Maldives celebrates workers rights on Labour Day

The Maldives today celebrates Labour Day, the second time the country has observed the public holiday after it was instituted in 2011 by former President Mohamed Nasheed to promote and protect the rights of workers.

May 1 is celebrated in other countries as International Workers Day, or May Day. The date is celebrated throughout the world and is a national holiday in over 80 countries, during which the rights of workers are promoted through demonstrations and marches.

The day will involve demonstrations by a combination of labour organisations in the Maldives capital, Male’.

Vice President of the Tourism Employment Association of Maldives (TEAM) Mauroof Zakir said that an event was been held this morning between 7:30am and 11:00am at which information was given about the employment act and workers rights in the country.

As well as TEAM, the gathering was also attended by representatives from Solidarity Workers USA and the Asian Migrant Workers Forum as well as members of the Human Rights Commissions of the Maldives, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

He also said that another demonstration would be held this afternoon, beginning at 4:00pm at the social centre on Majeedhee Magu from where the group intends to march to the Tsunami monument area at Lonuziyaaraiy Kolhu. This march has taken place  on May Day for the past two years and Zakir expects between 300 and 500 people to attend.

Zakir described the main concerns within the Maldivian labour movement as being “employment protection, lack of permanent employment, and a rapidly increasing trend of ‘casualisation’. The outsourcing of jobs is also a huge problem.”

“Salaries are being delayed or not paid. This is mostly in the construction industry, but also in the resorts. Workers wages are too low for the standard of living in the Maldives,” said Zakir.

The workers of the state-owned Maldives International Fisheries Company Ltd (MIFCO) are today demonstrating for increased wages amongst other things, reports Haveeru. The local workers had delivered a petition of demands to the company with a deadline of April 25 to which no reply was received.

Amongst the reported demands in the petition, signed by 260 of 354 Maldivian workers at MIFCO’s  factory on Felivaru, were calls for wage rises of 35-40 percent, better food and accommodation and equal treatment of all employees.

May Day was traditionally celebrated as a spring festival in the Northern Hemisphere before the day was chosen in 1886 by North American Labour movements to agitate for improved workers rights, with an eight-hour working day the primary focus.

In 1889, the nascent international socialist movement called for a general strike on May 1 as an annual demonstration of labour solidarity. The day was soon recognised throughout Europe as a public holiday but, keen to distance itself from what was viewed as a holiday, the United States chose to celebrate its ‘Labor Day’ in September.

The first South Asian nation to celebrate the tradition was India in 1923 and it is now a national a public holiday. The day is also referred to in India as Maharashtra Day after the day in which the western region attained statehood. On May 1 Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan will all mark the day with demonstrations of workers solidarity.

Bangladesh’s Ministry of Labour and Employment organised a rally in Dhaka this morning, reports local online paper bdnews24.com. The Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has inaugurated a two day long fair in the capital Dhaka to celebrate the occasion.

Large rallies are planned in Sri Lanka today in celebration of the occasion, prompting the deployment of over 10,000 policemen to handle security and control traffic.

Likes(1)Dislikes(0)

GMR deducts US$8.1 million from concession fees for 2012 first quarter

Indian infrastructure giant GMR, appointed by former President Mohamed Nasheed’s administration to manage and develop of the Ibrahim Nasir International Airport (INIA), has deducted US$8.1 million from concession fees paid to the government for the first quarter of 2012.

GMR took over the management of INIA from the government-owned company Maldives Airports Company Limited (MACL) in September 2010. According to a statement from the MACL, the company only received US$525,355 out of an expected US$8.7 million in concession fees for the first quarter of 2012, after GMR deducted payment for airport development fees and insurance surcharge.

The Airport Development Charge (ADC) was intended to be a US$25 fee charged to outgoing passengers from January this year, as stipulated in the contract signed with GMR in 2010. The anticipated US$25 million the charge would raise was to go towards the cost of renovating INIA’s infrastructure.

However the then-opposition Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP), which had ardently opposed the handing of the airport to GMR, won a case in the Civil Court last year blocking GMR from charging the ADC.

The Civil Court blocked the fee on the grounds that it was essentially the same as a pre-existing Airport Services Charge (ASC), and that any new fees would constitute a new tax and was subsequently required to go through the People’s Majlis.

Following the court ruling former President Nasheed’s administration agreed that the ADC would have to be deducted from GMR’s concession fee paid to the MACL.

Managing Director of MACL Mohamed Ibrahim told Minivan News the company would not comment on the matter.

GMR paid MACL US$ 7.79 million in variable annual concession and fuel concession fees for the fourth quarter of 2011, after deducting US$ 100,000 as payment for insurance surcharge.

New Finance Minister Abdulla Jihad has previously said the ADC issue will bankrupt the MACL.

“I don’t believe that GMR can deduct that amount from the payment owed to the government. The estimated US$30 million for this year must be paid. If the payment is not received it would be difficult to run the Airports Company,” Jihad said.

“The Civil Court ruled against that charge. Hence that amount must not be deducted from the payment to the government which would reduce its income,” Jihad argued. ”The Airports Company might face losses if that happens,” he said.

Meanwhile, new Foreign Minister Dr Abdul Samad Abdulla assured his Indian counterpart that all existing investment agreements would be honoured despite the change of government on February 7.

According to Indian newspaper The Hindu, Samad assured Indian External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna that the government’s policy was unchanged, after his counterpart expressed the desire that the Maldives remained friendly to outside investors.

Longstanding opposition

The contentious Civil Court case was filed by DQP in a longstanding campaign against Nasheed’s government awarding the airport redevelopment to GMR. DQP leader Dr Hassan Saeed is now President Mohamed Waheed Hassan’s special advisor, while DQP Vice-President Dr Mohamed Jameel is the new Home Minister.

A 24-page book released by the DQP while it was in opposition presents the government’s lease of Ibrahim Nasir International Airport (INIA) to developer GMR as a threat to local industry that will “enslave the nation and its economy”.

Former President’s Office Press Secretary Mohamed Zuhair at the time of the pamphlet’s publication said that he felt the title’s wording was “very strong”, and drew a faulty comparison between international cooperation for mutual benefit and foreign occupation of a people and market for selfish purposes.

“The purpose of all this is to make Maldivians mistakenly feel like they are under occupation and the country is being sold out,” said Zuhair, who pointed out that the government “wouldn’t have gone out for an international bid [on the airport project] if there was a way to borrow money and do it internally.”

He explained that the airport now yields “a bulk” of the national revenue, in dollars: “If foreign visitors increase, income increases. It’s simple math.”

GMR has also drawn the ire of local company MVK Maldives Pvt Ltd after INIA, backed by a civil court ruling, refused to renew MVK’s lease and ordered the MVK to vacate the Alpha MVKB Duty Free shop and hand the premises to GMR.

Consequently, DQP MP Riyaz Rasheed submitted a resolution to the Majlis to prevent GMR from taking over the management of duty free shops and bonded warehouses from local businesses. However, Rasheed withdrew the resolution on April 2.

The decision to finalise a deal to develop Ibrahim Nasir International Airport (INIA) was agreed under the administration of former President Mohamed Nasheed in 2010. GMR emerged victorious in the bidding process, amid political opposition on largely nationalistic grounds.

Confidence in GMR’s $511 million dollar INIA project appeared to take a hit after the resignation of President Nasheed in February was accompanied by a five percent drop in GMR’s share prices before bouncing back shortly after.

Likes(1)Dislikes(0)

Dhiraagu internet service “restored” after successful repair test

Dhiraagu has said that internet services affected by a damaged section of submarine cable off the Sri Lankan Coast have been “restored” after testing on repairs proved successful today.

The cable was damaged on the evening of Wednesday April 18 forcing the company to provide a “degraded” service to national internet customers for several days as it sought out “diversity routes” to reduce the impact to its operations.

The repair work, which was carried out jointly by Dhiraagu and Sri Lankan Telecom (SLT), commenced last week after a specially equipped repair vessel called the Asean Explorer made its way to Sri Lanka from India.

Company spokesperson Imjad Jaleel told Minivan News that testing on the repaired cable had been under way today to ensure that the company could provide a “normal service” to its clients.  By this evening, Dhiraagu announced the tests had been successful and that its broadband capacity had been restored.

According to Dhiraagu, the damaged section of cable, situated 26 miles off the Sri Lankan coast and 40 metres below the water had been damaged by the anchor of a ship.  The damage was found to have occurred in an area of Sri Lankan waters where vessels were not permitted to anchor, the company had previously announced.

Whilst repairs were being undertaken, the company said it had been working to improve the quality of internet services and international calls affected by the cable damage through alternative avenues like the use of satellites.

Last week, chief national telecoms rival Wataniya announced it was also assisting in the provision of data capacity from its own cable as part of a national agreement to cover any disruptions to the Maldives communication network.  Dhiraagu said it has been paying Wataniya for the data capacity allowance.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

MDP National Council votes resoundingly for change in leadership

The Maldivian Democratic Party’s (MDP) National Council has declared a lack of confidence in the leadership of the party’s President, former Fisheries Minister Dr Ibrahim Didi, and its Vice-President, former Dhivehi Rayithunge Party (DRP) MP Alhan Fahmy.

At a meeting this afternoon at Dharubaaruge, 69 of 73 votes cast (almost 95 percent) were in support of the no-confidence motion for both Didi and Fahmy’s leadership. Four members abstained from voting for either motion.

Hamid Abdul Ghafoor, the newly-elected Secretary General of the Party’s Parliamentary Group and International Spokesperson who submitted the motion, said the issue was “political” rather than “personal”.

“This was a solemn occasion and I took no pleasure in it. But it was a good day for the party and a good day for democracy. We have shown that the largest party in this country can act democratically,” said Ghafoor.

The MDP stated that the motion was triggered after both Dr Didi and Fahmy made public statements contradicting the party’s position established following a resolution passed on February 8, recognising that former President Mohamed Nasheed and his cabinet were ousted by illegitimate means through a coup d’état.

The MDP maintained that as the transfer of power was illegal, former President Nasheed and his cabinet should continue to sit in the National Council as senior members of government.

A similar vote had been proposed earlier in the month, with the National Council deciding to conduct further investigations into the supposed manipulation of the party’s constitution on this occasion.

The party member responsible for this earlier motion, Chair of Elections Committee Ibrahim Waheed, said at the time: “The reason for the submission was that some of the party’s leaders have been issuing statements and interviews against the MDP’s Constitution.”

Ghafoor reported that Fahmy had spoken at the meeting, requesting more information on his alleged misdemeanours.

“He claimed the charges were untrue and asked me for a more detailed explanation. I said that we should leave the decision to the membership,” reported Ghafoor.

“I proposed the motion but I did it for the security and protection of the party,” he said.

Dr Didi was not present at the meeting this afternoon. Neither Didi nor Alhan were available for comment, although Alhan posted on Twitter that is was “a bad day for democracy”, shortly after the close of the meeting.

Dr Didi told Minivan News earlier today that the nature of the motion went against established precedents, arguing that the holding on such meetings must first be discussed with the President or Vice-President of the party.

“I will not participate in today’s meeting even though I can as a former cabinet member, because I do not believe that the cabinet is legitimate. The party constitution states that the Party President has to form the party cabinet,” he said.

Ghafoor had cited  article 30, clause (f), of the MDP’s constitution which states that the National Council is able “to debate and assess the confidence of the President of the Party or the Vice President of the Party or the Chairperson or a Deputy Chairperson, if the members of the party submits a complaint disapproving their actions.”

After today’s meeting, Ghafoor claimed that he had received appeals for a change in leadership from all over the country, as well as from within the national council.

The party’s constitution now stipulates that new elections will now be held, Ghafoor said.

Likes(1)Dislikes(0)

High Court upholds order to reinstate policeman accused of sexual assault

The High Court on Monday upheld a Civil Court verdict to reinstate the job to a policeman who had been accused of sexual assault, reports Haveeru.

Husham Hameed and three other police officers stand accused of undressing and sexually assaulting a woman after they forced her into a police car in August 2010.

However, the High Court bench unanimously ruled that Husham could not be dismissed from his job unless he was proven guilty of a criminal act.

Husham had previously held the title of ‘Mr. Maldives’, Haveeru reports.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Government launches civil education program to promote values of “civilised society”

Following the launch of the government’s civic education programme today, Home Minister Mohamed Jameel Ahmed has said a “special campaign” was needed to address a dearth of civic values that are often overlooked when pursuing societal or economic gains.

“There is a general erosion of values and discipline among young people. We are one society, one nation, one religion. We subscribe to certain values as a civilised society,” said Jameel.

“This has been the key to surviving as a small society. There is a worrying trend in politics that we can’t sit down together,” he added.

Speaking at the launch of the campaign, President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan is reported to have said that the principles of democracy had been decimated to a point at which the true meaning of the word had been lost.

President’s Office spokesman Abbas Adil Riza explained the president’s desire to spread the message that democracy is an ongoing process. Abbas explained the president’s message that the process is continuous and did not end in 2008 after the nation’s first multiparty elections.

The programme was inspired by a paper submitted by the Ministry of Home Affairs to the cabinet. It will be coordinated between the Home Ministry, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Islamic Affairs.

The programme’s main aims are listed as follows: creating a peaceful environment, strengthening civil society, creating awareness on the right to information, creating awareness on human rights, rehabilitating inmates, making the police more responsible, and making the public more responsible.

Summarising, Abbas said: “It is about educating people on the services of the police, schools, on the responsibilities of teachers and to create awareness of the rights of the individual.”

Abbas said that the Ministry of Education will be involved in bringing civic education into the curriculum and also that the programme will work to raise awareness of the rights and responsibilities of the police and non-governmental bodies.

This education drive comes as the Waheed government faces continued pressure domestically and internationally to legitimise itself democratically after a controversial transition from the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP)-led government under Mohamed Nasheed to a coalition of former opposition parties under the new president.

Dr Waheed argues that his move from the vice-president’s office was in accordance with the constitution, while Nasheed claims that the circumstances under which he resigned need to be investigated.  Nasheed has also called for fresh presidential elections to be held by this year at the latest to ascertain Waheed’s democratic mandate to rule.

Peaceful communities

The government’s proposed education programme will place a premium on the development of safe communities and will implement neighbourhood watch campaigns in local communities.

“It is the only way they can bring down crime rates,” said Abbas. At today’s launch, President Waheed emphasised the importance of just punishment for those found guilty of crimes.

Home Minister Jameel stated that the programme was intended to address “escalating crime trends,” mentioning “crimes among juveniles” in particular.

Statistics of crimes logged by the Maldives Police Service (MPS) in the first quarter of 2012 appear to show a rise in the level of vandalism.  This rise -81 percent – was found to be particularly high when compared with the same period in 2011, while robbery and vandalism had risen 41 percent and 50 percent, respectively.

The statistics, available on the MPS website also suggested a fall in the rates of assault (9.9 percent) and drug offences (35 percent).

The rehabilitation of prisoners, one of the programmes main areas, is a topic that has come under scrutiny recently after Jameel announced the termination of the Second Chance Programme.

He argued at the time that the programme had been implemented for political reasons and the Nasheed government has used it “to release unqualified criminals under political influence and without any clear procedure”

The scheme involved the early release of prisoners should they attend programmes to promote reintegration, increase their employment opportunities, and prevent the likelihood of re-offending.

With regards to the current civil education programme, Jameel said that convicts “should not be alienated from society. While serving sentences they should be rehabilitated.”

Likes(1)Dislikes(0)

Bangladeshi man sentenced to life for attempting to smuggle cannabis

The Criminal Court has sentenced a Bangladeshi national to life, after the court found him guilty of attempting to smuggle cannabis into the Maldives.

According to police, the man was charged with attempting to smuggle drugs on October 2010.

The police identified the Bangladeshi man as Sumon Miah, 24.

Sumon arrived to Maldives on 18 October 2010 on Qatar Airways Flight QR380 at 7:40am in the morning from Doha.

The illegal drugs were found inside a plastic bag wrapped in carbon paper that was attached below his luggage, the police said.

The drugs were then handed to the police forensic department that tested the drugs and weighed them.

Police found that the drugs he was carrying were 730.80 grams of ‘Cannabis buds’.

Police concluded investigation into the case and sent it to Prosecutor General on November 2010.

The media reported that two customs officials today told the court the Bangladeshi man arrived on a Qatar Airwaya flight and customs officials searched his luggage on his arrival in his presence and discovered illegal narcotics.

When Customs Officials questioned him about the discovered items, he said it belonged to him, local newspapers reported.

Another Maldivian man was also sentenced to life in prison after the court found him guilty of possessing illegal drugs for the purpose of dealing.

The person was identified in the local media as Mohamed Rasheed Abdul Bagir.

In addition to the sentence for possessing drugs for dealing, he received 10 years imprisonment for possessing an illegal drug without doctor’s prescription.

According to media reports, the man was arrested inside a restaurant on 12 March 2011 and the drugs were found inside a packet in his pocket.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Maldives resorts and travel agents head to Arabian Travel Market

The Maldives Marketing and PR Corporation (MMPRC) is participating in the Arabian Travel Market (ATM), the largest annual travel fair aimed at Arab travel agents, held in Dubai until May 4.

The fair includes 21,000 square metres of floor space hosting over 2,400 exhibitors from around the world.

The Maldives has registered a 77.8 percent increase in tourist arrivals from the Middle East region in the first quarter of 2012 compared to the same period last year, while some traditional markets have shown signs of recovery. The MMPRC has remarked on a particular increase in travellers from Saudi Arabia.

Sixteen resorts from the Maldives and 17 travel agents are participating the ATM fair, the MMPRC noted.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

MATI concerned over “concerted international campaign” against several resort owners

The Maldives Association of Tourism Industry (MATI) has issued a statement expressing “serious concern” over what it describes as a “concerted international campaign” against several of the country’s resort operators.

MATI claimed that calls from the Maldives Tourism Advisory (MTA) for tourists to avoid certain properties on the basis of ownership were “libelous in the extreme”, as the allegations against the tourist resort operators “have not been proven either through an investigation or a court of law.”

The MTA website features a ‘traffic light’ system with “red” resorts recently appearing to have been expanded to include an assortment of 18 properties owned by Vice President Waheed Deen and senior figures associated with the new ruling coalition, including Jumhoree Party (JP) Leader Gasim Ibrahim, Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM) MP Abdulla Jabir, and Hussain ‘Champa’ Afeef.

MATI claimed that “unsubstantiated charges directed at some resort operators [will] result not only in loss of business at their resorts, but in loss of reputation and standing in international markets and the global community.”

“A call to boycott the resorts could [also] lead to enormous loss of business and lay-off of resort staff and support workers, not to mention those several small businesses that cater to the tourism industry that will be affected.”

The resort body accused the campaigners of “not having the decency to come out in the open” and “hiding behind the safe veil of the internet.”

“It is our belief that the several accusations and charges directed at the operators of resort businesses must be proven in a court of law before these businesses are subject to industrial action or denunciation.”

The MTA yesterday released a statement in response to MATI, emphasising that it was not calling for a boycott but rather “supplementing” existing travel advice from the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO).

“Visitors choosing to be selective and avoiding resorts tainted by the actions of their owners might lead to some loss of business to these resorts, but we are quite convinced that it would not have an overall impact on the economy of the Maldives,” the MTA said in a statement. “Nor would it seriously affect the prospects of employment for Maldivians. This is proven by the government’s own figures showing a healthy increase in tourism arrivals.”

“While MATI mentions investigations of resort owners in a “court of law” it can clearly be seen that the Maldivian judiciary would be an inappropriate institution for such an investigation, given that one of MATI’s senior members (and whose resorts we recommend avoiding) sits on the Judicial Services Commission (JSC), the body tasked with overseeing the judiciary,” the MTA noted.

“”The only ‘investigation’ that we are aware of at present is the Commission of National Inquiry (CNI). This is deemed to be neither serious, timely nor unbiased by international observers and most Maldivians. No serious efforts have been made to address the deficiencies in this investigation, and they do not involve the resort owners mentioned in the MTA.

“The MTA always carefully considers all the available facts from several sources when recommending resorts to be avoided. There is no necessity to await ‘investigations’ and “courts of law” (as the MATI statement suggests) as MTA recommendations are based on important information that serves to enable visitor choice.”

Quarterly tourism figures published by the Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) showed a 3.3 percent rise in visitor arrivals compared to the same period in 2011, however this was lower than the 12.6 percent growth seen in the first quarter of 2011 compared to 2010.

Growth in Chinese arrivals slowed dramatically due to cancelled charter flights, while several of the country’s mainstay markets declined – including Italy, France and the UK. Russian, German, Swiss and Middle Eastern arrivals showed strong increases.

Tourism Minister Ahmed Adheeb and former Tourism Minister Dr Mariyam Zulfa were not responding at time of press.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)