Local NGO Transparency Maldives has received a grant of almost one million rufiya (GBP£50,000) from the British High Commission in Colombo for a project investigating the financing of political parties in the Maldives.
The grant was given through the UK government’s Strategic Programme Fund (SPF) in a bid to promote “greater transparency and accountability in political processes and increased general understanding of democracy and democratic principles in the Maldives.”
Project Coordinator Thoriq Hamid told Minivan News that experts from Transparency International would be training the local NGO in the same tool and methodology that had been “very successful” in assessing the financing of political parties in Latin America and Pakistan.
TM would be cooperating with the Elections Commission (EC) during the one year project, Thoriq said, and reviewing the specific laws and regulations of political party financing relevant to the Maldives.
Thoriq said he believed political parties would willingly open their books to the NGO.
“We are counting on our reputation – we have a good relationship with most political parties in the country,” Thoriq said.
“The tool itself tracks accountability, so an obvious lack of cooperation would reflect a lack of transparency,” he explained.
Transparency International considers corruption to be a major obstacle to development in growing economies. The organisation’s Global Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), which ranks countries according to the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist among public officials and politicians, listed Maldives 130th in 2009, equal with Mozambique and Nigeria.
The country’s CPI declined to 2.5 from 2.8 in 2008 and 3.3 in 2007, indicating a worsening perception of corruption.
Transparency Maldives describes itself as a “non-political organisation that promotes collaboration, awareness, and other initiatives to improve governance and eliminate corruption from the daily lives of people.”
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Finally DRP/PA and DQP will prepare a report to British High Commision on how Transparency Maldives misused these funds. Wait for that to happen.
Put them on a boat and tell them to go back to where they arrived from. I am sure they will know where they started off from. This will be a cheaper option.
Go Transparency!!
this is what is sad about minivannews, even if a shiekh farts it will come in bold headlines in this site, but the death of a young man which was due to stabbing him by a girl didn't come to your attention!? why? is it so common that we don't find these as an issue? also where the member of parliaments who where very concerned on our national security?, soon after they found out that government is bringing some detainee's from gitmo!
doesn't these MPs find these killing and stabbing national security issue? how many have lost lives?
i don't think it is safe to bring those 2 detainee's here, i am very much concerned about their safety here!! attention to all those who are responsible for our national security, please make this place a safe country!!
well, DRP funding should be pretty straight forward: thasmeen's $100m loan from bank of maldives, which he has not paid back
i wonder where ACC is when we needed it...
ok we all know that DRP and Gayoom cronies did plunder this country. Thats why we elected a new Govt to put this on the right track. Now the question is whether our new Govt is doing the job we wanted. For an answer to this question please see the Maldives ranking on Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index. Did the maldives make any progress after we deposed Gayoom? No absolutely NOT. On the contrary our ranking has only gone down many places during MDP govt.
the best way to eliminate corruption is to focus on systemic corruption and the faulty processes that lead to it.
I like transparency because they're a strong voice for good governance and transparency. I believe they are a lot more credible than most of the independent institutions out there.
while transparency deserves a pat on the back, its also important to remember that there are many corruption related cases that are happening in the country right now. for example, someone needs to look into the privatisation process, and the establishment of the transport network. the hidden clauses in the Apollo/ IGMH agreement gives me shivers.
add to that the fact that the Anti Corruption Commission has raised red flags concerning the conduct of the government authorities in these matters.
I hope transparency focuses a bit on this too
its about time someone probed the political party's funding. its amongst the grey areas.
I doubt that Transparency Maldives will get much cooperation from the political parties. there is much to hide, and little to show when it come to parties.
the people who give money to political parties would rather remain hidden in the background, pulling strings rather than being found.
Kudos to Transparency Maldives for trying this. But I'm sure they'll fail, but not for a lack of trying.
Corruption is a Maldivian cultural heritage ... and was never looked down uopn. A new NGO should be established named as Corruption Maldives. All political parties and most of the businessmen shall become honorary members oc CM.
Great job transparency, please urgently look into the composition of the privatization committee and the level of conflict of interest involved. A reliable source claimed that DRP leadership was offered $10 million from cable and wireless for a deal during their last days in government. However some cabinet members rejected the offer.
That brings us to the big question. Did Cable and wireless offer the same deal to lintel directors.
who is the chairmen of Transparency Maldives? Does she/he holds any current government post or title?
corruption has been part of our culture for so long. It has been a highly infectious virus that has thrived in the absence of transparent system of governance and democracy. Fortunately we have an opportunity that shouldn't be missed. Transparency could play a crucial role in promoting democracy, fighting corruption and strengthening institutions.
Our infant democracy is lacking official with integrity due to the fact that majority of officials have been vulnerable to cases of corruption in the past. The new generation of executives will hopefully remain professional, honest and clean.
This amount of money Transparency Maldives has received from the British government is roughly equivalent to the amount given to the People's Party from the state budget in 2008. People's Party is just a small proxy party without any significant activity in the political arena of the Maldives. Similar amounts were given to other small parties which has been accused of forging people's identities to increase numbers in their membership registry. Public financing of the parties is one area that needs to be scrutinized. Similarly donations and funds from individuals needs to be investigated.
Transparency Maldives should also probe the Public Private Partnerships (the great PPP)going on. From what I hear the Ministry of Economic Development's Invest Maldives is corrupt to the core. I know of several instances when foreign investors went back frustrated because they were given wrong information and were discouraged because they had no connections with some local politicians. On the other hand, foreign firms with connections are winning large contracts. A certain individual IHZ seems to be making some lucrative profits from such deals. Similarly, corruption is rife in the health and social security sector as well as in the projects for making harbours in the islands.