Month: August 2011

Maldives can learn from Seychelles economic recovery, says President Nasheed

The Maldives can learn from the economic and fiscal reform of the Seychelles in reforming its own stricken economy, President Mohamed Nasheed has said during his visit to the neighbouring island nation.

“Our fishing industry is worth about US$500 million a year. We want to see how we will be able to work with Seychelles on improving on its productivity,” said President Nasheed, following the meeting with his Seychelles counterpart President James Michel.

President Michel said small island states shared many similar challenges, “such as economic development, climate changes, fisheries, tourism, and piracy. We have many commonalities and we share the same ocean. We must do more to improve our regional trade and share our expertise, especially as we are both focused on fisheries and tourism, and in this way develop sustainable solutions to regional challenges,” he said.

The two countries have discussed developing a maritime company in the Maldives, and the possibility of developing a joint airline corporation.

During the delegation’s visit, President Nasheed was briefed by the Governor of the Central Bank of Seychelles, Pierre Laporte, on the economic reform strategies adopted in the Seychelles.

Not far from home

The Seychelles is an upper middle-income country that, like the Maldives, has enjoyed rapid growth led by a tourism sector that, after emerging rise in the 70s, now provides 70 percent of the country’s foreign currency earnings and 30 percent of its employment.

In 2006, the government of the Seychelles allowed its rupee to depreciate after years of allowing it to be overvalued – a similar situation to the Maldives, which earlier this year launched a managed float of the rufiya, within 20 percent of a 12.85 peg, which saw it rocket to the maximum 15.42 where it now remains.

The value of the Seychelles rupee plunged 10 percent in the first nine months of 2007, and the country was subsequently hit by the economic recession and a foreign exchange shortage – another problem familiar to the Maldives. This culminated in a debt crisis in 2008 that threatened the country’s comparatively high standard of living.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) in its country report on the Seychelles (published in January 2011) commented that in the years following 2008, the Seychelles had “achieved a remarkable turnaround of economic policies, including foreign exchange market liberalisation and floating of the rupee” – achievements, the IMF noted, that were “all the more remarkable since the Seychelles had to confront at the same time a global crisis that lowered tourism receipts”.

The IMF’s 2011 report documents the remarkable economic recovery of a small island nation, during a recession affecting its core business. In particular, the report praised the Seychelles for renewing the confidence of private investors, “which translated into increased foreign direct investment to develop the islands’ exceptional tourism potential”, the stabilisation of the exchange rate, price stability, and the rebuilding of reserves “which offer room for more expansionary policies.”

Prior to 2008, the Seychelle’s overall deficit had reached 9.8 percent and the country was facing “an acute balance of payments” as public debt was predicted to rise a further 20 percent in two years. Ratings agency Standard & Poor – which this week lowered the credit rating of the US for the first time in history – had downgraded the Seychelles to “selective default”.

Several attempts to increase the value of the rupee against the US dollar had been unsuccessful, and did little to address the country’s foreign currency shortage – at the beginning of 2007, the rupee was officially valued at 6 to the US dollar, while the blackmarket exchange rate sat at almost double.

In late 2007 the government of the Seychelles devalued the rupee, setting the official exchange rate to 8 rupees to the US dollar. As in the Maldives following the government’s effective devaluation of the rufiyaa from 12.85 to 15.42 to the US dollar via a ‘managed’ float, the blackmarket in the Seychelles simply adjusted for the increase, settling at 13-14 rupees to the dollar.

In November 2008, the government of the Seychelles dropped its peg and floated the rupee against the US dollar. The rupee immediately leapt to almost 18, and remained substantially volatile for much of the next year. By late 2009 it had plunged to 10 rupees against the dollar, and a year later had settled around 12, where it remains.

Despite several concerns about the lack of diversification of the economy and the impact of piracy – the Seychelles coastguard rescued 27 hostages in March last year after firing 10,000 12.7mm rounds at the engine of the pirate vessel – the IMF describes the outlook for the Seychelles as favourable and predicts medium term growth of five percent as the country’s tourism industry expands and promotes itself outside traditional markets.

“The Seychelles’s stabilisation success offers perspectives for a less painful path toward fiscal sustainability, but caution is needed to maintain external stability and growth prospects,” the IMF noted.

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MPs clash over maritime agreement with Sri Lanka

MPs clashed today over a motion without notice calling on the government to terminate a reported agreement with Sri Lanka to allow its vessels passage across Maldivian waters, raising fears of increased illegal fishing in the country’s economic zone.

The motion was proposed by MP Ali Saleem of the opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) in the wake of reports in the Sri Lankan media about the maritime agreement and contradictory statements by Fisheries Minister Dr Ibrahim Didi and President’s Press Secretary Mohamed Zuhair in the local media yesterday.

“Parliament has to look into what is hidden behind this,” said Saleem in his opening remarks. “Did you know that even if Sri Lankan fishing vessels traveling to the Arabian sea are carrying sharks or fish catch, there is no way to know because of this agreement signed yesterday?”

The motion states that there was room to suspect “the beginning of hidden deals” behind the agreement and asks to clarify which maritime law facilitated the arrangement of vessels informing the Sri Lankan embassy 48 hours in advance to ensure safe passage.

In the ensuing debate, MP ‘Colonel’ Mohamed Nasheed of the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) suggested that “it would be better for us to find out accurate information on the matter” if fears of illegal fishing had resulted from misinformation.

DRP MP for Mathiveri Hussein Mohamed called on the government to inform the public  of “measures to protect Maldivian fishing areas and incomes of local fishermen if this [maritime agreement] is going forward.”

DRP MP Ali Arif argued that Maldivian foreign policy should remain “non-aligned” and neutral as “a small authorisation like this” could threaten “hundreds of years of independence.”

“Because the Sri Lankan government authorised many MDP activities in that country before the 2008 election when MDP was formed, I believe this is a gift to them in return for that,” claimed Jumhooree Party (JP) MP Ibrahim Muttalib.

The government’s foreign policy was threatening sovereignty and independence, Muttalib continued: “We heard recently that from now on we will vote the way India wants at the UN. This is slavery, this is enslavement,” he said.

MDP MP Mohamed Shifaz meanwhile concurred with other MPs that the Maldives did not have the capacity to monitor foreign fishing vessels. All MDP MPs agreed with the consensus view that unmonitored illegal fishing posed dangers to the local fishing industry.

DRP MP Leader Ahmed Thasmeen Ali noted that Sri Lankan trawlers had been found fishing illegally in Maldivian waters in the recent past.

“And it is a fact accepted by all our fishermen that our country, our government, does not have the capacity to identify, locate and stop foreign vessels illegally fishing in our seas,” he said, warning that the new maritime agreement would further complicate monitoring of the economic zone.

Thasmeen added that Sri Lankan fishing vessels were known to engage in shark fishing, which results in dwindling fish stocks.

There must be “broad consensus” before such a maritime agreement was signed, the opposition leader said.

MDP MP for Billedhoo Ahmed Hamza however pointed out that previous government in 1982 had acceded to the UN Convention on Law of the Sea, which stipulates that foreign vessels must be granted passage across territorial waters for sea travel.

While the convention allowed “innocent passage,” said Hamza, fishing by such vessels was strictly prohibited.

Hamza urged MPs to continue the debate after seeking official documentation to determine whether the maritime agreement with Sri Lanka was required by the UN convention.

“Why are we concerned about passage across Maldivian waters? [Because] we are talking about at least 424 nautical miles [of territory from the shore],” said DRP MP for Kelaa Dr Abdulla Mausoom.

While innocent passage was not an issue, said Mausoom, “history shows for certain” that Sri Lankan vessels would fish in Maldivian waters as trawlers from the neighbouring country had been detained by the authorities in the past.

MDP MP Ilyas Labeeb meanwhile accused the previous government of “selling the EEZ [Exclusive Economic Zone]” to enrich senior officials of the regime.

“We do not want to do anything that could harm Maldivian fishermen,” he said. “Before this government, fishermen got Rf3 or Rf4 for a kilo of fish. Now fishermen are glad that they get Rf20 or Rf30 [for a kilo].”

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“No ambulance on Fridays”: Villigili man takes wife to hospital in garbage cart

An elderly man named Ali Waheed living in Villingili, a residential island that is the fifth district of Male’, has claimed he had to carry his wife to hospital in a garbage cart after the island’s health centre said there was no ambulance available “because it was Friday”.

“I called the police and asked for help, but they said all their vehicles had been damaged and taken Male to repair,’’ Waheed said. “The health centre said that because it was Friday there was no doctor or health worker available, and when asked if one could be made available as it was an urgent case, they said it was not the health centre’s policy.’’

Waheed’s house is located near the garbage pile on the island, and he found a wheel-cart nearby which was used to carry trash.

“I carried my wife on the wheel-cart to the Villingili-Male’ ferry and wheeled her to Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH).”

Waheed said he had informed Health Minister Aiminath Jameel of the incident by “sending more than 50 text messages to her mobile phone.”

“But so far she has not responded to any of those texts. It is very sad that this is the current situation in Villinigili,” he added.

He said doctors and other staff working at the health centre were themselves frustrated due to low wages and because they did not receive any overtime payments.

“They are frustrated and it affects the citizens of Villingili,” he said.

Minivan News spoke to Director of Villingili Health Centre Ahmed Zahir, who said that while Waheed had asked if an ambulance was available to take his wife to the ferry terminal, staff were not made aware that her condition was urgent.

Zahir said an ambulance and doctors were available on Fridays in urgent cases, but said there had been recent cases of the ambulance being called to carry boxes to the ferry terminal in lieu of a taxi.

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“Don’t call Sri Lanka thieves”, Reeko Moosa tells opposition

Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) Chairperson and MP Moosa Manik has expressed concern over remarks made by the opposition over an alleged maritime agreement with the government of Sri Lanka, allowing Srilankan vessels to cross Maldivian waters with prior permission from the Maldivian authorities.

Head of the DRP’s fishermen’s branch, Ali Solih, had earlier condemned the deal as “an insult to Maldivian fisherman” and “a dangerous deal,” since the Maldives did not have the capacity to monitor illegal fishing.

Moosa said today that calling neighboring countries “thieves” was “very serious” and something about which the MDP was “very concerned”.

”It is a very irresponsible allegation made by the opposition to say that the government has signed an agreement with the Sri Lankan government to open Maldivian waters for Sri Lankan fishing vessels,” Moosa said. ”Even while they are making these claims, they are not even sure if such an agreement was even signed.”

”I cannot believe that the government will do anything to damage the fisherman,” he said.

The agreement to allow Sri Lankan vessels to cross Maldivian waters enroute to the Arabian Sea has caused a rare split in the MDP ranks.

Yesterday MDP MP Mohamed Musthafa called on the government to withdraw the agreement before he submitted a resolution to the parliament forcing the government to withdraw it.

He claimed that if the agreement was implemented, Sri Lankan fishing boats would enter Maldivian territorial waters and ”steal all our fish.”

“Their intention is to steal our fish, but I cannot just stand aside and watch while they take away our fish, which is the only source of natural resource we have in abundance,” he said. “It is a right that has to be preserved for future generations.”

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MDP presents mortgage bill to parliament

The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has presented mortgage bill to the parliament.

The bill was presented to the parliament by MDP MP for Ihavandhoo constituency Ahmed Abdulla, who said the objective of the bill was to regulate and enhance policies of mortgage transaction.

The bill enables the mortgaging a property for more than one loan, he said.

However, opposition MPs claimed that the bill was drafted in a way that would authorise the government to sell mortgaged properties without going through judicial procedure, and that it would be a threat to opposition politicians.

Leader of the opposition Jumhoory Party (JP) ‘Burma’ Gasim Ibrahim called for the bill to be withdrawn and re-drafted.

Gasim claimed that if the bill is passed the way it was drafted, the banks would sell the properties of citizens which would lead many to live in poverty.

In response, MPs who supported the bill said there was no harm caused to those who are paying loans according to the terms, and that the threat of foreclosure was only there for those were not paying loans.

The preliminary debate on the bill was stopped by the Speaker when the time allocated was up, and will be continued in a subsequent sitting of the parliament.

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Couple who died in Kuredu crash had been married for just seven days

The young couple who died following a quad bike accident at Kuredu Island Resort early on Saturday morning have been identified in the UK press as Emma and Jonathan Gray.

The two British honeymooners, who were aged in their mid-twenties and had a six-month old child, had only been married for seven days when the quad bike they were riding on as passengers crashed into a tree, reported the Daily Mail, among others.

The driver, a foreign national who has not yet been formally identified by police, was injured in the accident and is reportedly being treated in ADK Hospital in Male’. Minivan News understands that the driver was not a staff member at the resort.

Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam confirmed that the vehicle involved in the incident – initially reported in the local media to be a golf buggy of the kind commonly used in the Maldives to transport guests and their luggage – was a quad bike.

The vehicle collided with a tree and police were informed by resort management at 4:15am that two guests had been found with injuries.

Local newspaper Haveeru reported that Jonathan Gray died at the scene of the incident while Emma Gray died before she could be taken to hospital for treatment.

“Police are investigating how this incident occurred. We are confident at this point that it was an accident,” Shiyam told Minivan News.

Minivan News understands that the UK High Commission is assisting with the investigation.

The resort has meanwhile told media that it is unable to make a statement while the incident is being investigated by police.

Another British national, 42-year old Sharon Duval, died on Kuredu in October 2010, also while honeymooning with her husband, after her body was found on the beach by another guest.

An Oxfordshire inquest into Duval’s death ruled out “any third party involvement” while a portmortem conducted in the UK found that her blood alcohol level was three and a half times the legal UK driving limit, and gave the cause of death as accidental drowning with a contribution of alcohol intoxication.

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Criminal Court finds Nazaha guilty of murder

The Criminal Court today sentenced Mariyam Nazaha, 22, of Henveriu Bainkendige, charged with murdering her ex-husband, to life imprisonment and ordered her to fast for two months.

According to the Criminal Court, Nazaha admitted that she attacked her ex-husband, Hassan Shahid, with a knife on June 22, 2010 at around 3:00pm.

The medico-legal report stated that Shahid had died that at 4:15pm on the same day from injuries caused by the stabbing, said the Criminal Court.

Air and blood gathered in the left side of Shahid’s back resulted in his death, the report stated.

Delivering the verdict, Chief Judge of the Criminal Court Abdulla Mohamed ordered Nazaha to fast for two months for repentance and to remain in prison for 25 years.

Nazaha was not sentenced to death because out of all the heirs of Shahid only one wished to avenge his death with hers; under Islamic shariah all heirs must request the death penalty for the court to sentence the accused to execution.

In June last year, a witness told Minivan News that he saw the victim run out of Baikendi in the Henveiru district of Male’ and enter a nearby shop and ask the shopkeeper to call the police as he had been stabbed.

“At first people in the shop thought he was joking, but then he took his hands from the wound and showed them the blood,” said the source. “He was stabbed once in the lower back.”

He said Nazaha’s ex-husband often visited Nazaha’s house to see their child but was never allowed inside, adding that the incident may have been the result of a court ruling that time regarding the child’s guardianship.

At the trial, Nazaha’s lawyer argued that she exhibited “battered woman syndrome” and should therefore be acquitted.

Prior to murdering her ex-husband, Nazaha had allegedly filed several reports of harassment and violence by Shahid with the Maldives Police Service, and with the Gender Department at the Ministry of Health and Family.

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MP Musthafa to submit resolution against maritime agreement with Sri Lanka

MP Mohamed Musthafa of the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has demanded the government withdraw a maritime agreement with the Sri Lankan government – an agreement to allow Sri Lankan vessels passage through Maldivian waters to to the Arabian sea – or face a binding resolution from parliament that will force the government to invalidate the agreement.

“The agreement is for opening Maldivian waters for Sri Lankan fisherman to steal our fish in Maldivian [territorial] waters,” Musthafa claimed. “The Sri Lankan government knows that the Maldivian waters are rich in fish and has many fishing points, that is why they have made this agreement.”

Musthafa said that Sri Lankan vessels would not normally have the fuel capacity to reach Arabian waters.

“Their intention is to steal our fish, but I cannot just stand aside and watch while they take away our fish, which is the only source of natural resource we have in abundance,” he said. “It is a right that has to be preserved for future generations.”

In response to reports in the Sri Lankan media that an agreement had been signed, Fisheries Minister Dr Ibrahim Didi told local media today that no such agreement had been signed.

However Press Secretary Mohamed Zuhair confirmed to newspaper Haveeru that a maritime agreement had been signed.

“The agreement abides by the International Maritime Law and no side can disregard that. If a vessel intends to make a crossing it has to inform the Sri Lankan Embassy in the Maldives 48 hours earlier to enable a lawful process,” Zuhair said.

Musthafa meanwhile said that he had confirmed the signing of the agreement.

“I cannot tell the media who signed it on behalf of the Maldives, but I can say that the Foreign Minister will be aware of this,” he said, adding that Dr Didi’s remarks were made because he was unaware of the agreement.

“I will see how the government decides to act upon this issue and will submit the resolution if it does not withdraw this agreement,” he said.

Sri Lanka’s Daily Mirror reported that the agreement will allow Sri Lankan fishing vessels to cross Maldivian territorial waters en route to the Arabian Sea.

Local news outlet Sun Online meanwhile reported the head of the DRP’s fishermen’s branch Ali Solih condemned the deal as “an insult to Maldivian fisherman” and “a dangerous deal,” since the Maldives did not have the capacity to monitor illegal fishing.

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Naifaru islanders protest council’s alleged invalidation of preaching license

Islanders of Naifaru in Lhaviyani Atoll gathered in front of the island council office to protest today after the island council invalidated all preaching licenses issued by the Islamic Ministry.

An islander told Minivan News that the council announced Thursday that all preaching licenses issued by the Islamic Ministry had been invalidated and scholars who wish to preach or give religious lectures would have to seek permission from the council.

“That is definitely a decision made against Sheikh Ibrahim Rasheed,” he claimed. “We know that because there is this one councilor named Mohamed Ali – who was a former fisherman and who does not have any educational background – holds a personal grudge against the Sheikh, this is his doing.”

He further claimed that the councilor had recently sent a letter to the Islamic Ministry complaining that the Sheikh has been showing young children pornographic pictures containing instructions for performing sexual intercourse.

“Today we gathered near the council office to meet with the councilors and a delegation of us met with them and the councilors have now withdrawn the decision,” he said. “We had 50 islanders gathered near the council, we are all very disappointed because the Sheikhs have said they will not preach unless they gave the permission, Sheikhs said it was obligatory to obey leaders.”

He said that islanders viewed the decision of the council as an attempt to prevent scholars from preaching.

However Naifaru Island Council Chair Ahmed Hussein claimed that the Adhaalath Party’s Naifaru Wing had politicised the issue to attack the council.

“We issued a notice to avoid usage of assets in the mosques, such as mics, speakers without the permission of the council,” Hussain said. “We did not say that all the licenses issued by the Islamic Ministry were invalidated.”

Hussain added that the councilors of the island were always available to the public but the protesters had issued false press releases and distributed flyers through the island to incite hatred against councillors.

“If they had an issue why had they not come to us and discuss it, we are on the same island and we are always available,” he said.

He explained that during the meeting with the delegation from protesters today, the council made it clear that licenses were not invalidated and that the notice was made regarding use of equipment at the mosque without permission.

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