly involved a significant financial outlay by the company, which has previously threatened legal action should it incur losses as a result of delays to the project.

In the preceding week, the High Court had ordered an injunction halting any further work on the project pending the outcome of the ACC’s appeal on the Civil Court ruling.

Assistant Controller Ashraf expressed his concern that hindrances to the new border control system will have ramifications that go far beyond political turf-wars.

“Whoever is doing this to jeopardise the image of the Immigration Department needs to understand that the consequences may be disastrous. I don’t want the Maldives to become another Bali or Mumbai,” he said.

“They can take action against corruption and let the border control project continue. We are becoming a weak spot in the region. I have serious concerns.”

“We have a population of 300,000 which includes 100,000 foreigners. We have to be sure that they do not have criminal records, that they are not fugitives hiding in paradise,” added Ashraf.

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India presents Environment Minister with cheque for Coastal Zone Management Centre

India has granted $US31,526.28 for the development of the SAARC Coastal Zone Management Centre (SCZMC) in the Maldives, reports Sun Online.

The Indian High Commissioner to the Maldives Dnyaneshwar Mulay today presented the cheque to the newly appointed Minister for Environment and Energy, Dr Mariyam Shakeela.

The body seeks to promote international coastal zone management amongst South Asian nations. One of the organisation’s top priorities is to build capacity at all levels to help member nations research and monitor environmental challenges as well as building resilience to the impacts of climate change.

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Heavy Load’s Thilafushi project one fifth completed in double the allotted time

Delays in the Thilafushi reclamation project have resulted in only 20 percent of the work being completed, says Managing Director of the government owned Thilafushi Corporation (TCL), Mohamed Latheef.

The Rf323 million ($US21 million) project was awarded to the Heavy Load Maldives company in September 2010, with work beginning in February 2011. The scheme was to involve the reclamation of 157 hectares of land over six months as part of the continued development of an international port for the Thilafalhu Industrial Zone (TIZ). Thilafalhu is the name of the lagoon around which Thilafushi lies.

The TIZ is intended to promote industrial growth in the greater Male’ area by providing facilities on Thilafushi that will attract medium to heavy industries. This will also include plots for large industrial facilities, warehouse facilities, and a roll-on roll-off ferry service.

As well as fostering economic growth it is hoped that this plan can reduce congestion, and thereby increase the quality of life, for the  people of Male’, where the nation’s major port is currently situated.

Male’ is one of the most densely populated cities in the world with over 100,000 people per square kilometre.

Latheef stated that only 32 hectares had been reclaimed on Thilafushi by Heavy Load.

“The project is on hold due to issues which we are working with contractors to resolve,” said Latheef. “We hope to resolve these issues in the next one two weeks.”

Latheef said that these problems were both technical and financial.

“The dredger is not currently on site. It has been taken to Sri Lanka for maintenance,” he added.

The project ran into legal difficulties within days of work having started. The Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) alleged corrupt practices in the project’s tendering process. The TCL then filed a case against the ACC in the Civil Court arguing that it did not have the authority to order that the work be suspended.

Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) Interim Chairman Moosa ‘Reeko’ Manik, whose family runs the Heavy Load Maldives company, alleged at the time that the ACC’s charges were a “political trick”, suggesting that elements of the ACC were influenced by opposition politicians.

Representatives of Heavy Load, including Moosa himself, were unavailable for comment at the time of press.

In a similar case, the ACC has attempted, seemingly without success, to halt the work on a new border security system provided by the Malaysian company Nexbis. President of the ACC Hassan Luthfee told Minvan News last week that the ACC has appealed to the Supreme Court to “delineate” the role of the ACC.

Luthfee today said that the Civil Court case was due to be heard in the second week of June whilst the ACC’s original case alleging corrupt bidding practices remains with the Prosecutor General (PG).

Sun Online this week reported that the PG’s office had filed cases against three former TCL board members in relation to the award of the reclamation project to Heavy Load.

Sun also reported last month that the guarantee cheque from Heavy Load, worth 5 percent of the deal’s value, Rf16.1 million (US$1 million), had expired. A spokesman from the Finance Ministry said that a new cheque was required but had not at that time been received, although the company had assured it would be done.

Thilafushi has become infamous internationally in recent months as the ‘ugly face’ of the Maldives owing to the waste management services that the island provides. Both the BBC and France’s Le Monde have covered the topic in recent weeks.

Reclamation of land around the lagoon began in 1992 in order to solve the waste management problems from waste generated in Malé. Since then an increasing number  of  industrial firms have relocated to plots leased on the island.

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Male’ City Mayor summoned to court to apologise for “harassing” letter

Male’ City Council (MCC) Mayor ‘Maizan’ Ali  Manik was summoned to the Criminal Court today to explain to the registrar what the court felt was an “impolite” letter sent to it by the council.

The letter in question had been sent to the Criminal Court by the MCC following the police’s request for a court order for the clearance of the Usfasgandu area.

The police had received instruction from the Home Ministry to clear the area after the MCC had refused to hand the land over to the government.

Manik explained that the reasons for his summons had been “nothing serious”, and that the registrar felt “the letter was too hard and contained no politeness.”

City Councillor Mohamed Abdul Kareem said the court had described the letter as “harassing”. Kareem told Minivan News that the court was not able to promise that it would not give the court order although it agreed that the case was a civil matter, rather than criminal.

He said that the court had confirmed that it would look into the court order, although he claimed that the court was in agreement with him that the case fell under the civil court’s jurisdiction.

The offending letter argued that the Usfasgandu issue did not relate to the criminal court and ought to be dealt with by the civil court. It also said that the issue could not be ordered without the MCC being notified and allowed to represent itself.

Manik said that he had apologised for the tone of the letter, explaining that the matter was particularly urgent: “That’s why the letter was so harsh”.

The MCC has vowed to resist the repeated attempts by the government to reclaim areas of the council given over to it as part of the decentralisation process pursued by the previous administration.

The MCC’s belief that these issues should be dealt with by the Civil Court saw it submit two civil cases today relating to its disputes with the government.

The first challenges the reclamation of the Usfasgandu area by the Housing Ministry, while the second addresses the larger issue of conflicting legislation that it feels has prompted the battles over jurisdiction.

Local paper Haveeru spoke with City Councillor Ibrahim Shujau regarding the submission of these cases.

“The [second] case is regarding the conflict between the Land Administration Regulation, followed by the Housing Ministry, and the Decentralisation Act, Constitution and the Land Act. Thus we have appealed at the court to abolish the regulation,” Shujau told Haveeru.

Last week, the MCC sent letters to the Maldives Police Service (MPS), the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF), and the Housing Ministry, informing them of its decision not to comply with cabinet’s decision to reallocate the plot to the Ministry of Housing.

However, Manik argued that the MCC would not resist if a court order was obtained.

“They have to get a court order. If they have a court order, we will comply,“ he said.

The Usfasgandu area is currently leased to the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) and is being used as the base of operations for their political activities. Most recently, these activities have consisted of weekly marches around the capital, attended by many thousands, protesting against the current government and calling for early elections.

The MDP’s previous base of operations at Lonuziyaaraiy Kolhu was dismantled by security forces on March 19. The government on this occasion acted without a court order, prompting legal challenge from the MDP.
The subsequent court case was first dismissed on a technicality and, after being re-submitted has once again been delayed for similar reasons.

When asked whether it was normal procedure to request a court order after a request from the Home Ministry, Sub-Inspector Hassan Haneef said that it depended on the case in question.

“We are trying to follow legal procedures. We want to make sure to follow law and order, to maintain peace. We understand that this is sensitive issue,” he said.

Home Minister Mohamed Jameel Ahmed was not responding at time press.

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Government feud with MCC moves to beach and park

The Housing Ministry has written to Male’ City Council (MCC) informing it that Sultan Park and the Artificial Beach areas of Male’ have been reclaimed by the government.

These areas represent two of the 32 land plots transferred from the Housing Ministry to the MCC after its establishment as part of the previous government’s decentralisation policy in 2010.

Dr Mohamed Muiz, Minister for Housing and Infrastructure, informed Sun Online that it was only the development rights that had been removed from these areas, insisting that the MCC would still be responsible for municipal services such as cleaning and maintenance.

Councillor Mohamed Abdul Kareem said that this was “proof that [the government] are politically motivated in other takeovers.”

“They are trying to take all the things handed over to the city council,” said Kareem.

The ongoing stand-off between government and MCC, which is dominated by the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), has been growing in intensity over the past two months.

The removal of these two areas from the council’s jurisdiction follows disputes over a number of areas in the capital which the MCC had allocated to the MDP for an ongoing series of protests. The reasons given for the jurisdictional challenges have varied in each instance.

  • March 19 – Lonuziyaaraiy Kolhu, “Justice Square” – The MDP camp was dismantled by security forces after a day of unrest in the capital. The government claimed illegal activities were being conducted in the area. It also claimed that the leasing of the land for political purposes was in contravention of the decentralisation act. The case remains stymied in the courts.

  • April 17 – Dharubaaruge Conference Centre – MCC informed that staff working at the centre would be transferred to the Housing Ministry. Police reopened the centre after the MCC locked the doors. The centre is currently still under the MCC’s jurisdiction.

  • April 18 – Huravee offices – The Housing Ministry informed the MCC that its staff were being evicted from their offices in the Huravee building to make way for two newly-created government ministries. The second of these ministries was  been officially introduced today. The MCC says the centre is still under its control.

  • May 9 – Usfasgandu – A letter in April informed the MCC that the land would be removed from their power if the MDP activities on the site were not stopped. The ministry again used the breach of the decentralisation act’s stipulations as justification for these breaches. Yesterday, the Home Ministry instructed the police to seize the area. Today, the police announced their intention to obtain a court order before taking further action.

  • May 21 – Artificial Beach – Government cites reclamation in order to develop the area.

  • May 21 – Sultan Park – Government cites “reasons of national security”.

The MCC has consistently denied the legality of these reclamations. Kareem said that the council will go to court to challenge the legality of the process of reclamation itself, rather than with regards to the individual cases, as he believes the government would prefer.

The reasons Muiz gave for today’s takeovers were the receipt of multiple requests to develop the artificial beach area and the importance of the Sultan Park area for national security.

Contrary to the development arguments cited by the Housing Ministry, Kareem argued that the MCC had intended to develop the area, something that the government did not want to see happen.

“They are trying to frighten investors”, Kareem alleged.

The importance of the area surrounding Sultan Park, mentioned as reason for the government’s takeover of this area, was highlighted by independent MP Mohamed Nasheed last month when speaking to Minivan News about a freedom of assembly bill entering the Majlis.

Nasheed stated that the unusual nature of the country meant that the area surrounding the state’s vital institutions must remain free from static protests, lest the security force’s ability to operate be jeopardised, reports Sun Online.

Dr Muiz was unavailable for additional comment when contacted by Minivan News.

Sultan Park lies on a short distance from the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) headquarters and the Maldives Police Service (MPS) headquarters in Republican Square.

Both the MDP’s original “Justice Square” camp as well as the one currently threatened at Usfasgandu were leased to the party by the MCC.

Interim MDP Chairman Moosa ‘Reeko’ Manik was today reported in the local media as saying that the MDP would make all of Male’ its base should the Usfasgandu area be cleared.

Kareem also reported that a petition, signed by 60 people was handed in to the Local Government Association (LGA) today criticising the MCC’s provision of services. Kareem argued that the MCC was in fact delivering services to thousands of people every day on a small budget.

Sun Online has reported that the petition criticised the council’s policy of not permitting certain religious speeches, which it argued was biased. The petitioners were also reported to have criticised the city’s maintenance of streets.

The MCC asked police to break up a speech given by Sheikh Ilyas Hussain on Friday which they argue had not been authorised.

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Nexbis project one third completed despite ACC’s legal effort

Despite the legal complications surrounding the deal, the Nexbis border control project has completed its first phase, with Rf10 million’s (US$650,000) worth of installation work having been finished, according to Sun Online.

The project involves the installation of an electronic border gate system in Male’s Ibrahim Nasir International Airport (INIA), bringing technological upgrades such as facial recognition, fingerprint identification and e-gates to the Maldives.

Assistant Controllerof the Department of Immigration and Emigration Ibrahim Ashraf confirmed to Minivan News that “the first phase is, to a certain extent, finished.”

The Rf500 million (US$39 million) deal had been brought to standstill by the High Court earlier this month in the latest in a series of delays which have led the Malaysian firm to threaten legal action against the Maldivian government should it incur losses for the work already done on the project.

Sun reported a source as saying that there were three phases in the contract with Nexbis. The second phase involves the installation of further systems for an online visa service while the third phase would include improving passport mechanism services.

The deal ran into trouble soon after it was awarded in 2010, with the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) demanding the project be terminated and re-tendered, citing allegations of corruption in the bidding process.

Legal suit was filed in November 2011 after the government decided to begin work on the project against the ACC’s advice. The subsequent decision by the Civil Court was that the ACC did not have the authority to order the Department of Immigration and Emigration to stop the project.

Subsequent appeals to the High Court earlier this month resulted in an injunction against any further work until the case had been resolved. At the time, the ACC had expressed concern that the project could be completed before the conclusion of the High Court case.

Ashraf said that staff training for the new system was planned for May 10 but had been cancelled due to the injunction.

Hassan Luthfee, President of the ACC, said that the commission had not investigated into the work’s current progress but believed the work on the first phase had been completed prior to the High Court injunction, as did Ashraf. Luthfee said the ACC had appealed to the court to “delineate” the role of the ACC and expected a verdict by the end of this month.

According to the Anti-Corruption Act (Act No. 13/2008) under which the ACC was established, following any inquiry and investigation the commission is empowered to forward the case to the Prosecutor General for prosecution. It is also granted the power to order the institution in question to correct any failures in management that may have led to corrupt practices.

Part of the roles and responsibilities of the ACC, as defined in the constitution, is “to perform any additional duties or functions specifically provided by law for the prevention of corruption.” The ACC’s objections to the Nexbis deal were based on its belief that the bidding process was flawed.

A source at the immigration department at the time of the ACC’s initial complaint in 2010 claimed that it was the finance ministry which evaluated all the bids. The same source also argued that the desire within the ACC to stop the project could have been politically motivated.

The ACC filed a suit against the Home Ministry in January, citing “unlawful practices” in the tender process while evaluating bids to set up partitions in the ministry’s office.

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MDP Friday demonstrations continue around country

Around 5000 supporters of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) marched down the main thoroughfare of Male’ yesterday in continued protests against the current government.

The party estimated that between 5,000 and 8,000 people marched round Male’ yesterday, Interim Chairperson MP Moosa ‘Reeko’ Manik claimed a further 7000 took part in similar protests around the country.

The Male’ demonstration began at Usfasgandu at around 5:00pm and proceeded in a loop around the south of the island, heading up Boduthakurufaanu Magu and along Majeedhee Magu, past the social centre, before heading back to the MDP protesters’ current base of operations behind the Dharubaaruge conference centre.

An increased police presence was  observed around the government buildings in the security zone on the island’s North, although the marchers did not pass near this area.

Former Education Minister during the MDP administration, Shifa Mohamed, said that yesterday’s protest focused solely on calls for early elections.

Shifa said that people gathered at Usfasgandu without being prompted via SMS, as in previous weeks. She said people turned up as the Friday protests have become a regular event, adding that the party intended to protest ever yday for the next two weeks and had a number of different events in mind.

Yesterday’s march passed the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) base at Kalhuthukkalaa Koshi, at which point, according to local media, security forces emerged with shields.

“We were very surprised,” reported Shifa, who said that this had not happened during the demonstrations of previous weeks which have taken in the same route. No physical confrontations were reported.

Shifa was accompanied at the head of the march by two people dressed as crows. The bird has recently come to represent the MDP’s disdain for the current government, and a cage filled with the birds has appeared at the Usfasgandu camp in the past week.

Male’ City Council (MCC), who lease the Usfasgandu area to the MDP, were informed by the government over one month ago that such activities meant that the land was to be reclaimed by the government.

Male’ City Mayor Ali Manik was informed on May 9 that the government’s security forces would arrive to dismantle the MDP’s latest protest site on May 14. The protesters have been on alert throughout the week after the proposed date came and went without incident.

Unrest near mosque

After the march had returned to Usfasgandu, MDP protesters are reported to have been involved in an incident outside a mosque on Majeedhee Magu.

Both Shifa and Moosa said they were unaware of this incident.

Clashes between the protesters and some of those inside the mosque led to the arrest of five people, reported Police Sub-Inspector Hassan Haneef.

The unrest is said by an eyewitness to have begun when MDP supporters attempted to disrupt a sermon which the MCC has said was unauthorised.

A source from the council said that a request was sent to police requesting that the meeting be stopped at around 9:00pm yesterday. Sub-inspector Haneef stated that the arrests took place between 7:30 and 8:00pm.

“They didn’t get permission – if they are giving this kind of sermon, they need this,” said the council source. “We asked the police but they said they couldn’t stop it.”

Haneef confirmed that the police had received this request from the MCC.

Minister for Islamic Affairs Sheikh Mohamed Shaheem Ali was unavailable for comment at the time of press.

The eyewitness said that attendees of the sermon emerged from the mosque to clash with the MDP protesters before handing them over to the police.

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Government and opposition review 100 days since transfer of power

Both President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan and former President Mohamed Nasheed held press conferences today marking 100 days since the transfer of power.

One hundred days is a traditional point in politics to look back upon the progress of a chief executive and his administration.

President Waheed drew attention to the areas in which his administration had succeeded where the previous one had failed, while Nasheed focused on the damage he felt was being done to the democratic and economic progress made during his time in office.

Waheed told the media that his efforts of the past 100 days had been to “foster greater unity amongst us” after assuming the presidency at a time of great division.

President’s Office spokesman Abbas Adil Riza said: “The main achievement is that we have maintained a coalition government for 100 days whilst Nasheed could only do so for 21 days.”

Abbas continued to say that the current government had bettered the record of the previous one by running the country lawfully and making all media “totally free” from government. He also said that the maintenance of all public services one of the Waheed government’s primary achievements.

To the contrary, Nasheed argued that social protection programmes and health insurance were being “disrupted” by the new administration.

President Waheed stated this afternoon that the main issue facing the government was now the economy.

Abbas claimed that Dr Waheed’s government had reduced inflation as well as overall state spending in its first one hundred days. The reported budget deficit of 27 percent was due to Rf3-4 billion hidden from public accounts by Nasheed’s government, he alleged.

“The window dressing of the previous days is now coming out,” Abbas said.

International Spokesman for the MDP, Hamid Abdul Ghafoor, argued that the budget deficit, now at around 27 percent of GDP, had been reduced from 40 to 7 percent during Nasheed’s administration.

Nasheed put the figure for the deficit at Rf2.6billion (US$168million) at his press conference.

“Maldivians are concerned and are asking why they have been pushed into destabilisation,” said Nasheed.

Asked what an MDP government would do to bring the deficit down, Ghafoor said that it would stop “unnecessary spending” on things such as allowances for the police and the MNDF, which he claimed have amounted to Rf25 million (US$ 1.6million).

He also stated that the attention of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Committee (CMAG) was affecting investor confidence: “Being on the CMAG agenda is enough to make investors go out the back door.”

“In order to reduce the deficit,” Ghafoor said, “We would bring back our policies.”

Concerning the plight of Maldivian democracy, Nasheed said that the current government is attempting to curtail people’s freedom of expression and assembly. He noted that around 600 of his supporters had been arrested in the past three months.

Waheed said that he had tried to serve the people as well as he could, and that there was still “lots of work to be done to consolidate democracy”.

CNI

Nasheed declared that the independence of the CNI had been the greatest achievement of the MDP’s 100 days in opposition, whereas Abbas described “solving the political crisis with the Commonwealth” as one of the major achievements of Waheed’s first 100 days in office.

Both press conferences saw mention of the CNI, which this week appears to have moved towards consensual reforms after pressure from the Commonwealth brought opposing sides closer to agreement on who should sit on the commission.

The CMAG’s strong urgings for changes in the commission’s membership, in order to improve its independence and impartiality, resulted in an agreement with government this week that the CNI be expanded to include an experienced judge from the Commonwealth, to act as co-chair, as well as a further member to be nominated by Nasheed.

As the Commonwealth’s special envoy Sir Donald McKinnon departed, caveats to this arrangement were introduced by the government.

The conditions for Nasheed’s appointee were set as follows: they must not have served in a political position in the past two years, must not have taken a public stand on the transfer of power, and must “be of good behavior and integrity”.

Minivan News is awaiting a response from the Commonwealth as to whether it had endorsed these conditions.

At his press conference, President Waheed said that the issue had now been resolved and he wished to move forward.

Nasheed told those in attendance at Male City Hall that the he now had full confidence in the work of the CNI, which is scheduled to carry out its investigation between June 1 and the end of July.

Previously, the MDP had refused to work with the CNI, partly because of the presence of Ismail Shafeeu, formerly Defense Minister during the Presidency of Maumoon Gayoom.

Nasheed said today that he expected Ismail Shafeeu, currently the head of the commission, to step down before the new set of investigations begin. He said that he expected Ahmed Mujuthaba, currently the convener of the all-party roadmap talks, to replace him.

The government has stated that it will appoint a lawyer to the final place on the board if no suitable appointee is agreed upon by June 1.

Nasheed added that the new terms of reference for the CNI authorised the commission examine phone records, bank account statements, photos, videos, and also to send cases to be prosecuted.

There still remains great potential for discord over the CNI even as both sides profess their satisfaction with the arrangement.

Even as the government’s team met with the Commonwealth representative in Male’, President Waheed was declaring his deep dissatisfaction with the organisation’s actions to the Indian media whilst on an official visit.

A similar dichotomy appears in the statements of the opposition, who have expressed confidence in the new structure of the commission while at the same time making clear their great displeasure at the conditions being imposed upon their nominee.

“The government is being unfairly proscriptive,” said Ghafoor, who argued that the former president did not see any reason why his prospective nominees had been rejected.

The MDP has reported that nine Nasheed nominees have already failed to win the government’s approval.

“Now [the government] wants to decide who will represent Nasheed? This is a bit too much,” said Ghafoor.

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