Mohamed Rishwan, the Deputy Commissioner of police in the Maldives, has announced his decision to resign from his post today.
In responding to news of the resignation, president thanked Rishwan for his work in the role.
Speaking to local media about the decision, Rishwan said his resignation was based solely on wanting to spend more time with his family.
Back in February, Rishwan was reported to have been temporarily suspended from his duties after allegedly failing to follow orders regarding a dispute over taking control of the Thulusdhoo Atoll Council’s office.
The alleged suspension by the government was criticised by a number of political parties at the time.
Supporters and activists of both main parties surrounded the parliament building in protest today after a third consecutive sitting was disrupted by MPs of the main opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party’s (DRP) breakaway Z-faction.
In a protest of their own, MPs of the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) bolted the chamber doors and refused to let opposition MPs leave.
Maafanu North MP Imthiyaz Fahmy told Minivan News that MDP MPs shut the chamber door at about 1pm when the sitting resumed after being adjourned in the morning.
“We said Majlis has to go ahead because it has been stopped everyday while there are important economic bills to pass,” he said. “Every day they bring the sitting to a halt and everybody just goes home. Today we said nobody can leave.”
He revealed that the MDP MPs opened the doors at 2.30pm when sittings usually come to an end.
Imthiyaz strongly criticised the Z-DRP MPs for disrupting three consecutive sittings “on orders from [former President] Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.”
“Every day it is just three or four people stopping Majlis,” he said. “These Z-faction MPs don’t even have any legal status. Because if they belonged to a party, they would recognise the party’s leader and accept his decisions.”
Shortly after today’s sitting began at 9.00am, Deputy Speaker Ahmed Nazim adjourned it when Z-DRP MPs, Ahmed Mahlouf and Ahmed Ilham, refused to comply with an order to leave the chamber.
Both MPs were protesting in front of the secretariat desk when the Deputy Speaker ordered them out after repeatedly advising the MPs to return to their seat – the Z-DRP MPs have now disrupted three consecutive sittings after vowing to do so in protest of the recently approved committee composition.
Under article 54(f) of the parliamentary rules, sittings cannot continue if an MP ordered out remains in the chamber.
Minivan News will continue to cover the situation here as it develops.
2:38pm: MDP supporters have gathered near parliament and are attempting to climb inside. Police are in the area attempting to control the situation.
2:40pm: MDP activists told Minivan News they would “knock down” any opposition MP attempting to leave the parliament.
2:57pm: Activists outside are claiming: “You [MPs] have taken thousands from the state budget to pay your salaries, but have done nothing for the citizens.”
3:15pm: Independent MP Mohamed Nasheed said he left the building shortly before the incident began. MPs inside the building have so far not responded to calls.
3:16pm: Opposition MPs have left the building however MDP MPs remain in the chamber. Former Parliamentary Group Leader Reeko Moosa Manik told media that they would not leave until the sitting was resumed.
3:18pm: Opposition and ruling party supporters have gathered at the same gate and are trying to break the police line and enter parliament. Minivan News observed that the crowd includes supporters of both parties, one shouting about Gayoom (“Golhaabo”), the other about President Mohamed Nasheed (“Ganjabo”).
3.50pm: Scuffles have broken out between MDP and Z-DRP activists. Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam told Minivan News that police are attempting to “bring the situation under control.” Police have formed lines to separate the two groups of supporters.
4.10pm: According to the MDP website, chamber doors were opened shortly before 3pm and some opposition MPs have left the building.
5.42pm: Police have used pepper spray on the protestors while opposition MPs are reportedly being escorted out of the building under guard. Police are warning that the crowd will be dispersed by force.
6.23pm: Crowd has begun to disperse and thin out.
6.55pm: The MDP’s National Council has passed a resolution calling its members in the atolls to come to Male’ to participate in “a large demonstration” in protest of “the Majlis being hijacked by a few members encouraged by former President Maumoon [Abdul Gayoom].”
The resolution proposed by Madaveli MP Mohamed Nazim and seconded by Hoarafushi MP Ahmed Rasheed was passed with 58 votes in favour and two against.
6.57pm: A number of MDP activists are continuing the protest outside all three gates of parliament. The activists have issued a warning to police that they will storm the building between 8.00pm and 8.30pm. They continue to call for opposition MPs to come out.
8.45pm: MDP MP Ahmed Sameer has told protestors still outside parliament that the party is trying to hold a sitting tonight. Among the five MPs designated to preside over sittings in the absence of both the Speaker and Deputy Speaker include MDP parliamentary group leader Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.
10.40pm: Tomorrow’s agenda has been published on the Majlis website. Addressing protestors earlier tonight, MDP Chairperson “Reeko” Moosa Manik said that the rules of procedure allowed sittings to be held in the absence of either the Speaker or Deputy Speaker: “We don’t mind if it starts tomorrow morning or at 12 midnight, we are here to do this […] It is not the spirit of the constitution for two members to stop Majlis and bring it to a halt for weeks on end. We showed them today. We were able to bolt the doors and sit in front of the doors. We can do it again. They had to stay inside until we opened the door.”
Moosa alleged that the forced cancellations were “planned in advance at the Deputy Speaker’s office.” The former MDP parliamentary group leader said that the party was ready to pass all the taxation bills in one sitting if necessary.
The government is to conduct a management audit of both the Human Resources Ministry and the Immigration Department this weekend, following a two-week investigation targeting corruption and the facilitation of labour trafficking.
The Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) assumed desk duties at both the ministry and the department a fortnight ago, while police conducted the investigation. The MNDF’s involvement has since been scaled down and immigration staff have returned to their duties.
Local media reported over the weekend that a senior individual working at the Human Resources ministry had been arrested. Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam confirmed that a number of foreign nationals and Maldivians involved in labour brokering had been arrested, but did not confirm whether one of these individuals was a ministry official.
“We will be giving details on the case very soon,” he said.
Immigration Controller Abdulla Shahid confirmed the arrest of a human resources ministry official.
“The MNDF still have to release a report,” he said. “Also this [coming] Sunday, on direction of the President, both the Immigration Department and the Human Resources Ministry will be subject to a management audit.”
Shahid has previously stated that the country’s 40,000-50,000 suspected illegal expatriate workers are costing the government Rf130 million (US$8.4 million) annually in lost permit fees.
If accurate, this would amount to almost half of the countries expatriate population, which sources in the Maldives Monetary Authority estimate already remits US$8 million out of the country every month, exacerbating the Maldives’ ongoing foreign currency shortage.
The report, updated in June, noted that migrant workers from Bangladesh and to a lesser extent, India, are being subjected to forced labour in the Maldives, primarily in the construction and service sectors, while women and girls are also being subjected to sex trafficking.
An unknown number of the up to 110,000 foreign workers in the country – a third of the population – “face conditions indicative of forced labor: fraudulent recruitment practices, confiscation of identity and travel documents, withholding or nonpayment of wages, or debt bondage,” the report noted, adding that 30,000 workers had no legal status in the country.
Former Bangladeshi High Commissioner to the Maldives, Professor Selina Mohsin, who finished her assignment in July last year, told Minivan News that every day 40 Bangladeshi nationals were turning up at reception, “having come to the Maldives and found they have nothing to do”, often after having paid between US$1000-US$4000 to fraudulent recruitment brokers based both in Bangladesh and the Maldives.
President Mohamed Nasheed yesterday vetoed the third amendment passed by parliament to the Decentralisation Act last month, a bill that would have doubled the number of city councillors in the capital Male’ as well as Addu City.
The legislation proposed by opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) MP Hassan Latheef would have created 11 additional seats on the Male’ City Council and six on the Addu City Council, both of which were won by the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP).
According to a letter from President Mohamed Nasheed informing the Speaker of the reasons for returning the bill for reconsideration, the Attorney General noted that some provisions in the legislation were in conflict with the powers and responsibilities of local councils.
The Attorney General’s legal advice also noted that the creation of additional seats in the city councils would significantly increase government expenditure.
A day after the bill was passed 36-33 on June 22 in a partisan vote, Press Secretary Mohamed Zuhair told Minivan News that the legislation amounted to “economic sabotage” of the government’s attempts to reduce state expenditure and plug a crippling budget deficit.
“From the outset [of the decentralisation process], the government has been of the position that the total number of councillors should be kept down as much as possible,” he said. “We at the beginning suggested that the total number of councillors should be no more than 220, yet opposition parties like the DRP wanted more.”
The PA MP for Dhiggaru said he believed that the main opposition DRP had been too “heavy handed” in their approach to working with government on devolving decision-making powers to local councils.
“I was advocating that even now, we will work with the MDP to reduce the number of [island] councilors in small areas from five to three posts. There is simply not enough work for all of them to do,” he said. “Some opposition took a heavy handed approach meaning there was no need for compromise. The DRP wanted it their way when it came to each of the wards.”
Nazim claimed that he still hoped to work with the MDP on plans to reduce the number of posts on councils. He said this was particularly the case on smaller islands, boasting populations of less than 1000 people, which could be cut to just three council representatives instead of five.
Nazim was however among the opposition MPs who voted to double the number of city councillors.
Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) has denied media reports suggesting that Chief of Defence Forces Major General Moosa Ali Jaleel offered unsolicited legal advice either to the Speaker of Parliament or other MPs.
A press statement issued yesterday explains that Major General Jaleel met with some MPs on Sunday upon request by Speaker Abdulla Shahid.
“The MNDF did not offer legal advice at the meeting either to the People’s Majlis or the Speaker,” it reads. “However the Major General received legal advice before he went to the meeting. The law obliges MNDF to protect the People’s Majlis and other state institutions.”
It adds that MNDF “would not do anything to obstruct the proceedings of parliament.’’
MNDF Spokesperson Major Abdul Raheem told Minivan News that the document containing legal advice leaked to the media had been produced by the army’s legal department several days ago.
He stressed that legal advice was not given either to MPs or Speaker Shahid during Sunday’s meetings.
In the past few days, several media outlets have reported that the leaked document, signed by the head of MNDF legal department Major Zubair Ahmed Manik, was offered as legal advice to Speaker Abdulla Shahid by the MNDF.
The document states that the army has legal authority to remove any MP that refuses to leave the chamber after being ordered to do so by the Speaker.
Speaking to press on the day before, Z-DRP MP Ahmed Mahlouf claimed that the involvement of the MNDF signified “a deal made between President [Mohamed] Nasheed, Speaker Abdulla Shahid and DRP Leader Ahmed Thasmeen Ali to destroy us.”
Z-DRP MP Ahmed Nihan meanwhile told Minivan News yesterday that MPs “felt intimidated” following the MNDF’s legal advice.
“The Speaker has the authority to take other actions against MPs who do not follow the regulations, such as cutting an amount from their salary,” he said. “Now this country is becoming like Myanmar [Burma] has been in the past years – the Maldives is bit by bit turning to a military rule.”
At the beginning of yesterday’s sitting, Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP) MP Riyaz Rasheed raised a point of order demanding to know which law authorised MNDF officers to enter the chamber and “drag MPs away.”
Deputy Speaker Nazim replied that he was aware of the meeting between the Speaker and the Chief of Defence Forces.
“MNDF [officers] will not enter the Majlis chamber without the permission of the Speaker,” he said. “The Speaker does not intend to give permission and I will not do it either.”
Meanwhile local daily Haveeru reports today that the Labour Party of MP Ahmed “Redwave” Saleem has asked the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to investigate Major Jaleel and take measures against the army chief.
The Labour Party claims that Jaleel “gave warnings to MPs” and spoke to them “in threatening tones.”
The party’s letter to the ACC states that Jaleel’s behavior was “a clear proof of a plan to bring an iron-fisted military rule to the Maldives.”
The Labour Party requested the ACC to investigate the “motive and purpose” behind Jaleel’s alleged threats of the possible use of force against MPs.
The Maldives national football team came from a goal down to avoid defeat at the hands of India as its prepares for its first qualifying match later this month to earn a spot at the 2014 World Cup tournament in Brazil.
The Maldives is scheduled to face Iran on July 23 for the first leg qualifying match for football’s largest competition, with the return fixture set for July 28.
However, preparations for facing Iran, who last qualified for the World Cup when it was hosted back in Germany in 2006, appeared to get off to a bad start for the Maldives on Sunday (July 10) as India went a goal ahead within 18 minutes during a friendly match at the national stadium in Male’.
According to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), Indian Captain Sunil Chhetri opened the scoring for the visitors during the first half after finding his way onto a Steven Dias corner to head his team in front. India were reported to continue to dominate play after taking the lead, yet were unable to build upon the single goal deficit they held over the homeside.
Despite coming near to doubling their lead in the 43rd minute of the match through Jeje Lalpekhlua, India were immediately punished by the Maldives through Mukhtar Nasir, who fired a curling effort over goalkeeper Subrata Pal to round out the first half in a stalemate.
India continued to pressure in the second half with a number of notable chances falling to Lalpekhlua, but the home side held on to secure a 1-1 draw ahead of facing experienced World Cup qualifiers in the form of the Iranian national side.
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