The Presidential Commission established in 2009 to investigate alleged embezzlement of state funds and resources was reconstituted by President Nasheed yesterday.
The commission will now be chaired by Sarangu Adam Manik and Hussain Rasheed Ahmed. The other two members are Mohamed Aswan and Abdulla Haseen.
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(0)The lack of ministers after their resignations, lack of consultations with the Majlis, and rule by the President, means that Maldives is heading to a military dictatorship, said People’s Alliance party leader Abdulla Yameen after police raided his house in connection with bribery and treason charges laid last week.
The charges against Yameen and Jumhooree Party leader Gasim Ibrahim followed a mass resignation of the ministers appointed by President Nasheed. They complained to the president that corruption and bribery in the Majlis meant they were unable to function.
Yameen also called for a referendum on President Nasheed’s leadership.
(1)Dislikes(0)American climate change scientist Michael Mann has been cleared of manipulating his research findings, reports ABC Australia.
The allegations caused an international furore and reinforced the stance of climate change deniers, after emails between Dr Mann and other scientists were taken from a computer at the University of East Anglia in Britain and posted anonymously on the internet.
(1)Dislikes(0)The Maldives government is preparing evidence to file a case in the Supreme Court over the Majlis attempt to “grab powers invested with the executive”, according to the President’s Office press secretary Mohamed Zuhair in a statement to the Asian Tribune.
The government is also attempting to hold talks with opposition parties to encourage co-operation between the Majlis and the executive branch of government, said Zuhair.
Opposition DRP official Dunya Maumoon confirmed there have been “indications” of approaches for talks, and she criticised the government for attempting to govern without cabinet ministers.
(0)Dislikes(0)The European Parliament’s Delegation for relations with South Asia intends to discuss the situation in the Maldives at its next meeting in Brussels on 15 July.
Political instability in Maldives could have a crucial impact on the social, economic and tourism development of the country, says the chairperson of the delegation, Jean Lambert, in a statement issued in Brussels yesterday.
Maldives “needs stability in order to capitalise on its location,” she said, calling on political parties and institutions “to work constructively and in good faith” and “to promote good governance and allow the country to tackle the challenges it faces.”
(0)Dislikes(0)The amendments to the Maldives Public Finance Act were ‘the Grand Finale in the process of decimating the Executive, once and for all’, according to the latest update on Ibra’s Blog.
Ibrahim Ismail, one-time member of the Majlis for Male during the presidency of Maumoon Gayyoom, was an early supporter of democratic reform.
His blog analyses the cultural, legal and political dimensions of reform in Maldives.
“With the change in government, there was trepidation among many that there may be a witch hunt to bring criminals within the former regime to justice. The relative security of the Majlis was sought by many, and some succeeded. After the initial scrambling for personal security, some were emboldened…”
(0)Dislikes(0)The opposition DRP will hold a rally tonight (Thursday) ‘to clear some of the misinformation’ coming from the government regarding the current political crisis, reports Miadhu.
The DRP has decided to provide its own information to the international community, says the party’s leader Ahmed Thasmeen Ali. The DRP will be sending a delegation to Colombo to meet with foreign ambassadors accredited to Maldives, he said.
The DRP council has passed a resolution condemning the imprisonment of the Gasim Ibrahim and Abdulla Yameen, the respective leaders of the opposition Jumhooree and People’s Alliance parties, and calling for immediate release of the two MPs.
(1)Dislikes(0)The respected historian of India, William Dalrymple, is predicting defeat for the US and its allies in Afghanistan, and victory for the Taliban.
“Certainly it is becoming clearer than ever that the once-hated Taliban, far from being swept away by General Stanley McChrystal’s surge, are instead regrouping, ready for the final act in the history of Hamid Karzai’s western-installed puppet government. The Taliban have now advanced out of their borderland safe havens to the very gates of Kabul and are surrounding the capital, much as the US-backed mujahedin once did to the Soviet-installed regime in the late 1980s… The Taliban already control more than 70 per cent of the country, where they collect taxes, enforce the sharia and dispense their usual rough justice. Every month, their sphere of influence increases. According to a recent Pentagon report, Karzai’s government has control of only 29 out of 121 key strategic districts…
“It appears that the Taliban have regained control of the opium-growing centre of Marjah in Helmand Province, only three months after being driven out by McChrystal’s forces amid much gung-ho cheerleading in the US media. Afghanistan is going down… It is time to shed the idea that a pro-western puppet regime that excludes the Pashtuns can remain in place indefinitely. The Karzai government is crumbling before our eyes, and if we delude ourselves that this is not the case, we could yet face a replay of 1842.”
(1)Dislikes(0)US drug companies are working hard to develop a vaccine for Dengue fever, which is endemic in Maldives. Sanofi Pasteur Inc. predicts the market for a vaccine is worth up to US$1 billion per year. Dengue has now re-emerged in Florida where 28 people have been diagnosed with the disease.
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