The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) Parliamentary Group has called on the President to remove the Governor of the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) Fazeel Najeeb from his position, accusing him of irresponsibility and “repeatedly failing to fulfill his legal obligations”.
In a statement, the Party said that the MMA Governor was legally required to not pursue any work other than that required of his role in the MMA.
”However because he is currently studying he spends most of the time out of the country,” said the MDP in a statement. ”Although the laws on MMA obligate the Governor to council the President on the financial condition of the country, the instruction and council is not being given to the president.”
The party claimed that Fazeel was not cooperating with the government to find a solution for the difficulty in bringing foreign currency to the country.
The statement explained that the Governor of the MMA is appointed and dismissed by the President with the council of the parliament, according to MMA Act, Act No 81/6 article 6 [3].
On 10 November last year, MDP Parliamentary group said the Finance Ministry had written to the Governor asking for steps the MMA would recommend be taken to resolve the foreign currency issue.
”But he never responded to the letter. The Finance Ministry wrote to the Governor again on January 16 of this year and he responded to the letter on 10 February,” claimed the MDP Parliamentary group, “but he did not mention how the issue might be solved.”
The parliamentary group further accused Fazeel of using the MMA’s credit card “for his own purposes.”
Minivan News attempted to contact Fazeel to respond to the MDP’s allegations, however his phone was switched off. Spokesperson for the MMA Ahmed Naseer told Minivan News that Fazeel was currently not in the Maldives and was unavailable for comment.
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If the MMA Governor is indeed overseas on a long term basis, then he should be dismissed from his duties immediately. This is a crucial responsibility and he should be here in the Country, trying to find ways to address the economic and financial problems in the country, where MMA has any role to play.
MMA is known to other ministries in Maldives as the nerve centre of the economic policy. At least from the data tables they produce and the IMF teams from Washington that MMA staff escort to other ministries, there appears a certain aura of credibility and responsibility in the working of MMA and its Governor.
But now, when the world is going through an economic crisis, the MMA Governor seems to be spending his time in London.
Shouldn't he be proving himself to the public and solving the economic challenges Maldives face.. or is he too good for that..
@Mariyam - Fazeel was appointed to the post while he was studying overseas. Funny that MDP wants to dismiss him now.
Guess MDP is looking for a scapegoat to blame for the foreign currency shortage created by Nasheed's government. It was economic insecurity created by Nasheed's government that is the root cause of the dollar shortage.
"It was economic insecurity created by Nasheed’s government that is the root cause of the dollar shortage."
Tsk, tsk. How very objective! Square root of two is also equal to President Nasheed and I have a proof of that.
Fazeel cannot be both the governor of MMA and a student overseas.
I have no idea as to what he's studying, but if he's consistently abroad then that suggests he's on a full time study programme and at his level it must be a postgraduate programme of some sort.
That would require a LOT of time and energy just to keep up with his studies. He will be in no shape to fulfill his role as the governor. Being the governor of MMA is no piece of cake; there's a lot at stake and a lot of day to day as well as strategic decisions need to be taken.
It's very cavalier of Fazeel to accept the position of governor whilst he's studying overseas. That indicates he does not regard his FULL TIME job as a priority!
If he was appointed whilst he was studying then those who nominated him and approved him are also at fault.
@ Hameed
exactly! But if only Chusmeenu paid his US$ 1,040,000,000 loan to the bank of Maldives that we would have had no currency crisis. We would have had enough money to lend to the small businesses. We would have strengthened our fisheries sector. We would have done a lot to keep a surplus rather than a deficit.
By the way, there are many loans given to Gayoom's family and friends - of which notthing has been paid back yet.
I just wonder at which institute in London, the country's part-time Governor is studying. It reflects very badly on the ethical standards of the institute.
Developed countries should understand that in places like Maldives its possible to get through parliament for corrupt officials with strong ties with the dictatorial regime to secure top positions. Incompetence of this particular 'Governor' is paid heavily by the people.
I think British government should analyse how its Universities are accommodating students in its courses. They should not give a blind eye to an issue of abuse by corrupt officials from developing countries.
I guess MDP wants to blame the MMA for failing to bring the dollar to MRF10.00. It is not the people s fault that they lost confidence in MRF and it is not the Investors fault that they confidence in Maldivian economy.
21 million dollars is gifted to Reeko Moosa at a time when we need to keep the dollar. If the government had injected this money into the banks we would not be facing these problems today. We see inexperience and lack of technical knowledge in the Government.
@ abulho
may be if the government does not pay all MDP activists with high salary from the budget and award unreasonable (for the time being) projects to its partners for huge sums of money, then we might not have the economic issue as well... btw i also agree with you on the Chusmeenu issue as well. plus add the wasteful money to the pockets of the parliamentarians. the point is everyone is acting like self centered b------s.
I find it funny that the supporters of the previous regime blame the MDP for the dollar shortage - especially when our economic crisis was brought on by Gayoom gang's mindless wasting and squandering of the nation's money.
@MMM yeah. very true. Agree to all of those points. I was just responding to hameedh who seem to blame current government for all the failures. Yet I think Heavy Load issue was a non-issue since it makes economic sense. Its just that some enjoy taking advantage of our people's ignorance.
I should also add that -- if only Tax Bill did not stay in the Majlis for over 2 years. If only DRP did not abuse its majority to elect members to "independent" bodies. Its all because someone is really power-hungry and can't still believe he is no longer the president.
How come there could be dollar crisis in a country where around 1 million tourists visit every year? Where are these dollars? Most of the resorts have tied up with various tourist & holiday planner companies of Europe who make the bookings there itself and payments to Maldivian resort owners are deposited in foreign banks.