Day: February 21, 2015

Nasheed calls for Indian protection in state of emergency

Opposition leader and former President Mohamed Nasheed has called for Indian protection and intervention, claiming he fears President Abdulla Yameen may impose a state of emergency as the Maldives’ current political crisis deepens.

“I fear Yameen could impose emergency as he loses further ground. Under such circumstances he will ensure mass arrests, including my arrest. I urge India, as our closest neighbour, to intervene at that stage to ensure safety and security of political activists,” he told the Indian Economic Times.

The call comes in the wake of an alliance between MDP and former ruling coalition partner Jumhooree Party (JP) against what they allege to be Progressive Party of the Maldives’ (PPM) repeated violation of the constitution.

The opposition has called for President Yameen’s resignation and the MDP has since pledged to help JP Leader Gasim Ibrahim to assume the presidency.

Speaking to Minivan News today, PPM’s parliamentary group leader MP Ahmed Nihan condemned Nasheed’s “irresponsible” call on India to intervene in the Maldives’ internal affairs.

“Urging India to intervene in a sovereign nation’s internal affairs is a betrayal of our constitution. Its results will be bitter, especially on the Maldivian public,” he said.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Dunya Maumoon in a tweet expressed confidence that India would not intervene in Maldives’ domestic politics.

Fresh polls

Nasheed accused President Yameen of authoritarianism, alleging he had undermined independent institutions and illegally sacked the Chief Justice and the Auditor General.

He told the Economic Times the opposition coalition is “certain to win majority on the floor” when the People’s Majlis resumes parliamentary sessions in March.

Afterwards, the opposition coalition would force Yameen to resign and pave way for fresh presidential polls in which they would field Gasim as an opposition candidate, he said.

“While any president of Maldives can continue without majority in parliament, it is morally difficult for him or her to continue in office. Besides the president will find it difficult to function as appointments of ministers need parliamentary approval,” he explained.

“Under such circumstances, Yameen will have to resign and there will be fresh presidential polls. MDP has decided to support Gasim as president in this elections and MDP will have ministers in that government. In 2018, MDP will field presidential candidate and Gasim’s Jumhooree Party will support that candidate. We are trying to work on this formula for long-term stability in Maldives.”

The JP and MDP at present control ten and 21 seats respectively. Two JP and one MDP MP recently defected to the PPM, increasing the ruling coalition’s seats to 51 in the 85-member house.

Nasheed has previously predicted ten ruling party MPs would soon join the opposition coalition.

“Jumhooree and our MDP will have a majority in parliament and that will be proved next month. To preempt this, I fear, Yameen will prorogue parliament, prorogue constitution and impose emergency. He may then want to rule by emergency for the rest of three years of presidency. That will be the worst case scenario,” he said.

Nihan countered Nasheed’s statement saying an opposition majority in Majlis “is near impossible” even if PPM MP Ahmed Mahloof leaves the party as rumours suggest.

The Vilimalé MP also dismissed Nasheed’s claim that PPM leader and former President of 30 years Maumoon Abdul Gayoom was “uncomfortable with his half brother, Yameen, the president.”

“There is no political disagreements between Maumoon and Yameen, and there are no fights within the PPM,” he said.

The PPM has held rallies of its own in support of Yameen on Thursday, with a 400-strong youth march in Malé followed by a rally attended by at least 2000 people.

President Yameen has called for the opposition to prove allegations of constitutional breach at court and said the opposition’s claims are “baseless.”

Nasheed had called for Indian help last week, claiming he may be arrested as the judiciary made moves to restart a trial over the controversial detention of Criminal Court Chief Judge Abdulla Mohamed. The Prosecutor General has since withdrawn charges.

Nasheed also sought refuge inside the Indian Embassy in Malé in February 2013 after a court order on the police to present him at court over the judge’s trial.


Related to this story

MDP, JP rally supporters ahead of mass February 27 march

Two JP MPs and 15 councilors defect to PPM

Nasheed asks for India’s protection if jailed

Nasheed leaves Indian High Commission, states “desire for stability”

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Police arrest two minors, two men in drug bust

Police arrested two minors and two men with illicit narcotics in a five-hour operation conducted in Malé on Thursday night (February 19) by the Drug Enforcement Department (DED).

Based on intelligence information suggesting that drugs were being used and sold at Henveiru Zaa, police raided the guesthouse with a search warrant and arrested a 15-year-old male and 17-year-old female with 50 grams of drugs.

Police later arrested an 18-year-old male believed to have provided the drugs to the pair of minors. He was taken into custody from the street with six rubber packets containing drugs in his possession. Police found a further 10 packets in the vicinity.

All three suspects were Maldivians with police records.

The last suspect, a 28-year-old Bangladeshi man who is believed to have been the source of the drugs, was arrested with 50 grams of drugs in his possession.

Upon searching the Bangladeshi man’s room and belongings, police discovered a further 1 kilogram and 300 grams of drugs.

Police revealed that the 17-year-old girl had previously been stopped and searched five times on suspicion of drug use. The 15-year-old boy had been taken into custody three times, stopped and searched 12 times, and penalised four times for traffic violations.

The 18-year-old man had been stopped and searched 27 times and penalised for traffic violations.

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Judiciary continues futsal tournament in apparent defiance of Supreme Court

The staff of the judiciary appeared to defy a Supreme Court order on Thursday, continuing with an annual inter-court futsal tournament despite the an order requiring the apex court’s permission.

A Supreme Court circular, issued hours before the “Judiciary Cup 2015” began, said the judiciary’s staff could only form associations or clubs in accordance with a policy set by the Supreme Court and that their activities must be overseen by the Supreme Court-controlled Department of Judicial Administration (DJA).

However, participants of the tournament told Minivan News they went ahead after deciding that the circular would only apply to future activities.

A Civil Court staff who wished to remain anonymous said: “I don’t think we should get permission from the Supreme Court to hold a simple futsal tournament. They don’t hold control over our lives. “

The annual three-day tournament was last held in 2013 by the Criminal Court. The DJA was tasked with organising the 2014 tournament, but failed to do so.

The Drug Court voluntarily organised this year’s competition, the staff said.

A DJA Spokesperson declined to comment on the tournament, saying he would have to consult the Supreme Court before making any statements.

The tournament began on Thursday night without the DJA and Supreme Court’s participation. The final match between the Civil Court and the Drug Court will be played tonight.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court released a second circular ordering government and state offices to communicate directly with the Supreme Court on matters concerning the judiciary, instead of contacting the lower courts, separate judges and staff.

The circular also stated that an employee of the judiciary could only be appointed to any working committees with the explicit permission of the Supreme Court.

The apex court on February 12 also reduced the period during which an appeal could be filed at lower courts and tribunals from 90 and 60 days, respectively, to ten days.

The People’s Majlis in December dismissed Chief Justice Ahmed Faiz and Justice Muthasim Adnan after the ruling Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM) pushed through an amendment to the Judicature Act reducing the seven-member bench to five judges.

Shortly thereafter, Justice Abdulla Saeed was appointed Chief Justice.

In September 2014, the Supreme Court initiated suo moto proceedings against all five members of the Human Rights Commission of Maldives (HRCM) in relation to its Universal Period Review (UPR) report to the UN Human Rights Council, which suggested the apex court’s control over the judiciary was undermining powers of lower courts.

“Supreme Court issued a circular ordering all state institutions not to communicate to individual courts regarding any information relating to the judiciary except through the Supreme Court. HRCM is facing difficulties in gathering information related to judiciary due to lack of cooperation,” the report stated.

In a comprehensive report on the Maldivian judiciary released in May 2013, UN Special Rapporteur for the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, Gabriela Knaul, wrote that centralising administrative decisions in the hands of the Supreme Court “has undoubtedly contributed to the strong impression that lower courts are excluded from the administration of justice and decision-making processes.”

The Maldives representative to the UNHRC subsequently accused the special rapporteur of undermining the sovereignty of the country.


Related to this story

Abdulla Saeed appointed as new Chief Justice, dismissed Justice Faiz laments “black day”

Supreme Court slams HRCM for basing rights assessment on “rejected” UN rapporteur findings

Criminal cases in PG leadership absence unconstitutional, says Drug Court judge

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Tourist arrivals decline in January as Chinese arrivals slow down

Tourist arrivals to the Maldives in January 2015 declined by -7.8 percent compared to the same period last year, the Ministry of Tourism has revealed.

Arrivals in January stood at 97,073 visitors, down from 105,296 visitors in January 2014, according to monthly statistics from the tourism ministry.

“This was the fourth consecutive month where a negative growth was recorded in tourist arrivals to the country,” the ministry observed in a statement last week.

Consequently, the occupancy rate fell from 82.5 percent in January 2014 to 73.9 percent last month.

“However, the average duration of stay remained uniform at January 2014 level with 6.5 days, this however was an increase compared with the 6.1 days at the end of December 2014,” the ministry noted.

In contrast to the negative growth recorded last month, tourist arrivals grew by 18.5 percent in January 2014.

Tourist arrivals also registered negative growth in November (-5.1 percent) and December (-1.2 percent) last year on the back of a steep decline in arrivals from Russia and Western Europe as well as Asia and Pacific markets.

The number of Russian tourists declined by 44.7 percent in December 2014 compared to the same period the previous year.

Arrivals from China and Japan in December meanwhile dropped by 12.2 percent and 11.8 percent respectively.

Last month, industry insiders expressed concern that the Maldives could become an overpriced destination with the introduction of new taxes.

While the Tourism Goods and Services Tax (T-GST) was hiked from 8 to 12 percent in November 2014, the government announced that a US$6 per day ‘green tax’ would be imposed on tourists from November 2015 onward.

“The green tax will definitely have an impact. It is (already) becoming too expensive to go to the top resorts because of all the service charges and taxes,” Shafraz Fazley, managing director of Viluxur Holidays told travel website TTG Asia.

Chinese market

In a phenomenon that caught many industry experts by surprise, the number of Chinese tourists visiting the Maldives tripled from about 100,000 in 2010 to more than 300,000 last year.

In 2014, Chinese tourists accounted for nearly one-third of arrivals with a 30% market share, representing the single biggest source market for tourists to the Maldives.

A total of 363,626 Chinese tourists visited the Maldives in 2014, up 9.6 percent from the previous year, which saw 331,719 arrivals.

However, during 2014, the annual growth rate of Chinese tourist arrivals slowed from 20 percent at the end of June to 9 percent by the end of December.

“Arrivals to the Maldives from China started slowing down during mid-2014 and negative growths were registered since August that year,” the tourism ministry explained.

“January 2015 was recorded as the worst performed month for the Chinese market to the Maldives so far, with a strong negative growth of 33.1 percent. China being the number one market to the Maldives, the negative growth registered from the market was reflected in the total arrivals to the country.”

Meanwhile, according to the tourism ministry’s visitor survey for 2014, less than 10 percent of Chinese tourists were repeat visitors.

In contrast, the survey found that more than 25 percent of British, Italian and German tourists visited the Maldives between two to 10 times.

Europe

With the decline in arrivals from China, Europe has regained top spot as the largest regional source market for tourists, increasing its market share from 43.9 percent at the end of December to 54.1 percent in January.

A total of 52,545 visitors were recorded from European countries, representing a marginal growth rate of 0.5 percent compared to January 2014.

In 2014, the annual growth rate of tourist arrivals from Europe flatlined to 0.4 percent.

However, with Chinese arrivals representing more than a quarter of visitors, total arrivals during the year reached the government’s target of 1.2 million visitors.

In terms of individual markets in January 2015, Italy was the second largest source market with an 8.3 percent market share, followed by the UK with 7.4 percent, Germany with 7.3 percent, and Russia with 6 percent.

However, Russia was the worst performing market during January, the ministry noted, registering negative growth of 38 percent.

Registered establishments

In January, the Maldives had a total of 529 registered tourist facilities with a total bed capacity of 32,087, including 112 resorts (24,151 beds), 19 hotels (1,704 beds), 231 guesthouses (3,397 beds) and 167 safari vessels (2,835 beds), according to the tourism ministry.

However, a total of 302 establishments (27,520 beds) were operational during the month, the ministry revealed.

“Operational capacity included 106 resorts with 23,247 beds, 15 hotels with 1,468 beds, 107 guest houses with 1,569 beds and 74 safari vessels with 1,236 beds,” the ministry’s statistics showed.

“The total tourist bed nights of these operational establishments in January 2015 was 630,840 which was a drop (-7.8%) compared with that of January 2014.”

Related to this story

Maldives’ resorts among the best in the world, but industry insiders express concern over green tax

1.4 million figure for 2014 tourist arrivals incorrect, says tourism minister

Expansion of economic activity in third quarter driven by tourism sector: MMA

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