Author: Lucy Johnson

Comment: Commonwealth must reopen CoNI in light of new evidence

Dear 
Secretary 
General Kamalesh Sharma,

New 
evidence 
has 
emerged which
 casts
 doubt
 over
 the
 validity
 of 
the 
final 
report
 by
 the
 Commission
 of
 National
 Inquiry 
(CoNI),
 published
 in
 August
 2012.

Following
 its
 publication,
 CoNI’s
 report
 was
 sent
 to 
the 
relevant 
Maldivian 
parliamentary 
oversight
 committee, 
who
 decided
 to 
investigate 
the 
facts 
and
 procedures 
of 
the 
report
 to 
ensure
 its 
accuracy. 
Through
 careful 
review
 of 
the
 report, 
it
 has 
been revealed
 that 
vital 
evidence 
relating 
to 
CoNI’s 
core 
mandate was
 ignored
 and 
no 
explanation 
was 
given 
as 
to 
the 
reason
 for
 this,
 despite 
claims 
by 
CoNI
 that 
no 
information 
was 
disregarded.

CoNI’s
 mandate
 was 
to 
investigate 
whether 
President 
Nasheed
 resigned
 under 
duress,
 due 
to
 threats
 to
 his 
life, 
or 
not. 
The 
committee
 summoned
 Former
 Commissioner 
of 
Police, 
Ahmed
 Faseeh; 
Former 
Chief 
of 
Defense
 Force, 
Moosa 
Ali 
Jaleel;
 Brigadier 
General,
 Ahmed
 Nilam; 
Former 
Chief 
Superintendent 
of 
Police, 
Mohamed 
Hameed 
and 
Former 
Superintendent
 of Police, 
Mohamed
 Jinah
 under
 the 
power
 vested 
in 
a
 parliamentary 
committee
 by 
Article
 99 
of 
the 
Constitution.

Former 
Chief 
of 
Defense 
Force 
Jaleel; 
Former 
CS
 Hameed
 and
 Brigadier
 General 
Nilam
 confirmed
 to 
the 
committee’s
 investigation that
 there 
was 
a 
plot 
to
 assassinate
 President
 Nasheed
 and 
that
 on 
the 
7th 
of 
February
 2012,
 the 
environment
 was 
such
 that 
President 
Nasheed
 had 
reason
 to 
believe 
that 
his 
life 
was 
in
 danger.

This 
information 
was 
further
 verified
 when 
PPM
 Deputy 
Leader,
 Umar
 Naseer,
 in 
an 
interview 
with 
Minivan 
News, 
confirmed 
that
 the
 ousting
 of 
President 
Nasheed
 “did
 not
 happen
 automatically” 
and
 that 
“planning, 
propaganda
 and 
lots 
of 
work” 
went
in 
to
 oust 
the 
constitutionally‐elected 
President. 
Mr 
Naseer 
refused
 to 
cooperate 
with 
the
 Commonwealth
 approved
 CoNI.

In
 addition,
 former
 cabinet 
minister
 (for
 the
 present
 government),
 Ms
 Dhiyana Saeed
 has 
published
 a 
memoir
 regarding 
the
 events 
of
 7th 
February
 2012,
 and
 states
 that 
a
 certain 
‘Mr
 X
 and 
Mr
 Y’
 (later
 revealed
 as 
Deputy 
Speaker
 of 
the
 Parliament,
 Mohamed 
Nazim
 and
 MP 
Mohamed
 Nasheed
 respectively)
 had 
spoken
 to 
her
 of 
a
 plan
 to
 assassinate
 President
 Nasheed,
 in 
which
 the 
present 
Minister 
of 
Defence
 and 
the
 Commissioner 
of 
Police 
were
 involved.

It 
is 
a 
grave
 matter 
of 
concern,
 that 
none 
of 
these 
issues 
were
 highlighted 
by 
the 
two observers 
appointed 
by 
the 
Commonwealth
 to 
CoNI’s 
investigation.

In 
light 
of 
the 
above,
 it 
is 
evident
 that 
the 
validity 
of 
the 
CoNI 
report 
is 
questionable. 
These 
are 
the 
three 
issues 
we 
would
 like 
to 
see 
the 
Commonwealth
 focusing
 on:

1. 
Reopening 
the 
CoNI 
report
 in 
the 
light 
of 
the 
latest 
information
 and 
establishing why
 these 
testimonies 
and 
evidence 
from
 leading
 members
 of 
the 
military 
and
police 
were 
not 
included
 in
 the 
CoNI
 report.

2.
 Overseeing 
a 
further 
inquiry 
into 
the 
threats
 against
 the 
life 
of 
the 
former 
head
 of 
state, 
President
 Mohamed
 Nasheed.

3. 
Pressuring 
the 
current
 president
 to 
establish 
a 
caretaker 
government
 until 
free 
and
 fair 
elections 
can 
be 
held.

Lucy Johnson is a member of UK-based NGO, Friends of Maldives

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Comment: State-sponsored fundamentalism and lack of freedom of speech to blame for violence, not protests

Dear Dr Hassan Saeed,

I would like to express the following comments in response to your letter in The Guardian today, ‘Violent protests in the Maldives’.

Rather than suggesting that the recent increase of violent behaviour in the Maldives is a direct result of MDP protests, it would seem more obviously related to the state-sponsored fundamentalism and lack of freedom of speech which has been endemic over the last few months.

This has engendered an increasingly intolerant attitude in Maldivian society, silencing scholars promoting a moderate, progressive version of Islam and spawning hate-mongering through threatening videos and websites etc.

With regard to your assertion that Mr Nasheed is being ‘investigated’ by your ‘completely independent’ judicial system, the fact is that he has been investigated by the police, who can not be independent of the government, since they take their orders from the Minister of Home Affairs.

Furthermore, Mr Nasheed is being treated differently from other people by the courts, for example, prioritising his case, whilst there are 2000 criminal cases, including murder, child abuse and rape, pending for years in the criminal courts. Most of the accused in these cases are at liberty.

Lastly, whilst you ask that Amnesty International report alleged abuses to the Human Rights Commission and the Police Integrity Commission, the recommendations of these institutions are not meaningfully considered by your government.

The policeman Mr Ali Ahmed was found in violation of law by the Police Integrity Commission on charges of abuse and criminal assault and it was recommended that he be dismissed. However, your Home Minister decided to reward him by giving him a promotion. When the Prosecutor General filed charges against him, the ‘independent judiciary’ dismissed the charges on procedural grounds.

The future of democracy must be based on freedom of speech and respect for human rights, as outlined in the celebrity letter.

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UK medical experts to help manage IGMH

The Malé Health Services Corporation (MHSC) is expanding its senior management team with three health professionals from the UK, who have been recruited to support the health transformation agenda of the MHSC, accelerate quality improvements, and rigorously hone cost efficiency.

The volunteers were recruited with the assistance of UK-based NGO Friends of Maldives and the Maldivian High Commission in London who together,have selectively been placing health volunteers around the Maldives through the International Volunteer Programme (IVP).

The three volunteers will initially come for one year, extendable to two years, and say they hope to leave a lasting, positive legacy within the MHSC, by developing local leaders in the medical sector.

Cathy Waters will start as the new General Manager of IGMH at the beginning of February 2011. Waters has 17 years of senior health management experience, including eight years as a Chief Executive in the UK’s National Health Service (NHS), where she demonstrated exemplary management of staff, personnel issues and substantial budgets in the face of major financial challenges.

Waters has also worked effectively as a senior management consultant, achieving organisational change and strategic development targets. Amongst her many qualifications, she has two Masters Degrees (one in Business Administration), an Advanced Diploma in Coaching, a teaching certificate in further education and is a qualified nurse, midwife and health visitor.

Waters says she believes wholeheartedly in involving the public and service users in providing better health care, and in coaching and developing individual health professionals into new and sustainable roles.

Liz Ambler will begin in the role of Nursing Director for MHSC in mid-March. She currently works for the UK’s Department of Health, whilst her specialist clinical background is in blood disorders and cancer care. With significant senior management experience in UK, the Middle East and Africa, she has a proven track record of improving health care quality whilst reducing expenditure.

Ambler has a Nursing Degree, a Masters in Public Health and a postgraduate certificate in Global Development Management, and says she “can’t wait to get stuck in” training, auditing, and developing clinical guidelines with MHSC’s nurses.

Liz is passionate about nursing, improving patient safety and motivating others to achieve good governance.

Rob Primhak has been appointed as Medical Director of MHSC and will make an initial visit mid-February 2011, before starting in earnest in July when he retires early from his Consultant Paediatrician post to take up this new and challenging role.

Primhak has 35 years of clinical and research expertise, primarily in the fields of respiratory medicine and treatment of children and newborn babies, both in UK and Papua New Guinea. He has successfully introduced innovative services and demonstrated a life-long commitment to the education and training of doctors, through the establishment of new curricula and training programmes. He aspires to leave a lasting impression on clinical governance at MHSC through development of health professionals and clinical quality standards.

“We look forward to working with the UK experts in revamping health care quality at MHSC, and are very optimistic about their successful team efforts in turning around IGMH”, said Mr Zubair Muhammad, Managing Director of MHSC.

Lucy Johnson is the Health Lead for UK-based NGO, Friends of Maldives.

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