Month: January 2010

Permanent secretaries sandwiched between CSC and finance ministry

The permanent secretaries of government ministries, responsible for filling in the salary sheets, have become collateral damage in the scrap between the finance ministry and the Civil Service Commission (CSC).

The CSC has ordered permanent secretaries to submit the sheets with salaries at the levels prior to the government’s reductions in October, while the finance ministry has threatened legal action against any civil servants who fill in the salary sheets according to the restored amount.

”We are very disappointed and we do not know what to do now,” said the permanent secretary of the home ministry, Maryam Waheeda.

Waheeda said she had submitted the salary sheet according to the restored amount yesterday, as instructed by the CSC, but the finance ministry had sent it back.

”We cannot do anything against the CSC,” she said. “In this situation when the CSC and the finance ministry are disputing our salary, we the civil servants are worried and wonder how this is going to end.”

The permanent secretary of the trade ministry Yousuf Riza said he had submitted the ministry’s salary sheet both ways, ”how the finance ministry have said, and how the CSC has said.”

“The finance ministry will have to decide which sheet they will accept,” he said.

The permanent secretary of ministry of tourism arts and culture, Ahmed Solih said he had “not yet decided” how he would be making out the salary sheet.

Haveeru reported that the permanent secretary of the defense ministry had been sent home for trying to fill in the salary sheet according to the restored amount, while Ismail Shafeeq, the permanent secretary in perhaps the most contentious position – the finance ministry – would only hint that he had filled in the sheet “as I was told to.”

Asked by who, he replied mysteriously: “the one who told me”.

Meanwhile independent MP Mohamed Nasheed called a press conference and claimed “it is not the duty of the finance ministry to restore, deduct or increase the salary of civil servants.”

“The civil servants’ salary has to processed according to how the CSC instructs,” he said. It it is a right of the finance ministry to go to the court if they have disputes, they should not have to spread circulars saying [civil servants] cannot accept the restored salary.”

Regarding the government’s announcement that it would asked the parliament to arbitrate the dispute, he said the Majlis “was not a government institute from which to get legal advice.”

The civil servants are staging a protest tonight at 8:30 pm near the tsunami monument to protest against the finance ministry for not restoring their salary.

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Police on the bleat: seven officers arrest goat

Seven members of the Maldives Police Service who arrested a wayward goat on the streets of Male yesterday morning have found themselves unwitting filmstars after the incident was filmed by a passerby.

The video footage, which appeared on the internet this morning in the form of a short film called ‘Black Goat Dawn’, showed two police attempting to tie the distressed creature’s legs together before throwing it into van.

The goat escaped police clutches several times, to the amusement of bystanders, slipping its cords and bolting for freedom amid shrieks from alarmed females.

The two officers called for backup, and eventually a squad of seven police, including several motorcycles and a paddy wagon, were able to apprehend the terrified creature and stow it in the van.

“We took the goat to the police tow yard and later found the owner, who said they’d brought it for a friend,’ said a bemused Inspector Shiyam.

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Swine flu threat decreases as alert level rises to six

The ministry of health has announced it has raised the H1N1 swine flu alert level from four to six.

Despite the counterintuitive increase, alert level six is when the danger of the disease goes down and the risk of it spreading also decreases.

Dr Ibrahim Yasir, director general of health services, said “The disease has not spread in the way we predicted it might. We expected the disease to spread [more] with the start of the academic year and people returning from abroad.”

He said the spread of the disease had been controlled by the hard work of people in the health sector, “the priority given to the pandemic by the government and the awareness of the public.

“Since we didn’t see an increase in the spread of the disease we decided it didn’t warrant a level five alert status,” he said.

The ministry announced that with the level six status many, of the H1N1 precautions would be lifted.

Dr Ahmed Jamsheed Mohamed from the Centre of Disease Control said “Our warnings about not to gather in public places have been lifted, and places like KudaKudhinge Bageecha (children’s park) can now be opened.

“Our swine flu clinic is closing as hardly anyone who goes there any more, and the 24-hour hotline is also being closed.”

Jamsheed said lifting the precautions “does not mean we have to stop being vigilant. There is still a possibility that the disease could spread.”

Next step

The ministry announced that it would now divert its resources towards preparing for the next outbreak.

“We have 120,000 people who have been classified as a prioirty group to receive swine flu vaccines,” Dr Yasir said.

According to the ministry, vaccine doses promised to the Maldives so far include 20,000 from Saudi Arabia, 30,000 from the World Health Organisation (WHO), 15,000 from China, 1500 from Singapore and 50,000 from the government’s own budget.

“The Chinese doses have not been approved by the WHO yet so we are keeping that on hold for the moment,” Jamsheed noted.

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Baa atoll to spend half a million Rf

Baa atoll committee has budgeted half a million Rf for educational projects and development, reports Haveeru.

The total is more than double the amount the committee spent last year, Haveeru noted.

The Baa atoll committee has assets of more than Mf 2.9 million, and has previously funded a powerhouse, harbour projects and educational centres.

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Korean Air flies to Maldives

Korean Air announced this week it will operate 24 direct flights under charter four times a week between Incheon and the Maldives.

The flights will run from April 25 to June 4 and reduce the travel time from its current 15 hours to nine.

Korea is an increasingly important pool of tourists for the Maldives, particularly for honeymooners.

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Letter on Friday prayers

Assalaamu alaikum,

I would like Minivan News to play the intermediary role to get the attention of the Islamic Ministry regarding the following issue.

As to my knowledge, women were encouraged to go to mosques by the last Prophet Muhammadh Sallallahu Wasallam and I am sure that the Minister and others would agree.

My concern is that women who like to go to mosques for Friday prayers do not have much choice now. Since the Ministry so honorably conducted Friday Prayers for men and women after the last solar eclipse, I wish that they would conduct the same for the Fridays which follow.

Wassalaamu alaikum wa-rahmathullahi wabarakaathuhu.

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Labor party sends letter to anti-corruption commission

The labor party has sent a letter to the anti-corruption commission asking it to investigate a case at the president’s office in which lost four laptops and one projector were lost, reports Manadhoolive.

The letter clams during October 2009 the equipment was found to be missing from the president’s office, but until today the president’s office has neither informed the media or tried to find out why it was missing.

The Labor Party said it considered this as an “act of corruption” committed by the president’s office, and demanded the case be investigated.

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Vice President meets with Representative for the Regional UNODC Office for South Asia

Vice President Dr Mohamed Waheed has met with the Representative for the Regional UNODC Office for South Asia, Cristina Albertin, to discuss the strengthening of the country’s response to drug abuse.

Speaking at the meeting, Waheed said that fighting against drug issues was one of the key pledges of the government.

He noted the important role civil societies could play in this endeavour, and stressed the need for more NGOs to be created.

Albertin agreed that the government alone could not prevent drug abuse in the country, and said that controlling the supply of drugs and punishing the drug importers was the strongest way to stop drug abuse in the country.

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Police take SWAT training course in India

A team of 22 police have returned from India after completing a Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) course.

According to police, the course was held from 2f November 2009 to 16 January 2010 in the Central School of Weapon and Tactics, Border Security Force (BSF) at Indoor in India.

As part of the program the group learnt weapon usage and handling, crime scene investigating, managing security and outdoor events for VIPs and counter terrorism.

The only other time Maldives police have taken a SWAT course was in Thailand in 2005.

Police Lance Corporal Fazeem Abdullah (SN 2345) was chosen as the Best Student from the course.

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