In an address to Shaviyani Milandhoo, President Mohamed Nasheed claimed that educating young people is the vital foundation for the country’s development.
The government’s education policy was intended to increase the number of students passing five subjects to over 40 per cent. The specific target for Milandhoo, he said, was 60 per cent.
He also noted that the island’s health centre has been identified as one of 38 across the country to be upgraded.
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(0)The second hearing of the case launched by the Civil Service Commission (CSC) against the Finance Ministry over the issue of civil servant salaries was held yesterday in the Civil Court.
Miadhu reported that the CSC’s lawyer has claimed the 2010 budget had included the money for full payment of salaries, and that measures to reduce the salaries indefinitely under austerity measures were not included in the Civil Service Act.
The Finance Ministry’s lawyer requested more time to respond to the CSC’s comments. The next hearing will be on March 15.
Meanwhile, a second case is pending with the Finance Ministry accusing the CSC of conspiring to topple the government by inciting public hatred.
(0)Dislikes(0)Following complaints from Islamic NGO Salaf that the president’s address contained no information on Islamic achievements in the country, presidential spokesman Mohamed Zuhair has said the president did not wish to take credit for hard work done by Islamic scholars.
Zuhair told Miadhu that the president had not included the information in the address as he believed the both the credit and technical aspects of religious issues should be left to the scholars.
New freedoms to prepare sermons, funds for mosque construction, the creation of school prayer rooms and the Islamic fair were achievements led by the Islamic Ministry, Zuhair said.
(0)Dislikes(0)Television Maldives (TVM) has ceased broadcasting live parliamentary sessions, reports Miadhu.
On discovering the lack of broadcasting, Majlis Speaker Abdulla Shahid suspended the session and expressed his displeasure that TVM had not broadcast any session live despite having cameras in the chamber.
Shahid declared that parliament would organise its own broadcast, with technical assistance from TVM until new technicians could be trained. Live feed will be provided to all
Under the new agreement live feed would now be provided to TV stations and until Parliament could train its own technical crew, TVM would lend their technicians for the task.
The public broadcaster said it was “unrealistic” for the station to provide live telecasting as the government had not provided it ay financial assistance.
(0)Dislikes(0)MP for Hulhu-Henveiru and MDP parliamentary group leader ‘Reeko’ Moosa Manik has claimed his driver was bribed to put “cheap alcohol” into his car in an attempt to frame him for the crime.
Last week police arrested four expatriate men loading 168 bottles of whiskey and menthol gin into a car registered to Moosa, on the same day controversial liquor licensing regulations were unveiled by the Ministry of Economic Development.
“My car is not a pickup or a truck,” Moosa said. “Claiming it can fit 168 bottles is unacceptable.”
Moosa was in Singapore when the police arrested the four suspects, including Moosa’s driver.
“I was due to return on the 23rd – the night the incident happened. But that evening I cancelled the flight online because I had to take my wife to the doctors on the 26th. Even my family in Male’ didn’t know that.”
He said he suspected his driver had been “threatened or bribed”, and said the man was no longer in his employ.
Last week DRP Vice President Ibrahim Shareef said he doubted the case “would go very far”, noting that “in the worst case scenario Reeko’s driver will be implicated and that will be the end of the story.”
Moosa however claimed he believed the incident was “politically motivated”, and noted that the television station DhiTV “has been showing the incident non-stop for 24 hours.”
“The last time I was in an advertisement for a liquid was with my brother in a television ad for Sun-Up,” he said, suggesting that he should now be paid royalties for every bottle sold.
“A media channel in this country has used my photo, my car, my family, my children and my name to do business and I want to sue for compensation.”
During his address to an MDP rally on Sunday night, Moosa implied he knew who was responsible for the incident, calling on police to “summon him for an investigation”.
“The country’s economy in the past was in the hands of a few rich businessmen, and they are unhappy that the new government is not giving into their demands,” he said.
“We don’t want this country’s assets in the hands of three or four businessmen.”
Police are currently investigating the incident but have yet to draw any conclusions.
(0)Dislikes(0)President Mohamed Nasheed criticised the judiciary during a Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) rally at the artificial beach.
“When there’s Rf5 million in a bag underneath the bed and the judge doesn’t think it raises any kind of doubt, I wonder how they perform their duties as a judge,” said the president at the rally on Sunday.
He added that the government would not back down and will continue to arrest other drug dealers.
Following the rally, the MDP called for those concerned to “raise their voices against a justice system that is repeatedly careless about these acts.”
The criticism of both the president and his party follows the Criminal Court’s decision to acquit Adam Naseer of H. Reendhooge earlier this week. The government had previously alleged that Naseer was one of the country’s six major drug lords.
Naseer was arrested last July after police searched his house in Addu Atoll and found over Rf5 million in cash, as well as some drugs found outside his property.
This week, Criminal Court Judge Abdul Baary Yousuf found Naseer not guilty of dealing drugs due to lack of evidence.
President Nasheed said MDP was pledged to combat drug trafficking and abuse as there was “not one family untouched by the heroin endemic.”
Also speaking at the rally, MDP chairperson and MP Mariya Ahmed Didi called on everyone who protested against the proposed liquor licenses to demand the enforcement of the drug laws.
“Come out and call for the enforcement of the law on illegal drugs,” she said, asking for the support of the coalition of NGOs and the Adhaalath party, which brought thousands of people to the tsunami monument on Friday.
Mariya claimed the judiciary was not cooperating with the government in sentencing drug dealers.
According to the MDP statement, “one of the most important pledges of the MDP government is that of tackling the problem of drug abuse.”
The party mentioned the Naseer case, saying it “finds it worrying that the justice system is opening doors for these criminals to escape” and “we call upon the Prosecutor General to take this matter to the Supreme Court and work to achieve a speedy and just outcome to this matter.”
Naseer’s case has sparked controversy because he has previously been arrested and acquitted on drug dealing charges. He was also included in President Nasheed’s ‘top six’ list of drug dealers. Police investigated him for months before placing him under arrest in July 2009.
The MDP’s press statement claimed that “despite the forensic evidence found by the hard work of police, the justice system rules against the evidence and is careless in implementing justice.”
Police Spokesperson Abdul Moosa said “in every case we submit evidence at hand when the investigation is over.”
He did not specify what evidence was submitted for Naseer’s case or if it was admissible in court.
The PG’s office has said it will be appealing the case to the High Court, but did not respond to Minivan News today.
The Judicial Services Commission (JSC) had not made a comment at time of publication.
President Nasheed said yesterday in his Presidential Address to the People’s Majlis that in 2009 “there was an increase of 41.4 per cent in the number of people arrested for drug abuse, when compared with 2008 figures.”
The president did not mention if the number of convictions had also risen.
(0)Dislikes(0)The Elections Commission has announced that the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has overtaken the opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) to become the largest political party in the country.
President of the Elections Commission Fuad Thaufeeq said the MDP is now the largest political party with 31,171 members, narrowly overtaking the DRP’s 30,775 members.
Fuad noted that there was a possibility the DRP would regain its position once another 2000 membership forms were processed.
DRP Secretary General and MP Abdulla Mausoom claimed the EC had not included the forms of 2400 DRP members in the list it had released.
”We want to believe that EC is an independent commission,” Mausoom said, ”but sometimes questions arise about them.”
DRP MP Ali Waheed accused the the commission of failing to include DRP members, claiming it was influenced by the ruling party.
”We are visiting the atolls this weekend,” he said, ”and during that visit we will reveal what action we plan to take.”
Fuad rejected the allegations as false information.
”We cannot be influenced by any party,” he said, noting that the commission did not support or depend on any political party. In a previous interview with Minivan News, Fuad has noted that sometimes existing members seeking to join other political parties failed to realise they had to leave their current party before applying.
MDP MP Alhan Fahmy said the DRP’s claims the EC was being influenced were “regrettable”.
”Everyone must respect the independent commission,” he said, ”and when things do not go the way [DRP] planned it is unfair to say the commission was influenced.”
Alhan said when he joined MDP, “many DRP members followed.”
Umar Naseer said he respected the EC and did not believe it was being influenced, but suggested DRP’s membership would top MDP when the new membership statistics settled this week.
By the numbers
After the two major parties, the third largest party in the Maldives is the Jumhooree party with 7565 members, followed by the Islamic Democratic Party (IDP) with 5359 members and the Adhaalath party with 5163. Former President of the IDP Umar Naseer is currently attempting to dissolve the IDP, however the EC has ruled against this decision.
The People’s Alliance (PA) has the least number of members at 3107, below the Dhivehi Qaumy Party (DQP)’s 3480 members.
(0)Dislikes(0)A Chinese tourist died yesterday while snorkeling at Chaaya Lagoon Hakurahura Island Resort, less than a day after a German man also died in a snorkelling accident at Embudu Village Island Resort.
Police confirmed the 30 year old was visiting the Maldives from China on his honeymoon.
A senior staff member at the resort told Minivan News that the man died while snorkelling off a boat with his wife near the edge of the reef with a group of tourists, less than a kilometre from the resort’s jetty.
”After they finished snorkelling and everyone came aboard the boat, the boat crew noticed one man was missing,” the staff member said. “The crew immediately started searching for him and informed the hotel management and diving school.”
He said the man was eventually discovered by a team of three resort divers who had been sent out to search for him.
One of the divers told Minivan News that the man appeared to be dead when he was recovered from water.
”When we brought him up there was blood coming from his mouth,” the diver said.
He noted that when the diving team discovered the man he was holding his snorkel tube in his hand “but the mask was missing.”
The team pulled the man aboard the dive boat and attempted to resuscitate him, but he was not breathing.
The man was taken to Meemu Atoll Mulee Regional Hospital and doctors confirmed that he was dead when arrived.
Police sergeant Abdul Muhsin said the man was brought to Male’ today morning and placed in the mortuary. He said a team of police forensics specialists were now investigating the case.
The case is the second snorkelling fatality in as many days. The day prior, a 69 year old German man died while snorkelling at the Embudu Village Island Resort.
Permanent secretary for the Tourism Ministry Ahmed Solih said he would not comment on the cases but noted that the ministry was verifying that safety regulations were being followed by the resorts.
Sim Ibrahim Mohamed from the Maldives Association of Tourism Industry (MATI) said the resorts needed to be more careful guiding snorkellers, particularly older divers.
The Maldivian resorts’ procedures for guiding and instructing snorkellers were very good, he explained.
”All the resorts have said they inform tourists about the nearby water conditions and tides, and they also tell them the do’s and dont’s.’ But they need to be more careful with old aged people,” Sim said.
(0)Dislikes(0)President Mohamed Nasheed has announced the establishment of a new development bank specialising in providing investments for small and medium enterprises, to be ready at the end of the year.
President Nasheed added the main challenge for these enterprises is lack of funding, and said he hopes a new development bank will solve the problem.
The president said the ministry of Economic Development is providing financial assistance to these enterprises through a fund worth MRF 18.8 million. He said 41 per cent of those receiving assistance were women.
President Nasheed added that the government is working to bring in more foreign investment. In 2009, 18 foreign investments were approved. According to the president, the total foreign investment registered in 2009 was US$22 million.
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