Category: News in Brief

Crew member injured in fire onboard STO oil tanker

A crew member of a State Trading Organisation (STO) oil tanker en route to the gulf was injured in a fire accident yesterday, local media reports.

STO Managing Director Adam Azim told newspaper Haveeru that the incident occurred onboard the ‘Aihuras’ vessel while it was near the coast of the city of Mumbai in India. There was no oil on the ship when the fire broke out, he noted.

The burnt crew member was taken to a Mumbai hospital for treatment while the ship was undergoing repairs for minor damages caused by the fire.

“It was not a very dangerous incident. We would know of the injuries sustained by the crew member in detail after seeing the doctor’s report,” Azim was quoted as saying.

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PG drops contempt charges against former AG Suood

The Prosecutor General’s (PG) Office has decided not to prosecute former Attorney General Husnu Suood on charges of contempt of court, local media has reported.

In January, the Supreme Court suspended Suood and barred the prominent lawyer from all courts pending a court-ordered police investigation of alleged contempt of court.

The former AG had represented the Elections Commission (EC) in the election annulment case before being thrown out and barred from proceedings.

The apex court contended that Suood’s alleged remarks in social media, criticising its judgment annulling the first round of last year’s presidential election constituted contempt of court.

The PG’s decision came after police forwarded the case for prosecution upon completion of its investigation.

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Shamau to represent Malé City Council on LGA board

The newly-elected Malé City Council (MCC) has chosen Maafanu West Councillor Mohamed Shamau Shareef as its representative to the Local Government Authority’s board.

The opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) councillor was elected with the unanimous consent of all councillors present at a meeting yesterday.

The opposition party controls a majority of the capital city’s council with eight seats. The ruling Progressive Party of Maldives has three seats.

Under the landmark Decentralisation Act, the LGA is tasked with monitoring councils, ensuring standards, improving technical capacity, and coordinating with the central government.

The LGA board consists of a cabinet minister appointed by the president, a member appointed from the MCC, four atoll councillors elected from among members of atoll councils, a representative from civil society appointed by parliament, a member of the general public appointed by parliament, and a member elected from the Addu and Malé city councils.

Elections to chose representatives from city councils and atoll councils are due to place on March 18.

The former civil society representative to the LGA, Ahmed Faisal, meanwhile resigned from his post last month.

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New MVR5,000 pension disbursed today, says pensions office

The Maldives Pension Administration Office has today disbursed the revised MVR5000 pension to 16,120 elderly people.

The benefit has been raised from its previous level of MVR2,300 by the government after President Abdulla Yameen made the pledge during his election campaign.

After some confusion over the introduction of the increase this month, the pensions office today confirmed that new amount had now been successfully handed out.

The government had already allocated MVR470 million (US$ 30.5 million) in the state budget for the MVR2,300 allowance (US$149). These funds will now be invested in the retirement pension fund or in financial instruments such as T-bills in order to generate the monthly MVR5000 stipend, Minister of Tourism Ahmed Adeeb has said.

While the government maintains this to be a sustainable model of financing the increase in pensions, critics have argued that, with a MVR1.3 billion (US$84.3 million) deficit budget, the move will plunge the country further into debt.

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Teachers association to organise ‘black protest’

The Teachers Association of Maldives (TAM) is organising a ‘black protest’ to draw attention to their issues ahead of a nationwide strike.

TAM President Athif Abdul Hakeem said today that as a protest, teachers will be wearing black to work on 6 April 2014.

“This is the first step, we want to draw attention to these issues. For the sake of our students we will go to work until we exhaust all other ways,” Athif told.

A potential nationwide strike was announced last month citing pay discrepancies and failure to improve the education sector.

According to TAM, the association in January requested for a meeting with the minister of education for discussing their issues, but it has still not been arranged.

“The lack of communication between teachers and the ministry is a serious concern. We have written to the ministry but no actions have been take about these issues.”

Athif said that teachers are still working overtime without being paid for it.

“Independent institutions haven’t noticed this. If they don’t do those work it could be reflected in their appraisal, and they even fear termination. So they work. But without getting paid for the work,” he said.

Teachers’ overtime allowances have been reduced to just five percent of the basic salary, which on average amounts to less than MVR300 per month. But teachers have complained that school will not run without teachers doing overtime work.

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Police find snake during drugs raid

Police have seized a 4ft snake following a drugs raid in Himmafushi, Kaafu atoll, today.

Local media have reported the snake to be a royal python – a non-venemous African species often kept as pets.

Police were said to have arrested seven individuals during the operation -which included searches of 11 houses over a twelve hour period.

All those arrested tested positive for drugs.

The snake is not the first exotic animal discovered during the police’s recent campaign on illegal drugs. During an operation in Malé’s Maafanu ward in January, police discovered a slow loris along with cash and drugs.

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Police bust trafficking network, arrest man with swallowed drugs

Maldives Police Service (MPS) arrested a 44 year old man in Male’ who had swallowed drugs, at midnight yesterday (March 3). After scanning the person at Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital, police was able to confirm that he had drugs inside his body.

In addition to him, another 21 year old who helped accommodate the person was also arrested. Police also searched a house in Male’ in the operation and found related documents and more than US$4000 in cash.

As the investigations continue, the police are now looking for a suspect believed to be part of this trafficking network – Mohamed Ihsan Saeed, 24.
According to MPS Ihsan has prior criminal records such as gang activity, disobeying police orders and damaging police property.

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Saudi Prince pledges mosques and aid for Islamic, health, and education sector

Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Salman bin Abdulaziz has pledged to build ten “world-class” mosques in Maldives, Saudi news agency Arab News has reported.

Quoting Maldives’ Islamic minister Sheikh Mohamed Shaheem, the agency stated the prince donated US$1million to the ministry for “various projects” and another US$1.5million for health projects.

Prince Salman pledged to provide aid in the education sector, and Shaheem explained that an invitation was extended to him to visit Saudi Arabia and discuss way to bolster ties in “matters related to religion and education”.

Yesterday Shaheem left for Saudi on an official trip.

Other areas in which Saudi cooperation was sought during the prince’s visit include the ministry’s mosque ‘Waqf‘ fund, Center for Holy Quran, and in Hajj pilgrimage affairs.

The report said that “it was not immediately known” if the the Maldivian proposal seeking US$300 million credit facility was discussed during the meeting. The credit facility – to finance the Maldives budget deficit – was pledged by the prince during former President Dr Mohamed Waheed’s visit to Saudi in July 2013.

At the time DrWaheed told local media that it would be a 5-8 year loan with an interest rate of 1-2 percent.

Saudi Arabia has already agreed to donate seven mosques this year, with MVR28.8 million allocated for six of these mosques in the Islamic Ministry programmes for 2014.

Fifty Scholarships to study in Saudi Arabia were also announced recently, with just fourteen applications being received by the initial deadline. In January, a group of Saudi Islamic Scholars visited the country to conduct religious education ‘dawra’ program for local scholars.

Haveeru reported that female Islamic scholars were excluded from these discussions, while the Saudi scholarships also require female students to be accompanied by a male ‘guardian’ or mahram during their time studying in the country.

Islamic scholars from Saudi also conduct religious education ‘dawra’ programmes annually in the Maldives as a selection process for the Saudi funded Islamic education programs for a selected number of students.

Prince Salman is expected to spend some time in the Maldives on holidays before returning to Saudi Arabia. During his official meeting with President Abdulla Yameen he discussed economic and diplomatic cooperation between the two countries.

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British tourist drowned while snorkelling

The body of a British tourist – missing since Saturday – has been found off the coast of Biyaadhoo resort in South Malé atoll.

The 65 year old man who had not been seen since going to snorkel alone is presumed to have drowned. His body has been taken to Maafushi Health Centre.

A recent spate of drowning incidents in the Maldives – more often including Chinese tourists – last month prompted the Ministry of Tourism to consult industry stakeholders and relevant government authorities regarding ways to improve safety.

A questionnaire was subsequently sent to all tourist establishments to gather more information on these incidents before a forum is held later this month.

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