A young man has been sentenced to three years in prison for using cannabis, reports local media.
The 19 year-old Male’ resident was arrested in April 2013 in Male’s Mahchangolhi ward on suspicion of having used drugs.
The young man confessed in court that he was on drugs at the time of his arrest, which was confirmed by drug tests conducted during the investigation that were positive for cannabis, the Criminal Court said during sentencing.
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(0)The Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM) will station election observer teams in 10 regions of the Maldives to “ensure that eligible voters are provided with the right to vote,” reports local media.
The situation in all parts of the Maldives will be monitored via phone and in addition to the Commission’s observer teams, a special team will also be in Male’ to “act in cases of emergency”, stressed the HRCM.
“Our staff have also been trained on how the police are allowed to use force during the elections,” HRCM President Mariyam Azra told local media on Thursday (August 15).
The HRCM has conducted a training program for the observers, in addition to meeting with the Elections Commission (EC), police and political parties in the run up to the September 7 presidential elections.
(0)Dislikes(0)A 24 year-old male from the island of Bodufulhadhoo in Alifu Alifu Atoll has been hospitalised in Male’ after allegedly drinking cleaning chemicals, according to local media.
Sun Online has reported that the individual was transported to Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) in Male’ early yesterday (August 16), though no further details have been provided on his condition at present.
Police Spokesperson Chief Inspector Hassan Haneef was not responding to calls at time of press.
The patient was reportedly taken to Bodufulhadhoo Health Centre on Thursday (August 15) evening with the incident reported to police shortly after 10:00pm.
Doctors at the local health centre recommended that the individual be taken to the capital immediately for further treatment.
(0)Dislikes(0)President Mohamed Waheed has requested parliament approval to obtain a US$29.4 million loan from the Bank of Ceylon to finance the government’s budget and manage cash flow.
The Ministry of Finance and Treasury is seeking to secure the loan as a way to “enforce” the 2013 budget approved by parliament, stated a letter from the President’s Office read during a parliament session held on Tuesday (August 13).
The Finance Ministry informed the President’s Office that the Bank of Ceylon would provide the Maldives’ government a loan of US$29.4 million, at a six percent interest rate, to be repaid within six years in monthly payments of US$490,000, according to local media.
The Government of Maldives believes the short term loan offers “good terms” and will provide the support necessary to finance the state budget and cash flow. The President’s Office letter also noted that the graduation of the Maldives from least developed country status has made it “extremely difficult” to obtain loans with low interest rates.
Previously, upon parliament’s approval of the 2013 budget, it was agreed that the state could not take out loans with interest rates that exceed seven percent.
The President’s Office Bank of Ceylon loan request has been forwarded to parliament’s finance committee.
Foreign loans for “fiscal problems”
In 2012, President Waheed reportedly said he would not resort to borrowing from foreign governments in order to finance government activities.
“I will not try to run the government by securing huge loans from foreign parties. We are trying to spend from what we earn,” he was reported to have told the people of Nilandhoo Island.
However, the government has sought a number of foreign loans to supplement the state budget.
Last month, the government confirmed it was in discussions with Saudi Arabia, seeking a long-term, low interest credit facility of US$300 million to help overcome “fiscal problems”.
President’s Office Spokesperson Masood Imad confirmed President Waheed had held discussions with senior Saudi Arabian dignitaries including Crown Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud over the proposed credit facility, during his recent visit to the country.
“The president has initiated the talks so it is just a matter of working out the details now,” Masood said, explaining that the funds would be used for “budget support” and development projects.
In September 2012, President Waheed told Reuters that China will grant the Maldives US$500 million (MVR7.7billion) in loans during his state visit to the country.
The loans, equal to nearly one quarter of the Maldives’ GDP, would include $150 million (MVR2.3billion) for housing and infrastructure, with another $350million (MVR5.4billion) from the Export-Import Bank of China, reported Reuters.
China’s aid was hoped to provide an immediate salve to the government’s financial ailments, which at the time included a MVR 9.1 billion ($590million) budget deficit.
Additionally, the government was seeking a US$25 million state loan from India required to support the state budget for the remainder of 2012. The loan was delayed after the Maldives’ government failed to submit the requested paperwork, a diplomatic source from the Indian High Commission in the Maldives previously revealed.
The US$25 million loan was agreed as part of the $US100 million standby credit facility signed with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in November 2011.
It is not clear whether the foreign loans from India and China have been received, or whether parliament has approved the state obtaining loans from Saudi Arabia or Sri Lanka’s Bank of Ceylon.
Finance Minister Abdulla Jihad as well as Deputy Speaker, Parliamentary Financial Committee Head, and People’s Alliance (PA) MP Ahmed Nazim were not responding to calls at time of press.
Failure to fill budgetary gaps
Finance Minister Abdulla Jihad claimed back in late December 2012 that the MVR 15.3 billion (US$992 million) state budget approved by parliament might not last until the end of 2013 – requiring supplementary finance for the state.
In April 2013, Jihad sought authorisation from parliament to divert MVR 650 million (US$42 million) allocated for infrastructure projects in the budget to cover recurrent expenditures.
Jihad warned that government offices and independent institutions might be unable to pay salaries or
electricity and phone bills if funds were not transferred from the MVR 1.8 billion (US$117 million) Public Sector Investment Programme (PSIP).
Earlier in April, Jihad also announced that the government had decided to delay all new development projects that were to be financed out of the state budget due to shortfalls in revenue.
The decision to suspend new projects was revealed after Housing Minister Dr Mohamed Muiz told local media at the time that he had been instructed not to commence any further infrastructure projects included in the 2013 budget, such as harbour construction or land reclamation.
“Reckless financial management”: MDP
In July, Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP and Spokesperson Hamid Abdul Ghafoor said that the heavily partisan parliament now effectively controlled state finances as a result of former opposition politicians – now part of President Waheed’s government – imposing tighter spending restrictions on former President Mohamed Nasheed’s administration.
Ghafoor argued that with the MDP failing to recognise the legitimacy of the present government due to the controversial transfer of power last February, he did not believe there would be support for approving the credit agreement with Saudi Arabia due to the government’s existing extravagant borrowing levels.
The party accused the current government of reckless financial management, pointing to a potential US$1.4 billion compensation bill facing the state for deciding last year to abruptly terminate a US$511 million airport development contract agreed with infrastructure group GMR.
The compensation claim amounts to four times that of the Maldives’ current state reserves should it be awarded by a Singapore court overhearing arbitration hearings between GMR and the government.
“Since we do not see this government as legitimate, we do not see why we should support them,” he said. “They have put us into debt with their handling of the airport development and another bill for a border control system.”
Earlier in July, Malaysian security firm Nexbis invoiced the Department of Immigration and Emigration for US$2.8 million (MVR 43 million) for the installation and operation of its border control system technology in the country, in line with a concession agreement signed in 2010.
(0)Dislikes(0)The Elections Commission (EC) has revealed that 38 people’s names have been fraudulently re-registered to vote outside of their home towns in next month’s presidential poll, local media has reported.
The fraud emerged when those concerned informed the commission that they had not in fact re-registered.
CNM also reported that 36 names had been registered in more than one polling station. The EC explained that these people will therefore remain registered at their original location.
The EC has declared that 240,302 voters are eligible to vote in the upcoming presidential elections, 31,008 more than the number of eligible voters in the 2008 presidential elections (209,294).
As the deadline for registration passed last week, the EC reported that 65,745 people had re-registered, surpassing original estimates of 65,000. The EC will publish the final voter registry on August 20.
(0)Dislikes(0)The Jumhoree Party (JP) has said “many more MPs” are expected to pledge support to its leader, MP Gasim Ibrahim, following the conclusion of the upcoming presidential election – claiming an unspecified number have already pledged to work with the party.
The claims were made as the JP, held its first major event in the capital in order to publicise an election alliance formed with the religious conservative Adhaalath Party and the Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP).
Minivan News witnessed several thousand people in attendance at yesterday’s event, which saw several speakers including Gasim take to a specially constructed stage to address supporters and confirm that MP Ahmed Rasheed has switched to the party from the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM).
The rally was held in the same location, where the MDP staged a meeting on Monday (August 12) to bring several thousand supporters together both as a show of strength and to commemorate the 12th anniversary of Black Friday in 2004.
Both parties events this week appeared to have been similarly attended, with MDP sources estimating that around 6000 seats had been set out for supporters during its rally.
“Major event”
With the election scheduled for September 7 – three weeks from today – JP Policy Secretary Mohamed Ajmal said that yesterday’s rally was planned as a “major event” to show the support base behind the Jumhoree coalition.
Speaking during the event, Gasim dismissed criticisms of his wealth by rival candidates in the election, adding that none of his competitors could be described as poor men.
He also pledged with his hand on the Quran that he would not take the smallest amount of funds from the public “against the constitution”.
Other speakers during the event slammed former President Mohamed Nasheed, accusing his administration of irreligious policies.
According to customs records for 2011, Gasim’s Villa Hotels chain – including the Royal, Paradise, Sun, and Holiday Island resorts, in 2011 imported approximately 121,234.51 litres of beer, 2048 litres of whiskey, 3684 litres of vodka and 219.96 kilograms of pork sausages, among other commodities restricted to islands classified as ‘uninhabited’ in the Maldives.
Speaking today, Ajmal claimed the party unofficially estimated some 10,000 to 15,000 attended the event, with some 20,000 supporters said to have been invited – although he believed not all had been able to travel from across the country.
He added that the JP had not itself provided boats to bring supporters to Male’ for the rally, opting instead to provide fuel for transportation and some unspecified “facilities” for supporters when they reached the capital.
MP switch
With MP Ahmed Rasheed having now joined the JP, Ajmal claimed that many more parliamentarians were “trying to work” with the party, though declined to give further details to media at time of press.
“These names have not yet been finalised. Because of the political situation at present, we will wait until after the election, though there are many MPs working with us,” he said today.
In the build up to next month’s scheduled voting, Ajmal said the JP had several further campaign plans that would be divulged at a later date.
He added that the JP remained confident it would achieve a comfortable second round election victory should no candidate obtain 51 per cent of the first round of voting.
However, Ajmal said that based on the strength of the country’s internal polling and research, there was growing optimism that Gasim could claim the presidency during the first round on the strength of what it perceived was growing grass roots support across the country.
“Our vice presidential candidate Dr Hassan Saeed said last night that it was reasonable to believe that if we work hard and continue with our great momentum, we might achieve 51 percent [in the first round],” he said.
PPM anticipates two candidate contest
Despite the JP’s confidence ahead of the election, the government-aligned PPM earlier this month maintained that former President Mohamed Nasheed of the MDP and its candidate, Abdulla Yameen, were the only two candidates capable of winning the election.
PPM MP Ahmed Nihan at the time dismissed any notion that the JP posed a threat to its own presidential campaign, accusing Gasim of using his financial power to buy support during his campaigning that would not translate to actual votes on polling day.
The MDP meanwhile has this week reiterated its belief that a first round victory was possible, with the PPM receiving the second largest number of votes, while expecting President Dr Mohamed Waheed and Gasim to finish in third and fourth place.
“The PPM I believe will come second because it is led by the former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom. He will obviously have loyal supporters,” MDP MP Hamid Abdul Ghafoor said this week.
“But it may be a different story when it comes to recruiting their young support base. Apart from Gayoom, both Gasim and even Waheed are using money to get votes.”
Ghafoor described the current election politics as a battle between the past and the future, claiming the MDP’s three opponents were proxies of former President Gayoom’s 30 year reign and had nothing new to offer to the people.
Sources within President Waheed’s ‘forward with the nation’ coalition have over the last week also expressed confidence of being able to obtain a first round election win despite expressing concern over a “money game” it alleged was being played by certain candidates.
(0)Dislikes(0)Just three weeks to the Maldives’ presidential elections scheduled for September 7, Chief Justice Ahmed Faiz Hussain has announced a mutiny in the Supreme Court!
In a statement issued on Thursday, the Chief Justice declared an injunction order issued by the “Supreme Court majority” of four judges on Thursday to be unlawful, issued without due process by the secret collusion of four members of the seven member bench, without the knowledge of himself and two other justices.
The injunction order is to stop the appointment of a Civil Service Commission (CSC) member to replace the disgraced CSC Chair Mohamed Fahmy Hassan, who was removed from office and CSC membership by the Majlis earlier this year for sexual assault of a staff member. He continued to sit in the office despite the removal, while politicians haggled and MPs pointed the finger at each other and outside to explain his impunity and the absence of rule of law.
No one appeared to understand that it is the Majlis that has the power to appoint and remove CSC members, with the CSC Act having been amended in 2010 for Majlis to take full powers of appointment, oversight and removal of CSC members, or that squatting in public office after removal is a crime.
Also unnoticed, or deliberately ignored in public discussion, are the wider connections of the Fahmy case to the silent coup and the hijack of the judiciary in 2010 with the CSC Chair being an ex-officio member of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC), and the serious and dangerous implications of the Supreme Court mutiny on the upcoming elections.
Discussed in the Maldives on political platforms, media, social media and other public fora is “bad man Fahmy” – the removed CSC Chair at the centre of the controversy; “bad man Ali Hameed” – the Supreme Court justice who has continued to sit on the bench protected by both the JSC and Majlis despite his public expose in the sex tapes scandal where he is seen having sex with multiple foreign women in a Colombo hotel room; and “bad man Abdulla Saeed” – the interim, self declared “Chief Justice” who is said to “lead the majority in the Supreme Court”.
Democracy, in the Maldives, is simplified to a struggle between The Majority and The Minority, with majority by any means deciding all, be it in the Majlis, the High Court, the Supreme Court or elsewhere. Democratic principles and standards, due process and rule of law, transparency and accountability, are all dismissed, the focus of all being on majority building by any means to have their way.
The report of the UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers issued in May 2013 Ms Gabriella Knaul, highlights the critical issues in Maldives engagement with democracy, and provides insight into the coup of February 7, 2012 like no other report, but remains ignored by government, opposition, civil society and other actors.
Precedent: Mutiny in the High Court
On January 21, 2010 a similar mutiny took place in the High Court, in my opinion the first of the many mutinies that had eventually led to the coup of Feb 7, 2012 and the fall of legitimate government with the forced resignation of President Mohamed Nasheed, the first President elected through democratic process.
The High Court mutiny attacked the JSC, removed the JSC Chair who was the then Chief Judge of the High Court, Abdul Ghani Mohamed, and delivered the Commission to the then Vice Chair of the JSC, now removed Justice of the interim Supreme Court, Mujthaaz Fahmy, who had cleverly manipulated the Commission, committed high treason using public office and the powers of JSC, hoodwinked the public, and delivered the full judiciary intact to former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom and his allies.
The High Court mutiny was never investigated by the JSC despite a unanimous decision in the Commission in January 2010; the modus operandi of Mujthaaz Fahmy being to give in when challenged in a public display of concession and going behind the back to corrupt any decision he did not agree with.
The first Inquiry Committee appointed by the JSC to investigate the High Court Mutiny never sat, and I, a JSC member at the time, was informed by the Commission that it was due to the non appearance of Inquiry Committee member, then interim Supreme Court Justice, Ahmed Faiz Hussain – now the same Chief Justice who has declared that “the majority” has gone behind his back and there is a mutiny in the Supreme Court.
The Inquiry Committee never sat, and there was no investigation or action against the judges in the High Court mutiny, and eventually they were rewarded with lifetime appointments to the Supreme Court under the careful management of the Majlis majority. The removed interim Justice Mujthaz Fahmy was rewarded for life by the Majlis.
Ironically, but to no surprise, those in the Supreme Court mutiny today are the same “judges” in the High Court mutiny of January 21, 2010, who were appointed to the Supreme Court on August 10, 2010 in a political deal reached by the political leaders and the sitting interim Supreme Court who had by then declared themselves permanent.
The international community itself played by the politicians without a single independent observer to comment, had itself played a role pushing for “calm” and haste over due process and trust, ignoring the politics of it all, and the serious and lasting negative impact on democracy in the Maldives.
The Maldives is today more an active crime scene than a State, and whilst free and fair elections are a necessary first step to come out of the current situation, return to Constitutional rule, and rebuilding the democratic State we failed to build in the first attempt, there is little reason to expect a smooth electoral process.
The final word on the results of the September 7, 2013 elections will surely come from Court and not votes; and it is imperative that the political leaders and the international community come to an agreement on an alternative dispute resolution mechanism leaving the corrupted judiciary out of the process.
Ignoring the serious issues, hoping for the best, and relying on the possible goodwill of the judges given the power of numbers voting, is, unfortunately, no guarantee.
Aishath Velezinee (@Velezinee on twitter) is an independent democracy activist and writer. She was the Editor of Adduvas Weekly 2005-07 and served on the Maldives’ Judicial Service Commission (2009-11). She claims the Commission she sat on breached constitution in transition; and advocates for redress of Article 285, and a full overhaul of the judiciary as a necessary step for democracy consolidation.
All comment pieces are the sole view of the author and do not reflect the editorial policy of Minivan News. If you would like to write an opinion piece, please send proposals to [email protected]
(0)Dislikes(0)The Chief Justice of the Maldives Supreme Court has accused his court of issuing an injunction without his knowledge, following parliament’s appointment of a replacement for Civil Service Commission (CSC) chief Mohamed Fahmy Hassan.
Chief Justice Ahmed Faiz Hussain told local media that the decision to block the swearing in of Fahmy’s replacement was made without the knowledge of three of the court’s seven judges. Such a move would contravene the country’s constitution which mandates an uneven number of judges be present for all Supreme Court decisions.
The Supreme Court told local media yesterday that their earlier invalidation of the Majlis’s decision to dismiss Fahmy rendered the decision to replace him redundant. The statement alleged that Faiz had rejected a request to attend an emergency meeting to address the issue.
Aishath Velazinee, former member of the Judicial Services Commission (JSC) on which the chair of the CSC automatically serves, has described the incident as a “mutiny in the Supreme Court.”
Fahmy’s replacement Fathimath Reenee Abdulsathar was reportedly on the verge of taking the oath of office in the President’s Office on Thursday when the ceremony was halted with news of the injunction.
The People’s Majlis had earlier in the week voted overwhelmingly to replace former CSC head Fahmy after allegations of sexual harassment. The Supreme Court had previously ruled parliament’s decision to dismiss Fahmy as unconstitutional.
The Majlis Independent Institutions Committee launched an investigation into Fahmy’s alleged misconduct in June 2012. Velazinee argued that the Majlis does have the authority to appoint and dismiss CSC members after an amendment made to the CSC Act in 2010.
The Supreme Court told local media yesterday that their earlier invalidation of the Majlis’s decision to dismiss Fahmy rendered the decision to replace him redundant.
Velazinee compared the incident to the manoeuvres of the High Court bench in 2010, which she described as “the first of many mutinies that had eventually led to the coup of February 7, 2012.”
She notes that it was the same judges involved in circumscribing the powers of the JSC for political ends in 2010 who were behind this new “mutiny”. A full account of the events surrounding the self-appointment of the Supreme Court at the end of the constitutional transitional period were documented in Velazinee’s 2012 book ‘The Failed Silent Coup: In Defeat, They Reached for the Gun’.
In her assessment of judicial independence in the Maldives earlier this year, UN Special Rapporteur for the Independence of Judges and Lawyers Gabriela Knaul described this decision to retain all five interim Supreme Court judges as having “no legal or constitutional basis.”
The JSC eventually opted to interpret Article 285 of the country’s new constitution as purely symbolic, waiving the need to remove any sitting judges who failed to meet clearly defined educational and ethical standards.
Former President Mohamed Nasheed’s resignation from office followed his detention of Chief Criminal Court Judge Abdulla Mohamed. Nasheed’s decision to detain the judge came after he filed a successful injunction in the Civil Court preventing his further investigation by the court’s own watchdog body, the JSC.
(0)Dislikes(0)President Dr Mohamed Waheed appointed Ahmed Usham as Deputy Attorney General (AG) on Thursday (August 15).
The appointment of Usham, who had previously held the role of Deputy Solicitor General at the AG’s Office, has been made at the rank of a state minister, according to the President’s Office.
President Waheed also appointed Dr Aishath Shehenaz Adam as the Ambassador of the Maldives to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Thursday.
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