April 26, 2012 – Minivan News

Police to investigate Housing Ministry billing scam worth Rf24 million

The country’s auditor general on Thursday revealed plans to request police investigate a case involving a private company that has allegedly defrauded the Housing Ministry out of Rf 24 million (US$1.5 million) in a double billing scam.

According to the Ibrahim Niyaz, the company first received the payment for the bills in 2005, but had fraudulently charged the ministry for the same bills in 2009 and 2010.

“We found out about the fraud during the recent audit of the ministry.This case will be forwarded to the police today,” Niyaz told local media.

The company’s identity was not revealed by the auditor general. Those who are negligent or responsible in the scam will be found after the investigation, he added.

Police media official Sub-Inspector Hassan Haneef said that the police will inform the media when the case is lodged and the investigation is started.

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Reforms should be made within presidential decree: CNI

The Commission of National Inquiry (CNI) has today said that any reforms to its composition should be made by a presidential decree.

Speaking at a press conference today, the commission said that President Waheed need not wait on its recommendations before bringing reform to its composition.

The CNI was set up by Dr Waheed Hassan to investigate the controversial change of power on February 7, which the ousted Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) maintains was a coup d’état orchestrated by remnants of the former dictatorship and funded by several resort interests.

The CNI’s comments came as Dr. Waheed told the press on Wednesday that it was now up to the commission to decide on whether to “allow new members into the commission” as well as any suggestions to reform its mandate.

Ismail Shafeeu, the man appointed by Dr. Waheed to head the CNI, noted in local media that the “commission was established upon a Presidential decree.” Shafeeu added that it was his belief any reform process must be followed the same way, according to local newspaper Haveeru.

He added that the commission has the authority to independently seek outside guidance and assistance.

Meanwhile, CNI member Dr Yasir said that he does not believe that the President must await a suggestion from the commission to enact changes to the commission’s composition.

The CNI has itself come under widespread criticisms for perceived delays in implementing changes recommended by the Commonwealth and local NGOs to make its investigation more “credible” and “impartial” through cross-party agreement on its composition, mandate and scope of investigation.

The independence of the existing three member commission has been openly criticised by MDP, which argues that an impartial investigation cannot be conducted with members linked to the elements accused of participating in an alleged “coup d’etat”.

However, CNI head Shafeeu today said that he does not wish to respond to any political remarks directed towards him by anyone. Shafeeu was the former Defence Minister at President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s administration.

“I am here not to respond to political remarks. [But] to present what I concluded from the findings based upon the different statements of witnesses,” Shafeeu said.

He added that anyone who takes up such a responsibility would do it with confidence and that he has nothing more to say regarding the matter.

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MPs ban Israel flights, but withdraw resolutions against Pillay, GMR, SAARC monuments

MPs passed a resolution on Wednesday preventing Israeli national airline El Al from operating scheduled flights to the Maldives until Majlis’ National Security Committee completes further investigation into the matter.

El Al had applied to the Ministry of Civil Aviation in May 2011 requesting permission to fly to the Maldives starting in December 2011.

The demand to ban Israeli flights was a key issue that united opposition parties and was used to spark protests against Nasheed’s administration in the last weeks of his presidency. Nasheed resigned from office on February 7, but later claimed he had been deposed through a coup d’état.

The opposition also called for the eviction of Indian infrastructure giant GMR, granted a contract by Nasheed’s administration to manage and develop Ibrahim Nasir International Airport (INIA). Further demands included a call to condemn UN Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay for her suggestion that flogging be abolished in the Maldives as a punishment for extra-marital sex, and the removal of “idolatrous” SAARC monuments from Addu City

However Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM) MP Abdul Azeez Jamal Abu Bakr on Wednesday withdrew the Majlis petition against Pillay.

On April 2, Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP) MP Riyaz Rasheed also withdrew a resolution calling on the Majlis to prevent GMR from taking over the management of duty free shops and bonded warehouse from local businesses.

Riyaz also withdrew a resolution calling on the government to remove SAARC monuments from Addu City on the same day. Addu City Council had removed the monuments in January after a public furor.

Ousted Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) spokesperson and MP Hamid Abdul Gafoor said he was “at a total loss” since then-opposition “had picked such a fight with us over these matters.”

“They made these issues out to be a threat to national security, and now these issues have disappeared without a trace. This is just cheap and dirty politics,” Ghafoor said.

December 23 demands

Speaking to MDP supporters at a rally on Wednesday evening, Nasheed observed that the then-opposition’s rallying cries had died once they took power.

“I will always remember, at the last moment of the coup, a police man was shouting out, ‘My father built that airport at Hulhule,’ [complaining] that I had sold that airport to outsiders, that the police were there [protesting] to retake that airport,” he said.

Nasheed said his policies had been for the benefit of the ordinary citizen and “no one can take the airport away, whether it’s GMR or India or another country.”

“I want to tell that policeman and other police officers who brought about the coup, when the current administration eventually decides to allow Israel flights to land at the airport, it is for the benefit of the economy. Even though they polluted your hearts for political gain, you are now seeing all of their poems turning to mere lullabies,” he said.

The PPM, DQP, Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP), Jumhooree Party (JP) and Madhanee Ithihad (Civil Society Coalition) organised a well attended ‘Defend Islam’ rally on December 23 demanding that Nasheed prevent Israeli airlines from operating flights into the Maldives, remove “idolatrous” SAARC monuments and apologise for Pillay’s comments.

The ‘December 23 coalition’ accused Nasjeed of being “non- Islamic”, and said the decision to handover airport to GMR undermined Maldives’ sovereignty.

When Nasheed arrested Criminal Court Judge Abdulla Mohamed in January 2012, the coalition called on the police and military not to obey Nasheed’s orders and pledged allegiance to Nasheed’s VP Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan.

On February 7, Nasheed publicly resigned from office after elements of the police and military staged a mutiny, and Waheed was sworn in as president on the same day.

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Over 250 people reach Aasandha outpatient care finance limit

The manager of the Aasandha Private Limited company Ahmed Shabig has revealed that 257 people have reached their entitlement limit of Rf10,000 for outpatient care provided under the recently launched healthcare scheme, local media has reported.

These 257 people will now have to pay for their own outpatient care, although they will still be entitled to other services as part of the Aasandha universal healthcare scheme introduced on January 1.

Shabig told Sun Online that an SMS text service had also been introduced that would allow people to check how much of their allowance had been used.

The scheme has come under fire in recent weeks after its current rate of expenditure has reportedly threatened to reach Rf1billion on an approved budget of Rf720 million. The government has anticipated its annual spending will be Rf2billion over budget this year as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned this week that economic growth and stability in the Maldives were unlikely to be maintained “in the medium term” unless the government substantially cut its spending.

Amid suspicions of corruption, the Majlis Finance Committee announced its intention to audit the scheme earlier this week.

The President’s Office claimed last week that figures showing 150,000 people had used the healthcare scheme a total of 250,000 times indicated something must have gone wrong with the system.

Despite the Maldivian Democratic Party’s (MDP) claims that President Waheed’s administration intends to end the scheme, the government has stressed repeatedly that it aims instead to reform the existing system.

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Repair work commences on Dhiraagu submarine cable

Dhiraagu has reportedly commenced work this afternoon on repairing a damaged section of submarine cable off the Sri Lankan coast responsible for disrupting the company’s internet services in the Maldives over the last week.

Local media has reported that repair work on the cable began at around 2pm this afternoon in a collaboration between Dhiraagu technicians and engineers from Sri Lankan Telecom (SLT).

Commencement of the repair work has been dependent on the arrival of a specially equipped ship called the Asean Explorer, which completed its journey from India to Sri Lanka yesterday. It is not known yet how long repairs may take, though Dhraagu claims it has continued to work on strengthening services and capacity for its internet clients.

Earlier this week, a spokesperson for the company said it did not wish to speculate on the possible cause of the damage to the submarine cable that connects Dhiraagu’s Maldivian broadband network to the wider world.

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Politicians must seek ”broadest support” rather than dividing country: Dr Hassan Saeed

Since 2008, our country has become even more divided. Politics in the Maldives seems to be pretty polarized with citizens and voters seeing things in very black and white terms, President Waheed’s Special Advisor, Dr Hassan Saeed writes for Haveeru.

Responsible government, and for that matter responsible opposition, should not seek to divide the country but try to gain the broadest support possible by building consensus.

But how do voters make up their minds about how they are going to vote? Do they study the manifestos or policy platforms of respective candidates and parties and then weighing all the options make their minds up in a calm and collected fashion? Are they offered distinct and competing visions of the road down which the Maldives might travel by political parties? How much genuine choice and difference is there in the offer from our politicians and political parties?

In 2008 it was relatively easy. The election was really only about whether voters wanted change or continuity. In 2013 political parties will have the opportunity to come of age and spell out to the voters what they really stand for and why their ideas and policies can take the country forward. At present many voters will cast their vote because of

•   Habit – “I’ve always voted this way”,
•   Family – ‘my family is..’
•   Island loyalty- “this is an X political party island”
•   Personal interest-“what are you going to do for me personally?”
•   Personality-“I like X”

And the last one is the most dangerous because it can lead to a crude populism where big personalities attempt to outbid each other with unkeepable promises and voters compile ever more unachievable and unrealistic shopping lists. That’s how we end up in the financial mess that we are in now with a budget deficit of over US$300 million this year.

All-party talks resume with agreement on priority issues

The Indian-sponsored all-party roadmap talks that stalled last month appear to be gathering momentum again after parties agreed on a new set of priority issues.

After asking the parties involved to list the five issues that concerned them most, the convener, Ahmed Mujuthaba, compiled a list of three issues which would be focused on in future talks.

The primary concerns of all the parties combined were: firstly, the country’s economic troubles; secondly, the constitution and laws of the country; and, thirdly, the judiciary and crime.

The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) were represented at the talks by Hamid Abdul Ghafoor, who said the meeting was “very successful.”

Jumhoree Party (JP) representative at the talks Abbas Adil Riza – also President Mohamed Waheed’s spokesperson – informed Minivan News that there had been an agreement that only the convener would comment to the media on the content of the talks.

Despite repeated attempts, Minivan News was unable to contact Mujuthaba.

“I think there is momentum,” said Ghafoor. “We should have done this from the start.”

This is in stark contrast to the reaction of the previous MDP representative in the last round of talks, former Home Minister Hassan Afeef, who branded the talks “ridiculous”, describing them as “a farce”.

The talks appeared to have stalemated at the conclusion of the last meeting on April 7 after the MDP continued to question the make-up of the talks. The party argued at that meeting that all registered parties in the country ought to be included in the discussions, criticising the decision to include certain government-aligned parties without an apparent democratic mandate.

Ghafoor explained that the main concern of the MDP was that the party would have been outnumbered eight to one, making voting on any decisions senseless, despite it representing the largest number of MPs and political membership. However, Ghafoor explained that the convener had yesterday made it clear the process of agreement would now be based on consensus rather than votes, meaning that this previous objection was “no longer relevant”.

Whilst the talks do not immediately address the calls for early elections, Ghafoor argued that other parties could not avoid the issue forever.

“We agreed to start talks with issues they are comfortable with,” he said, but argued that the discussion of early elections remained a key part of the talks envisioned in President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan’s road map.

“As long as the roadmap exists, the issue of early elections exists,” commented Ghafoor.

Observing progress

The talks are being observed by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) mediation expert Pierre-Yves Monette. After speaking with parties following the last round of talks, Monette was reported by Sun Online as stating that he had seen no serious obstructions to a successful resolution of political differences.

“The worst thing would be not to want to listen to others, to be incapable of listening to other points of view. I have experienced this in my job in many other countries – but I don’t find that here. There is clearly willingness to listen, and to talk. They know they disagree on major issues. They are ready to listen to the arguments of others and to enter a dialogue: this is the beginning of a possible solution,” Monette was reported as saying.

Ghafoor said he felt that Monette had played a “significant part” in making this round of talks a success. He did, however, note a tension amongst the smaller parties represented at the talks towards the observer, notably those with little or no formal representation in the Majlis or local government, including the Gaumee Ittihad (GI), Jumhoree Party (JP) and Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM).

He argued that even the presence of Monette at the talks prompted a xenophobic response from these groups. Of the list of concerns listed by the parties and collated by the convener, Ghafoor claimed that foreign interference was a point raised by many of those present.

The all party roadmap talks resumed yesterday following the return to the country of the convener of the talks Ahmed Mujuthaba.

A coalition of Maldivian NGOs working under the banner ‘Thinvana Adu’ (Third Way) called earlier this week for a renewal of efforts to enhance dialogue between political parties. “It is our belief that a crucial step towards resolving the political crisis in the country…is for all political parties to resume dialogue and commit to a politics of compromise.”

In a press release, the group gave a thinly veiled criticism of Mujthaba’s schedule, which has seen him absent from the country for long periods of time, further slowing the progress of the talks.

“The Party Talks convener must be able to devote adequate time to the matter,” read the statement.

The next meeting is scheduled on May 5, between 2:00pm and 6:00pm. Ghafoor claimed that the convener had wished to devote longer to the talks. He said that Mujuthaba’s desire for an intensive three-day session was blocked by the smaller parties.

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Criminal court employees screened amid tuberculosis scare

Public health workers screened Criminal Court staff for tuberculosis (TB) and conducted awareness sessions about the disease on Thursday after an employee tested positive for the infectious disease.

A court employee told Minivan News today that staff were relieved health officials were now working to put a stop to the potential spread of tuberculosis at the court. However, the member of staff said their colleagues were “seriously concerned after one employee was tested positive”.

The employee speculated that the disease may have been transmitted to the court employee from a TB patient, who was brought to the court two months ago for a police custody extension.

Local media has reported that three court employees are thought to have tested positive for the disease so far. These reports were today dismissed by court workers.

The staff member observed that the local media had picked up on the TB case because of the awareness session being held at the court today, while claiming that reports of multiple confirmed cases was misleading.

“It was just one confirmed but everyone was very scared. All the employees have been screened now and nobody else was tested positive. But since there was widespread scare, doctors came to the court today and gave us information on TB,” the employee noted on condition of anonymity. “There was some concerns but everything is normal at the court now,” he added.

The potentially serious disease spreads from person-to-person through the air, for example, if someone coughs or sneezes. It primarily attacks the lungs.

Despite, the TB scare at the Criminal Court, the Maldives has achieved notable success in TB control since the establishment of a National TB control programme (NTP) by the Department of Public Health in 1976. Maldives has an estimated incidence of 47 per 100,000 population of all forms of TB and has sustained the global targets for TB control since 1996, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO’s) communicable disease department for South East Asia.

Tuberculosis, which had a prevalence in the Maldives of 35 cases per thousand people in 1974, had declined in 1996 to about 0.66 per 1000. Childhood TB (under 5 years) is almost nil for the past three years due to the high rate of BCG vaccination, the report added.

The WHO also observed that upon adopting the recommended Directly Observed Treatment Short-course (DOTS) in 1997, the TB patients in the Maldives continues to receive effective treatment.

However, the Health Ministry has recently raised concerns over a growing number of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) in Maldives. The rate of TB prevalence among the country’s expatriate population is also reportedly on the rise as well.

“Large migrant workforce from high TB-burden countries,” is identified by the WHO as major challenge for local health bodies. However, the WHO has claimed that “MDR-TB and TB-HIV are not major problems in Maldives.”

Meanwhile, a growing diagnoses of multi drug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) and treatment sites are being established in the region. In 2010, almost 4000 MDR-TB patients were put on treatment. There are currently 105,000 MDR-TB cases estimated of affecting the region. These figures were taken from the WHO annual report on tuberculosis titled “Tuberculosis Control in the South-East Asia Region 2012”.

The South-East Asia Region registered an estimated five million prevalent, and about 3.5 million incident TB cases in 2010. Though the death rates in the region have declined due to successful implementation of the DOTS (directly observed treatment, short course), the disease still claims about half a million lives a year in the Region, the report read.

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Maldives government selects Ruder Finn for “controversial” brief: PR Week

The Maldives’ government has appointed US-based public relations agency Ruder Finn in a deal worth upwards of US$150,000 a month, reports public relations industry magazine PR Week.

However Deputy Minister of Tourism Mohamed Maleeh Jamal told Minivan News that the government was still evaluating the bids.

“I can’t disclose the costs or names, but we are evaluating three companies: one in India, one in China, and another in America,” Maleeh said.

President Dr Mohamed Waheed’s spokesperson, Abbas Adil Riza, told Minivan News that the appointed company would only be responsible for promoting tourism, and would not be involved in politics or government.

Tthe request for proposals (RFP) document issued by the Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) on April 9 states that the successful agency will be required to target stakeholders in the UK, USA, Commonwealth countries, “all relevant EU institutions”, academic institutions and NGOs, “arrange 1:1 meetings with influential and open minded potential champions”, and “arrange briefings to build links at various levels with the UK, US, Commonwealth and major European governments.”

The agency will “feed in academic arguments to those identified”, and “determine champions who are willing to speak publicly on Maldives”, in a bid to “Rally an alliance of support for the Maldives”.

Locally, the chosen company will be required to “assist with the roll out of policy and other announcements to media, parliamentarians,government, NGOs and others.”

Speaking to PR Week, Ruder Finn’s Senior Vice-President and Ethics Officer Emmanuel Tchividjian defended company’s decision to take on the contract.

“We believe Ruder Finn can contribute positively to the people of the Maldives, a country that depends on tourism for the bulk of its economy,” Tchividjian stated.

“Prior to deciding to pursue the tender, we closely examined the complexity of the current political situation in the country. We were encouraged by the desire of the current government, in place according to the country’s constitution, to focus on ensuring stability, democracy and transparency in the Maldives, including a free press,” he said, but acknowledged “diverse points of view” surrounding the change of government on February 7.

The 50,000 member-strong Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), which was ousted from power on February 7 following what then President Mohamed Nasheed described as a coup d’état planned by the opposition, sponsored by wealthy resort tycoons and carried out by a mutinous police and military, continues to maintain that the new President’s government is illegitimate and a return to the autocratic era of Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.

David Hardingham, founder of the UK-based Friends of Maldives (FOM) NGO that has issued a travel advisory against several resorts owned by those by the MDP accused of involvement in the coup, suggested to PR Week that Ruder Finn should “tear up the contract, and think twice in the future about with whom it does business.”

“Clearly our hope was that no responsible PR firm would shake hands with a dictatorship that toppled a democratically elected leader at gunpoint,” the FOM founder told the PR industry trade magazine.

“We can only ask ourselves: is a company with offices in seven countries and a long list of respectable clients really so desperate for the money? Because this kind of work does nothing for its reputation,” he added.

Controversial clients

Ruder Finn is no stranger to controversial clients. Up until the late 90s the company was instrumental in crafting an infamous campaign for US cigarette giant Phillip Morris disputing evidence that smoking was harmful to public health.

According to Sourcewatch, in 2004 the Ruder Finn was appointed to promote Israeli national carrier El Al, while in 2008 the company’s Israel branch represented a “Facing Jihad” conference, “a summit of European lawmakers who are united in their shared belief that Islam today poses a serious threat to Western civilization.”

PR in the Maldives

Other foreign PR companies that have been active in the Maldives have included the Campaign Palace, a London-based group engaged by former President Gayoom to develop his Dhivehi Rayithunge Party (DRP), and New York-headquartered Hill & Knowlton (H&K), which was commissioned by Gayoom in 2003 and subsequently recommended – and in some cases implemented – most of the pre-2008 democratic reform in the Maldives.

H&K’s 2003 report on the Maldives, titled ‘Issues audit and communications strategy for the Government of the Maldives’, revealed that the firm was responsible for much of the human rights and governance reform that paved the way for the country’s first democratic election in 2008.

H&K’s recommendations included the separation of the security forces into police, military and correctional institutions, constitutional reform and the introduction of multi-party democracy, strategies for the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM), reform of the Majlis, reform of the criminal justice system and an end to the practice of flogging.

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