Category: News in Brief

Parliament accepts extradition bill

Parliament today (April 16) accepted a government-sponsored bill that would allow for foreign prisoners to be extradited from the Maldives to their country of origin, local media has reported.

MP Riyaz Rasheed submitted the bill, which classifies the types of criminal offences that foreigners can be extradited for, as well as regulating the procedures for international prisoner transfers in the Maldives.

The bill states that only under special circumstances – after a request from the country of origin and a permit from the Prosecutor General (PG) – can a prisoner be extradited. Extradition requests can only be considered if the prisoner is to be tried and serve out their sentence(s) in their country of origin.

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Alifushi island protests over ongoing power outages

Some 100 residents on Alifushi Island in Raa Atoll staged a protest Monday (April 16) evening to raise concerns at years of reported power outages, according to local media.

All four Deutz brand generators on the island were said to have broken down, causing a complete blackout at 8pm yesterday, which followed 20 similar power cuts throughout the day, islander Mohamed Hassan told the Channel News Maldives (CNM) publication.

Electricity demand was increasing, yet generators were not regularly maintained, explained Hassan. He added that the generators were not easily fixed, however a repair team was en route.

Island Council President Abdul Latheef Abdul Rahman told local media that the Alifushi community has been “patient”, but the problem of power supply could not be ignored any longer.

Rahman claims that the governments of both former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom and former President Mohamed Nasheed failed to address the issue.

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Suspect in Abdul Muheeth’s murder case sentenced to five years over drug charges

A suspect arrested in connection with the murder of Abdul Muheeth has been sentenced to five years imprisonment over an unrelated drug case.

The suspect was identified by newspaper Haveeru as Ali Mushafau.

Local media has reported that in 2010 Mushafau was caught with illegal narcotics inside a cafe’ in Male’.

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Vice president travels to UK for Margaret Thatcher funeral

Vice President Mohamed Waheed Deen will represent the Maldives government at the funeral of former UK Prime Minister Baroness Margaret Thatcher that will be held tomorrow (April 17) in London, England.

According to the President’s Office website, the vice president left for the UK yesterday (April 15).

Thatcher, Britain’s first and only female prime minister, died last week. She was 87.

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Small and Medium Enterprises Bill ratified by president

The Small and Medium Enterprises Bill was ratified by President Dr Mohamed Waheed yesterday (April 14) after being approved by parliament last month.

The bill, now published in the Government Gazette, outlines policies targeted at developing small, medium and micro-scale businesses in the country.

According to the President’s Office website, the bill includes numerous measures such as, outlining how to promote and develop small to medium size business.  Methods for monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of government policies to support small and medium business are also included.

Other key considerations in the bill include supporting the sector to become sufficiently “innovative” and broad, while also ensure long-term national and international competitiveness.

The bill also calls for the establishment of a government-backed centralised registration system for companies, according to the President’s Office.

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President calls for constitutional reforms to curb “conflict” between state institutions

President Dr Mohamed Waheed  has called for reforms to the current Maldivian constitution in order to reduce “conflict” between different government institutions while carrying out their respective mandates.

The president stated during a campaign speech on Vaadhoo Island in Raa Atoll Thursday (April 11) that he too had faced difficulties in carrying out constitutional duties as a result of such conflicts between the different branches of government.

“The whole system would be complete only when the power, authority and responsibility rendered to a particular position by the constitution, was properly carried out,” he stated.

The president claimed that amendments to the constitution were therefore necessary to allow each institution to “use their powers” independently, since currently “great conflict” is sometimes encountered.

He stated that the Supreme Court ultimately held the final decision-making power to resolve constitutional matters and its decisions should therefore be respected.

The nation’s highest court has been involved in a number of disputes with the Maldives legislature in recent months.

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Former attorney general to keep advising government on Nexbis, GMR matters

Former Attorney General (AG) Azima Shukoor will continue to advise the government on two high-profile legal cases she has previously been involved in, despite being transferred to the Gender Ministry earlier this month.

The two cases involve the future of an agreement to implement a border control system supplied by Malaysia-based Nexbis and arbitration hearings resulting from declaring “void” a US$511 million airport concession agreement with India-based GMR void.

Shukoor, who was appointed as Minister of Gender, Family and Human Rights on April 10, said yesterday (April 13) that she intended to continue to serve on a team of lawyers working for the state on the cases involving Nexbis and GMR, local newspaper Haveeru has reported.

President’s Office Media Secretary Masood Imad has previously told Minivan News that the government had decided to transfer Shukoor as part of commitments to help oversee proposed legal reforms that could potentially end the use of flogging as a punishment for sexual offences.

The government has previously criticised the practice, which it alleged serves to punish victims of rape and sexual abuse in some cases.

The state has come under further pressure to review the handling of sexual offence cases from petition site Azaaz.org, which has threatened otherwise to call for a tourism boycott over a flogging sentence handed to a 15 year-old girl for ‘fornication’.

Shukoor has claimed in local media to have personally requested the president appoint her to the Gender Ministry on condition she would continue to work on the cases relating to Nexbis’ agreement and the arbitration hearings with GMR.

GMR arbitration

In November 2012, President Dr Mohamed Waheed’s government declared void a concession agreement signed by the previous government with Indian firm GMR to manage and build a new terminal at Ibrahim Nasir International Airport (INIA).  It then ordered the company to leave the country within seven days.

GMR is seeking US$800 million in compensation for the sudden termination, while the Maldivian government is contending that it owes nothing as the contract was void ab initio – meaning the contract was invalid from the outset.

Nexbis

Nexbis signed a “legally binding” deal in 2010 to provide a customised border control system under a ‘build, operate and transfer’ agreement to Maldivian authorities that still remains in use as of this month.

The deal is presently the subject of legal wrangling over whether the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has the power to demand termination of the contract. Parliament has also voted to cancel the system, but this is subject to a court injunction.

However, the US government late last month signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to provide a border control system to the Maldives. Representatives for Nexbis at the time said they had not been informed of the MOU signing or what it might mean for the company’s own agreement with the state.

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President Waheed inaugurates water desalination plant on Dhuvaafaru

President Dr Mohamed Waheed has inaugurated a water desalination plant on the island of Dhuvaafaru yesterday (April 13) as part of an ongoing tour of developments across North Maalhosmadulu Atoll.

The plant, which will be operated by the Male’ Water and Sewerage Company (MWSC), is claimed to be the first of an unspecified number of new high-tech facilities that will be established in the coming years to provide islanders with drinkable water, according to the president.

In a statement posted on the President’s Office website, Dr Waheed said that providing drinking water to some 60 islands annually came at a “huge expense” to the state, despite what he claimed was a “good amount” of rainfall in the country each year.

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Refrain from “emotional judgement” when casting presidential votes: JP Leader Gasim

Presidential hopeful and Jumhooree Party (JP) leader MP Gasim Ibrahim has requested Maldivians to “refrain from emotional judgment” when casting their votes in September’s presidential election, local media has reported.

Gasim said the “only way to bring about the change people want to see” is to reflect on past experiences and “refrain from making the same mistakes again” during a campaign event on Funadhoo Island in Shaviyani Atoll held Friday (April 12).

He was reported by Sun Online to have further emphasised that any president of the country needed to be able to understand the sentiments of the people and be willing to resolve their pains and troubles.

Gasim pledged the JP in government would seek to solidify decentralised governance and allow councils to have “all that they deserve”. He also said that women’s development committees will have influence in a JP government.

“Our men and women must go forth, in a spirit of working together. I would like to say that in our government, we will give as much cooperation as we possibly can, to the work of the women development committee,” Sun Online quoted Gasim as saying.

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