Category: Politics

Fishermen invited to register for MVR10,000 allowance on April 1

Application forms will be available on April 1 for fishermen to register in the government’s scheme to provide MVR10,000 (US$648) during lean months, President Abdulla Yameen said last night.

Addressing supporters in Gaaf Dhaalu Thinadhoo at a rally held to celebrate the Progressive Coalition’s victory in the parliamentary polls, President Yameen said the allowance will be released to fishermen before the end of May “when all the calculations and documentation are done.”

Marinas for fishermen would meanwhile be complete by the end of the year, Yameen said.

A MVR10,000 allowance to fishermen “regardless of catch” during lean months was a campaign pledge of candidate Yameen and the now-ruling Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM).

In an interview with Minivan News in January, Fisheries Minister Dr Mohamed Shainy explained that the allowance will be provided through an insurance scheme.

“If you look at the skipjack fishing statistics for last year, you will see three or four months which are very difficult for the fishermen. The real goal of this is sustainability,” he said.

“So the aim of the government is to ensure that even during these difficult months fishermen stay in the industry. For that reason, during those few months we want to give a payment so that they can do their basic necessities, so they can fulfil their daily obligations towards their family. The MVR10,000 scheme is a top-up system.”

He stressed that the MVR10,000 was not a subsidy as the productivity of the fisheries industry has been increasing since the downturn in 2004.

“So now we need to make the industry stand alone and be more vibrant and shock-proof to absorb these shocks. We need to devise a way to get people’s minds set on the idea that they can work in the industry. The real reason is the sustainability of the fishermen in the industry to keep them in the field during this low season,” he said.

Cheaper diesel

According to the President’s Office, President Yameen also said that discussions were ongoing between the State Trading Organisation (STO) and the Indian government to arrange the supply of petroleum products.

When the talks are concluded, Yameen said the price of oil would fall during the next two months.

Duing Indian Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid’s visit to the Maldives last month, an agreement was reached to supply diesel, petrol, and aviation fuels “on favourable terms” from the Mangalore Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd, a subsidiary of India’s state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation.

Following President Yameen’s state visit to India in January – his first official overseas trip since assuming office in November – senior government figures described Indo-Maldives ties as being “as strong as they were during [former President Maumoon Abdul] Gayoom’s time in power”.

Meanwhile, in his speech last night, President Yameen reportedly said that the government has undertaken efforts to attract foreign investors to the country, which would create jobs for unemployed youth.

Among the projects in the pipeline for Thinadhoo that President Yameen announced last night included road construction, land reclamation, construction of a sports arena, and broadening tourism.

With the prevailing political stability and the mandate given to the current administration by the public in the presidential and parliamentary polls, Yameen said he believed that the government could commence mega-projects and transform the Maldives to “this region’s Singapore.”

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Comment: The green-eyed judiciary and the green constitution

“If civilizations is to survive, one is driven to radical views. I do not mean driven to violence. Violence always compromises or ruins the cause it means to serve: it produces as much wrong as it tries to remedy. The state, for example, is always with us. Overthrow it and it will comeback in another form, quite possible worse. It is a necessary evil– a monster that continually has to be tamed, so that it serves us rather than devours us. We can’t do without it, neither can we trust it” (Quoted from Fiji times 17th January 2007, in Firth, Fraenkel and Lal, 2009).

Formation of judiciary

The Maldives judiciary has a long history of being under the control of the powerful and rich. In the olden days kings decided verdicts while later it came under the influence of dictatorial regime. Democracy however brought a new frontier of judiciary with a presupposition of being independent, transparent and impartial. This, however, is far from reality today and it seems judiciary is the biggest impediment for a true democracy in the small nation.

The judiciary has its evil in the way it was formed in 2008 to ratify the Article 285 of the green constitution. The Judicial Service Commission at that time also was hijacked by the bench of interim Supreme Court. Furthermore they undermined the constitution by self reorganising to re-establish as the permanent bench. Some from the bar and the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) immediately recognised the evil deeds of the then chief justice and immediately went on strike and locked the Supreme Court.

Even then, the current government – in opposition at the time – were sympathising with the bench and was in favour of its actions. The ramifications of this led to the formation of a bench in a haste in an extraordinary session of the Majlis. The bench formed was mainly of judges with strong sharia background with not much academic exposure to common laws practiced used in most civilised democratic countries. In addition, judge’s appointments had questionable integrity related issues. This was confirmed and well proven by the then JSC member Aishath Velazinee, and was circulated in the media.

The Litmus test

Major litmus test of judiciary came with the overthrowing of the democratically elected government in 2012. The bench in particular was faced with a major test of integrity and of serving justice. However the complacency shown by whole bench in the events before, during and after the toppling of the government was dubious.  Many suspicious people were convinced of their romance with the old dictatorial regime elements. The grassroots ran havoc on streets with no sense or awareness of rule of law.

Grassroots were blamed for attacks on law enforcement infrastructure, while their agony and pain was overlooked. Grassroots were blamed for not controlling their temper while temperament of elements of uniformed bodies that attacked civilians was justified. Also the grassroots with no sense of rule of law were led to a dilemma by not being provided guidance and legality in the toppling of the government. Instead the chief justice’s immediate action was to swear in the incumbent vice president who was alleged to be a major player of the “coup”.

This response immediately legitimised the actions of uniformed bodies before, during, and after the coup event. It also gave coup perpetrators and sympathisers powers leading to further repercussions. Till this day, the elements of uniformed bodies guilty of several crimes committed on day of coup and the following day remain immune to justice. For the grassroots and the watchful minds a clear fraternity between the judiciary and coup perpetrators was obvious.

Winners and losers

In essence the ‘coup’ of 2012 became a winner for the judiciary which was faced with heavy criticism, during the autumn of the democracy. Some even believe the fall of democracy has been a making of the judiciary. Soon after the coup the judiciary started enjoying a honeymoon, with overwhelming immunity and impunity. Their romance with dictatorial elements alleged to have perpetrated the coup, lead to erosion of rule of law and justice.

Justice in the country became a joke even to the layman. Any coup collaborators or sympathisers were proven innocent before going into courts – albeit of their corruption allegations. Anyone who was against the coup became guilty before appearing in court.  Day by day the grassroots became aware of the romancing of the judiciary with a particular political group. The public lost their trust in the whole judiciary. This was compounded by the dictatorial nature of judicial watch dog which from day one acted as the white cloak hiding the bench of its dirt.

In 2013, the election became a war of ‘coup’ perpetrators and their allies and the rest of the public. In a first round the public showed a relentless and overwhelming majority for the MDP. Fear began looming within the bench and their allies, enjoying the sweet honeymoon. The MDP became more vocal on reforming judiciary and garnered more support.  The looming fear within the judiciary and bench became obvious when they intervened to an internationally acclaimed transparent electoral process using baseless allegations.

Their allies in law enforcement and government by then cooked up a blatant litany of a report regarding elections. This became the catalyst for the bench to annul the elections, jeopardising one of the best electoral processes in the history of the nation. The grassroots later found the fallacies of this report which was heavily criticised by the Elections Commission. The election was won by the judiciary and the bench, as it turned in their favour.

The MDP garnered further support and strength from grass roots and kept their spirits alive by being consistent with their pledge to reform judiciary. Fear lurking within the bench again awakened.  Fear of the MDP winning the Maldives Majlis and the bench getting dissolved was not far from reality. The bench’s fears led to the utilisation of new tactics which involved becoming the jury, the judge, and the plaintiff in a case which even the layman and grassroots understood as injustice.

Finally the verdict to dismiss the president of the Elections Commission was given by the bench. The verdict was a clear abrogation of the green constitution. The bench once again laid down a path to remain.

The enigma

The constitution turning the judiciary evil and opening the Pandora’s Box is a misconception. The irony lies in the establishment of the bench, in abrogation of the green constitution. The root cause of evil is undermining the constitution by Majlis during the formation of the bench as reiterated by Velazinee. Additionally the international community turns a blind eye to the whole saga of appalling events.

The reactions and actions of the bench and JSC have further convinced the grassroots of their deception. One’s actions become a blessing for others in disguise. The response of the bench may garner further support for the MDP. Their slogan to reform judiciary may perhaps make them the winners, sooner or later. However, the players who made the judiciary green eyed and then white-washed it, are yet to be discovered.

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Health Ministry to investigate infant death at Hithadhoo hospital

Addu City’s Hithadhoo Regional Hospital (HRH) has confirmed that the death of an infant in a birth complication is being investigated by the Ministry of Health.

The baby passed away on Monday while being treated at the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for complication caused mainly from meconium aspiration following a C-section delivery on Sunday.

Khadhija Hafsa, the hospital in-charge, told Minivan News that statements required for the investigation have now been collected and sent to the ministry.

“The pediatrician at this hospital recommended the baby should be taken to Male’ immediately. We started working on that immediately and got Aasandha [insurance] approval that evening,” said Hafsa.

“But we couldn’t get a seat from the flight and were in the waiting list. Next morning we decided to bring the doctor here. The pediatrician from Hulhumale hospital was treating the baby when it passed away early that evening,” she added.

The baby received the best available treatment from the hospital, and later a more experienced pediatrician brought in from Hulhumale’ was treating the baby when it passed away almost twenty four hours later, she said.

Hafsa said the investigation will determine whether there was negligence of the hospital or anyone else.

Earlier she told local media that the baby was weak when delivered and that the death was being investigated as a “serious case”

According to local media ‘Haveeru‘ the mother blames the doctor and HRH’s negligence for the death of her sixth child.

“I don’t want anyone else to face a tragic incident like this. So, this incident should be investigated and action should be taken against the negligent,” the 44-year-old mother was quoted as saying.

She told Haveeru that the doctor had no interest in admitting her to the hospital and said she was not ready to give birth even after her water broke twice a few days back. She said the baby was delivered at 38 weeks, while the given due date was next Wednesday (April 2).

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Ministry of Environment aims to “transform the Maldives’ energy sector”

The International Renewable Energy Investor’s conference, focusing on the development of solar energy in the Maldives, took place yesterday (March 26) at Bandos resort.

The one-day conference – organised by the Ministry of Environment and Energy with the World Bank – aimed to transform the Maldives’ energy sector by reducing the dependency on costly fossil fuels for power generation.

The ministry reported that a total of 78 participants from government organisations, the World Bank, foreign consultants and investors discussed photovoltaic (PV) systems which could be established in Malé and Hulhumalé, as well as a framework for subsidies.

The conference came after the government last week outlined it’s strategic aims for renewable energy in a proposal named Accelerating Sustainable Private Investments in Renewable Energy programme (ASPIRE).

Published March 21 2014, this report details some of the difficulties faced by the Maldives, as well as future plans to increase the proportion of sustainable energy consumed in the country.

Submitted by the government and the International Bank of Reconstruction and Development, the proposal asks for a US$10,683 million grant in funding from the ‘Scaling Up Renewable Energy Programme’.

“The Government has no current stabilization program with the International Monetary Fund. The prior program lapsed in 2009 and most of the measures were reversed. The World Bank started a Development Policy Credit in 2010 for economic stabilization and recovery that was also cancelled due to lack of progress,” states the ASPIRE proposal.

“A major concern of foreign investors in Maldives has been their inability to reliably and consistently convert local currency to hard currency for reasonable transaction costs at the official exchange rate for repatriation of shareholder returns and foreign currency debt service.”

“The country has no conventional resources of energy. Providing electricity to the dispersed islands is overwhelmingly dependent on imported diesel fuel oil, and therefore vulnerable to fuel price volatility.”

Diesel fuel accounts for the bulk of the energy supply in the country, about 82.5% in 2009, according to ASPIRE. Therefore, the report suggests a move toward renewable energy as a means of improving “economic difficulties”.

“The development of solar PV projects is expected to improve the country’s fiscal situation by reducing both the volume of fossil fuel imports, as well as the fiscal uncertainty arising from fuel price volatility. This would also replace the expensive diesel based generation and result in significant reduction of the government subsidy,” the report confirms.

Similar reforms to the energy sector chimes were set to be rolled out two years ago, before the unstable political situation led to its  premature demise.

On the afternoon of February 7, 2012, the Maldives was set to sign in a revolutionary plan to attract an estimated US$200 million of risk-mitigated renewable energy investment.

The Scaling-Up Renewable Energy Programme (SREP) proposal was produced by the Renewable Energy Investment Office under President Mohamed Nasheed’s administration.

The World Bank team working on the project had given verbal approval for the plan, reportedly describing it as one of the most “exciting and transformative” projects of its kind in any country.

Previous awards for Clean Energy in the Maldives

Abu Dhabi media reported that in January 2014 The Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD) pledged Dh22million (US$6 million) in concessionary loans for clean energy projects in the Maldives.

The announcement came as Abu Dhabi hosted the Fourth Assembly of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) – attended by a delegation from the Maldives.

“Maldives does not have the luxury of time to sit and wait for the rest of the world to act and that Maldives has started the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy,” Maldivian Minister for Environment and Energy Thoriq Ibrahim told the assembly.

The project will benefit 120,000 people, with a reduced need for landfills, the generation of 2MW of clean energy, and the production of 62 million litres of desalinated water per year.

Shortly after this award, the Maldives carried out a pioneering desalination project on the island of Gulhi, in Kaafu atoll, which became the first place in the world to produce desalinated drinking water using waste heat from electricity generation.

While these projects indicate advances toward renewable energy, the government has also pledged to seek crude oil as an alternative means of diversifying the economy and supplementing fuel supply.

According to local news outlet CNM, during a speech made by President Abdulla Yameen on March 16 he pledged to begin the search for crude oil. He went on to say that if the government is indeed successful in finding oil in the Maldives, the outlook for the entire country would change for the better.

However, Local NGO Bluepeace raised concerns regarding this pledge. Ali Rilwan Executive Director noted that with the large income from tourism and the spread of guest houses in local isands, the oil drilling “won’t have benefits for the people as a whole.”

“We can’t afford to go into that dirty energy,” he concluded. “When you take up the issues of drilling, we are concerned about the oil container tanks with unrefined fuel passing through.”

Minivan News was unable to contact State Ministers from the Ministry of Environment and Energy for further comment at the time of publishing.

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Coalition to field separate candidates for Majlis speaker position

President Abdulla Yameen yesterday announced that his Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) will forward its own candidate for the position of speaker of the People’s Majlis.

The move follows Jumhooree Party (JP) leader Gasim Ibrahim’s claim earlier this week that he had the full backing of his coalition partners to stand for nomination to the chair.

Parliament should be an institution that “sincerely and responsibly” fulfils the duty bestowed by the public, Yameen told supporters yesterday.

“For this reason, our party wants the speaker’s post in the next People’s Majlis,” he said during a rally held last night to celebrate the Progressive Coalition’s garnering of a 53 seat majority in Saturday’s Majlis elections.

Notably absent from the event were leaders of the JP – the winner of 15 of the coalition’s seats – with party Secretary General Dr Mohamed Saud telling CNM that the party had not attended as it had not been made aware of the agenda.

Complaints from within the JP immediately after polling, regarding PPM-affiliated candidates having stood as independents in constituencies reserved for the JP, appeared to have been justified today as local media reported that two of the five successful independent candidates had signed for the ruling party.

Following his loss to an independent candidate last weekend, JP MP for Lhaviyani Naifaru, Ahmed Mohamed, accused the PPM of attempting to “destroy” its coalition partner.

Differences of opinion among coalition partners should be settled through dialogue, President Yameen said during yesterday’s rally, suggesting that the coalition had lost 15 seats as a result of members of coalition parties contesting as independents.

“This wasn’t the fault of the people. It was a mistake made by our parties,” he said, noting that coalition leaders had “repeatedly urged” party members to vote for the coalition’s official candidate.

Senior members of the JP, including Secretary General Dr Saud and Deputy Leader Ameen Ibrahim, told Minivan News today that they were unwilling to comment on political issues on behalf of the party.

The addition of two members would bring the PPM’s parliamentary group for the 18th Majlis – scheduled to hold its first session in late May/early June – to 35 of the chamber’s 85 seats.

The third coalition partner – the Maldives Development Alliance (MDA), which is more closely allied with the PPM – took five seats on Saturday.

Local media yesterday, however, reported Ahmed Mahloof as saying that both he and fellow re-elected PPM MP Ahmed Nihan had pledged to support Gasim’s candidacy for speaker while negotiating during the 2013 presidential election.

Mahloof suggested that the nomination of a PPM candidate would be likely to cause a rift within the Progressive Coalition, and would be a decision he would find difficult to support.

Neither Mahloof nor Nihan were responding to calls at the time of press. PPM leaders have told local media that no official coalition discussion on nominations to the speaker’s chair have been held.

Adding further uncertainty to Gasim’s attempts to become speaker, reports published in the Gasim-owned Vnews media outlet today that the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) – winner of 26 seats – had decided to support Gasim’s nomination to the chair have been denied.

“He’s capable, but there are many others in the parliament who are capable, we have not yet decided,” MDP Parliamentary Group Leader Ibrahim ‘Ibu’ Solih told Minivan News.

The election of the new speaker – a position currently held by the MDP’s Abdulla Shahid – is scheduled to take place through a secret ballot of MPs at the first sitting of the new session.

Majlis regulations note that the speaker “shall be the highest authority of the People’s Majlis responsible for the conduction of all matters pertaining to the People’s Majlis including the administration, the sittings and the committees of the People’s Majlis in accordance with the Constitution and the Regulations.”

The speaker is also charges with preserving “order and decorum” within the Majlis, as well as observance of the institution’s regulations.

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Majlis elections: Voters said yes to peace and stability, says President Yameen

Voters said yes to peace and stability in Saturday’s parliamentary elections and rejected an ideology that was ruining the country, President Abdulla Yameen said at a rally held in Malé last night to celebrate the Progressive Coalition’s victory at the polls.

Voters said no to the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party’s (MDP) ideology because the country did not have the “energy to bear the wounds any further,” he said.

Voters also rejected foreign interference in Maldivian domestic affairs, Yameen added.

The Maldivian people supported the government’s efforts to develop the nation and fulfil campaign pledges, he continued, and endorsed plans to “take Maldivian youth out of the crime environment, offer a second chance to persons serving sentences, and bring them back to society for rehabilitation.”

The Progressive Coalition will hold celebration rallies across the country in the coming days, Yameen said, including one in Thinadhoo tomorrow night.

In surprising victories, coalition candidates took both parliamentary seats in the MDP’s traditional stronghold in the south.

The rallies will be attended by PPM leader and former president, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, along with coalition leaders Ahmed Siyam Mohamed and Gasim Ibrahim, Yameen said.

“Good news” will be revealed at the Thinadhoo rally, he said, adding that the PPM’s “list of pledges” was not yet complete.

Continue progress brought by “golden 30 years”

The policies in the PPM manifesto were formulated to transform the “landscape of the Maldives,” he reiterated, stressing that the policies were not limited to raising old age benefits, empowering women, or prioritising Quran and Islamic education.

The PPM-led coalition government’s policies would benefit fishermen, young entrepreneurs, and “people of all ages”, he said.

The main priority of his administration was “putting the economy back on track,” President Yameen said, adding that the public was already seeing signs of the economy rebounding.

Foreign investors were interested in coming to the Maldives because of the current political stability, he said.

“We want to change the Maldives to a modern nation from where President Maumoon’s golden 30 years brought us,” he said.

Acknowledging public discontent over the quality of healthcare, Yameen said fixing problems in the sector was a high priority, noting that there were two or three doctors per 10,000 people in most developed countries.

“With God’s blessing, the Maldives even today is in a position where we have to rejoice. Today there are 1.6 doctors per 1,000 people in the Maldives,” he said.

The foundation for the progress the Maldives has made was laid by President Gayoom, he said.

Separation of powers

Yameen also expressed gratitude to the leadership of the MDP for the prevailing stable political environment.

The opposition party has meanwhile released a press statement expressing “deep concerns” with the electoral environment ahead of polling day on March 22.

“The MDP believes the processes of elections from a quantitative point of view were efficient and well managed. However, continued judicial interference in the electoral process affected the independence of the elections commission, and created an atmosphere not conducive towards holding a free and fair election,” the statement read.

The Supreme Court’s removal of the Elections Commission (EC) chair and deputy chair in proceedings where the apex court was “judge, plaintiff and the jury” was an attempt to “intimidate state actors and voters,” the party contended.

The dismissals of the EC members two weeks before the elections “affected people’s confidence in the election and resulted in lower voter turnout,” the statement read.

The party called on the international community to maintain “robust engagement” with the government to “ensure Maldives does not backtrack on hard-won freedoms and reforms” since the adoption of a democratic constitution in August 2008.

Concerns over the Supreme Court’s negative impact on the electoral environment have also been expressed by EU and Commonwealth observer teams this week.

“The 7 Feb 2012 coup d’état, legitimised by the CoNI report, ushered in a period of authoritarian rule which continues to this day,” former President Mohamed Nasheed was quoted as saying in the MDP statement.

“We have a situation in which the Supreme Court now feels empowered to sentence the Elections Commission on politically motivated charges only a week before polling day,” he said.

“The Maldives no longer has an effective separation of powers and forces close to the former dictatorship now control all three branches of the state.”

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Adhaalath Party blames vote-splitting and bribery for poor elections result

The Adhaalath Party has today said that it lost many seats it ought to have won in the Majlis elections due to bribery and undue influence from competing candidates.

“We saw it both from the ruling party and opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) but we really did not want to buy votes –  instead we tried to change the way people think,’’ party Spokesperson Ali Zahir told Minivan News.

After fielding 12 candidates in Saturday’s polls, the religious party saw just a single MP elected to the 18th People’s Majlis – Anara Naeem for Makunudhoo constituency in Haa Dhaal atoll.

“It was really sad that a lot of money transactions were involved in it, it was an obstacle to electing the most capable person to the parliament.’’

Senior members of the MDP have themselves noted the use of similar techniques in Saturday’s poll – pointing the finger at coalition parties – while civil society and international observers have expressed alarm at such practices.

“It wasn’t the best results, or the results we expected,’’ Zahir told Minivan News today. “There are many reasons behind the loss.’’

Zahir said that one of the many reasons was the decision by the ruling Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) to give party tickets to candidates to contest in constituencies that Adhaalath had taken.

“It made the people divide their votes which the coalition should have got,’’ he said.

He said that the party had not started discussion on the issue with its, unofficial, coalition partners.

Following Adhaalath’s exclusion from the coalition’s parliamentary election plans, PPM Deputy Leader Abdul Raheem Abdulla told the press that the party was not “an official partner of the Progressive Coalition.”

Adhaalath was excluded from the governing coalition’s seat allocation, which eventually allocated 30 seats to the PPM, seven to the Maldives Development Alliance (MDA), and 28 to the Jumhooree Party (JP).

After failed negotiations with the JP in February, JP leader Gasim Ibrahim slammed the Adhaalath Party’s decision to contest in JP-reserved constituencies.

“Their actions are not in the general interest, in the name of Adhaalath (justice) they are doing everything in the wrong way,” said Gasim. “We gave them four seats. They did not accept it.”

Both Gasim and President Abulla Yameen have admitted that vote-splitting detracted from the size of the Progressive Coalition’s margin of victory.

Zahir today said that the workload of the senior party members had prevented the further discussion of the result within the party’s ranks, noting that talks with the government may follow such analysis.

He said that the party believed it had still made progress compared to the 2009 elections result – in which the party won no seats.

“Adhaalath Party is very different from all the other parties that contested in the parliament election – Adhaalath Party is a party that had to start from the bottom,” said Zahir.

“We will not stop our political activities and be silent,’’ he said. “We will compete in all the future elections and work to get better results.’’

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Ongoing strike at Vilu Reef resort sees 18 staff fired

Vilu Reef resort has allegedly terminated 18 members of staff, with some given just one hour to leave, after employees had presented management with a list of grievances.

Speaking with Minivan News, Ahmed Rasheed – a Vilu Reef employee for two years before his dismissal yesterday – described his termination:

“They sent me with 5 police guards into my room. They locked the door and asked me to pack within one hour.”

Vilu Reef is part of the Sun Travel & Tours group – a company owned by the prominent businessman and Maldives Development Alliance (MDA) leader Ahmed ‘Sun’ Shiyam.

After compiling a list of grievances against the resort, Rasheed explained that he had prepared a petition on which he managed to get 153 signatures from fellow staff.

He recalled that the demands were then presented to the hotel management on March 17, who came back to the employees, suggesting “if you don’t want to stay here you can leave.”

After conferring with the staff team, employees then decided to strike, stated Rasheed, with around 50 resort employees congregating at around 11pm with their demands on Sunday (March 23).

The management called police, but assured staff that no would be terminated, said Rasheed. They agreed to carry out amendments to meet the requests as of the April 30, he added, “so the next day we went back to work.”

“I was fired after two days,” continued Rasheed. “They just give me a call and said ‘hey can you come to the office’, then they gave me a letter. They asked me to sign.”

According to Rasheed’s termination contract, the reason Vilu Reef fired him was because his post was no longer available.

The termination letter stated that the employees were being fired due to their posts “being made redundant” and were asked to leave with “immediate effective (sic) of March 25”.

The letter acknowledges that there should be one month’s notice for the termination of staff, and therefore the management “have decided to as an extra measure compensation payment in lieu of three months notice period.”

The next steps, according to Rasheed, are being supported by the Tourism Association of Maldives (TEAM).

“We are not a member of TEAM but we are really thanking them for their help. They are helping us to do something good. At least we have some people who are trying to get our rights back.”

Workers’ right to strike

TEAM Secretary General  Mauroof Zakir told Minivan News that TEAM would assist the staff in taking the case to the Employment Tribunal, though felt there would be “no hope” for a fair case.

“Shiyam is very strong here,” he noted, “one of the partners of the government.”

“Since 2012 the decisions are against international standards and international best practice,” he added. “It’s all corrupt judiciary, and high court decisions against employment cases are one of the key factors.”

According to the Freedom of Peaceful Assembly Act 2013, tourist resorts, ports, and airports fall into a category of places in which protests are prohibited.

The US State Department expressed concern about the change in this law in their recently released 2013 Human Rights Report.

Local NGOs Transparency Maldives and the Maldivian Democracy Network have also expressed their concern that the law has impacted upon freedom of peaceful assembly.

No-one from the management team at Vilu Reef was available for comment when contacted by Minivan News.

Earlier this year the prestigious One & Only Reethi Rah resort saw an estimated 90% of its employees partake in an organised strike against perceived ill treatment and discrimination.

The strike was called following the management’s failure to meet employees to discuss concerns regarding discrimination against local workers, and a team of police were dispatched to the resort.

In a similar case in September 2013, staff at Irufushi Beach and Spa resort reported a “firing spree” affecting staff members professing to support the Maldivian Democratic Party.

The resort, which in May 2013 abruptly terminated its agreement with hotel giant Hilton – leading to the overnight resignation of 30 employees – is also part of the Sun Travel group.

A source working at the hotel at the time of publishing stated, “Shiyam took over this resort in what the staff refers to as another coup d’etat at the resort level. Since then we have been gradually stripped of rights we are legally entitled to as citizens of the Maldives.”

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Government proposes changes to local government model

The government has submitted amendments to the Decentralisation Act to make councillors part-time with the exception of the president and vice president of island, atoll, and city councils.

If the proposed changes are passed into law, councillors other than the president and vice president would not be involved in day-to-day activities after a president and vice president are elected through secret ballot.

While the president and vice president would be paid a monthly salary, other councillors are to be paid an allowance for attending council meetings – a move that would lead to substantial savings from the public sector wage bill.

The responsibilities of other councillors would be to “attend meetings of the council, participate in the council’s decision-making [process], and assist the council in ways determined by the council in achieving its objectives,” read the amendment.

The amendment bill (Dhivehi) was submitted on behalf of the administration of President Abdulla Yameen by outgoing Progressive Party of Maldives MP Abdul Azeez Jamal Abubakur.

The purpose of the bill is to strengthen decentralised administration in line with the unitary nature of the Maldivian state, stated the introduction of the legislation.

In January, the Local Government Authority (LGA) – the institution tasked with monitoring councils and coordinating with the central government – revealed that recommendations had been shared with parliament to make most councillors part-time.

Recurrent expenditure

Defence Minister and LGA Chair Colonel (Retired) Mohamed Nazim told the press that the changes would allow professionals to contest the council elections, as their responsibilities would be offering advice and participating in decision-making.

“The president and vice president will operate the council. Instead, now they have to leave their profession – the teacher, headmaster or boat builder has to give up his job,” he explained.

As a consequence, Nazim contended, the councillors’ time was not put to productive use.

“The benefit of [the changes] is that the councillor has to work a very short amount of time and be free to work productively for the island’s development,” he added.

The presidents of island councils currently receive a monthly salary and allowance of MVR15,000 (US$973) while council members receive MVR11,000 (US$713). The mayor of Malé is paid MVR45,000 (US$2,918) a month.

Under article 25 of the Decentralisation Act, a five-member council is elected in islands with a population of less than 3,000, a seven-member council for islands with a population between 3,000 and 10,000, and a nine-member council for islands with a population of more than 10,000.

City councils comprise of “an elected member from every electoral constituency of the city”, and atoll councils comprises of “elected members from the electoral constituencies within the administrative division.”

In December, the World Bank warned in a report that the Maldivian economy was at risk due to excessive government spending.

The current model of more than 1,000 elected councillors approved in 2010 by the then-opposition majority parliament was branded “economic sabotage” by the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) government, which had proposed limiting the number of councillors to “no more than 220.”

The new layer of government introduced with the first local council elections in February 2011 cost the state US$12 million a year with a wage bill of US$220,000 a month.

Finance Minister Abdulla Jihad told parliament’s Budget Review Committee last year that President Yameen favoured revising the local government framework to reduce the number of island and atoll councillors.

In November 2013, the incoming administration proposed merging island and atoll councils, with the latter to be composed of a representative from each island of the atoll.

President’s Office Spokesperson Ibrahim Muaz said at the time that “the president’s thinking is not to cut down on the number of councillors. But to elect councillors based on the population of the islands. This is a move to curb state expenditure.”

However, parliament did not move to amend the Decentralisation Act ahead of the local council elections on January 18, which saw 1,100 councillors elected for a three-year term.

While the proposals were intended to reduce the state’s recurrent expenditure – which accounts for over 70 percent of the budget – Nazim said the LGA does not support changing the council’s term from three to five years.

Contending that the legal responsibility of local councils was implementing the government’s policies, Nazim said voters should have the opportunity to change their elected representatives during an ongoing five-year presidential term.

“Citizens get an opportunity to see what kind of results the council produced and the extent to which they upheld the government’s policies,” he said.

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