Month: December 2013

Police appoint a commander to oversee election security

Police Commissioner Hussain Waheed has appointed a commander and a deputy commander for operations conducted to oversee safety during January’s upcoming local council elections.

A statement issued by the police said that Deputy Head of Central Operations Command Ismail Naveen was appointed as a commander and Divisional Operations Command Head Chief Superintendent of Police Abdul Mannan was appointed as the Deputy Commander of the operations.

Local council elections are scheduled for January 2014.

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Home Ministry to share DNR database with local councils

The Home Ministry has signed an agreement with the Local Government Authority (LGA) to share the Department of National Registration’s [DNR] database with local councils.

Home Minister Umar Naseer and President of LGA Mohamed Nazim, who is also the Defence Minister, signed the agreement yesterday.

The agreement’s purpose is to establish a system where atoll councils and island councils can obtain information of people such as date of birth or give identity card numbers to newborn babies and also determine dead people, Naseer said.

However, councils will not be able to edit any of the information on the database, Naseer said while Nazim said the database had very strong security features.

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Tourism Ministry to introduce “guest house Islands”.

Ministry of Tourism is planning to develop “guest house islands” for middle income tourism where individual business will invest for different services provided on the Island, local media have reported.

“Developing guest house islands is onthe PPM (Progressive Party of Maldives) manifesto as well. This will create middle income beds,” Tourism Minister Adheeb said. Adheeb said that an island close to capital Male’ city will be chosen for this purposes.

He said the government intends to double the current 25.000 beds in the industry and will work to open ten tourist resorts each year.

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Education Ministry unveils detailed hundred-day plan

Ministry of Education has unveiled its road map for the first hundred days of President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom’s administration, joining many other ministries and government institutions.

The nineteen-point plan was announced at a ceremony held at Sultan Park yesterday.

The four priority objectives of the plan are: introducing Quran as a subject for grades 1 – 7 in in all schools within the 2014 academic year, introducing civic education, giving an allowance equivalent to salary for professional staff who take leave for further training, and providing opportunities for students in Male’ to train in six different areas from ‘Maldives Polytechnic” – the Ministry’s training institute for technical and vocational education.

Among other objectives, the ministry has planned to set professional standards for teachers and assign health assistants for schools through island health centers and provide counseling at schools.

The ministry also plans to establish Special Education units in five schools, and two dedicated regional Special Education centers. A child protection policy is also set to be passed within the first hundred days.

According to the Ministry, the government will choose two islands to establish Arabic medium schools within 100 days.

Plans to provide higher education and training opportunities include a campaign to familiarize students with training and career opportunities. In addition to this, the government will be signing agreements with five companies to provide apprenticeship programs and will seek local and overseas higher education opportunities for students with minimum three A Level passes.

Regional campuses of Maldives Polytechnic will be established and a scheme for introducing ‘economically beneficial’ foreign languages will also be designed within this period.

Sociology is planned to be taught in a selected number of schools and a special program to make students more aware of Dhivehi language and culture will also be introduced.

As part of this plan the ministry is seeking to assign Quran teachers for all Schools before the academic year 2014. The ministry’s Permanent Secretary Dr. Abdul Muhsin Mohamed said that the ministry is still short of 26 Quran teachers to achieve this this objective.

According to Muhsin the ministry will find teachers for other subjects as well within this period. He said priority will be given to local teachers even though a number of foreign treachers are on stand by to fill in for approximately three hundred vacant posts.

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Majlis passes Right to Information Act

The People’s Majlis has unanimously voted to pass the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

The act – first introduced to the Majlis in 2009 – was passed as presented by the Social Affairs Committee with minor amendments with the support of the 67 MPs.

Introducing the bill to the floor, the committee chair MP Abdulla Maseeh Mohamed said the committee had sought assistance from local media and international experts in revising the bill

The bill was first sent to the People’s Majlis in 2007 but was rejected. It was reintroduced to the current People’s Majlis in November 2009, and underwent a complete overhaul at the Social Affairs Committee.

Local NGO TransparencyMaldives (TM) which has advocated for the act for a long time described its passing as “an important step towards increasing transparency of the state institutions, ensuring greater accountability of public officials, and fighting corruption”.

“Transparency Maldives hopes that President Abdulla Yamin Abdul Gayoom will expedite the ratification of the bill.We call on all actors and institutions to provide their full support towards successfully implementing the law once ratified” said the organization in a press released issued today.

Speaking to Minivan News today, Transparency Maldives’ Advocacy and Communications Manager Aiman Rasheed said the act was one of the best legislation  passed by the Majlis.

Once the bill is ratified, subsidiary regulations will need to be passed, an Information Commissioner will need to be appointed and a support structure will need to be implemented, Aiman said.

If ratified the act will bring about major changes to the Maldives access to information regime. Although the current RTI regulation introduced in 2008 through an executive decree applies only to government offices, the new act will apply to all state funded institutions including the parliament, judiciary and independent institution.

Other key features of the act include the establishment of an information office in all state institutions, instituting a seven day period of response for information requests and a thirty day period to proved the information or reason for failure to do so.

An independent Information Commissioner will also be appointed by the parliament from names proposed by the president. Issues with acquiring information can be appealed to the Information Commissioner.

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Majlis endorses full cabinet

The People’s Majlis has endorsed all 15 of President Abdulla Yameen’s cabinet ministers.

Ruling Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM), coalition partners Jumhooree Party (JP) and Maldives Development Alliance (MDA) as well as six members of the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) voted to approve ministerial nominees.

The ministers were endorsed despite the Majlis’ Executive Oversight Committee’s decision to reject eight out of the 15 cabinet ministers on Saturday. The opposition majority committee said the eight were “ministers of the coup government” established after the controversial transfer of power in February 2012.

The MDP enforced a three line whip in rejecting the eight ministers, but had a free whip on voting for the remaining seven.

The six MDP parliamentarians who breached the three line whip are Abdulla Jabir, Zahir Adam, Ahmed Rasheed, Mohamed Rasheed, Abdulla Abdul Raheem and Ahmed Easa.

Two MDP parliamentarians – Ali Waheed and Alhan Fahmy – voted against all fifteen ministers.

Endorsement

During Monday’s vote, 73 out of 77 parliamentarians were in attendance.

Among the 15 cabinet members, Attorney General Mohamed Anil, Minister of Economic Development Mohamed Saeed and Minister of Environment and Energy Thoriq Ibrahim received the highest number of votes in endorsement, with each minister receiving 64 votes.

Minister of Education Aishath Shiham and Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture Mohamed Shainee received 63 votes each.

Minister of Youth and Sports Mohamed Maleeh Jamal received 58 votes, and Minister of Foreign Affairs Dunya Maumoon received 55 votes.

Minister of Tourism Ahmed Adeeb received 45 votes, with Minister of Defence and National Security Mohamed Nazim, Minister of Transport and Communication Ameen Ibrahim and Minister of Housing and Infrastructure Mohamed Muizzu each receiving 44 votes.

Minister of Finance and Treasury Abdulla Jihad, Minister of Islamic Affairs Sheikh Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed and Minister of Health and Gender Aishath Shiham received 43 votes each.

Minister of Home Affairs Umar Naseer got endorsed with the least number of votes, receiving only 41 in favour from a total of 73.

Pre-vote Debate

The Speaker allowed one member from each party to speak on the parliament floor about the report prepared by the Executive Oversight Committee.

Progressive Party of Maldives MP Abdul Raheem Abdulla called on the parliament to endorse all members, specifically calling on opposition members to follow “the courageous example set by [MDP] Presidential Candidate Nasheed. He said that Yameen’s cabinet is compiled of the most capable selection of ministers that the country has seen to date.”

Jumhooree Party (JP) MP Ilham Ahmed stated that the constitution demands that all ministers be endorsed. “There will be no reasons for regret by endorsing this cabinet. In any case, if there arises a need, the parliament has a mechanism through which we can hold ministers accountable. Jumhooree Party will not shy away from taking action against any cabinet member, whichever party he may come from, should he do something that may cause a loss to citizens,” he stated.

Maldives Development Alliance (MDA) MP Ahmed Amir stated that “it is unacceptable to not be able to endorse ministers without appeasing a particular individual”, and alleged that the Government Oversight Committee had not acted justly in reviewing the cabinet appointees.

Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP) member Riyaz Rasheed added that there is no appointee against whom questions of capability can be raised. He added that the parliament should not set any conditions when voting to endorse ministers.

Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) MP Mohamed ‘Colonel’ Nasheed said that the party will endorse members as appointing ministers is the mandate of the President. He added that the party would employ a moderate approach in holding the government accountable.

Independent MP Ibrahim Muhtholib stated that all 15 ministers met the qualifications required in a cabinet appointee. He alleged that the committee had failed to present sufficient reasoning for their refusal to endorse over half of the cabinet.

Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP ‘Reeko’ Moosa Manik stated that the party’s members would vote to endorse those they saw fit, and not the rest.

“There needs to be an opposition that holds the government accountable, and today that role is ours. We are a responsible party and we will do what it takes to hold the government accountable, even if it means bringing citizens out on to the streets [to hold demonstrations],” he stated.

“MDP stands strictly against coup d’etats. And even if a baaghee [traitor] changes their clothes and comes infront of us, we can see that they still have the characteristics of a baaghee.”

Background

The Executive Oversight Committee – compiled of a majority of 6 MDP members from a total of 10 – previously decided to reject endorsement of eight ministers.

The committee rejected endorsement of Nazim, Adheeb, Shaheem, Shakeela, Ameen, Jihad and Muizzu on the grounds that they were “coup ministers” as they had served in the previous Waheed administration.

The committee also rejected Home Minister Umar Naseer saying that various speeches given by him at political rallies made it “evident that he will not be loyal to Yameen”.

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“Good response” to voluntary repatriation program

On average one hundred workers are registering for the Department of Immigration and Emigration’s ongoing voluntary repatriation program for undocumented migrant workers each day, the department has said.

Speaking to Minivan News today, Deputy CEO of of the department Abdulla Munaz said although response had been low initially, more workers are registering now with more than 250 workers requesting for registration by Monday afternoon.

The voluntary repatriation program was designed to provide an opportunity for undocumented migrant workers to return to Maldives within six months and arrange their travel documents with ease.

If undocumented workers are deported they would not be allowed to return for ten years.

The program started on 23 December and will continue till 31 December 2013, and will reopen from 5 – 6 January 2014. Registration will go on from 0900hrs – 1700hrs on these days at Dharumavantha School, Male’.

Workers will be sent back to their countries within two days of registration. Repatriation under this program is voluntary and on the workers’ own expense. The government expects to repatriate between 5,000 – 10,000 workers.

Munaz said there are some undocumented workers who are in that situation because they were mistreated by local employers, and the department will start more rigorous monitoring and taking action against locals who employ and harbor undocumented workers.

“Our goal is not to take action against as many people, but this is a national issue and we will do whatever it takes to tackle this.” Munaz said.

He said that starting from January 2014, action will be taken against employers who are reported for not paying salaries for two consecutive months.

Instead of blacklisting agencies for malpractices, the department will start to ban the person responsible for such activity from future recruitment and will work with the Labor Relations Authority and Maldives Police Service to take all necessary action against such individuals.

The Immigration Act empowers the department to fine anyone who contravenes the act with an amount not exceeding MVR 50,000/- and the Controller of Immigration is given the authority of with \holding such a person’s passport.

Under the “Work Visa Regulation” the Controller of Immigration and Emigration has the authority to deport all migrant workers employed by an employer who contravenes the regulation. And with the Anti Human Trafficking Act coming to power, agencies and employers involved in acts of trafficking, exploitation and debt bondage will face criminal charges.

A connection between increasing number of undocumented migrant workers have been suggested by the Human Right Commission of the Maldives and the US State Department who have put Maldives on their Tier Two Watch List for Human Trafficking for the fourth consecutive time this year.

The Human Rights Commission of the Maldives earlier this year expressed concern over a mass repatriation program, saying that the state should provide such workers with their due wages and compensation before sending them off. A Labor Relations Authority and a Employment Tribunal was established under the Employment Act created to address such issues.

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Police to invalidate roadworthiness of vehicles that do not meet standards

The police have today said that they will start a special operation from January 1 to check vehicles to see if they meet the standards set by the Transport Ministry and invalidate the roadworthiness of vehicles that do not meet the standards.

In a statement issued today the police said that vehicles that do not meet the standards can only drive after correcting the issues with their vehicles.

Police said that the operation will be conducted in accordance with regulations made to test roadworthiness of vehicles made under the Act number 5/2009 Motor Vehicle Act.

According to the statement, during the operation police will check if the brakes work properly, if the silencer is modified to make loud noises, if the rear mirrors are installed and if all the lights work properly.

Police also said that they will invalidate the roadworthiness of vehicles that have black smoke coming out from the exhaust, vehicles that have installed loud sound producing tools, vehicles that have installed extra lights other than the ones that are there when the vehicle was bought, vehicles that have changed the colors of lights that are stated in the laws to be in a specific color and vehicles that leak oil.

Furthermore, the police reminded all drivers to see if their vehicles meet the roadworthiness standards required by the transport ministry.

Police have been advising drivers of vehicles that do not meet the standards to correct them during the traffic operations police have been conducting, the police added.

Police stated that the objective of the operation to check the roadworthiness of vehicles was to ensure the citizens that the roads are safe.

In the statement the police thanked all the citizens for their cooperation to police.

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