Tag: home minister

CSC claims ministers, councilors can’t take action against civil servants

The Civil Service Commission (CSC) has claimed that according to the law the commission is the only body with the legal authority to dismiss or suspend a civil servant.

The commission has claimed that the councilor of Dhiyamigili in Thaa Atoll asked a civil servant to stay at home, an accusation which led to the Home Minister Mohamed Shihab being summoned to the parliament and questioned by Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) MP Ilham Ahmed.

Ilham on Monday asked the minister if a person in a political post could send a civil servant home.

The CSC released a statement which cited the minister as saying ”since a government’s office is established to provide services for the people, and as it’s the responsibility of the highest rank person at the time to manage it, I believe action could be taken.”

The CSC however claimed that “as article 46 [a] of the Civil Servant Act says, it is only the CSC who has legal authority to suspend a civil servant with or without salary. Ministers and councilors who are not among civil servants cannot ban a civil servant from coming to work,” the statement said.

Spokesperson for the CSC Mohamed Fahmy Hassan said the Home Ministry said had misled the people and claimed it was unlawful.

”If someone disrupts the peace, there are concerned authorities people should inform,” Fahmy said, ”there are departments with the authority to arrest and detain people. ”

He said that the commission never demanded or threatened any staff into joining a particular politcal party.

”The commission has never threatened a staff member hat he would be dismissed if does not join this party or that party,” he said. ”When we receive reports that a civil servant has broken the law, then we will take immediate action. ”

He notes that the councilor was not the authorised person to take action against the civil servant.

Island councilor for Dhiyamigili Adnan Ali said that it was the island chief who was asked to stay at home. But he did not give further information as he was ”very busy at the moment.”

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New Auditor General to be appointed next week, government hopes

The government hopes appoint a new Auditor General by next week, after outgoing AG Ibrahim Naeem was dismissed from his post by parliament earlier this week.

Assistant executive director and interim head of the Auditor General’s office, Mohamed Hussein, said according to the law Ibrahim Naeem was no longer the Auditor General and was not attending the office.

Hussein said he did want to reveal whether staff at the audit office were disheartened by parliament’s decision.

”We always work according to the policy of Auditor General at the time,” Hussein said.

The President’s Press Secretary Mohamed Zuhair said the government was “seeking a capable and educated man for the position,” and hoped to fill the position next week.

“President Mohamed Nasheed has promised to appoint someone as capable and as educated as the former Auditor General,” Zuhair said.

Naeem was formally dismissed by parliament in a DRP-PA coalition-led no-confidence motion on Sunday, after corruption allegations were sent by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) in a letter to a parliamentary sub-committee chaired by Deputy Speaker Ahmed Nazim.

The ACC also sent the case to the Prosecutor General’s office, seeking to initiate court proceedings.

Deputy Prosecutor General Hussain Shameem confirmed the office had received “a huge file of documents.”

“I don’t think [the case will be influenced by Parliament’s decision] as we look it from at a completely different angle,” Shameem said.

“It’s a different process to Parliament. We have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt whether or not he is guilty. Parliament decides on the basis of whether or not he was doing his job.”

Shameem said it would take “weeks” to decide whether the case would be forwarded to the court.

Meanwhile DRP Vice President and MP Ali Waheed said he wished Naeem “a bright future.”

Waheed said the 43-28 vote in favour of dismissal was successful due to votes from the Qaumee Party, Peoples Alliance and many independent MPs.

”This shows that even if a dictator tries to go against the law, the politicians of the country will not allow him do it,” Waheed said.

DRP held a ceremony at the DRP office following to the vote, to celebrate its victory in the no-confidence motion.

”We celebrated the victory as we had tried very hard for this,” Waheed said. ”We were arrested and police took us to Dhoonidhu and people tried for this so much.”

He said all the demonstrations over the weekend were because the MDP MPs “tried to deadlock the parliament.”

”We do not want parliament to be cancelled for even one day,” Waheed said.

He called on people to show the same effort when the parliament begins debate over the controversial decentralisation bill.

He said he do not want to say anything about accusations the Auditor General made against senior DRP officials in his audit reports.

”That will be decided by the court, whether they are true or not,” he said.

Zuhair claimed that the vote against the Auditor General proved the DRP had “the best interest of their political party in mind and not the best interest of the country.”

He said Naeem’s reports contained accusations against former government ministersare now independent MPs.

”That’s why they voted the way they did in the no-confidence motion,” Zuhair said.

He added that the audit report was not only the work of the Auditor General, “but a big team in the Audit Office.”

Minister for Home affairs Mohamed Shihab is another government official facing a potential no-confidence motion from the DRP, in response to a police decision to detain Waheed and several other senior DRP leaders.

Shihab said he would not comment on prospect of a no-confidence motion against him “until I receive notice of it from parliament.”

Spokesperson for Maldivian Democratic Party Ahmed Haleem did not respond to Minivan News at time of press.

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DRP to take no-confidence motion on Home Minister

Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) MP Ali Waheed has said the party will put forward a no-confidence motion against Home Minister Mohamed Shihab, after police detained Waheed and several other senior party figures in an effort to defuse violent clashes between the supporters of both parties on Thursday night.

”We decided to take the no-confidence motion against Shihab because he used his powers and influence against the law,” Waheed said, adding that details would be provided tomorrow.

Waheed alleged that when the situation in Male’ broke the peace of the country on Thursday night, “Shihab was relaxing in a nearby resort.”

He said the party had received information “from a trusted source” that President Mohamed Nasheed gave the order to police that night to arrest the senior party leaders.

”The police have no powers, they only have to take orders from their leader,” he said.

However the President’s Office said yesterday that the government had full confidence in police and “absolutely no involvement” in the decision to remove the DRP leaders from the protest.

But Waheed claimed that the police “cannot arrest MPs while a no-confidence motion is ongoing inside parliament.”

”The police lied to us, saying that they were taking us to police head quarters to calm down the situation,” he said. ”Instead they took us to Dhoonidhu and took our mobile phones, and treated us just like the other criminals there.”

Vice president of DRP Umar Naseer said that there were “many things” the Home Minister had done, including “attacking peaceful protesters with tear gas.”

”He arrested MPs while there was a ongoing no-confidence motion in the parliament which is against the law, did not stopped MDP thugs attacking us, and did not enforce the law,” Naseer said.

He also claimed that President Mohamed Nasheed was “giving the orders to police that night”, claiming the party had obtained the information “because 90 per cent of the police and Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF) support the DRP.”

Press Secretary for the President Mohamed Zuhair confirmed that President Mohamed Nasheed went  to the police headquarters on Thursday night, “but not to give orders.”

”He went there because he is the owner of all the powers – police and MNDF,” Zuhair said, ”but the Commissioner of Police was the one giving the orders.”

Zuhair claimed that the opposition was trying to take no-confidence motion against ministers “one by one” to delay more productive bills sent to the parliament by the government.

”Countries with civil wars pass more bills in parliament than the Maldives does,” Zuhair said.

He said the opposition “is  jealous and cannot accept their failure.”

”They are trying to show the people that they still have powers,” he suggested.

MDP’s parliamentary group spokesperson Mohamed Shifaz said the party would stand against the no-confidence motion on the home minister as ”we have not noticed home minister doing anything against the law.”

He said the party’s parliamentary group would continue to discuss the issue.

Meanwhile, the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM) released a statement appealing to the police to respect laws and to treat everyone equally when they work to disperse crowds.

HRCM said that ”political parties meetings are interrupted due to differences among people on political issues.”

The commission said it had noticed that regulations governing the  dispersal of protests “are not being applied equally among everyone”, and that Article 32 of the Constitution guaranteed ”freedom to gather peacefully without prior permission  from the government.”

Home Minister Mohamed Shihab and State Minister for Home Affairs Ahmed Adil did not respond to Minivan News at time of press.

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