February 23, 2012 – Minivan News

Elections Commission announces Thimarafushi by-election

The Maldives Elections Commission (EC) has announced that the by-election for Thimarafushi constituency will be held on April 14, following the Supreme Court’s decision to remove the Thimarafushi MP Mohamed Musthafa from the post this week over a decreed debt.

According to the EC, interested candidates must submit their applications by the end of March 11 with 50 signatures from the constituency and other legal documentation.

Musthafa, from former ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), lost his seat in the parliament after the apex court ruled that he was constitutionally ineligible to remain in the seat seat due to a decreed debt, which was not paid by him according to the court order.

Musthafa has vowed to contest in the by-elections saying that “only former President Mohamed Nasheed can beat me”.

Meanwhile, former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s PPM party has also announced that it will contest in the by-elections.

Musthafa won the seat in 2009 elections against Gayoom’s son, Gassan Maumoon.

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Maldives considering reverting to “sunny side of life” branding

The Tourism Ministry has begun discussing whether to change the recently branded ‘Maldives-Always Natural‘ slogan back to the previously slogan, ‘The sunny side of life’.

The Maldives Marketing and PR Corporation (MMPRC) re-branded the 11 year-old slogan with a US$100,000 design by Thailand-based global tourism consultancy QUO Keen in October 2011, which was met with mixed reviews from the industry and the public.

Toursim Minister Ahmed Adheeb has commenced discussions with industry representatives to decide on the change, according to local news paper Haveeru.

“Even yesterday we had discussions with various persons in the industry. Most were of the view to change it (the slogan and logo). That is why we are going to discuss this further today,” Adheeb was quoted as saying.

The idea of moving back to the old brand has been put forward as it had been used for a long time and had become familiar: “It would be easier to promote a slogan and logo familiar to a lot of people. That is the why we are determining the view of relevant people from the industry,” Adheeb said.

The new branding, including the slogan and a fingerprint logo consisting of islands, corals, turtles, sharks and herons that transitions from blue to green, was met with criticisms with some people drawing comparisons to the logo of Washington-based environmental advocacy group, Ocean Conservancy.

Speaking to Minivan News, Maldives Association of Travel Agents and Tour Operators (MATATO) Maleeh Jamal welcomed the talks on the reinstatement of old logo.

“We believe it is best for the destination to reinstate the sunny side of life logo,” Jamal observed.

He said that while the organisation was never against the rebranding, they had concerns over whether it was the right time to rebrand, whether enough research was done, or whether the ample budget required for a worldwide rebranding campaign was available. “These basic questions were not answered,” Jamal claimed.

“We noticed that the whole process was not carried out very well. Then we found out that the tourism marketing budget for this year was extremely small for running a new rebranding campaign worldwide,” he continued,“so I hope the change will happen because we need to restore the demand and maintain the occupancy and existing level of arrivals.”

Meanwhile, Simon Hawkins, who headed the 16 month rebranding process as the former Managing Director at the MMPRC, dismissed the move as “a rejection that spits on a democratic, multi-party decision” by committee compromising high stakeholders, including MATATO and Maldives Association of Tourism Industries (MATI).

“We followed a 16 month inclusive process with a cross section of all stake holders, including MATATO and MATI, and we also took the general public view also taken into consideration,” Hawkins observed.

“The reason it took over a year and half to rebrand was because the [former] President want the process to be democratic,” Hawkins added. “But today we are seeing the decisions changed.”

When asked whether the reinstatement of the old logo affect the toursim industry, Hawkins responded: “Slogans do not break or make an industry. This is a highly image sensitive business. Imagine a hotel where the room has not been changed for 12 years. I agree, ‘sunny side of life’ did well in its day. But we needed to change it for today’s market.”

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President Waheed abolishes Maldives Volunteer Corps

President Dr Mohamed Waheed has abolished the Maldives Volunteers Corps (MVC) and its work has been reassigned to the Ministry of Human Resources, Youth and Sports.

“The Maldives Volunteers Corps was abolished because a number of its functions are performed by the Ministry of Human Resources, Youth and Sports,” the President’s Office said in a statement.

The Ministry is now overseen by Mohamed ‘Mundhu’ Shareef, spokesperson for former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.

The Maldives Volunteer Corps was established in 2009 under the Ministry of Human Resources, to increase the participation of youth volunteers in various national and regional level social and economic programs.

Its international branch, the International Volunteers Programme (IVP), places international volunteers in positions within the health and education sectors in the country and was established in partnership with the Salisbury-based Friends of Maldives (FOM) NGO, and coordinated by the Maldives High Commission in London.

FOM recently announced a travel advisory concerning four resorts whose owners it alleged were involved in the ousting of the Maldives’ first democratically-elected President.

“Since the first free and fair presidential elections in the Maldives in October 2008, FOM has worked on promoting social issues and other development programs, primarily in Health and Education Sectors, with the International Volunteer Programme (IVP), the Maldives Volunteer Corps (MVC) and the Maldives High Commission (London),’ FOM said in a statement on its website.

“This activity has been jeopardised due to the violent removal of the democratically-elected government on February 7, 2012. Where health workers and teachers are able to stay, without danger to their safety, they will continue to work to benefit the Maldivian people.

“Unfortunately, this situation is becoming increasingly fragile as Maldivian people have been beaten, hospitalised and imprisoned across the country, and FOM’s focus is required to revert to protecting human rights and promoting social justice until safety and democracy is restored.”

There are 28 volunteers with the IVP program based across the Maldives for the current academic year.

MVC was the program’s local counterpart with the role of taking care of the volunteers, provide their induction and orientation, and liaise with the Ministry of Education throughout the academic cycle, explained former head of MVC, Mariyam Seena.

“The IVP was designed to meet the shortfall of skilled personnel in the academic sector and if the program is shut down, then it will be the children and the schools that will suffer,” she said.

“The schools that have IVP volunteers rely on them a lot – not only with teaching the students but running English programs for the local teachers as well.

“In late 2010 MVC received close to 100 requests for volunteers from schools all over the country which shows the urgent need for British volunteers.The program is into the third year and beginning to make a huge impact on the education system, so shutting it down would be a huge injustice for Maldivian students from the islands,” she concluded.

In an email to the IVP volunteers currently working in the Maldives, FOM founder David Hardingham advised them to register with the British High Commission in Colombo, “and please leave the country if you feel you are in any danger at all.”

“Friends of Maldives are now no longer official stakeholders in the program and following the events in Male and now in Addu, we are now resorting back to our former role as a human rights NGO,” he said.

Volunteers choosing to stay were advised to “follow their instincts”, “steer clear of gatherings”, and “don’t express an interest in one side or the other.”

“Things are unlikely to improve, at least in the short term,” Hardingham wrote. “The military coup and the subsequent crackdown on the huge Male demonstration has caused a lot of concern amongst progressive Maldivians who remember the heavy-handed former dictatorship. There is a lot of pain and anger out there and if demands are not met for elections then things could spiral for the worse.”

The Maldives Volunteer Corps was inaugurated in 2009 by Dr Waheed and then-President Mohamed Nasheed.

In a statement following the inauguration, Dr Waheed “noted the importance given by the President in establishing the Volunteers Corps.”

“Further, he said that Maldivians, in all walks of life, have been known for their helpfulness and kindness to each other. Speaking in this regard, the Vice President said that purpose of the Maldives Volunteers Corps included strengthening the spirit of cooperation and solidarity among the people and to increase interest in voluntary services.”

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Judge frees Nazim from all corruption charges: “acts not enough to criminalise”

The Criminal court has dismissed three remaining counts of fraud against Deputy Speaker of Parliament Ahmed Nazim, stating that his “acts were not enough to criminalise him”.

All four cases against Nazim concerned public procurement tenders of the former Atolls Ministry secured through fraudulent documents and paper companies.

Judge Saeed Ibrahim on Wednesday ruled that two counts of fraud against Nazim – for setting up several paper companies to win a bid worth US$110,000, provide 15,000 national flags for the atolls ministry in 2003, and a similar tender worth US$92,412 to provide 15,000 national flags in 2005, could not be prosecuted.

The third count – conspiracy to defraud the ministry in 2003 in a similar manner to win a public tender for procuring US$115,758 worth of mosque sound systems – was also dismissed.

Wednesday’s rulings came following a similar decision by the court on Tuesday that Nazim cannot be prosecuted for the charges of defrauding the now-defunct Ministry of Atolls Development, in the purchase of 220 harbour lights worth Rf1.95 million (US$126,000) in 2004.

With the court’s decision to not prosecute Nazim over any of the counts, he has now been cleared of all the charges filed against him following the police investigation into the tender and procurement fraud first flagged in a ministry audit report released in early 2009.

During the three year trial, prosecutors maintained that Nazim laundered cash through Namira Engineering while he was the company’s Managing Director, by setting up several unregistered or paper companies and using Namira’s equipments and staff to bid for public tenders on those companies name.

According to the audit report, the auditors have found evidence linking those companies to Nazim with phone and fax numbers stated on the bidding documents registered under his address while the company shareholders were same people working at Namira or relatives of Nazim.

Then-employees of Namira testified under oath that they were instructed by Nazim to bid for the projects – however, the residing judge concluded from their testimonies that they were responsible for the procurement fraud and therefore dismissed the testimonies against Nazim on all counts, adding that they were all alike.

The judge also concluded that Nazim’s “acts were not enough to criminalise” him legally.

If Nazim had been found guilty, he would have been ordered to pay a total sum of US$345,170 paid by the state for the projects and sentenced to between one to six years imprisonment.

Under provision 131 of the penal code, an extra month will be added to the jail sentence for every additional Rf1,000 if the fraudulent transaction exceeds Rf100,000.

According to article 73 of the constitution, an MP convicted for over one year in jail will lose his seat.

Meanwhile, rulings are still pending on fraud charges filed against Atolls Minister Abdullah Hameed [half brother of former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom] and Eydhafushi MP Ahmed “Redwave” Saleem, former director of finance at the ministry who were implicated in the case.

At a press conference in August 2009, Chief Inspector Ismail Atheef said police had uncovered evidence that implicated Nazim in fraudulent transactions worth over US$260,000 (Mrf 3,446,950).

Police exhibited numerous quotations, agreements, tender documents, receipts, bank statements and forged cheques proving that Nazim received over US$400,000 in the case.

A hard disk seized during a raid of Nazim’s office in May allegedly contained copies of forged documents and bogus letter heads.

Police further alleged that MP Saleem actively assisted from the atoll ministry while Nazim’s wife Zeenath Abdullah had abused her position as a manager of the Bank of Maldives’ Villingili branch to deposit proceeds of the fraudulent conspiracy.

Police said Hameed, played a key role in the fraud by handing out bids without public announcements, making advance payments using cheques against the state asset and finance regulations, approving bid documents for unregistered companies and discriminatory treatment of bid applicants.

Despite the allegations, Nazim had steadily pleaded not guilty.

Minivan News could not reach Nazim at time of press.

However, in an interview to the local media outlet Sun following the rulings, Nazim claimed the four cases were baseless and had been leveled at him by former President Mohamed Nasheed’s administration, using false evidence.

He welcomed the ruling as a testimony to the existence of an independent judiciary: “”Today we are guaranteed of the existence of an independent and trustworthy judiciary. Former President Nasheed an the MDP will now believe we have an independent judiciary, because they know that the four cases were schemed with manufactured evidence. These are are absolutely untrue and baseless cases.”

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PIC to investigate allegations of police violence

The Police Integrity Commission (PIC) has launched an investigation into accusations levelled at police from February 6-8.

President of the Commission Shahinda Ismail said the period included the conduct of police during the protest on February 6 in which police sided with opposition demonstrators, the attack by police on the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) headquarters, their involvement in the demonstrations that led to Nasheed’s resignation on February 7, and the crackdown on demonstrators on February 8.

Allegations of excessive force used to make arrests in other parts of the country would also be investigation, Shahinda said..

“Every accusation against the police will be investigated. The whole committee has diverted all its attention to carrying out this investigation,” local newspaper Haveeru reported her as saying.

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MDP and pro-government parties all planning rallies tomorrow

Political parties both supporting the current government of President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan and Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) of ousted President Mohamed Nasheed are planning rallies on Friday.

MDP will hold “Women’s rally for justice” tomorrow evening, calling for early elections. In a statement on the party’s official website, president of the party’s women’s wing, Shiyama Ahmed said “Our rally is to be held in all major streets of the capital Male’ to express our concerns. We shall call for the immediate stepping down of this ‘coup’ government and demand a date for early elections.”

According to Shiyama, the rally will commence near the Social Centre in Maafannu ward at 3.45pm, and conclude near the tsunami monument on the other side of Male’.

The MDP has also planned a ‘sleepover’ event tonight near the tsunami monument, part of their ongoing protest against the government. Nasheed’s party alleges that Dr Waheed’s government illegally came into power through a police mutiny, and are calling for early presidential elections.

The coalition of parties supporting President Waheed’s government have also meanwhile planned a rally on Friday evening at the artificial beach, just a short distance from the MDP’s protest, in which they will call on the government to take legal action against those who were involved in the arson attacks on local police stations and government offices on February 8, after a police crackdown on MDP supporters.

Spokesperson of former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM), MP Ahmed Mahlooof, said during a press conference yesterday said that the rally held by the coalition would take place at the artificial beach tomorrow evening at 4:00pm.

Mahloof stated that the different parties in the coalition were jointly working on to bring as many people from the islands to the capital Male’ for the rally, and said that many were willing to come and take part in the event.

Mahloof further stated that they had asked the Male’ City Council for the permission to hold the rally near the tsunami monument, but had instead been given the artificial beach area. Mahloof alleged that the MDP had taken hold of the Male’ city council.

“I have a feeling the two crowds will meet at some point tomorrow,” an MDP-linked source told Minivan News. “This is going to be a numbers game. We are demanding an election date.”

Former President Mohamed Nasheed has meanwhile travelled south to meet supporters in Addu, and is expected to return before the weekend’s protests.

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‘Coup of opportunity’ derails Maldivian democracy: Reuters

It was an ordinary blue felt pen, and not a bullet, that killed Mohamed Nasheed’s term as the first democratically elected president of the Maldives, writes Bryson Hull for Reuters.

“After rising to acclaim as a champion of democracy and action against climate change, Nasheed is now back on the streets where he led a nearly two-decade campaign to bring full democracy to an archipelago ruled more like a sultanate.

A Reuters investigation, drawing on more than a dozen interviews including with witnesses who have not spoken out before, reveals a coup of opportunity that capitalised on opposition discontent, political missteps and police and troops loyal to the old order.

Nasheed says a cabal of former regime strongmen conspired with opposition leaders to force him to make a choice: resign in two hours, or face the introduction of live ammunition into a duel between loyal and rebelling security forces, then only being fought with batons and rubber bullets.

“The generals were in league with the mutinous police,” Nasheed said at a recent news conference, acknowledging that he had erred in not clearing out officers loyal to Gayoom.

“We never did a purge of the military. We have a history of murdering our former leaders and I wanted to change that.”

Even as the Commonwealth urges an investigation and new President Waheed has proposed a presidential commission to investigate his own ascendancy, military leaders have taken no chances.

They have emptied the four armories around Male and put the weapons inside the MNDF headquarters after some tense squabbles between factions inside the forces, three sources told Reuters.

This week, the criminal court threw out several graft cases against opposition figures, a sign of the old impunity provided by a pliable and poorly educated judiciary.

Nasheed’s supporters remain on the streets in peaceful protest, demanding an election be held before it is due in October 2013, which the new president has said he will do if the conditions are right.

“I think it is important that democracy be upheld there, and there is concern that the president (Waheed) might find himself heavily influenced by the previous Gayoom regime,” a diplomat from a Commonwealth country told Reuters.

“There must be no return to the pre-2008 days. The importance of the early elections it to ensure there is a clear democratic mandate.”

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President Waheed appoints Abdulla Jabir as Special Trade Representative

President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan has appointed businessman and Chairman of Yacht Tours Abdulla Jabir as the Special Trade Representative of the President’s Office, at ministerial level.

Jabir, now the deputy leader of fellow businessman Gasim Ibrahim’s Jumhoree Party (JP), has also been a member of both the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) and the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP).

Jabir’s wife, Dhiyana Saeed, was the former Secretary General of SAARC prior to her resignation in protest over the detention of Chief Judge of the Criminal Court, Abdulla Mohamed.

The Tourism Ministry under Nasheed’s government sent a letter to the Finance Ministry in August 2011 requesting that “measures be taken” against Alidhoo and Kudarah Resorts, run by Jabir’s Yacht Tours company, for non-payment of outstanding rent and fines.

Then Tourism Minister Mariyam Zulfa also requested action against Giraavaru Island Resort (owned by Abdul Rauf, M. Sunrose), Kihaadhupparu Island Resort (Athamaa Marine International) and Zitali, Filitheyo and Medhufushi (owned by the family of MDP MP Hamza and Economic Advisor to former President Nasheed, Ali Shiyam).

Alidhoo was also the scene of a strike in July 2011 after staff alleged that allowances had not been paid for the previous three months, including service charge and overtime.

The management first told staff that the payments were delayed because the chairman of the company [Jabir] was not in the Maldives, “and when he came back, they said the banks were not giving money to the resorts – how can we believe them now?” a staff member alleged at the time.

The resort’s management dismissed 12 employees following the strike.

Yacht Tours also won a high profile civil court case in January 2010 against the Maldives Tourism Promotion Board (MTDC), after a long-running dispute over Herathera Island Resort.

MTDC had claimed that Yacht Tours had been running Herathera Island Resort without paying rent and took the company to court. In May 2009 Yacht Tours was ordered to pay US$8 million in outstanding rent to MTDC.

However in 2010 MTDC agreed to pay Yacht Tours US$3.5 million to end the dispute, as at one stage 600 staff had been employed to look after 28 guests.

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New government meets US Ambassador, Rajapaksa

President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan yesterday met United States Ambassador to the Maldives Patricia A Butenis.

According to a statement from the President’s Office, discussions were primarily on the current political situation in the Maldives.

“Particularly, the President briefed Ambassador Butenis on the National Unity Government and the progress of its Roadmap,” the statement read.

Vice President Designate Mohamed Waheeduddeen meanwhile met with President Mahinda Rajapaksa in Sri Lanka.

Visiting Sri Lanka as a Special Envoy of President Dr Mohamed Waheed, Waheeduddeen presented a letter to the Sri Lankan President, on his behalf.

“At the meeting, Waheeduddeen noted the close relations established between the two countries, and discussed hopes for further enhancing the ties both the countries share,” a statement read. “Further, Mr Waheeduddeen expressed his gratitude to the Sri Lankan government for the aid and support being provided to the Maldives.”

Dr Waheed’s political advisor, Dr Hassan Saeed, yesterday met with the Commonwealth in the UK, representing the new government. Former Maldives High Commissioner to the UK, Dr Farahanaz Faizal, represented former President Mohamed Nasheed.

Dr Saeed was also interviewed on the BBC.

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