Category: News in Brief

Local media reported today that Adhil Saleem has been appointed Minister of Transport while Dr Mariyam Zulfa has been appointed Minister of Tourism.

Saleem is presently the State Minister for Economic Development, while Dr Zulfa runs a Maldivian law firm, Duckham & Co.

The government has yet to officially confirm the appointments, however when contacted by Minivan News Dr Zulfa said she was “humbled” and “honoured” to be considered for the role.

“With the grace of Allah, I shall do my best,” she said.

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The ultimate goal of an education policy is to make “a perfect citizen”, said President Mohamed Nasheed, speaking at the third anniversary of Hulhumale’s Ghaazee School yesterday.

Students, he said, needed to “be guided by Islam and the values of the country”, as well as earn a good income, be self sufficient, contribute to the development of the Maldives and work to build a healthy family.

Thus it was important to increase not only the number of passing grades, but ensure students actively participated in extra curricular activities, such as sports, literary and other social activities, he said.

The President inaugurated the school’s ‘smart room’, equipped with electronic teaching facilities, and distributed certificates.

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Chief of Defence Force Major General Moosa Ali Jaleel received the Purple Heart and Long Service medal from President Mohamed Nasheed during a special ceremony at the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) headquarters.

Jaleel was wounded during the failed coup attempt in 1988 while defending the country from a group of mercenaries linked to a Sri Lankan terrorist group.

The Long Service Medal was awarded in recognition of his 30 years of service to the Maldives military.

After the ceremony, President Nasheed praised the service of Major General Jaleel and noted his efforts to modernise and strengthen the armed forces.

The way in which the Maldives military was carrying out its duties free from political influence, despite major transformations in the political system, “was exemplary not only to Maldivians but also to any country undergoing similar transformations,” Nasheed said.

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Neither of the major political parties wish to resolve their disputes over the endorsement of cabinet ministers, Miadhu reported Deputy Speaker Mohamed Nazim as saying.

“I think there is nothing obscure in this. We can move forward, I believe we can move forward with the cabinet endorsement. The reality of the matter is that some are worried over the votes they might get,” said Nazim, also an MP of the minority opposition party People’s Alliance (PA).

“All the parties have taken their positions to hinder the working of the Majlis, unless the Majlis carries out the matter as they want.”

Parliament was cancelled again yesterday in an ongoing dispute over whether to endorse ministers individually or collectively.

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The Maldives state needs to cease printing money and decrease spending on salaries by “a considerable amount”, according to a financial specialist from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

During a presentation earlier this week Dr Rodrigo Cubeiro observed that the tourism sector had recovered from the recession earlier than expected because of the increasing number of arrivals of Chinese tourists.

However he observed that the Maldives has the highest per-capita government expenditure of any island nation, and urged the government to reduce this before the Maldives’ economic situation became serious.

Reducing that expenditure was in the hands politicians and the government, he said.

In June, the IMF’s Country Report for the Maldives pegged the country’s fiscal deficit in 2009 at 26.25 percent, and noted that while the “political climate for public expenditure cuts remains difficult… the coming months [would] be a crucial test of [the government’s] ability to prevail.”

The IMF report acknowledged that “direct redundancies were proving difficult”, however “the transfer of employees to the private sector (which accounts for about two fifths of the planned payroll cuts) has taken place in line with projections.”

Nonetheless, the IMF calculated that if the government continued to pursue economic reform at current pace and policy, the country’s fiscal deficit would increase by one percent of GDP in 2010 and 4.5 percent of GDP in 2011.

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Everything seems so surreal in Male’, writes Jofelle Tesorio from the Asia News Network.

“The easy island life is masked by an uneasy development where buildings are built in every corner and people buy branded products, sport the newest phone technology and drive expensive cars. And yet, there is a significant number of the population who barely can afford necessities.

“The unemployment rate in the country is also quite high compared to its population yet the country will soon graduate from being an underdeveloped to middle-income country.

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