Mariyam Shakeela appointed chairperson of WHO executive board

The Minister of Health and Gender Dr Mariyam Shakeela has been appointed as the Chairperson of the Executive Board of World Health Organisation (WHO).

This appointment took place at a meeting of the WHO Executive Board following the World Health Assembly in Geneva today (May 26), and will be the first time the Maldives has received this title, local media Sun Online reported.

The WHO Executive Board is composed of 34 persons who are technically qualified in the field of health, each designated by a member state who has been elected to serve by the World Health Assembly.

Member states are elected for three-year terms, and Maldives was elected in 2012.

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Civil Court orders MDP Chairman Reeko Moosa to pay Rf2.9 million in three months

The Civil Court has today ordered Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) Chairperson and MP ‘Reeko’ Moosa Manik to settle an outstanding debt of Rf2.9 million to Caterpillar Financial Service’s Asia Branch within three months.

Caterpillar claimed that in 2007 Heavy Load Maldives – a family business of the Hulhu-Henveiru MP – took a loan of US$700,000 (Rf10.5 million at the current exchange rate) from Caterpillar, which was co-signed by Moosa.

Caterpillar said at the Civil Court that Heavy Load had not settled the debt and requested Moosa be ordered to pay the loan as the co-signatory.

Delivering the verdict, Judge Mariyam Nihayath said that in the agreement made between Moosa and Caterpillar, Moosa had also agreed to pay a compensation fee plus the amount paid to hire a lawyer without any obligations.

Judge Nihayath ordered Moosa to pay the total amount which is Rf2.9 million in three months.

However, following the court ruling Moosa expressed concern and criticized the judiciary saying that the judiciary was like a “mad lion.’’

MDP official website quoted him saying that the court should not order him to pay the money without ordering Heavy Load Company to pay the loan.

The former MDP parliamentary group leader told the ruling party’s website that today’s ruling gave him more courage to continue the work to free the judiciary and make it independent.

He also said that Civil Court was issuing such rulings because Moosa and his lawyer Hassan Afeef was publicly advocating judicial reform. .

According to the constitution, if a MP has a decreed debt and is not paying the debt according to the court ruling, he will be disqualified and lose his seat in parliament.

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Mohamed Imtiyaz appointed as acting Chairperson of MDP

The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has issued a statement announcing that following the resignation of the party’s Chairperson MP Mariya Didi, all her responsibilities were handed to the Deputy Chairperson Mohamed Imtiyaz.

Mariya had resigned from her post to stand as a candidate for the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) as the member representing the parliament, after DRP MP Dr Afrashim Ali was removed for misconduct.

Leader of MDP, former fisheries minister Dr Ibrahim Didi, said Mariya’s resignation was a great sacrifice to establish an independent judiciary in the Maldives.

Speaking to the press today, Didi said that within the next two months the new Chairperson of the party would be appointed after 60 days of campaigning, as granted by the party’s charter.

Maryia was not appointed as the member from the parliament to JSC, after the post was narrowly secured by Jumhooree Party (JP) Leader and MP ‘Buruma’ Gasim Ibrahim.

36 MPs voted in favor of appointing Mariya to the JSC, while 38 voted in favor of appointing Gasim to the commission from the parliament.

Mariya congratulated MP Gasim and said she hoped he would carry out his responsibilities as a member of the JSC with sincerity for the benefit of the citizens and the best interests of the nation.

She also thanked all the MPs that voted for her.

Today’s parliament session ended after MDP MPs left the parliament chamber.

DRP MP Ahmed Nihan said that it has become a major issue that MPs were leaving the parliament, forcing the speaker to cancel the session.

”I think MPs have to seriously think about this now,” Nihan said. ”It has become a major issue.”

Nihan said that after MDP ”bought” former DRP MP Ali Waheed, he had been “very inactive” in parliament.

”Nowadays he just roams around the parliament singing songs and often goes to the tea room. He hasn’t been doing any work at all,” Nihan said. ”However, Gasim’s appointment to the JSC is a great victory for the citizens in this delicate situation.”

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