Category: Politics

DRP considers legal action against Z-DRP, dismisses faction’s presidential ambitions

The Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) has raised the possibility of legal action against the Zaeem-DRP (Z-DRP) faction formed by some of its members last month, claiming it had infringed opposition party’s rights to its name and logo and threatened to “confuse” supporters ahead of the 2013 election.

DRP Deputy Leader and spokesperson Ibrahim ‘Mavota’ Shareef told Minivan News that although he believed the Z-DRP had acted in a manner that would put off voters looking for a change to the current government, he was concerned about possible confusion among voters over the identity of the opposition’s leadership.

He claimed that after repeated requests to try and require party members aligned to the Z-DRP to work within the main party’s constitution and avoid criticising and attacking its leadership, party heads were now considering how to deal with what they see as dissent in the ranks.

Formed amidst an ongoing dispute between serving DRP leader Ahmed Thasmeen Ali and his predecessor and former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, the Z-DRP aims to represent the former national leader and his supporters. The faction includes serving MPs including Ahmed Mahlouf and dismissed deputy leader Umar Naseer, who led seven days of protests in the capital last week.

The Z-DRP and its supporters have been critical of Thasmeen and his role in opposing the government of President Mohamed Nasheed.

Referring particularly to what he said were party concerns about the by the Z-DRP of the party’s name and imagery, Shareef said he did not rule out the possibility of legal action being taken against registered party members belonging to the faction backing former President Gayoom over allegations they were infringing on the DRP’s image.

“The DRP council has recently met and passed legislation to give authority to the party’s leader [Thasmeen] to deal with the situation and protect the party’s name,” he said. “If it is deemed that matters warrant legal action then we will take it through the courts.”

Umar Naseer and the Z-DRP leadership had not responded to Minivan News at time of press.

After officially beginning work as the Z-DRP last month, Umar Naseer who is a prominent figure in the factional group, was yesterday reported claiming the faction was near to announcing its own presidential candidate for general elections scheduled for 2013, according to the Miadhu newspaper.

Speaking yesterday to assembled journalists, Naseer was reported to have said that the faction represented the “real DRP” for party supporters and had a strong chance of winning the presidential elections in two years time.

Along with working to try and form a parliamentary council under the Z-DRP banner, Naseer claimed that the faction would reveal its presidential candidate following a primary he expected to be held at a congress next year.

Shareef denied that the announcement of a Z-DRP presidential candidate would be a concern to the coutnry’s main opposition party, claiming the public were now becoming used to democratic processes.  However, he accepted that there was a danger that some people were becoming confused as to who the DRP’s leader actually was.

“I don’t believe [a Z-DRP presidential candidate] is a concern.  After what will be five years of democracy in the country, I believe people are more aware and will not vote for people who are unable to follow their own party’s constitution,” he claimed.  “I don’t think we have to fear about the impact of the Z-DRP.”

Speaking earlier this year regarding a possible split between different factions in the DRP, MP Ahmed Nihan, who is among the members of the Z-DRP, said that he had been the designer of the DRP’s sailboat logo and under recently passed intellectual property laws, he held the rights to the image.

“I designed the logo, which received over 700 votes to be adopted as the symbol of the party on 21 July 2005,” he said. “If anyone tries to make a big deal of the issue then we can claim it. They have never paid me for the use of [the logo].”

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Civil Court orders MNBC to transfer assets and staffs to MBC

After months of dispute between the opposition and the government over control the state media, the Civil Court has finally ordered the Maldives National Broadcasting Corporation (MNBC) to transfer all assets and staff to the newly-established Maldives Broadcasting Corporation (MBC).

The tug-of-war began last year when the government transferred the assets and staff from Television Maldives (TVM) and Voice of Maldives (VOM) to the 100 percent government-owned corporate entity MNBC.

The opposition-majority parliament subsequently created MBC and order the government to transfer MNBC’s assets and staff. MNBC has been labelled pro-government by critics, while proponents argue that as most other mass media is owned by senior opposition political figures and favours the opposition, the government had no alternative voice.

Press Secretary for the President Mohamed Zuhair said that the government will appeal the Civil Court’s ruling in the High Court.

“The MPs and the judiciary should consider that the MNBC is operated by a board and all of its assets are properties of the MNBC,” he said.

Zuhair contended that there were resorts belonging to MPs that were operated under the same structure as MNBC, and questioned whether they wished to set a precedent for the court-ordered transfer of all their assets to another person’s company made for the express purpose.

MBC was formed by the parliament last year in April and its board was also appointed by the parliament. The board is answerable to parliament which makes the MBC board politically influenced, the government has claimed.

After the parliament passed the legislation to ”free” the state media, expecting the government to transfer the frequency and assets, the government bluntly declined to transfer the assets.

”MNBC was re-branded and changed its name after two board members of Television Maldives (TVM) proposed their names for the Maldives Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) board, but were dismissed from the parliament,” said opposition MP Ahmed Nihan at the time.

Nihan alleged that he was “certain” there was “a secret deal” made between MNBC and the government.

The opposition also held a series of protests for the freedom of state media before the issue was taken to the court.

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Opposition misleading international media to sabotage economy, claims government

The government has continued to criticise opposition politicians, including representatives of President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, for “misleading” international media over the scale of protests in Male’ last week.

The protests were today labelled by the Washington Post as one of the 29 largest crackdowns of the last decade, eclipsing the riots following the death of Evan Naseem.

After seven days of demonstrations across Male’ last week, purportedly in protest against the government’s decision to implement a managed float of the rufiyaa – police on Wednesday (May 4) announced that any protests not held in the open artificial beach or tsunami monument areas would be immediately dispersed.

The opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) has insisted the protests are ‘youth-led’ despite the apparent leadership of its MPs, and tried to replicate the ‘Arab Spring’ protests across the Middle East by branding President Nasheed as a despot to the international media and dubbing a busy Male’ intersection ‘Youth Square’.

In the Washington Post piece, photos were published of 29 protests that have occurred around the world and were deemed to be among the biggest demonstrations and crackdowns of the decade – including the recent unrest in the Maldives.

“Syria, Libya and other Middle Eastern regimes aren’t the only ones to use force against protesters. Here are some of the major crackdowns since 2000,” wrote the paper in a picture story on its website.

The Maldives is listed at 28th, placed between the riots in Uganda last month over rising fuel costs – where protesters were shot at by police – and Egypt’s anti-government uprisings that ended the thirty year reign of President Hosni Mubarak in February.

“In recent weeks, hundreds of anti-government protesters took to the streets of Maldives to demonstrate against soaring prices and demand the resignation of President Mohamed Nasheed,” the article wrote, alongside a photograph of a local protester who appeared to have been knocked down by Maldivian police carrying batons.

Responding to the Washington Post article, Press Secretary for the President Mohamed Zuhair said he was suspicious that international journalists from established publications like the Washington Post were speaking to representatives of the former president or opposition politicians, who in some cases had provided false information in an attempt to “tarnish” the government’s image.

“We have received alleged reports that former President Gayoom’s spokesperson – Mohamed Hussain ‘Mundhu’ Shareef – has been contacted by international media and has perhaps given the impression he remains as the spokesperson for the current President Mohamed Nasheed,” said Zuhair.

“There appears to be misconception that there has been a higher turnout at these protests than were actually there,” he said.

Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP ‘Reeko’ Moosa Manik, who is currently on an official visit to China, has also accused Gayoom’s spokesperson of giving interviews to Chinese journalists who were under the impression he was the spokesperson for the current administration.

‘’Most of the foreign papers have his [Shareef’s] number as the spokesperson of the President, so when they contact him he says he is [the President’s] spokesperson,’’ Moosa claimed on the MDP’s website. “He has told foreign papers that there is severe civil unrest in Male’ and that it is not safe to send tourists here.’’

Moosa alleged that Shareef was “intentionally” seeking to destroy the tourism industry of the Maldives and “to mislead the international community.”

Minivan News contacted Shareef to refute the allegations, but he refused to comment on the matter.

Zuhair said that the week of protests had represented the involvement of only a small part of a voting population that in Male’ alone numbered tens of thousands of people.

“This is the case of the picture telling the story,” Zuhair said. “After the first few nights of protests the numbers [of participants] began to dwindle to just a few hundred people on the final night [Friday, May 6],” he claimed.

Zuhair claimed that he believed that there had been a deliberate attempt to try and tarnish the image of President Nasheed internationally through the supply of information to foreign media that he said had led to travel warnings being issued to Asian travel markets like Hong Kong.

The government reported today that the President’s Special Envoy, Ibrahim Hussain Zaki, had been sent to China in the wake of several travel warnings issued in the region that are feared to have begun harming one of the fastest growing tourist arrivals markets presently coming to the Maldives.

Speaking last week following criticisms by Foreign Minister Ahmed Naseem of the manner in which some politicians had been courting international media attention, leader DRP Ahmed Thasmeen Ali hit out at suggestions of media manipulation.

Thasmeen said at the time that he was “utterly surprised” that a member of the current government, which has vocally supported freedom of speech and democratic reforms, would find protests “unreasonable” on the basis of protecting tourism.

“We have seen them try to stifle protest through using excessive police force,” he claimed. “We are peaceful protestors and are not impacting tourism in Male’.”

Thasmeen added that he believed the government had not made attempts to initiate a dialogue on the issue of living costs, although the opposition said they were willing to negotiate on the matter even though they did not agree to the current devaluation strategy being pursued.

“Obviously there are a lot of protesters here, but the government does not want to listen,” he said. “Lots of people are suffering.”

Thasmeen said that accusations that the country’s political opposition had been “misleading” international media was an “oversimplification” of the issues behind the protests.

“The international media are professionals, many of who will already know the facts of the protests, I don’t see it will be possible to manipulate them,” he said.

Thasmeen claimed that reports of excessive force against protesters had been accurate, adding that MDP supporters led by their parliamentary leadership had been “violently charging” protest crowds while police were attempting to disperse peaceful protesters.

The Maldives Journalists Association (MJA) has meanwhile issued a statement to international media and groups such as the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and Reporters Without Borders (RSF), alleging “infuriating and agitating conflict by the police”, urging authorities to “bring to a halt the atrocities targeted towards journalists.”

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“Is this Malaysia?”: Authorities playing a blame game over modern-day slave trade

Authorities in the Maldives are engaged in a “blame game” over human trafficking in the country, and have been “pointing at each other and going around in circles” observed Professor Mondira Dutta, of the Central Asian Studies Programme at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi.

“The Maldives is on the tier two watch list in the US State Department’s trafficking in persons report. This means that there are enough policy recommendations in place to combat human trafficking, but there isn’t much evidence in the field to show the government is working towards it,” Dr Dutta said.

Dr Dutta presented a lecture on human trafficking yesterday at the invitation of the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM), after spending a week interviewing stakeholders.

“There are cases of elderly men going to India and marrying young women, and returning [to the Maldives] with a free domestic servant,” she said. “I know of one such woman who was returned to her home country at the expense of the Indian High Commission.”

In other instances police had conducted raids on massage parlours, “but they are unable to do anything as there is no law against human trafficking in place.”

The Maldives was primarily a destination country for traffickers, she said, “with workers trafficked into forced labour or commercial sexual exploitation.”

With human trafficking not expressly prohibited and the only prescribed penalty for labour trafficking a small fine, unregistered rogue employment agents were” rampant” in the country, she said.

“Immigration attests that in one case a quota for 99 workers was issued in the name of an 80 year-old disabled Maldivian man, not in his senses, who knew nothing about migrant workers being brought to the country in his name. This was sanctioned not just for one year, but year after year.”

Immigration officials told Dr Dutta that a common question asked by many workers arriving in the country was “Is this Malaysia?”

“They do not know the agent’s number or even his name. You cannot blame this on them,” she said. “They are told they have work in a resort, but it turns out to be a small restaurant in Male’.”

Whenever fraudulent agents were arrested, the maximum sentences handed out were no more than three months in prison, “and then it’s back to business again.”

Even the Ministry of Education was retaining the passports of expatriates, Dr Dutta said, “in order to ‘ease out the visa application system’, which is not something I’ve heard happen anywhere else in the world. This contributes to the conversion of legal migrants into illegal ones.”

The Tourism Ministry had acknowledged that there were “cases in resorts that were not normal”, however the Ministry claimed these were outside its jurisdiction, Dr Dutta added.

“Hospitals also attest the fact that low numbers of expatriates [attend hospital] because they have no money to pay, so they are left to the mercy of God.”

Even the number of migrant workers in the country was unknown, Dr Dutta said, with the only estimates based on data from 2008. According to that information, 85,000 foreign workers were in the Maldives, approximately 28,000 Indians with the majority Bangladeshis.

“More that 50 percent of workers are illegal – why?” she asked. “Because they are paid irregular salaries, go without pay for months, work extremely hard for long hours in inhuman living conditions and face constant insecurity. The majority are illiterate and the poorest of the poor from the developing world.”

False promises of “rosy scenarios” overseas compelled many to seek a better life in countries such as the Maldives, Dr Dutta said, but placed them at high risk of exploitation by unscrupulous employment agents in countries where the authorities were disinterested or laws and regulations protecting workers did not exist.

“Law enforcement machinery for trafficking does not exist – there are no laws for human trafficking in Maldives, and existing laws can even be a hurdle for booking culprits,” Dr Dutta said, using the example of a trafficked sex worker who local laws viewed as a criminal rather than a victim.

Trafficking – “trade in flesh” – was one of the “world’s most heinous crimes” and “a modern-day slave trade,” Dr Dutta said.

“We used to living in a society that accepts the barbaric treatment of men, women and children, that this starts to become accepted. The initial shock of these outlandish crimes wears off quickly in an environment where rape, murder and humiliation are not only a staple of the news, but an important cornerstone of the nation’s entertainment,” she added.

HRCM is currently working on a report on human trafficking in the Maldives.

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High Court upholds Civil Court’s ruling in favor of CSC regarding salary issue

The High Court has today ruled that Finance Ministry does not have the legal authority to overturn the salaries and allowances of civil servants against the will of the Civil Service Commission (CSC).

In April last year the Civil Court ruled in favor of the Civil Service Commission in a case against the Ministry of Finance regarding civil servants’ salary cuts. The CSC successfully contended that the Finance Ministry did not have the legal authority to make amendments to civil servant salaries.

Delivering the verdict at the time, Civil Court Judge Aisha Shujoon said that the Finance Ministry was not authorised to order offices to prepare salary sheets according to its revised (lower) salaries, and also ruled that the Ministry could not issue an order narrowing the powers of the commission to decide the civil servants’ salaries under articles 6, 18(a) and 43 of the Civil Service Act.

The salaries of the Civil Servants were reduced in October 2009 for three months, after an agreement between the Finance Ministry and CSC, part of austerity measures favoured by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

After the three months duration was over, the Finance Ministry extended the duration for another three months without the consent of the CSC.

In January 2010, the CSC ordered permanent secretaries to submit the sheets with salaries at the levels prior to the government’s reductions in October, while the Finance Ministry threatened legal action against any civil servants who filled in salary sheets according to the restored amount.

Civil servants held protests in Male’ over the salary reduction, with the support of the opposition, after the government refused to restore the salaries to pre-cut levels citing the poor economic condition of the country.

The situation became especially heated that Feburary after the Finance Ministry filed a case against the CSC with police, alleging the commission was attempting to “to sow discord between the government and public”, and “bring the government to a halt.”

The Finance Ministry further claimed that certain members of the CSC were using the issue as a cover to attain “a hidden political agenda.”

“The CSC is making it difficult for the government to implement the necessary economic policies [and are therefore] indirectly trying to damage the economy,” the Ministry said in a statement, at the time.

“[The CSC’s actions] will result in an increased budget deficit, make it difficult to maintain the value of the rufiyaa against the dollar and will damage the Maldivian economy, affecting each and every citizen of this country.”

After the matter descended into the court system, the government appear to accept that it was unlikely to shake the CSC’s hold on the salary issue, as demanded by the IMF, and instead embarked on an ambitious program of corporatisation whereby entire departments were transformed into 100 percent government-owned corporate entities, outside the jurisdiction of the CSC.

More recently, cabinet launched a program to encourage civil servants to leave the government and enter the private sector or further their education, a move welcomed by the CSC.

Under the scheme, civil servants and government employees were eligible for one of four retirement incentive packages: no assistance, a one time payment of Rf 150,000 (US$11,700), a payment of Rf 150,000 and priority in the small and medium enterprises loan scheme (for those 18-50 years of age), or a lump sum of Rf 200,000 (US$15,600) and priority in government training and scholarship programmes (for those 18-40 years of age).

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MDP announces preliminary election results

The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has announced the preliminary results of its elections held to appoint the President, Deputy President and other special posts of the party, after vote counting was formally completed.

Former Fisheries Minister Dr Ibrahim Didi successfully challenged acting President of the party Ibrahim Hussein Zaki and won the top post of the party, with 10600 votes against Zaki’s 9519 votes.

Current Environment Minister Mohamed Aslam, former Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) MP Alhan Fahmy and Hussein Adam ran for the Vice President’s post.

Alhan won the post by 12225 votes while Environment Minister Aslam won 7230 votes and Adam 158 votes. Both Zaki and Aslam have conceded victory to Didi and Alhan.

Shiyama Adam was elected as the leader of Women’s Wing and Khadheeja Abubakur ‘Aniyath’ was elected as the deputy leader of the Woman’s Wing.

Five members for the MDP Religious Council were also appointed in the election: Mohamed Farooq, Ibrahim Shafeeu, Ahmed Zanin Adam, Ahmed Zaki and Hussein Ibrahim. The former leader of the Religious Council resigned after claiming that he was unhappy with the party’s religious policies.

Nine members for the Appeals Committee were also appointed:  Mohamed Mahir Easa, Hassan Ahmed, Ibrahim Rasheed, Ahmed Siraj, Abdul Hameed Abdul Kareem, Mohamed Falah, Imtiyaz Fahmy, Ahmed Rasheed and Nazil Afeef.

Former Minivan News journalist Aiminath Shauna, now working in the President’s Office, was elected as the head of Youth Wing and Hamza Hassan was elected as the deputy head. Shauna won the post challenging Lufshan Shakeeb ‘Looppe’, a well-known local actor.

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Negotiations between government, protesters, “very upsetting”, says Mahlouf

‘Peace talks’ held yesterday between the government and the ‘youth movement’ the opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) has claimed were responsible for organising last week’s protests have reportedly ended poorly.

Spokesperson for the opposition’s youth movement, Mohamed Ahusan, told Minivan News that their demands had been “dismissed” by the government representatives, who included Shauna Aminath from the President’s Office and State Finance Minister Ahmed Naseer.

Ahusan said the group’s demands included “reinstating the dollar rate, eliminating the dollar blackmarket, reduce political appointees and cutting at least some of their allowances, terminating foreign consultants, reducing water and electricity bills by reducing the fuel surcharge, and reducing the cost of living to the same level as 2010.”

However he said the government was not supportive of their requests, and accused Shauna of “making it political.”

‘’She said there were two solutions: one was an economic solution, and the second was a political solution,” Ahusan claimed. “She said the political solution was to arrest [former President] Gayoom.”

DRP MP and the party’s youth-wing leader Ahmed Mahlouf, who did not attend the meeting but requested police arrange the meeting with the government, described the meeting as “very upsetting.”

“Shauna, the Maldivian Democratic Party’s newly-elected youth-wing leader, represented the President’s Office and said the only solution would be to arrest former President Gayoom and his political leadership,
if there were any more protests,” he claimed.

“The President promised to bring the cost of living down in 2008 and to reduce electricity bills, and he has not delivered,” Mahlouf said, alleging that the government had “increased expenditure by 40 percent.”

Shauna would not comment on whether she had suggested Gayoom be arrested, and said the government was unable to officially respond to the group’s demands as they had no formal recognition as an NGO, committee or other such body.

“We met with four people who claimed to represent youth,” she said. “They presented a piece of paper they said was a youth proposal, but there was almost no discussion of what was on it.

“They talked a little about youth unemployment, and the rising price of milk, cooking oil and petrol. They said that young people did not have enough money to pay for coffees or petrol for their motorbikes.”

The group of four had “repeated the same messages being aired by [opposition] political parties: that the government had sold the airport to GMR, Dhiraggu to [Cable and Wireless], and that six people had control of the entire economy.

“Then they said they understood that the government’s [managed float of the rufiya] was necessary, but were concerned the government had not spoken about it beforehand.”

Minivan News understands that the proposal presented by the group included closing the national offices, ensuring government offices were not open after working hours, sacking foreign consultants, closing utility companies running at a loss, and reviewing expenditure on foreign diplomatic missions.

“The State Minister for Finance tried to explain the economic situation but it was not clear if they understood,” Shauna said.

“He explained that three billion rufiya had been printed, leaving the country with an artificial balance, and that the situation today was a result of economic policies of the past.”

“We explained that it would be very easy for us to keep printing money,” Shauna said, adding that the government had instead introduced new taxes such as the corporate tax and tourism goods and services tax (TGST) to bring long-term stability to the economy, despite knowing that it would be very difficult and unpopular.

Mahlouf said the protesters had not yet decided whether to continue the protests next Friday, “and would be working with parliamentarians this week to decide if we should go ahead.”

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Moosa criticises government for leaving Gayoom at large

Parliamentary Group Leader and MP Moosa ‘Reeko’ Manik of the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP)  last night criticised the government at a rally where President Mohamed Nasheed was present, for not arresting former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.

Speaking at the rally held to celebrate Social Liberal Party (SLP) President Ibrahim Ismail rejoining MDP, Moosa said that blame for failure to provide justice for those allegedly tortured by Gayoom’s administration did not only lie with the judiciary.

Moosa spoke little, but before he left the rally he said he would go to Gayoom’s residence “and disturb him no matter if I have to go to jail.”

President Mohamed Nasheed also spoke at the rally and responded to Moosa, saying that there was “no one who understands Moosa’s feelings more than I do.”

However, Nasheed said it would be impossible to provide  justice before upgrading the judicial system, a process he said would take a long time.

Nasheed said he had in the meantime given high priority for other necessary things such as providing sewerage systems and shelter for people.

In the special rally last night, first President of MDP Ibrahim Ismail ‘Ibra’, who resigned in 2006, rejoined the party along with other political figures who had belonged to the SLP including Youth Minister Dr Hassan Latheef.

Speaking at the rally, Ibra said that he decided to leave SLP and rejoin MDP because he wanted to take part in the reform movement begun by the party.

Today the MDP website said Moosa had left the rally early because he had to fly to China on official business.

According to the MDP website Moosa said he had no issues with the party itself, but had criticise state institutions for failing to investigate the torture allegations.

Meanwhile, former Deputy Leader of the opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) and now close ally of Gayoom claimed that Gayoom had not tortured Moosa, but ”Moosa injures himself by getting drunk and thinking Gayoom did it.”

Naseer also claimed that Nasheed was not interested in establishing justice and must have been mistaken.

”He’s still in the 1940s. It;s for the judiciary to create justice, why does not he go to the courts?” asked Umar. ”We know why. It’s because he does not have any evidence. How can there be evidence for something that was not done?”

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Mahlouf plots presidential “referendum” as stats show living cost rise

Official statistics supplied by the Department of National Planning have indicated a 4.42 percent increase in the rate of inflation last month compared to March 2011, as one opposition MP plans a referendum on President Mohamed Nasheed’s leadership over the dissatisfaction with living costs.

The new figures indicate increased prices for food and drink products last month, particularly for fish, on the basis of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) when compared to 2011 and April 2010.

The release of the statistics comes as MP Ahmed Mahlouf from the Z-DRP party, a spin-off of the main opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP), claimed to be ready to forward a resolution to parliament this week calling for a referendum to test public support for the current president and his handling of the economy.

Figures such as the CPI are therefore an important issue following seven consecutive nights of protests in the streets of Male’, with demonstrators announcing they were now willing to negotiate with the government.

Protest organisers have claimed the demonstrations were a non-partisan “youth movement” in response to rising living costs on the back of government attempts to effectively devalue the rufyiya.

Aside from criticising the political opposition for politicising the demonstrations in the media for their own political gain, the country’s financial authorities last week claimed that to be providing some economic support to try and stabilise prices it said that while increasing, varied significantly between different stores.

According to the latest planning department stats, the cost of food and beverages when including fish was up by 20.35 percent during April 2011 compared to the same period the previous year. These costs were also up by 10.65 percent on the same terms compared to March 2011.

When excluding the price of fish, the average cost of food and drinks last month was up by 13.07 percent compared to over the same period of time last year. On the same terms, the statistics found that food and beverage costs last month rose by 4.44 percent compared to March 2011.

When comparing the overall change in CPI between April 2011 and April 2010, increases in costs were recorded across the board with the exception of recreation and culture, which was down by 3.11 percent.

As of late month, healthcare was up by 6.25 percent, transportation was up by 8.96 percent, education was up by 16.89 percent and fish was up by 58.32 percent when compared over the same period the previous year.

Between March to April this year, the statistics showed that the costs of healthcare were up by 1.21 percent, transport was up by 6.56 percent and fish prices were up 42.07 percent. The full statistics can be found here.

Halt to protests

In light of protests last week over rising costs, DRP MP Ahmed Mahlouf told Minivan News today that the party would be postponing any further demonstrations relating until next Friday after requests from police.

In the meantime, he claimed that young people who had initially organised the protests were negotiation with members of the government, a meeting that had been organised through the police to try and find some possible compromises on costs.

“The meetings were scheduled to take place with the government at 12:00pm today though I have not been informed yet of their progress. I imagine that they [the protest organisers] would be demanding some changes to government policy,” he said. “The police have asked us to stop the protests and as some of their members supported the march, we have wanted to keep good relations with them.”

Mahlouf added that he believed there had been a reluctance among organisers to stop the protests as the government were failing to address concerns about costs and “not believing” the financial realities Maldivians were facing.

However, amidst intense media scrutiny, the opposition MP said he believed the protesters had succeeded in their aims to attempt to change government policy on the economy.

However, ahead of the next scheduled protest on Friday, Mahlouf claimed he plans to forward a parliamentary motion for a referendum on whether President Nasheed had sufficient support from the public to enact his planned reforms.

Foreign Minister Ahmed Naseem last week criticised opposition parties like the DRP for “misleading” international media about the nature of the protests and failing to sit down and present their own alternatives for financial reforms in the country.

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