Category: Politics

Islamic Sharia applies where Maldivian law silent, High Court clarifies

The High Court of the Maldives has clarified that Islamic Sharia law defaults in cases where crimes may not be specifically forbidden by Maldivian law, and instructed parliament to keep this in mind when amending the penal code.

”When bringing amendments to the penal code of the Maldives, I rule that the concerned state institution amend the penal code in a manner that does not obstruct the giving of penalties for crimes prohibited under Islamic Sharia,” Judge Abdul Gany Mohamed ruled.

Judge Gany added the landmark ruling to the verdict in a case concerning a man who threatened a doctor last year in Indira Gandi Memorial Hospital (IGMH).

The prosecution claimed that Sulhath Abdulla, of Maafannu Kurevi, went to IGMH in May last year and threatened a doctor who had refused to write him a prescription for a control drug.

The Criminal Court of the Maldives last year ruled that there was no specific law forbidding Sulhath Abdulla’s actions, and therefore he could not be punished.

Judge Gany said that although there was no Maldivian law for the crime he committed, anything prohibited under Islamic Shariah was consisted prohibited according to articles 2, 10, 19 and 59 of the constitution.

”Under article number 142[a], the courts must rule according to Islamic Sharia when deciding a matter on which [Maldivian] laws are silent,” Judge Gany said.

Judge Gany sentenced Sulhath Abdulla for four years house arrest for objection to order and violating article 88[a] of the penal code.

He explained that using foul words when addressing to people, threats to damage another’s body or property, intimidation, refusing to give samples necessary for investigations, obstructing investigation, using or possessing a sharp object that might cause “fear in society”, and using any object that could potentially be classed as a weapon should all be considered prohibited under article number 2, 10, 19 and 59[a] of the constitution.

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MP Nasheed proposes resolution to determine ‘laws inconsistent with the constitution’

Independent MP Mohamed Nasheed yesterday proposed a resolution in parliament to determine existing laws “inconsistent” with the country’s constitution.

Proposing the bill, Nasheed said that according to the constitution it was a duty of the executive to assemble a list of articles of the constitution inconsistent with the laws within 30 days of commencement of the constitution, and that it was a duty of MPs to amend those laws within 90 days after the inconsistent articles were presented.

MP Nasheed said the government had done its duty and presented a list of laws inconsistent with the constitution and that he regretted the duty of the MPs was still incomplete.

The constitution was established in August 7, 2008.

”After two months, it will be two years from the date we authenticated the constitution,” MP Nasheed said, ”so there is a duty of the parliament unfulfilled, and that’s why I presented this resolution – to complete one of these duties.”

Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP Ahmed Hamza said he supported the resolution presented by MP Nasheed.

”The parliament is the place where have to bow our heads to laws the most,” MP Hamza said, ”therefore, we would have to compete the duties assigned to us under article 299 [of the constitution],”

MP Hamza said that there were many difficulties faced because parliamentarians had failed to complete this task.

”There are some ongoing court trails charged against this constitution,” MP Hamza said. ”Former president [Maumoon Abdul Gayum] has charged some people of my area [Bilehdhoo] over protesting against him during the last presidential elections campaign.”

MP Hamza said that although the parliament had not revoked the laws contradicting articles in the constitution, they would still be void.

”I would like to tell the Police, Prosecutor General’s office, the courts and Anti Corruption Commission that the powers given to them by former laws which are inconsistent with the constitution are all void,” he said.

People’s Alliance (PA) MP Abdul Azeez Jamaal Abubakuru also said he supported the resolution presented by MP Nasheed.

”This resolution should not be debated for long, and all the MPs should accept that this is our duty,” said Jamaal.

”I would like to thank MP Nasheed for presenting this as a resolution and would like to repeat that it is an important issue and should hasten to complete it soon.”

MDP MP and leader of MDP parliamentary group ‘Reeko’ Moosa Manik also said he supported the resolution.

”It is not the responsibility of MDP or the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party [DRP] to make laws for the country,” Moosa said. ”It is the responsibility of the parliament.”

”We handed this first to a person called the speaker of the parliament – not to run the whole parliament, but to operate and supervise the administrative duties of the parliament,” Moosa said. ”We never thought that this matter would be raised by the former information minister, instead we feel the speaker and deputy speaker of the parliament should have brought this to our attention.”

He suggested that the MPs should work every day until midnight until the duties mentioned in article 299 were completed.

DRP deputy leader and MP Ali Waheed said that his party would “fully co-operate” with the work.

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Transport ministry denies ACC findings over Dhoogas Guest House

The Transport Ministry has denied findings by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) that the Dhoogas Guest House in Addu Atoll was awarded to MVK for 50 years in violation of the government’s financial regulations and tourism laws.

A statement issued by the Ministry today denies any wrongdoing or corruption in the awarding of Dhoogas as part of the agreement to establish a transport network in the South Province.

It adds that nationwide connectivity was an important policy of the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) and President Nasheed was closely monitoring the process of establishing integrated regional transport networks.

“Therefore, we do not believe that there has been any violation of the financial regulations in this project,” it reads.

Moreover, as the contracts were awarded following transparent bidding processes, the tourism law did not preclude granting plots of land in return for providing ferry services.

ACC findings

However, a press release by the ACC on Sunday states that islands or plots of land could only be awarded for island hotels by the Tourism Ministry for a maximum of 25 years.

The awarding of Dhoogas therefore violated articles two, four, five and nine of the Tourism Law as well as article 250 of the constitution and clause seven of the financial regulations.

The ACC statement reads that the law was clear that provisions on tourist resorts would also apply to city hotels.

Moreover, land could only be leased for 50 years to public companies that fulfilled specified conditions.
It adds the Transport Ministry was informed on June 3 that the guesthouse could not be awarded to MVK.

The ACC investigation into the awarding of the contract to MVK, prompted by a complaint lodged at the commission, is still underway.

The ACC notes that five months elapsed after the signing of the contract with MVK before the President’s Office transferred the land to the Tourism Ministry.

“Campaign contributor”

Less than a week after the contract was signed in October last year, the Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP) alleged corruption in the bidding process, claiming that the company was a financial contributor to the MDP presidential campaign.

DQP called on the government to annul the contract and initiate a second bidding process as more companies would have competed if it was known that the incentive was the 86-bed Dhoogas Guesthouse, which was “ready for immediate financial benefit,” instead of plots of land as previously announced.

The party argued that there was reason to suspect corruption as MVK won “a lucrative contract” in competition with companies with more experience despite having no history of providing ferry services.

However, at the time, State Minister for Transport ‘Maizan’ Adam Manik denied the allegations to Minivan News.

Manik said companies had the choice of either selecting the government’s standard bid document or providing an alternative bid proposal.

MVK chose the latter, he explained, suggesting Dhoogas as part of their bid.

Moreover, all bids were forwarded to a bid evaluation committee at the ministry of finance and then to the privatisation committee before the final decision was made.

Mohamed Zuhair, president’s office press secretary, added proposals were finally sent to the attorney general to confirm the bidding process was above board.

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Maldives civil society ‘weak’, says Vice President

Civil society organisations in the Maldives are weak, according to Vice President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan, “and their ability to influence public policy is weak, if not nonexistent.”

Speaking at a seminar organised by the High Commission of Bangladesh in the Maldives titled “Democracy, Enterprise Building, Strengthening of Civil Society and Contributions of Expatriate Bangladeshi Workers in the Maldives”, Dr Waheed noted that NGOs in the Maldives “do not lobby for positions to change legislation or to influence public policy.”

Upholding democracy could not be left only to political and economic interests, he warned, suggesting that the government and international development partners needed to help civil society organisations strive towards independence.

Dr Waheed’s comments echo those of UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Representative in the Maldives, Andrew Cox, in an interview with Minivan News last week.

“The UN can give out a grant of US$20,000 [to an NGO], and what they’ll do is buy a computer, pay for some travel and training and so on, then it’s gone and that’s it. What happens then?” Cox asked.

“This is a very important question that a lot of civil society organisation managers are thinking about – or at least I hope they are. Because in the end, international funding can’t be assured for anybody over time.”

Civil society organisations had “proliferated” in the Maldives in the last few years, “but now they need to move beyond that start up phase and become a bit more secure.”

Outside assistance could only go so far, he suggested, “and in the end civil society will only be strong if Maldivians embrace their own civil society and start paying for it. Some of that is about government funding, but much more of it is local philanthropy and gift giving – and earning the organisation that you’re associated with.”

It was imperative that civil society be healthy and self-sustaining, he noted, “because it gives you way of getting important things done in a manner separate to the politics.”

Ahmed Irfan from the Maldivian Democracy Network acknowledged that Maldivian civil society was weak and struggled for support, but noted that “on the other side, it is growing.”

“Local NGOs on many of the islands are actually supported quite well,” he observed, “but people aren’t used to the idea of funding nationwide NGOs. These groups, particularly those advocating human rights and democracy, are seen as being involved in partisan politics – people don’t understand that they’re not.”

Fathimath Nelfa from the Raajje Foundation, an NGO working to strengthen civil society in the Maldives, agreed that perceptions of partisanship were an issue, “especially for those NGOs promoting democracy and human rights, because these things were strongly promoted by the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP).”

“Today a lot of civil society organisations are very critical of the government,” she said, adding that mistaken association with NGOs promoting these same values was “human nature” and would take time to fade.

“The more civil society is active, the more people will understand,” she said. “It will take time for some people’s perceptions to change – it took 4-5 years for people to know what democracy and human rights meant.”

Maldivian civil society “as a group” is not weak, Nelfa said, “but it needs resources, funding and especially technical assistance, such as more people trained in how to handle funds, write good proposals and liaise with donors. They don’t lack implementation.”

International organisations were “very important for this funding and technical assistance, particularly since the Maldives lacks the human resources,” she said.

For its part, civil society needs to proactively implement greater monitoring, financial auditing, evaluation of projects and reporting to donors, Nelfa suggested.

“Civil society organisations must become more disciplined,” she said. “If an NGO is disciplined and good at evaluating projects, then they should be able to use past donors as a reference.”

There were thousands of civil society organisations registered in the Maldives, but only a few were active in the media, she noted.

“Something like the bill on disability was very well discussed with civil society, and the media focus really publicised these organisations,” she said.

Correction: The Maldivian Detainee Network is now called the Maldivian Democracy Network. This has been amended.

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MDP MP accuses parliamentarians of ”demolishing the constitution”

Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP Ahmed Hamza has claimed the constitution of the Maldives gives too many powers to parliamentarians, and accused them of ”demolishing” it.

MP Hamza said the constitution narrowed both  presidential power and the power of the judiciary in favour of parliament.

”The powers are split into three so one power can compel another to act with responsibility,” MP Hamza said, ”but today we are seeing something different – we see the parliamentarians trying to take over the presidential powers.”

MP Hamza said the constitution very clearly stated the responsibilities of each power.

”However, the parliamentarians are trying to narrow the presidential powers,” MP Hamza said, ”for instance, some parliamentarians are trying to take the power of proposing names and appointing people for independent commissions, which actually is a power of the president.”

He said that the power of appointing people for the government’s media and Civil Service Commission (CSC) was also sought by the parliament.

He condemned  a bill proposed to the parliament by Independent MP Mohamed Nasheed, which he claimed was trying to take over the power of appointing people for senior posts in the armed forces.

Deputy leader of the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) Umar Naseer said that what Hamza said was ”certainly true.”

”But he does not mean that DRP MPs, he was speaking about MDP MPs,” Umar said. ”There are such bills proposed by MDP MPs recently, but I can’t recall them immediately.”

Umar said that the presidential powers should be narrowed “because when a sword is given to a silly person, people should establish ways to manage it.”

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MP Muthalib forwards no-confidence motion against education minister

Independent MP Ibrahim Muthalib has forwarded a no-confidence motion against Education Minister Dr Musthafa Luthfy to parliament.

MP Muthalib presented a petition to forward the motion against Education minister, which was signed by five independent MPs, three Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) MPs and two People’s Alliance (PA) MPs.

On May 19, MP Muthalib announced he would file a no-confidence motion against Education Minister Dr Musthafa Luthfy over the ministry steering committee’s recommendation to make Islam and Dhivehi optional subjects for grades 11 and 12.

A crowd of people who did not claim to be representing any political party or NGO conducted a series of protests over the decision outside Education Minister Luthfy’s house.

Luthfy told Minivan News that he had not officially received the news yet.

”I also heard that a such motion was presented to parliament, but the parliament has not affirmed it,” said Luthfy.

”I heard that there were three issues highlighted in the petition, ” he explained.

”The first issue they claimed was that Kulliathul Dhuraasathul Islaamiyya school was dissolved, which is literally not true,” Luthfy said. ”The school was not dissolved, rather we planned to place it under the Maldives College of Higher Education when it becomes a university.”

Luthfy said the second issue was a claim that it was his fault that Arabiyya School’s walls fell down.

”The third point was because the Education Ministry has decided to make Dhivehi and Islam optional at A-Level,” he said, ”but this was just a suggestion made by the ministry’s steering committee.”

Muthalib recently said that if the education system implemented the steering committee’s recommendation, students would be moved away from religion and their mother tongue.

”I cannot support such a curriculum that discourages the use of our own culture and language,” he said.

The government meanwhile launched a spirited defense of the Education Minister.

“This is a part of DRP’s plan to pick off ministers one-by-one,” he said. “First they plan to try and bring down the education minister, and if that succeeds they will then go after other ministers. This no-confidence motion is a shallow attempt to destabilise the government and the country,” said the President’s Press Secretary, Mohamed Zuhair.

“The DRP is claiming the government is trying to ‘undermine Islam,’ because an Education Ministry has floated the idea of making the study of Dhivehi and Islam, along with all other subjects, optional for school grades 11 and 12,” he said.

“DRP, led by its dubiously elected leader Thasmeen Ali, has demonstrated time and again that they will do and say anything to try and damage the government”, Zuhair said.

“There are some good, intelligent and responsible people in the DRP. Sadly, under the current leadership, these people have been marginalized and the hot heads have taken over the party.

“The DRP have no policies; they have no vision; they have no substance. It seems their sole guiding principle is to oppose anything and everything that the government is trying to achieve.”

He further accused the concerned parliamentarians “of using Islam as a political tool.”

”I think despite being an Independent MP Muthalib acts in the parliament with the spirit of an opposition MP,” he added.

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Umar Naseer “fully confident” of survival if no-confidence motion raised

Deputy leader of the main opposition party Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP), Umar Naseer, has said he is confident of surviving any no-confidence motion put forward to terminate him from his post of party leadership.

Daily newspaper Miadhu reported that a DRP member as claiming that a no-confidence motion to remove Umar Naseer from his post had been presented to the party’s council.

Naseer said he had also heard rumors of a no-confidence motion brewing against him.

”But then I clarified it with [party leader] Ahmed Thasmeen Ali, and he assured me that no such motion was planned or discussed,” Naseer said. ”So it was just a rumor being circulated.”

He acknowledged, however, that a no-confidence motion to sack him was ”very likely to happen”.

For such a motion to succeed however, a two-thirds majority would be needed, and Naseer said he was confident that such a majority could not be reached in order to sack him.

Prior to the DRP Congress Naseer was very vocal about the need for primary elections within the party to select its presidential candidate, however the party opted to retain its system of automatically putting the party leader forward as a candidate.

”There have been no internal splits in DRP,” Naseer said, ”but as we are a large political party, we do have some disagreements over some issues between different people.”

”The biggest disagreement between us is the issue of primaries,” he explained: ”I want to hold primary elections six months prior of the next presidential election.”

He said that there were “lots of people” who supported the primaries.

”I did not discuss this with [Thasmeen], I do not know what his side is on this,” Naseer said. ”During the last congress, he said he did not support holding primaries.”

Naseer said he wanted the DRP’s presidential ticket open for every member, which he believed would increase popular support for the party.

”Many prosperous people would join the party if we kept the party’s presidential ticket open, that way we can strengthen both our financial position and political position,” Naseer explained.

He said that an issue of unpaid salaries to some DRP staff members was ongoing, but added that it was an internal issue he did want to share with the media.

”The biggest issue for me, being the deputy leader of DRP, is the challenges I am being faced by the government,” he said, adding that this included ”torture, tear gas being arrested. ”

He said that while he would try to make the party’s presidential ticket open to everyone, “I have not decided yet whether or not to run for the next presidential election myself.”

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Bill to control thalassemia presented to parliament

A bill to control the recessive disease ‘thalasemia ‘ has been presented to the parliament.

The bill was presented to parliament by Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) MP Visaam Ali.

Thalassemia is a recessive blood disease that can cause anemia, and the Maldives has the highest incidence of it in the world with 18 percent of the population thought to be carriers.

As a result, a large number number of families suffer from the consequences of the disease

DRP MP Ahmed Nihan said there were two main purposes of the bill.

”One is that the Maldives, relative to its small population, has a large number of thalassemia patients,” Nihan said. ”The the current government has been careless with thalassemia patients, so we need a law for this.”

Nihan said that the increasing number of thalassmia patients in the Maldives was “a serious social issue, which should be prevented for the future of the country.”

”The disease was first discovered in 1921, and Maldivians became aware of it after Madam Nasreena [wife of former president Maumoon Abdul Gayum] formed the ‘Society for Health Education’ and conducted awareness programs,” Nihan explained.

For a long time people were unaware of the disease, he said.

”Many lives have been lost due to the disease through a lack of awareness,” Nihan said, ” and yet there was no laws about it.”

He said that all the DRP MPs supported the bill, and congratulated MP Visaam for his work.

”I would like to take this opportunity would like to thank the police, NGOs and individuals who work really hard for the thalassemia patients,” he said.

Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP Eva Abdulla said the bill should be more broader and comprehensive rather than focusing solely on for thalassemia.

”As thalassemia is a blood disorder, the bill could be broadened by making it a bill for other blood disorders,” Eva said. ”There are many blood disorders that are very common in the Maldives.”

Eva noted that 38 percent of females of reproductive age were affected by anemia while 50 percent had child anemia.

”We want the bill to be a bill for other blood disorders,” Eva said. ”The treatment policy in the bill was just the same policy used previously – awareness programs and screening.”

Eva suggested that prenatal diagnosis would be more effective to prevent the disease.

”The third thing we highlighted was to establish a hematology (blood) centre instead of a thalassemia centre,” she said, adding that all the suggestions would be incorporated in the committee stage and discussed.

”We want the bill to be broader,” she said.

Correction: This article formerly stated that 38% of women suffered from anemia, when it should have read 38% of women of reproductive age. Several translation errors have also been corrected.

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Elections bill blocks 25% from voting if not amended, warns Transparency Maldives

The Local Council Elections Bill, adopted by parliament on May 4, will potentially exclude one fourth of the population from voting unless it is amended, according to a statement from Transparency Maldives (TM).

The bill, which has been sent back to parliament by the president and is now being reviewed by committee, required people to vote in their home constituency and contained no capacity for remote voting. With many islanders working in the capital Male and other locations around the Maldives such as resorts and industrial islands, TM warned that nearly 55,000 people could be restricted from voting.

“Our basic concern is that 25 percent of the voting population will lose their right to vote unless this bill is amended,” said Aiman Rasheed from TM.

People had the option to travel, he acknowledged, “but pragmatically speaking that is not going to happen. If everyone in Male’ left to go vote, entire operations would shut down.”

DRP MP Ahmed Nihan explained that the sheer scale of the Local Council Elections, with potentially upwards of thousands of candidates across the many island councils, was a logistical and administrative challenge the independent Elections Commission (EC) would be unable to deal with.

“I strongly believe the EC does not have have capacity to conduct such an election with thousands of candidates. Their budget for holding elections in 2010 is around Rf 22 million,” he said.

“We are genuinely concerned about this election because our constitution says we have to hold it – on July 1 last year – and we are far behind. If government is genuine, we should do everything to make it as inclusive as possible.”

Nihan noted that the government had put forward the bill at the same time as the decentralisation bill, and criticised the ruling MDP for miring it in “many other amendments”. DRP had passed the Local Council Elections Bill “just as the Attorney General sent it.”

MDP MP Eva Abdullah observed that “MDP proposed an amendment but DRP shot it down because they had the majority at the time. Now the opposition has conceded the voting issue, we are hoping this will be quite speedy.”

Nihan however said “it was a DRP idea to make it more inclusive.”

Rasheed from TM said he would not comment on the politics of the bill, but noted that “Both major parties want to remove the restrictions on people’s ability to vote.”

“We understand the administration and logistical challenges, but there are alternatives like postal ballots. During previous elections the EC has been proactive in finding a solution,” he said.

The EC said it would not comment, other than to say it was “prepared to run the election however the Majlis decides.”

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