Category: Politics

Jail officers helping inmates bring in “drugs, phones”

Several jail officers are being investigated on suspicion of helping inmates to bring mobile phones and drugs into cells in Male’ prison, according to State Minister for Home Affairs Ahmed Adil.

“Three inmates and several jail officers we suspect [to be involved] have been moved to Dhoonidhu [prison] for investigation,” Adil said.

Inmates in Male’ Prison last week damaged their cells after jail officers seized mobile phones and other contraband. Adil said the trouble started after inmates refused to hand over a mobile phone.

”Jail officers found a mobile phone inside a cell, and they checked other cells,” Adil said. ”Officers then discovered drugs in another cell.”

Adil said that after the officers took the mobile phone inmates started to protest.

”They broke the flush tanks in the toilet and damaged other jail property,” he said, adding that the inmates were eventually controlled with the help of police.

He refuted a report published in Haveeru that claimed the protest was started after a “delay in financial transactions between a family and the Department of Penitentiary and Rehabilitation Service (DPRS)”.

Police sub Inspector Ahmed Shiyam said the DPRS requested help from police to control the inmates during the incident.

Nobody was injured during the riot, he noted.

Director of the DRPS Saudh Abdul Kareem meanwhile refused to comment on the incident, claiming that Minivan News “causes me trouble by always disturbing me to clarify cases.”

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UNDP briefs media on decentralisation bill

The UNDP and the Ministry of Home Affairs held a press conference today at the UN building in Malé to discuss the government’s proposed decentralisation bill.

Opposition to the bill resulted in a bitter parliamentary stand-off between the MDP and DRP during parliament’s final sittings last year. This culminated in protests outside parliament between the two parties on 30 December.

Speaking at the conference today was Jens Peter Christensen, senior advisor in local government in his home country of Denmark.

Christensen started his presentation by saying that “Denmark is a good example of decentralisation—probably the most decentralised country in the world.” He said it provides a clear view on “transparency and participation” of government entities and civil society.

The slow process of decentralisation

Christensen stated that decentralisation is “the most difficult public sector reform you can make,” adding that “a lot can go wrong,” but it’s a “part of modern nation-building.”

He said the process of decentralisation is “time-consuming” and mentioned that in Denmark it has taken about 25 years for the decentralisation of government to take full effect.

In other countries, like Bhutan, the process of government decentralisation began in the early 1980s. They held their first local government elections in 2002, and have continued to hold them every three years.

Bhutan “faces some of the same challenges [as the Maldives] in dealing with remote communities,” said Christensen, and added that the Maldives could learn from Bhutan in the “cooperation between government and international donors supporting decentralisation.”

Cooperation between local government and the community

Christensen said one of the main benefits of decentralisation is “empowering local governments” and “build[ing] on the resources that are available” to each island, atoll or province.

He listed a local government’s basic functions as being primary education, health services (including care of the elderly), waste management, social welfare, public utilities, local infrastructure and promoting local economic development.

Christensen said “in developing countries [there is] usually a very weak local government,” which is why Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and the media have “a very important role in government reform”.

“This was particularly true when dealing with transparency in the government, and acting as a ‘watch-dog’ to make sure the momentum of the reform doesn’t die down. The media have a big responsibility to the community.”

Expanding on the media’s role in a situation where the government is undergoing a major reform, Christensen said they must be aware of distributing information fairly to the public, and must look for adverse consequences.

“There will always be resistance to reform; not everybody will be in favour.”

To combat resistance and the inevitable challenges, Christensen suggested finding “a common vision” and “exploring synergies” between local government and the community.

Participation needs to be facilitated, he said, so the community isn’t left out and the government knows what is needed the most.

Reform within the reform

One of the reasons decentralisation has worked so favourably in Denmark has been its ‘Access to Information’ laws.

“You cannot expect people to become involved in government if they don’t have access to information,” says Christensen, adding that it is mandatory for every local government in Denmark to have a webpage where they publish any information concerning the government and the community.

Each local government in Denmark also has a “press officer to specifically talk to the media” and holds “regular meetings with journalists” to discuss public issues.

There is a proposed new rights to information bill in the government’s decentralisation plan, which would include similar reforms in ministries (ie having one specifically trained media officer for each ministry and local government).

Issues with proposed decentralisation bill

The main issue Christensen found with the Maldives’ decentralisation bill was there was no costing information submitted to parliament.

“What will it cost to implement [this bill]?” he asked, noting that in some situations, the task proposed can be too much for the country’s economy to undertake.

“Funding is always an issue, and lack of capacity is sometimes used as an excuse not to decentralise.”

He also warned that the proposed availability for local governments to take out loans could create big debt, and was something that needed to be watched carefully.

A word from the Ministry of Home Affairs

From the Ministry of Home Affairs, Mohamed Shareef said he had done some costing earlier, but still found that “there won’t be sufficient funds for everyone,” since “not all local councils will be able to raise their own revenue immediately.”

He also said that under the new reform, with each of the twenty atolls having at least two constituent seats in government, “the power is with the people”.

Shareef also said there will be an independent commission for the local governments, to establish a platform of communication between central and local governments. This was also one of Christensen’s main concerns regarding the decentralisation plan.

Christensen has worked extensively in policy formulation, planning and capacity development for central and local governments, and has worked with NGOs, including the UNDP.

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Malaysia Airlines withdraws lawsuit following out-of-court settlement

Malaysia Airlines has withdrawn a long-running US$35.5 million lawsuit against Air Maldives in the Malaysian High Court, after the Maldivian government withdrew a US$90 million counter-claim in the Singapore International Arbitration Centre.

Malaysia’s national news agency Bernama reported that an out-of-court settlement had been reached between the two parties after discussions on 14 February. The Maldivian cabinet held a meeting to discuss such a settlement in late December.

According to Bernama, the agreement was reached after “intense negotiations” between Malaysian Airline Systems (MAS) executives Dr Mohd Amin Khan (General Manager of Network and Revenue) and Dr Wafi Nazrin Abdul Hamid (General Manager of Corporate and Legal Services), and State Finance Minister Ahmed Assad and Attorney General Husnu Suood representing the Maldives.

Last week Suood told parliament that the Air Maldives case presented “legal challenges” and there was little documentation in favour of Air Maldives.

Neither Assad nor Suood were responding to enquiries at time of press.

Failed airline

Air Maldives went international in 1994 in a joint venture between Maldivian government and Naluri (then Malaysian Helicopter Services Berhad), a holding company owned by the chairman of Malaysia Airlines, Tan Sri Tajudin Ramli.

Naluri paid $8 million for a 49 per cent stake in the national carrier, according to a report by Alkman Granitsas in the Far Eastern Economic Review. The plan was to run short-haul flights connecting the Maldives to major regional hubs, including Colombo, Trivandrum and Kuala Lumpur.

But despite a burgeoning tourism industry the airline met an inglorious fate in 2000, spiralling into bankruptcy amid ambitious expansion into long-haul routes and allegations of mismanagement under the directorship of Anbaree Abdul Satter, also the controversial head of the National Security Service (NSS).

Initally a short-haul carrier, the airline leased three aircraft and started running long-haul routes, including Gatwick, and quickly found itself facing losses somewhere between US$50 to US$70 million. Granitsas noted at the time that the airline’s collapse in April 2000 met with little comment from the Maldives government or media, and suggested that the resultant plunge in business confidence led to a run on the rufiyaa and a dollar shortage that crippled the economy.

He quoted Husnu Suood, then a lawyer representing Airbus, as saying “the current economic crisis can be party attributed to the collapse of Air Maldives.”

A former member of the Air Maldives cabin crew told Minivan News that news of the company’s collapse was dropped “very suddenly”.

“I was on board the last flight between Male’ and Dubai when we were told,” she said. “We landed in Dubai at 8:30pm carrying a load of Hajj pilgrims from Colombo, and somebody came on board to tell us to stop any flights.  We were flown back [to Male’] and two sets of crew in Dubai were recalled.”

She added that while there had been rumours that the company was facing financial difficulty, “we’d started picking up really full flights to London Gatwick and were already planning the roster for Charles de Gaulle in Paris and Johannesburg South Africa.”

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Umar Naseer accuses government of interfering in Adam Naseer trial

The Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) has accused the government of interfering in the trial of Adam Naseer, labelled by the President Mohamed Nasheed as one of the country’s ‘top six’ drug lords.

Naseer was aquitted by the Criminal Court last Sunday following a year-long police investigation, after the judge cited a lack of evidence.

DRP’s Vice President Umar Naseer claimed Adam Naseer was freed because police withheld evidence from the court, notably fingerprint and video evidence, and accused the government of trying to influence the judicial process.

“Police failed to produce video and fingerprint evidence. There is no reason why police should fail in this, it’s very basic. I suspect interference by senior government officials,” he said.

He furthermore said he would seek the dismissal of Attorney General Husnu Suood through parliament’s internal affairs committee, accusing him of working with Adam Naseer during the 2008 trial of Abdul Hameed Abdul Samad. Suood worked in a private law practice before accepting the post of attorney general.

“Adam Naseer is a friend of Husnu Suood,” Umar claimed, alleging to journalists that Naseer offered police witnesses in the Samad case bribes of Rf30,000 and a motorcycle each to alter their testimony.

Asked how he came by such information, Umar, a former police officer himself, said he was approached by several serving police “who knew I was advocating harsher punishment for drug offenders.”

Asked why the government would seek to acquit someone they themselves had labelled a drug lord, Umar said “if the government not included Adam Naseer in the list, the public would have been surprised.”

Spokesman for the President Mohamed Zuhair said Umar Naseer’s allegations were “a load of rubbish.”

“The attorney general has no links to Adam Naseer. If Umar Naseer has legal evidence to back these claims he should act like a respectable political leader and take it to the police rather than the media. Otherwise he looks in danger of trying to [slander] to gain political fame.”

Adam Naseer was acquitted not so much by a lack of evidence as by “intrinsic problems with the judiciary. It is was the only part of the state did not go through reform and many of the judges are the same as they were under the former government,” Zuhair said.

Prosecutor General Ahmed Muizzu said the PG’s office would prefer not to discuss the Adam Naseer case as it had not yet exhausted all levels of the judicial system and intended to appeal to the high court. He said he expected it would take two weeks for the appeal to be lodged at the high court.

Sergeant Abdul Muhsin from the Maldives Police Service also declined to comment, claiming that “we will respect the decision of the court whatever it decides.”

The “usual proceedure” is to submit all evidence at hand to the court, he explained.

Husnu Suood had not responded to Minivan News at time of press.

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Manager of Habib Bank stabbed and robbed

The country manager of Habib Bank was stabbed and robbed in his home yesterday evening by a gang of four masked men.

Mohamed Anjul Jameel suffered injuries to his nose, forehead and right arm but was not seriously hurt, said Police Sergeant Abdul Muhsin.

Jameel was taken to ADK Hospital for treatment following the attack, which occurred around 5:30pm yesterday.

The bank’s Manager for Foreign Exchange Saudhulla Saeed told Minivan News the incident occurred inside Jameel’s house.

”When he went home after work a group of four young men were in front of his apartment covering their faces,” Saeed said. ”[Jameel] did not notice that these guys were there.”

Saeed said as the man opened his apartment the men came up from behind and pushed him inside his room.

”They covered his mouth and started beating him,” Saeed said, ”and then he told the group to take whatever they liked.”

He said the group only took the money from inside Jameel’s wallet.

”They packed a laptop, five watches and some cosmetics but they forgot to take it with them,” he said.

He said Jameel’s face was badly beaten in the attack.  He was discharged from ADK Hospital this afternoon.

Saeed noted that Jameel’s five year contract was coming to an end and he would be leaving the country very soon.

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The Maldives will run for the UN Human Rights Council: Shaheed

Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr Ahmed Shaheed, has lauded the progress of the Maldives towards human rights, in front of an audience of world leaders at the 13th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.

Speaking to the UN Council on 1 March, Dr Shaheed said although the situation of human rights in the country was moving in the right direction, it is “still very much a work in progress.”

Dr Shaheed added that the Council had played a very important part in the transformation of the Maldives, and this change could not have been possible without the “strong, mutually respectful and cooperative relationship with the Human Rights Council.”

In 2006, the first year the Human Rights Council met in Geneva, the Maldives was under constant criticism from international human rights NGOs.

“I have frequently addressed the Council since 2006,” said Shaheed, adding that, since then, the human rights situation in the country has become “unrecognisable” as so much progress has been made.

Dr Shaheed said it is “self-evident that much had been achieved” since 2006, thanks to the work the Council has provided for human rights in the country, the change in government and the ratification of the new constitution.

Dr Shaheed also announced the Maldives’ candidature for a seat in the Human Rights Council in the upcoming May elections to be held at UN Headquarters in New York.

“I am here lobbying for candidature,” said Shaheed. “We have very strong support and are very confident of winning [a seat in the Council].”

Besides the Maldives, Malaysia, Thailand, Qatar and Iran are also running in the elections for one of the four available seats in the Human Rights Council.

“The Maldives’ own positive experience with the international human rights system lies behind our decision to run for election” said Dr Shaheed. “We believe in the Council and the work that it does. We understand, through first-hand experience, its value and its capacity to bring about change”.

The minister also mentioned the new bills that are waiting for approval at the People’s Majlis, which he said will “enact a wide-array of crucial legislation in the field of human rights.”

These bills are: a bill on persons with disabilities, an evidence bill, a drugs and rehabilitation bill, a bill on the right to information, a prison bill, a bill on violence against women, and a new penal code.

Minister Shaheed acknowledged that “adopting new laws is not an end in itself” in making positive changes in society. He said the laws need to be enforced, perceptions need to be changed in the government, and the people need to be educated on what human rights mean in practise.

Dr Shaheed also informed the delegates of the Council of the government’s recent decision to withdraw the reservation on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, which states that women can run for senior political office.

Dr Shaheed said today was the last day of the high-level address from dignitaries to the Council, and he will be joining the president’s delegation in Germany this Sunday for the rest of his European tour.

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Individual liquor licenses will not be renewed, says Economic Ministry

The Ministry of Economic Development will not renew individual liquor permits, according to State Minister Adhil Saleem, and new regulations governing the sale of alcohol will still apply minus the controversial clause permitting the sale of alcohol on inhabited islands.

The Ministry will continue to honour existing licenses until they expired, Adhil said.

“They were issued in increments of six months to a year,” he explained. “After that there will be no access to liquor on any inhabited island in the Maldives, be it by expats, resort staff, or whoever.”

The exception, he confirmed, were UN staff and diplomats who were governed by international conventions, making “the Maldives and Saudi Arabia the only countries effectively banning the availability of liquor for non-Muslims.”

State Minister for Islamic Affairs Sheikh Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed said there was scope for alcohol to be sold to non-Muslims in an Islamic state, and said comparisons with Saudi Arabia were false because alcohol was readily available to non-Muslims at resorts and the Hulhule Island Hotel (HIH) on the airport island.

“The tourism industry has sold alcohol [to non-Muslims] for a long time,” he explained. “But it is a concern to open bars in [wider Maldivian] society. Maldivians do not want to have bars near schools and mosques, not because they are angry towards non-Muslim expatriates. Teachers and doctors are respected members of society.”

Shaheem observed that even in countries like Malaysia and Qatar where alcohol was sold, bars were not permitted near schools and mosques.

“The Ministry for Economic Development did not discuss this with us, and we are supposed to be a unity government.”

Adhil agreed that as the Holiday Inn was located near a school, parliament and the Centre for the Holy Qur’an, “I don’t think it will have a license to sell liquor any time soon.”

Prohibition black markets

While the government had effectively banned alcohol from inhabited islands with the removal of both the individual licenses and the new regulations, Adhil noted that “the demand [for alcohol] has not gone. There is big demand from the country’s 100,000 non-Muslim expatriates.”

The resorts and HIH near Male’ were not an option for many expatriates on salaries of less than US$1000 a month, he explained.

“The resorts will be fine for accountants and managers who can afford the boat ride and the sale price at resort bars,” Adhil said. “And those who used to drink alcohol with dinner now have a 20 minute boat ride to HIH. It is like Australia sending Maldivian or Indian expatriates to Tasmania when they want to chew betel nut.”

Adhil claimed the issue would trigger a problem of law enforcement “when [alcohol] is somehow smuggled through. We have not done anything to dampen the demand and we cannot hope to plug the supply – that has never been achieved anywhere in the world.”

He suggested that beyond organising protests, “the scholars have not addressed the issue of demand. They need to go to the street corners and make the non-Muslim expatriates listen.”

He said he doubted many expatriates were even aware of the new arrangements.

Development paths

Shaheem emphasised that neither the Adhaalath party nor the Islamic Ministry were “against tourism, the economy or development.”

“My concern was also that radical groups might have used [the new regulations] as an excuse for an attack, and this would have caused the economy to go down along with the number of foreigners visiting [the Maldives].”

Shaheem noted that he had recently returned from a trip to the UK where he attended discussions on counter-terrorism with a range of relevant authorities, including the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Cabinet Office, Home Office and heads of counter-terrorism in the Justice Ministry.

“There was a lot of discussion around how to fight ideologies and radical ideas,” he explained.

Adhil said he felt the Ministry’s regulations had been “deliberately misrepresented on account of political interests”, in a push to introduce non-alcohol tourism and “wipe alcohol from the country altogether.”

What would likely happen, he predicted, was that island communities would make their own development decisions “without blanket regulations.” Herathera resort, he noted by way of example, is only separated from an inhabited island “by a recently dug canal.”

“What this does mean is that the government’s plans for development, as set out by the MDP, including schools, transport networks, and healthcare, won’t be achievable in 5-10 years. The Maldives public has to realise this, because otherwise we’ll be depending on Saudi Arabia to achieve progress before 2060.”

Shaheem however suggested there was extensive potential for the Maldives to develop “cultural tourism” on inhabited islands.

“A lot of hotels, such as the Intercontinental in Medina, are without alcohol,” he explained. “What about developing alcohol-free resorts; Islamic tourism, just like Islamic banking?”

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Alhan Fahmy asked to leave at reception for Gayoom’s return

Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP Alhan Fahmy is claiming he was ‘threatened’ when he tried to attend a welcome reception at the presidential jetty for former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom on his return from Egypt.

Fahmy recently joined the MDP following his suspension Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP), the party of which Gayoom is Honorary Leader.

”DRP MPs and people of the leadership came and warned me that if I stayed here I ‘might hurt myself’,” Fahmy said, ”but the jetty does not belong to DRP so I stayed there.”

Gayoom had attended a gathering marking the Prophet’s (PBUH) birthday, where he was presented with the Order of Merit, First Class in Arts and Sciences by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak for his contribution to spreading Islamic education.

Fahmy said he had wished to personally congratulate Gayoom for his achievement.

”I was forced and threatened, and asked to leave,” he said, ”so I left.”

He said the DRP’s actions “proved they do not reach the criteria of a democratic political party.”

However DRP’s Vice President Umar Naseer claimed Fahmy went to the reception with the clear intention of disrupting the event, “and not to congratulate Maumoon.”

”The event was organised by DRP and only DRP members were invited,” Naseer said, adding that DRP supporters had shouted at Fahmy and he had left of his own volition.

MDP MP Ahmed Easa said it was “very nice” of Fahmy to congratulate Maumoon.

”It showed that he respects him,” Easa said. ”Sending him away was a very weak act by DRP.”

He said even though Fahmy had moved from the DRP to MDP, there was no reason he should not retain personal friendships with the party’s senior members.

”We also used to have coffee at the same table with DRP MPs after debating issues in parliament,” Easa said.

At his welcoming reception, Gayoom said “it gives me pleasure to know that the international community recognises my work in spreading Islam and education in the Maldives,” adding that his award was “an honour to the whole country.”

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Government debt reaches $553 million, a third of GDP

President Mohamed Nasheed has highlighted the financial problems the government is facing, mainly foreign debt and a gaping budget deficit.

In his speech President Nasheed reminded the Majlis of his address last year, when he said his “administration was prepared to provide equitable services to all citizens and to be accountable for the people.”

The president noted his administration had made “satisfactory progress in these endeavours,” but also mentioned some startling figures regarding budget deficit and debt.

In 2009 the government’s debt to foreign financial agencies and banks stood at US$553.8 million (Rf7 billion), which amounted to 37.6% of the country’s GDP. The government’s total expenditure for the same year was US$617.2 million (Rf7.9 billion).

The estimated government expenditure for 2010 is of US$648.4 million (Rf8.3 billion). The People’s Majlis approved a total of US$710.9 million (Rf9.1 billion) to be allocated for government spending.

The estimated revenue for 2010 is of US$781.2 million (Rf10 billion) and the estimated deficit for this year is of US$429.7 million (Rf5.5 billion).

Mr Rodrigo Cubero, IMF mission chief for Maldives, said in a press release issued in January 2010: “The Maldivian economy continues to face serious challenges. In particular, addressing the very large fiscal deficit is of paramount importance to secure a stable economy, equitable growth, and lasting poverty reduction.”

The government has said it plans to minimise the deficit by reducing government expenditure, including by cutting down the number of public servants and decentralising several government agencies. Both measures have encountered heavy opposition.

On this subject, President Nasheed said “the government will continue to make every possible effort to bring about a positive change to the salaries of civil servants and government employees.”

The government will also “include processes to increase revenues of the state.” This includes the proposed taxation bills—the bill on administration of taxation, the bill on business profit tax, and a newly submitted bill on taxing from sales of tourism service providers.

The president said he was “confident that this Majlis will work to ensure that these…bills are passed as soon as possible.”

Permanent Secretary for the Finance Ministry Ismail Shafeeq explained that most of the debt was owed to “loans from foreign institutions, banks and other agencies” as well as foreign and domestic borrowings, most of which are being used in the economic development of the Maldives.

“The loans will take a long time to pay back, some of them are for 40 years,” said Shafeeq, but added that the government is making the payments on time.

“The deficit is a problem. It means a shortage – the government has spent so much.”

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in partnership with the UNDP, will be hosting the IV Maldives Partnership Forum, also known as the Donor’s Conference, later this month. The forum seeks to find foreign investment for their development plans, which would help significantly in lowering government expenditure.

“Reducing expenditure and restricting unnecessary spending” are key to solving the country’s financial debt, according to Shafeeq.

The government is also following recommendations from the IMF and ADB, both of whom have given out significant loans to the government for the economic development program.

In a press release produced by the IMF in December 2009 Deputy Managing Director and Acting Chair of the IMF, Mr Takakoshi Kato, said:

“The authorities’ program, while subject to considerable risks, is strong, comprehensive, and well-focused, and deserves strong support of the international community. If fully implemented, it will put the Maldivian economy back on a path of macroeconomic stability and set the conditions for sustained economic growth and poverty reduction.”

President Nasheed said in his speech that “the government has embraced the advice of international financial agencies and begun the implementation of some of the measures suggested by these agencies. We have started enjoying the benefits of these measures.”

The IMF allocated a loan of US$92.5 million last December to go towards the economic recovery program.

The ADB has assisted with two loans, one of US$\1.5 million and one of US$3 million. Both are to go towards the economic recovery programme.

The Ministry of Finance could not provide Minivan News with the estimated debt for 2010 at time of publication.

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