Day: October 11, 2012

Health Minister says compassion can cure sector’s ills

Minister of Health Dr Ahmed Jamsheed has told local media that 80 percent of the problems in the healthcare sector could be resolved if patients were spoken to in a more compassionate manner.

“We have to keep in mind that patients are usually worried. They don’t go to the doctor for fun. We have to provide patient-focused services,” he told Sun Online.

He said that one bad experience by a patient can affect an entire community.

Referring to issues regarding the payment of salaries in the sector, Jamsheed said that these concerns were related to problems in the Finance Ministry.

“Problems with receiving salaries should not affect their work. That should not be the attitude of health sector employees,” he said.

Sun Online also reported that Minister of State for Health Lubna Zahir had stated that the HIV spreading behaviour was on the rise in the Maldives.

Speaking at the closing of the Enhancing the Response to HIV/AIDS in the Maldives project, Lubna said that the risk was highest amongst drug users.

“We have collected information that shows that behaviours that contribute to the spread of HIV are increasing at an alarming rate. The risk of HIV spreading fast in the Maldives is extremely high,” Lubna is quoted as saying.

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Go through process, but do not allow trial to disenfranchise former president: McKinnon

While the Maldives’ judiciary is “not the strongest of the democratic institutions in the Maldives”, the international spotlight would encourage a fair trial of former President Mohamed Nasheed, Sir Don McKinnon has told ABC Radio Australia.

The Commonwealth Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the Maldives told the channel that the international community was watching the matter “very closely”.

Nasheed was arrested by the police on Monday acting on a warrant from the Hulhumale’ Magistrate Court, where the Prosecutor General has filed charges concerning the former president’s detention of Chief Judge of the Criminal Court, Abdulla Mohamed, while in office.

Nasheed has maintained that the detention was justified on grounds of national security following the failure of other institutions to hold the judge accountable, and alleged that the charges against him are a politically-motivated attempt to prevent him from contesting the 2013 elections.

“All the major players that have been talking to the Maldives recently are also saying go through your processes, but do not allow this to disenfranchise the former president,” McKinnon told ABC Radio.

Asked whether he shared Nasheed’s concerns that he would not be tried fairly, “I think on this particular case [the judiciary] know very well that there’s more than just a few Maldivian people watching this trial.”

“The international players are watching and I believe that the Maldivian judiciary will be very careful,” McKinnon said.

“It certainly can be fair and it should be fair. These people know exactly what is expected of a judiciary, but there is a high level of political sensitivity in that country, there’s a tense atmosphere which does get more difficult from time to time. But there is still the possibility of having a fair trial, yes,” he said.

Asked about the country’s future, McKinnon suggested that “we who live in Western countries expect things to happen very fast. I began my dealings with the Maldives probably about seven years ago, encouraging them to have a new constitution, have free and fair elections, which they did. And that was the first time they’d really had free and fair elections in 2008.

“Now on that basis Maldives democracy is really only four years old, so there’s still a lot of elbowing people around, much of the political structure within the Maldives is based on personalities, there’s not great ideological divides, there are six or seven different parties in and out of the margins right now. There are many things that it is grappling with that it’s never had to grapple with before, and the important thing is the international community give them support to allow this very fledgling democracy to mature.”

Failure to defend democracy

Former President Nasheed has meanwhile told the UK’s Guardian newspaper that the international community had failed to defend democracy in the Maldives, saying that it was “difficult for me to believe that democracy is sacred for the international community”.

“The people of the Maldives have lost faith with the international community … which has taken a very narrow view,” Nasheed told the paper.

“It is very certain that they can’t win [the election] with me [standing] as a candidate so they are trying all sorts of ways to stop me … It is really quite chilling,” he said, noting that his party had decided to boycott the election if he was excluded from running.

“No travel ban”

The government has meanwhile issued a statement noting concerns raised by the UK, US and European Union regarding the arrest of Nasheed.

Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Dunya Maumoon – daughter of Nasheed’s predecessor Maumoon Abdul Gayoom – said the government was “fully committed to strengthening democracy and rule of law in the Maldives”.

“[Nasheed was released from police custody after the first hearing. He was taken into custody following a court order issued by the Hulhumale’ Magistrate Court, after he ignored court summons and refused to appear for the first hearing of the case which had been originally scheduled for 1 October 2012 and rescheduled for 7 October 2012,” she said.

“Contrary to claims by the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), and also by Amnesty International, police did not use excessive force during the arrest of the former President Nasheed. His safety and security had been the priority and no one was harmed or pepper sprayed during the operation,” the statement read.

“The Police Integrity Commission (PIC) and the Human Rights Commission of Maldives (HRCM) had been invited to observe the operation. While in custody, former President Nasheed was afforded the right to an attorney and meet with his family members. There is no travel ban on him and he is currently travelling out to some of the atolls.”

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“Challenges” anticipated as Maldives adopts mandatory motor cover

Vehicle owners in the Maldives are be required to have third party motor insurance under new regulations coming into force today or otherwise face paying a potentially indefinite number of fines from police, transport authorities have warned.

Assessing the new law, which will have direct impacts on police and insurance providers in the country, the head of the Transport Authority of Maldives said that a “wait and see” approach would be taken before judging the efficiency of the new regulations and how they are being undertaken.  The authority said it nonetheless held reservations about the actual insurance regulation as well as the capacity of private and state institutions to ensure motorists were correctly registered.

However, the Maldives Police Service has said it does not expect the motor insurance regulations to severely impact officers in carrying out their duties due to an potential increase in workload.

Several key insurers in the country have meanwhile announced measures to try and keep up with demand.  These measures have included extending office hours across the last week and launching an online purchasing of insurance coverage.

The introduction of the new law requiring all owners of two and four wheel motor vehicles on the country’s inhabited islands to have third-party insurance was ratified under the previous government in the form of an amendment to the Land Transport Act.

The insurance bill was required to be brought into force three years from the start of the Act, together with regulations stating that the mechanisms for investigation of accidents, identifying the cost of damage and claim for damage should be made public.

Speaking to Minivan News, Transport Authority Chair Abdul Rasheed Nafiz said that concerns remained over the original legislation amendments, as well as the capacity of private companies to ensure members of the public would be correctly registered in time.

“My question is whether [insurance companies] can finish registering people on time,” he said. “There was a little concern about this, but I have spoken with the companies [this week] and they have said that staff had been sent out to islands to assist with registering. Insurance groups have been extending their office hours to meet demand.”

Nafiz said that in order to speed up the registration process for the country’s motorists, customers would be initially able to obtain coverage for a vehicle providing they present valid documentation proving their ownership. He added that customers would then be able to finalise registration at a later date with insurers as the law comes into place today.

Nafiz also pointed to what he believed were “problems” within the regulation calling for mandatory insurance that needed to be addressed as a result of the law coming into effect without further study.

“The law itself has some problems; any driver found by police not to be insured will have to pay a MVR750 fine. However, there is no limit on the number of times police can charge a person without insurance,” he said.  “In one hour even there can be several violations against the same vehicle. This puts drivers at the mercy of police.”

Nafiz added that insured motorists should nonetheless carry official proof of their insurance policy.

Transport authorities claimed that the new regulations also created challenges for police themselves, with any accidents having to be reported to officers within seven days of occurring.

“Traffic police will then be required to investigate the case and produce an accident report,” he said, adding that a copy of the report would then be sent to the insurer. “We will wait and see how efficient this will be. Police have agreed they will go to accidents to investigate.”

Nafiz also criticised the previous administration for some of the challenges presently being experienced over implementing the mandatory insurance, claiming the former government has undertaken “no work” on the matter after amending the Land Transport Act.

With the regulations coming into place today, Police Spokesperson Hassa Haneef said that officers were already performing random checks on vehicles across the country to check drivers had the correct registration and documents.

“We will be performing checks on a daily basis to ensure vehicle are registered according to the proper rules and regulations,” he said. “This won’t be much different to an officer’s existing work.”

Nafiz said that transport authorities had met with three to four insurers n the country in order to outline a standardised annual cost for vehicle coverage order with the implementation of a mandatory motor insurance policy.

“We managed to get agreement with every company to charge the same amounts in terms of maximum costs. They can charge lower if they like, but the companies have agreed to a maximum amount,” he said. “We have been using TV and radio to try and notify the public about this change.”

Nafiz claimed that under the new insurance scheme, the most that can be claimed was a total of MVR 100,00(US$6500)  an amount designed to cover charges related to injury or vehicular damage. Under this programme, up to 60 per cent of this total amount could be used to cover expenses linked to injuries sustained during an accident.

According to Nafiz, another challenge had been faced in terms of agreeing the basic levels of coverage afforded by the standard vehicle insurance policy – discussions that he claimed had become “heated” at times.

It was proposed that the insurance would cover damages of over MVR 2,500 (US$160). However, from research we conducted, most of the damage caused in vehicle accidents would be to plastic covers on a bike or a bulb on a headlight. These were the type of things we found garages were dealing with,” he said. “So if owners are having to pay MVR 500 (US$32) in costs to repair damage, what is the benefit they are getting from insurance?”

Nafiz contended that such a system would serve only to encourage garages inflating charges to MVR2,500 per bill. In response, he claimed insurers agreed on offering a second option, where a package would be offered that covered damages to vehicles under MVR 2,500. However, such a package would require a customer to pay higher premiums on their policy in return.

Last minute demand

Whilst the new regulations may have led to an influx of custom for some companies, several insurers speaking to Minivan News have said that they face challenges themselves after being increasingly inundated with “last-minute” demand from motorists.

Allied Insurance Company of the Maldives, one of a number of groups providing the third-party vehicle coverage in the country, said that it had seen a large number of customers continuing to request coverage today even after the regulations came into force.

Ahmed Riyazi, Information Systems Manager for the company said that over the course of the last week, demand for vehicle insurance rose from 150 customers a day to 1,000 clients a day.

As well as a surge in custom, the company claimed that it faced other challenges in providing services to customers on the country’s outer atolls.

“Geography has certainly been challenge we have faced [with providing motor insurance], but we are also seeing a lot of late demand from customers,” he said.

In an attempt to overcome the problem, Allied today announced the launch of an online payment service from its website that allows customers to purchase both motor and travel insurance coverage instantly.

Amidst strong demand for vehicle insurance, insurer Amana Takaful has said it has also experienced people “rushing to get a policy at the last minute” as the new regulations were launched.

Imran Ramzan, Assistant Manager of Marketing for Amana Takaful, said the company had as of Sunday (October 7) prolonged its open hours till 10:00pm to try and meet customer demand.

“Even now, demand remains very high as it seems most people have waited until the last minute to arrange insurance for their vehicles,” he said. “This strong amount of last minute demand has created a bottleneck, but we are working with our customers to ensure they are all registered correctly and on time,” he said.

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Half of cabinet to be provided with MNDF bodyguards

Seven of the government’s 14 cabinet ministers have been assigned Special Protection Group (SPG) bodyguards from the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF).

Colonel Abul Raheem of the MNDF said that the bodyguards had been designated upon the ministers’ request.

SPG bodyguards are of the same type provided to the President, Vice President and the Speaker of the House.

When asked if this was in response to any specific threats, Raheem was keen to point out that the move had not come as a specific response to recent events.

“This is not because of what happened recently – security guards have been requested previously,” said Raheem.

The security of government officials has become a prominent issue in the country following the murder of MP Dr Afrasheem Ali last week.

Following the murder, parliament’s ’241′ Security Committee summoned Commissioner of Police Abdulla Riyaz to discuss issues including the MP’s murder and politicians’ safety.

After failing to resolve the case, the police revealed earlier this week that they will seek foreign assistance in its investigations.

Earlier this week former Education Minister Dr Musthafa Luthfy called for a review of security arrangements afforded to Maldivian politicians over fears of an increase in “orchestrated” political attacks in the country.

The comments were made after Luthfy had been struck in the face on October 6 by an unidentified assailant on the island of Kanduhulhudhoo, Gaafu Alif Atoll.

Former President Mohamed Nasheed last week requested, in writing, that his Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) security detail – provided under the Former President’s Act – not accompany him on a campaign tour.

The MNDF later released a statement saying that it could not take any responsibility for harm that might befall the former president whilst not under its protection.

A spate of high profile murders and an increase in assaults in the Maldives has led to criticism of the Home Minister Mohamed Jameel Ahmed, with some going as far as to table a no-confidence vote in the People’s Majlis.

This week the cabinet has urged the President to take immediate measures to ensure safety and security in the country.

Local media reported that the cabinet’s security committee had decided to review businesses offering 24 hour services, and that police will conduct increases vehicle checks in an effort to maintain peace on the streets.

The government also announced its decision yesterday to submit a bill which will govern the implementation of the death penalty.

Despite being on the statute books, the Clemency Act and a lack of facilitating legislation has resulted on a de facto moratorium on capital punishment since 1953.

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Former President returns to Addu for final leg of campaign trip

Former President Mohamed Nasheed has rejoined his party’s ‘Journey of Pledges’ in the southern atolls following his release from custody on Wednesday.

Prior to his original departure last week on the Maldivian Democratic Party’s (MDP) campaign trip, Nasheed was placed under a travel ban restricting his movements to the capital.

The Department of Judicial Administration have confirmed that Nasheed had requested permission before leaving the Male’ area to rejoin his party. The Foreign Ministry observed in a statement that Nasheed was no longer under a travel ban.

He has since flown south and rejoined his party which is currently in Fuvamulah in Gnaviyani Atoll, continuing its door to door programs and policy workshops in order to gather information ahead of the next election – scheduled for July 2013 at the earliest.

Nasheed had been returned to Male’ on Monday after the Hulhumale’ Magistrates Court ordered the police to produce him at the first hearing in the Judge Abdullah Mohamed detention case on Tuesday.

Nasheed’s lawyers asked the three member panel of judges to give them a time period of 30 days to study the evidence and prepare a defence.

The judges however gave a period of 25 days. They announced that the next hearing would be held on November 4, 2012.

He will fly back to Male’ after the completion of the campaign at the Equatorial Convention Center in Hithadhoo on Saturday October 13 while the rest of the five boat flotilla returns separately.

Information gathering

President of the MDP’s Youth Wing, Shauna Aminath, said that the trip had been extremely useful in gathering specific information on the situation in the atolls.

A similar trip is planned for the northern atolls before the end of the year.

Shauna said that the party had been made aware of the deficiencies in public service provision in a number of areas.

“At almost every island, people have said that since February 7 they have been having problems receiving benefits for single mothers and for those with special needs,” she said.

Shauna also noted a failure to provide consistent public transport as promoted under the Nasheed administration.

“Almost every island said the ferry system had been stopped by non-MDP councils,” said Shauna. “People have grown to appreciate the need for public transport – we found a way around the problems but the people who have the passion and commitment are not there.”

Shauna said that some ferry services were refusing to take small numbers of passengers while others even asked passengers to provide fuel for the service.

She also alleged that the party had gathered information regarding the sacking of MDP supporting government workers since February in what she described as a “witch-hunt”.

The seeming reversal of decentralisation policies observed in the trip – such as those concerning local health workers – was reminiscent of the “old style”  under the 30 year Presidency of Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, said Shauna.

In April the government announced its intention to annul provincial health and utility corporations in an attempt to streamline and improve service delivery.

The Local Government Authority (LGA) has said that it intends to revise the current system of local governance which it has described as prohibitively expensive for the country – which is said to cost US$12 million a year in salaries.

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President Waheed visited by German and US ambassadors, and UNICEF director

Germany’s new Ambassador to the Maldives, Jurgen Morhad, yesterday presented his credentials to President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan, the President’s Office has reported.

The President thanked the new ambassador for Germany’s contribution to the tourism industry and its assistance in dealing with environmental problems.

The current issues facing the Maldives young democracy were also discussed.

“Highlighting the political, social, and fiscal challenges being faced in the country today, President Waheed underlined the importance of conducting capacity building programmes for the youth. He noted that such programmes would in turn solve the unemployment issues in the Maldives,” read a release on the office’s website.

Social issues were also discussed when the President welcomed Karin Hulshof, UNICEF’s Regional Director for South Asia.

Waheed briefed the director on the steps being taken to meet the UN’s Millennium Development Goals whilst Hulshof emphasised the importance of raising drug awareness within the school system.

In a busy day, the President also welcomed US Ambassador Michele J. Sison who was briefed on the measures being taken to increase security and safety in the country following the murder of MP Dr Afrasheem Ali.

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Mother of former Environment Minister sues police for damage to house during Nasheed’s arrest

Mother of former Environment Minister Mohamed Aslam, Rasheedha Mohamed, has sued police for damage caused to her house by police officers during the raid to arrest former President Mohamed Nasheed.

Speaking to Minivan News, Aslam confirmed his mother had filed a case at the Fares-Mathoda Magistrate Court, alleging police had disrespected the privacy of their house as guaranteed to all citizens in the constitution.

‘’It is not about the amount of money to compensate for the damage, it has all got to do with the procedure they applied to arrest Nasheed,’’ Aslam said.

‘’I was on the doorstep when the police officers arrived. They showed me the warrant issued by the court to arrest Nasheed and I told them to wait there while I passed the message to him,’’ Aslam explained.

‘’But they followed me inside and started searching all over, breaking doors and calling Nasheed to come out from his room,’’ Aslam said. ‘’It would have been right for them to use excessive force if they had let me forward the message to Nasheed and Nasheed had refused to come out.’’

Aslam said had Nasheed refused to come out, police could have asked his mother’s permission to enter the house to arrest a person as ordered to do so by the court.

He also said that police asked Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP Mohamed Nazim to open the toilet door while he was inside.

‘’Nazim told the officers that it was him but officers demanded to open the door and he did open the door. Then a while later they broke the toilet door while he was inside,’’ he said.

Following allegations made against police after the arrest of Nasheed, police issued a statement that day claiming that police officers followed professional standards in arresting Nasheed.

In the statement, police said they initially requested Nasheed hand himself over to the police. According to police, officers broke down the door of the room Nasheed was in and detained him after he failed to respond to their initial commands. The statement claimed that this is the general course of action used by police in similar situations.

The police denied that any officers used offensive language or that any physical or that psychological trauma was caused to anyone during the arrest.

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