Category: News in Brief

Expatriate workers blamed for Male’s waste, claims councillor ‘Fly’

Villi-Maafannu councillor Ahmed ‘Fly’ Hameed has claimed that litter in Male is primarily caused by expatriate workers employed in shops.

Male’ City Council has discussed whether to take measures against the alleged culprits, Haveeru reports.

Hammed proposed designating supervisors to monitor the shops where expatriate workers are suspected of contributing to the litter. The council has also considered imposing a fine on those who leave their trash in the streets, reports Haveeru.

Recently, the overflow of waste at Thilafushi was found to be drifting into the open ocean after a change in tides. The EPA asked that everyone take responsibility for the issue.

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Drowning victims widely honored by Male residents

Thousands have paid their respects to the victims of yesterday’s drowning incident, and hundreds attended the funeral for the five deceased, held at Male’ Islamic Center last evening.

Four grade-nine students Nash-ath Saeed, Mariyam Naza, Aishath Saniha, Mariyam Shaiha and Hiriya Principal Ali Nazim drowned yesterday during a Fisheries Science trip to Kaafu atoll Huraa. Nazim had rescued four students from the water before being drowned with the other four victims, Haveeru reports.

Relatives who attended the funeral said that the students were not asked whether they knew how to swim, and blamed the school management. No life jackets were taken on the trip, one source claimed, although this was unverified.

Police were criticized yesterday by Huraa council Deputy President, Easa Ahmed for their inefficient response to the incident. Police and MNDF forces had allegedly been notified by the Huraa council immediately following the incident, Haveeru reports.

Nearby resort Four Seasons Maldives Kuda Huraa told Minivan News that it had sent a rescue boat upon learning of the incident. At 12:00pm yesterday, the resort held a moment of silence in remembrance of the Hiriya School principle and students.

A Wataniya event that had been scheduled for yesterday at Four Seasons was cancelled after President Mohamed Nasheed asked that respect be paid to the victims.

The President made personal calls to families of the victims yesterday, and requested that the national flag be flown at half-mast for three days from yesterday.

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No sale of alcohol on Fuvamulah “where people are most religious”: Adhaalath

The Adhaalath Party’s Fuvamulah Wing has said that the government’s attempt to allow the sale of alcohol to foreigners by designating islands as uninhabited cannot go ahead on the island of Fuvamulah, ‘’which has the most number of people who can recite the Quran by heart.’’

In a press statement, the party claimed that government had “failed in its earlier attempts to legalise the trade of alcohol on inhabited islands and has now chosen another way to do it, which is by decreeing areas on inhabited islands as uninhabited.”

‘’Given that Fuvamulah has the most number of people who have learned the Quran by heart, it is like a slap on the face for the islanders of Fuvamulah,’’ the statement said. ‘’The world has seen that tourism can happen without nightclubs, casinos, alcohol and pork.’’

The party’s Fuvamulah Wing also claimed that the government was discriminating against Fuvamulah, referring to an incident when President decided to have a public referendum on whether to change the name of Thinadhoo to ‘Havru Thinadhoo’, that Fuvamulah being a large island was not considered in the list of islands to become cities.

Furthermore, the Adhaalath Party’s Fuvamulah Wing said that its members on the island will “fully corporate with the government and will work for free” to build guest villas, so long as there would be “no work inconsistent with the tenets of Islam.”

On September 2 the President’s Office said that President Mohamed Nasheed has signed two decrees, affirming the “Bilhifeyshi” area and “Thoon’du” area of Fuvammulah as two uninhabited islands under the decentralisation act.

Earlier this week at a press conference, Sheikh Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed, Adhaalath Party spokesperson, said that the decrees were part of a “Satanic plot” to sidestep legal prohibitions to selling alcohol in inhabited islands.

“We are not opposed at all to building a city hotel for the development of Fuvahmulah,” he said. “But you don’t have to sell alcohol at every city hotel. The Adhaalath Party sees the declaration of uninhabited islands within Fuvahmulah as an absurd move, as an act of madness.”

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Five hundred apply to leave DRP after Gayoom announces PPM

Five hundred people have applied to leave the opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) following former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s decision to create a new party, the Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM).

Haveeru reported DRP spokesperson Ali Solih as confirming that 480 people had left the party out of 37,800 registered members.

“Several forms submitted to resign from the party are invalid, including the forms submitted by those actively involved in creating the new party. Their signatures are missing,” he told Haveeru.

The departures were “not a big deal”, he remarked.

The Elections Commission has meanwhile granted the PPM a license to create a party after finding that the required 50 out of 703 signatures submitted were authentic. The PPM is now required to gain 3000 signatures of members to register as a party within nine months, and hold a meeting of 300 people to outline the party’s charter and manifesto.

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Dhiraagu to lay “underwater highway” by June 2012

Dhiraagu, a major telecom company in the Maldives, expects to have its sub-marine communications cable installed by June 2012. This is the latest phase in its High-Speed Network Roll-Out Program.

As part of a US$28.2 million, five-year upgrade, Head of Networks Umayr Shafeeu said the cable will act as “an underwater highway,” connecting most Maldivian islands with improved bandwidth and high-speed internet access.

Shafeeu said the cable will be a significant change for the Maldives. “Connecting people is the single biggest and most difficult thing in the Maldives,” he said. “The country is very isolated, and although we have provided cell phone service it is not enough. Now, people need TV, high-speed, wireless–all these things require a lot of bandwidth.”

Recently, the Maldivian government was criticised by the opposition for releasing a third of its Dhiraagu shares to the public. “I think it’s essentially a good move,” said Dhiraagu Head of Marketing, Ahmed Maumoon. “Of course it’s a government decision, but from a personal point of view it’s good for the public to take part in a profitable and sustainable company.”

Maumoon said the public could gain confidence from the re-distribution of shares.

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Pirates release Danish family taken hostage in February

A Danish family who were captured by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean after departed Haa Alif Atoll in the Maldives have been freed.

Jan Quist Johansen, Birgit Marie, their three teenage children and two members of crew were taken hostage on February 24.

All seven hostages were released. Pirates claimed a ransom of US$3-4 million was paid.

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Auditor General’s office requests Rf 7 million increase in budget

The Auditor General’s office has requested an additional Rf 7 million (US$450,000) from the Finance Ministry to revise the organisation, reports Haveeru.

Parliament’s Finance Committee asked the ministry to provide Rf 2 million to revise the structure of the auditor general’s office and lay off 22 employees, Rf 1.4 million for audit trips, and Rf 730,000 for consultancy services.

An additional Rf 750,000 was requested for training, and Rf 1.4 million for legally-licensed software.

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Cabinet discuss debt reduction

The cabinet discussed reducing the level of public debt at its weekly meeting yesterday, exchanging views on debt repayment.

On August 10, Finance Minister Ahmed Inaz told parliament that the current administration inherited a dispersed outstanding debt of US$446.5 million owed to local and foreign banks. The new government obtained loans amounting to US$196.4 million as of April 30, 2011, of which US$5.1 million had been paid back.

The government meanwhile proposed a fiscal responsibility bill to parliament last month to impose limits on government spending and debt accumulation as part of its 18-bill economic reform package.

A UNDP paper on achieving debt sustainability in the Maldives published in December 2010 observed that “as a percentage of GDP, public debt levels have almost doubled from 55 percent in 2004 to an estimated 97 percent in 2010.”

“Public debt service as a percent of government revenues will more than double between 2006 and 2010 from under 15 percent to over 30 percent,” it continued. “The IMF recently classified the country as ‘at high risk’ of debt distress.”

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Kaadedhoo airport transfer up in the air

The government handover of Kaadedhoo airport in Gaaf Dhaal atoll to Island Aviation Services limited (IAS) is two weeks over-due, Haveeru reports.

Previously, Haveeru journalists had been told that the exchange would take place on August 23. An island was said to be included in the package, allegedly for resort development.

IAS officials say the Finance and Economic ministries are in charge of the matter, which has not yet been settled.

IAS claims to have been unaware of plans for a ceremony to mark the transfer on August 23, although Haveeru reports that such a ceremony had been announced by the President’s office.





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