Category: News in Brief

Elections Commission suspends funds to ‘inactive’ political parties

The Elections Commission has suspended public funding of six political parties it claims are inactive.

The parties were the Islamic Democratic Party (IDP), the Maldives National Congress (MNC), the Social Liberal Party (SLP), the Maldivian Social Democratic Party (MSDP), the People’s Party (PP), and the Labour Party.

Haveeru reported Deputy Elections Commissioner Ahmed Fayaz Hassan as saying that payments would only be resumed on a court order, or if parties could prove they were politically active.

The budget allocates Rf 13.65 million (US$1.1 million) for the functioning of political parties. Of that money, reported Haveeru, the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) received (Rf 3.57 million), opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) Rf 3.15 million, Adhaalath Party Rf 842,441.62, Jumhoree Party Rf 816,538.47, People’s Alliance (PA) Rf 622,691.85, Gaumee Ithihaadh Party (GIP) Rf 643, 471.30, and Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP) Rf 618, 279.78.

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ACC files case against former STO MD Mohamed Manik

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has filed a case against former Managing Director of the State Trading Organisation (STO), Mohamed Hussein Manik, alleging corruption in a US$1.3 million deal with Yacht Tours Maldives (YTM).

Haveeru reported the commission as stating it had filed the case with the Prosecutor General as the money may have been used to purchase shares of Emerald Resort Private Limited to buy Olhuveli Resort.

Manik is currently the CEO of the Pension Administration Office, and was previously Maldives Ambassador to the US.

Yacht Tours is owned by Abdulla Jabir, a former DRP member who joined the MDP following the Presidential election.

Last year the Maldives Tourism Development Corporation paid US$3.8 million to Yacht Tours after a long-running legal dispute over Herathera Island Resort.

MTDC claimed that YTM had been running Herathera Island Resort without paying rent and took the company to court. In May 2009 the court ordered YTM to pay US$8 million in outstanding rent to MTDC, however YTM successfully claimed that MTDC had failed to fulfil a contractual obligation to build a channel between Herethere Resort and Hulhudhoo, an adjoining inhabited island.

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Former Salisbury MP Robert Key lecturing in Maldives

Former UK Conservative Party MP for Salisbury Robert Key is visiting the Maldives this week to present a series of lectures on subjects including democracy, civil service and the importance of an independent judiciary.

Key will be presenting a public lecture at Mandhu College on Tuesday night at 8:00pm, on the Magna Carta.

During his tenure as an MP, Key was instrumental in bringing the Maldives to the attention of British Parliament in March 2005, following representations made to him by the now-ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP).

Current President Mohamed Nasheed attended school near Salisbury. The area is also home to the Friends of Maldives NGO, and the Maldives Consulate.

Key entered parliament in 1983 and retired in April 2010, during which time he variously served as Minister for Local Government and Inner Cities in the Department of the Environment, Minister for Roads and Traffic, junior minister at the Department of National Heritage, and in opposition, shadow minister for Science and Energy, and shadow minister for International Development. He was succeeded as Salisbury MP by John Glen, also a Conservative Party MP.

Key’s entry on UK government’s ‘They Work for You’ website

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Fire extinguished in Aaa Sahara cemetery

A fire in a building of the Aaa Sahara cemetery in the Machangoalhi district of Male’ has damaged equipment, reports Haveeru.

The cemetary’s staff accomodation block caught fire yesterday, police said, and was extinguished by the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) firefighters.

Nobody was injured and police are investigating the incident.

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Employ recovering addicts, President urges big business

State-owned corporations and large businesses should help rehabilitate drug addicts back into society through active recruitment, President Mohamed Nasheed has said during his weekly radio address.

The President noted the state-owned construction firm Works Corporation Limited had employed 15 recovering addicts in its Thilafushi precast yard, and that 11 of the 15 had successfully completed the program. The company had now taken on an additional 25 young people to boost the government’s drug rehabilitation efforts, he said.

Addicts, he said, were isolated from their families and society as a result of their addiction, and such programs could return them to the community.

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No injuries reported in Male’ cemetery fire

No injuries have been recorded following a fire that damaged equipment and a cemetery building yesterday in Machangoalhi, Male’, local new reports have said.

Police authorities have confirmed that the blaze struck a second floor block used as staff accommodation at the “Aaa Sahara” cemetery, according to Haveeru.

The Maldives National Defence Force’s (MNDF) Fire and Rescue department dealt with the blaze, whilst police are now investigating the possible causes of the fire, the report added.

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Somali piracy spreading to Asian waters, says US military official

A high ranking US Military official has claimed that piracy originating from Somalia is expanding into Asia, potentially leading to “problems” for a nation like the Maldives, according to news reports.

Miadhu reported that Admiral Robert Willard, who has recently toured the Maldives in his role as commander of the 300,000 strong Pacific Command, claimed President Mohamed Nasheed had expressed concerns that pirates whether abandoned or lost during, had been landing in the Maldives.

Several dinghies containing Somali nationals were stranded in the Maldives last year. Defence personnel discovered a bullet casing in one of the later dinghies.

A recent Minivan News investigation found that although there was no evidence that national interests in the Maldives had been threatened so far by piracy, coastal security authorities and experts believed the country could potentially become a target for pirate vessels increasingly forced away from African waters by the naval presence in the Gulf of Aden.

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LDCs meeting in Delhi this weekend

The government of India is holding a ministerial conference for Least Developed Countries (LDCs) this weekend.

The Maldives will be represented by State Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ahmed Naseem, despite graduating to a Middle Income Country in January.

The number of LDC’s has increased from 25 in 1971 to 48 in 2011, noted the Indian High Commission to the Maldives in a press statement. All countries are expected to be sending their permanent representatives, while 35 ministers are attending the conference in Delhi.

“Sustained global growth and stability will remain a dream if economies of the LDCs continue to be underdeveloped and their natural and human resources remain untapped preventing their overall socio-economic advancement,” the High Commission statement noted.

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UNICEF allocates US$1.72 million to promotion of child rights

UNICEF and its partners have allocated US$1.72 million to promote the rights of children in the Maldives, under the new UNICEF Maldives Country Programme 2011-2015.

In a statement, UNICEF said that activities identified in the 2011 plan include improving the legislative framework for child rights, strengthening the evidence base for policy planning, and improve capacity of government to deliver improved quality health care and water and sanitation services.

Support will also be provided to ensure enhanced national capacity to deliver inclusive and child friendly education, and to scale up services to protect the most vulnerable children and women from violence. UNICEF will also partner with civil society organizations and the media to enhance their capacity for active monitoring and reporting on children’s issues.

Partners for the implementation of the 2011 Annual Work Plan include the Juvenile Justice Unit of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Health and Family, Department of National Planning of the Ministry of Finance and Treasury, Ministry of Housing and Environment, Ministry of Education, Maldives Police Services, Human Rights Commission of the Maldives and the Maldives Media Council.

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