Tag: judiciary

MDP files no-confidence motion against Deputy Speaker of the Parliament

Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MPs have filed a no-confidence motion against Deputy Speaker of Parliament and People’s Alliance (PA) MP, Ahmed Nazim.

MDP Parliamentary Group’s Spokesperson MP Mohamed Shifaz confirmed that MDP had filed the motion today.

‘’We have finished all the documentation work and today we handed it to the parliament,’’ said Shifaz.

Shifaz said the party there were many issues with Deputy Speaker Nazim.

‘’First of all, he has many legal cases filed against him in the courts, and there are many issues regarding his integrity,’’ Shifaz said. ‘’Most of the MPs believe that he has to be dismissed. If that happens, it will benefit the work the government is doing to ensure the independence of the judiciary.’’

Shifaz accused Nazim of deliberately delaying work sent to the parliamentary committees in which he has influence.

In retaliation, the opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) filed no-confidence motions against Home Minister Hassan Afeed and Finance Minister Ahmed Inaz.

Shifaz claimed that although the opposition filed no-confidence motions against the cabinet ministers, they would not be able to get the numbers required to dismiss them.

”They are dreaming if they think they can dismiss any of the ministers,” he claims..

DRP MP Ahmed Mahlouf meanwhile said that if parliamentarians continued working like this, the parliament would prove dysfunctional.

‘’We can’t work like this. One day MDP will file a no-confidence motion against the Speaker, the next day the opposition will file a no-confidence motion against a cabinet minister and if it continues like this, parliament’s responsibilities will be left undone,’’ said Mahlouf. ‘’I have decided to speak with the political parties myself to let them know that it is not right.’’

Mahlouf acknowledged that during the recent protests over the economy, some MPs including Mahlouf himself had signed a no-confidence motion against Finance Minister Inaz.

Nazim did not respond to Minivan News at time of press.

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Gayoom praises MP support during Afrashim vote

Former Maldivian President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom has issued a statement thanking MPs who supported Judicial Services Commission (JSC) member and Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) MP Dr Afrashim Ali during a motion of no confidence that saw him removed from the judicial watchdog yesterday, according to local media.

Miadhu reported that Gayoom praised the 34 MPs who voted against removing Dr Afrashim from his post with the JSC, despite the no confidence motion passing with 38 votes in favour, claiming the Ungufaaru MP had strived to ensure “freedom and independency” in the Maldivian judiciary.

Gayoom used the statement to praise the need for independence in establishments like the judiciary that he said served as “foundations of democracy” that needed to be kept free of “undue political influence.”

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Desire for democracy fundamentally a need for justice: President Nasheed

Germany will provide Rf 6 million (US$390,000) over the next two years for the expansion of the UNDP’s Access to Justice project in the Maldives.

Speaking at a signing ceremony held in the President’s Office today, attended by most cabinet members, German Ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives Jens Plötner said it was Germany’s “firm conviction that without a functioning justice system there can be no democracy.”

“In the recent history of the Maldives a few brave women and men fought for democracy, citizens of the country then conquered democracy through the ballot box, but to keep democracy it takes justice – without that people will very quickly lose faith in democracy and the system,” Plötner said.

“We ourselves as a country with a tragic history, after two world wars, lost faith in ourselves. We didn’t know what to be proud of any more given what had been committed in German name.

“What finally emerged was that we were proud of the justice system we have today in Germany. We followed constitutional patriotism, because we are proud of the way law and right is delivered in Germany. This is the essence of the hard lessons we have learned through two world wars started in our name.”

Himself a former student of law, Plötner observed that the concept itself was “something very abstract and philosophical.”

“But it is also about men and women sitting there in impressive robes in big buildings, and breaking high principles down to day-to day-sentences for somebody smashing up a car – or something more awful.

“To do that you need good training, but that’s not enough. The judge and all those who work with him or her are such an essential element of democracy that they have to eat drink and breathe democracy every minute of the day. If they do that, democracy is stable.”

President Mohamed Nasheed said German support for judicial reform in the Maldives had its beginnings in a conversation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel last year.

“She was wondering what were our main challenges as we embarked on a new era of democratic governance,” Nasheed said.

“People’s desire for democracy in the Maldives was fundamentally because of a need for justice – things were often done unfairly and very harshly. That was a situation a fair number of us wanted to overcome. To that end we felt the first building block should be peaceful political activity. It took us a fair amount of time to do that, but we achieved it.”

Looking at the assembled ministers and political appointees, Nasheed said “a number of people in this room did not believe that political pluralism was appropriate for this society. We all had an idea of a singular form of government through which we might dispense justice as well as governance. But a few of us felt it was difficult to reinvent the wheel. We kept asking for political pluralism and parties, and finally we were successful.”

During the drafting of the new constitution, Nasheed acknowledged that “very little thought” was given to how the new judiciary was arranged, despite the urging of many lawyers in the system.

“When the powers were separated and the Maldivan Democratic Party (MDP) became the executive we came into a situation where the previous regime had a majority in the parliament.

“But in many minds the situation with the judiciary was far more worrying. Nothing had changed – we had exactly the same people, the same judges, the same manner of thinking and of dispensing justice.”

The constitution did not ask for an overhaul of the justice system, Nasheed noted, but it did ask for the formulation of a new Supreme Court bench.

“We ran into a number of difficulties. Firstly, the interim bench decided they were a permanent bench. That created all sorts of issues, finally to the extent that the executive had to step in and say ‘No, we have to have a new bench, and we are not going to open the Supreme Court without it.’”

It was, Nasheed admitted, “all very risky, challenging and difficult. But finally we came up with a bench – and with the support of every MP.”

However the Judicial Services Commission (JSC), tasked with regulated the judiciary, was a difficult task to reform “as the JSC as a whole was very imbalanced politically.”

“Again we are having to step in and we will reform the JSC, although not outside the framework of the constitution.”

Nasheed observed that the government’s new financial changes – such as the introduction of a new system of taxation, were “perhaps far more radical that introduction of political pluralism in the semi-liberal society that we had. Again there is the anger, antagonism, frustrations and uncertainties.”

The President said he felt the country was moving in the right direction, but expressed concern that the Maldives had slipped in the anti-corruption index.

“I like to think this is not because were more corrupt than we used to be, but rather that we have come to understand how corrupt we are through our new found freedom of expression – we are able to point fingers more readily, and the information available on corruption is far higher than it has ever been before.”

He noted that the government had 27 Auditor General reports detailing embezzlement and misuse of state funds “that we have done nothing with – partly because we need to strengthen our judiciary before we can embark on this.”

“We don’t want to go into a witch-hunt, or use the strong arm of the law, we want to use rationale and reason. We want to be able to prosecute, and dispense justice.”

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High Court and Judicial Administration claims protesters obstructed court work

The High Court and the Department of Judicial Administration have said that yesterday’s Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP)-led protest calling for the arrest of former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom had obstructed the work of the courts, and called on the armed forces not to allow protesters to gather near the court buildings.

In a press release the Department of Judicial Administration said protesting near the courts was banned according to relevant laws.

The Department said the constitution stated that no one should influence the work of judiciary and that everyone should respect the courts, and assist the court in all ways.

Meanwhile the High Court issued a press release stating that the work of the High Court was interrupted, and disturbed those summoned to the court as well as staff.

A pregnant woman who came to enter the court was squeezed between the steel gate of the High Court and the protesters and was hurt, the High Court claimed.

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“Courageous and exemplary work”: President dismisses JSC Velezinee

President Mohamed Nasheed has removed the President’s member of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC), Aishath Velezinee, from her post.

“There was no reason given. All I can say is that the President is extremely grateful for the courageous and exemplary work Velezinee has done,” said Nasheed’s Press Secretary Mohamed Zuhair, adding that a new member would soon be appointed.

Minivan News understands that Velezinee’s departure from the JSC may be part of a back room deal not unrelated to impending judicial reform, opposition MPs crossing the floor and the arrest of former government officials on allegations of torture.

Velezinee herself was not commenting on the decision.

One woman army

Velezinee became an outspoken whistle-blower on the JSC last year after claiming that her many letters of concern to parliament – which provides oversight on the independent commissions – were being ignored.

In early 2010, she set about publicly exposing the independent institution she claimed was operating “like a secret society” and serving as a “shield” for a judiciary that was “independent in name only”, and had tabled only several of the hundreds of complaints submitted against judges.

Using her access to court documents, Velezinee revealed that almost a quarter of the sitting judges had criminal records – ranging from theft to terrorism – and that an even greater number had not even completed grade 7 education. The only qualification of many was a ‘Diploma in Judging’ presenting to them by the former Ministry of Justice, Velezinee contested.

For the past 30 years judges effectively worked as the employees of those “hand-picked” by the former government, Velezinee explained – to the extent that failures to extend a particular ruling as required by the Ministry of Justice resulted in a black mark on the judge’s file.

“The only qualification it appears was a willingness to submit to the will of the government at the time – to follow orders,” Velezinee told Minivan News is a previous interview.

“Not everyone has the mindset to follow orders and serve in that kind of capacity. I believe it has excluded people with independent thinking, or the necessary legal knowledge – such people would take it as an insult for someone to order them how to decide a case.”

Velezinee’s concerns – met with noticeable silence from both the JSC and the then-opposition majority parliament – sparked her ‘Article 285’ campaign.

Article 285 was the Constitutional stipulation that the JSC determine before the conclusion of the interim period – August 7, 2010 – whether or not the judges on the bench possessed the characteristics specified by article 149: “the educational qualifications, experience and recognized competence necessary to discharge the duties and responsibilities of a judge, [and] high moral character”.

At the eleventh hour prior to the conclusion of the interim period, the JSC reappointed the vast majority of sitting judges for life in a surrepticious ceremony conducted behind doors that would have remained closed had Velezinee not rushed the podium.

“The JSC decided – I believe with the support of parliament – that the same bench will remain for the next 40 years, retitled as an ‘independent judiciary’,” Velezinee said following the reappointments.

She further alleged that senior members of the parliamentary opposition were present in the JSC office over the weekend prior to the interim period deadline, personally assisting the JSC secretariat with photocopying the letters of appointment.

“I’m telling you: this is big. What we are seeing is all interconnected – it is one big plot to try – in any way possible – to return power to the corrupt,” she told Minivan News in July 2010, noting that her concerns had led to her being labelled “the Article 285 madwoman” by not only the opposition.

Less than a year later, many of her allegations were independently corroborated by a report produced by the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), which attended JSC sessions and criticised its independence.

The JSC, the report stated, “was unable to carry out its functions in a sufficiently transparent, timely, and impartial manner. To date, JSC decision-making has been perceived as being inappropriately influenced by a polarised political environment. Also troubling is that members of the judiciary have been subject to threats and intimidation as well as improper inducements by both governing and opposition party members.”

The JSC refused to table the ICJ’s report, and disputed having ever received it.

Towards the end of 2010 Velezinee upped her campaign to incorporate parliament, naming both opposition and independent MPs as being involved in what she described as “a silent coup” to deprive the country of an independent judiciary for the sake of providing continued judicial impunity to senior power brokers of the former administration.

The reason for that failure, she suggested, was a fear among leaders of the former administration “who are continuing with criminal activities they have allegedly been carrying out for a long, long time.”

“There is widespread public perception that certain members of parliament are behind all the serious organised crime going on in this country. This includes serious drug issues, gang violence, stabbings,” she alleged, in a previous interview with Minivan News.

“These are allegations only because they have never come up before a court of law in all this time.”

“It is a much discussed issue, but it has never come up in the courts. I can see now that perhaps it may be true – otherwise why prevent the formation of an independent judiciary? I don’t think they would have confidence that they would get away free,” Velezinee said, observing that former political figures such as attorney generals were now representing these MPs in court as their lawyers, “and, by and large, they win every case.”

“This is not such a far-fetched radical thought coming from me any more because of the things we have seen over the last year to do with politicians and judicial action. The courts are a playground for politicians and are not trusted by the general public. Parliament has failed, and there is no other institutional mechanism in this constitution for the JSC to be held to account.”

In January this year Velezinee was stabbed three times in broad daylight while walking down Male’s main tourist street, on the same day that the High Court judges were due to be appointed.

“My first fear was that I would easily I bleed to death,” she told Minivan News, after she was discharged from hospital. “But I took a deep breath and realised I was alive. As soon as I realised this, the only thing I wanted to do was go and get the blood stopped and get to the Commission because this was the day of the High Court appointments, and I know they wanted me out of the way. I didn’t realise how serious the wounds were, I didn’t see them until two days later when I went for a dressing change.”

Many international organisations, including Transparency International and the ICJ, expressed “grave concern that the attack may be politically motivated.”

“There are honourable men in this country who are owned by others, and they may be put in a position where they believe they have to take my life. I knew there was a chance that I was risking murder, and I wasn’t wrong,” Velezinee told Minivan News, following her recovery. “It was only because of God’s grace that I survived.”

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JSC abolishes complaints committee in name of efficiency

The Judicial Services Commission (JSC) has abolished its Complaints Committee citing “efficiency”, with complaints against judges now being forwarded for review by the legal section and Commission head Adam Mohamed.

Last year the JSC received 143 complaints concerning the conduct of judges. By its own statistics none were tabled in the commission, and only five were ever replied to.

Chair of the former complaints commission, the President’s Member of the JSC Aishath Velezinee who was stabbed in the street in January this year, said the complaints committee had been unable to operate as the chair had persistently scheduled meetings “during the same days and hours as the committee meetings, and it came to the point where it was impossible for the committee to meet and work.”

“Several members including Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) MP Afrashim Ali also boycotted the meetings making it difficult for the committee to function,” Velezinee said, claiming that no procedure had been followed in abolishing the committee, and intention was to stop complaints against judges from being investigated.

“The JSC recently adopted house rules, which gives extraordinary powers to the chair. The chair decides whether to table complaints, routinely withholds information from the Commission and responds [to complaints] himself,” she said.

The JSC has failed to table or even acknowledge receipt of a report on the judiciary produced by the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), which questioned whether the JSC’s possessed the technical ability and knowledge to investigate complaints and hold the judiciary accountable, as well as its independence.

The opposition-majority parliament has meanwhile yet to back the government’s request that the Maldives join the International Criminal Court (ICC), of which half the world’s nations are members. Velezinee has previously accused certain opposition MPs of manipulating the judiciary through JSC in an attempt to retain control of the legal impunity provided them under the previous government’s Ministry of Justice.

Central to the International Criminal Court’s mandate “is the principle of complementarity, which holds that the Court will only intervene if national legal systems are unable or unwilling to investigate and prosecute perpetrators of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes,” the ICC’s international NGO coalition said in a statement.

“Perpetrators of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity must be held accountable. Greater support for the ICC in Asia is needed in order to increase the region’s commitment to the fight against impunity. The Coalition therefore encourages Maldives to assert its commitment to ending the culture of impunity by acceding to the Rome Statute of the ICC.”

Parliament has meanwhile been deliberating on an amendment to the Clemency Act whereby death sentences issued by judges would be acted upon when all appeals failed. The last person be judicially executed in the Maldives was Hakim Didi in 1953, who was executed by firing squad after being found guilty of conspiracy to murder using black magic.

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JSC denies arbitrary dismissal of magistrate, blames affair

The Judicial Service Commission (JSC) has told the Civil Court it removed the former Chief Magistrate of Thinadhoo in Gaafu Dhaalu Atoll, Ahmed Shareef, from the bench because of a previous conviction for having an affair.

In court for the third time this year facing allegations of unconstitutional behaviour, the JSC defended its decision to remove Shareef from the bench in August 2010 by providing the court with a detailed account of Shareef’s previous conviction dating back over a decade.

According to the records, Shareef was sentenced to two months under house arrest on July 30 2001, for having an affair. Shareef and the other person had been engaged in a “connection of love” prior to the case being brought to court in 1998, the records state.

The Criminal Court, which handled the case, was in possession of a photograph taken in Shareef’s house where the pair were alone on a bed. The sentencing judge said the court had determined the image depicted a sexual offence. Initial documents submitted to the court by the JSC to the labelled the other party in the affair as male, however the JSC has since claimed the party was female and that this was a typo.

As Shareef was a first time offender the judge suspended Shareef’s sentence for a period of three years. Which means, Shareef has argued, he did not fail the moral standards required of a judge by the Constitution as was wrongfully determined by the JSC.

Shareef is also alleging that there were a total of 37 judges, including himself, with previous convictions. The JSC removed only six of them from the bench, meaning that there are still 31 individuals with criminal convictions on the judiciary’s benches across the country.

In the Civil Court yesterday Shareef’s lawyer Ahmed Zaheen Adam said he is seeking from the JSC a list of all the judges currently on the bench who have criminal convictions to their name.

He also wants the JSC to furnish to the court details of the said convictions as well as the manner in which the JSC considered details of the offences prior to making the decision to allow them to remain on the bench.

According to papers filed by Shareef, the convicted offenders on the bench were – or are – involved in offences relating to misconduct, fraud, bribery and other crimes.

Shareef wants the JSC to explain the criteria it used to determine who should go and who should stay on the bench in what was intended to be the biggest clean-up in the history of the judiciary last August, required by the 2008 Constitution.

Shareef is alleging that the JSC did not, in fact, have a standardised and pre-determined methodology for deciding which judges were qualified to stay on the bench.

Similar to the allegations made recently against the JSC by two failed applicants to the High Court bench, Shareef has accused the JSC of allowing personal opinion and interest to influence its decisions regarding the fate of members of the judiciary.

Shareef alleges that the JSC paid scant regard to the Constitution or statutory law in dismissing him.

The Judges Act, he has argued, states that a member of the judiciary will be seen as failing to meet the required ethical and moral standards if they had served a sentence for a criminal offence in the seven years previous to his appointment.

Shareef’s conviction was 11 years old when he was removed from the bench on August 5, 2010, and his sentence had been suspended.

The Judges Act was being debated in the Majlis at the time of Shareef’s removal, and was passed five days later, on 10 August 2010.

The 2008 Constitution created and mandated the JSC with bringing the judiciary in line with its new standards designed to meet the values ascribed to by a functioning democracy within two years of the Constitution coming into affect. The deadline expired on 7 August 2010.

Had the passage of the Act taken less time in the Majlis, the JSC would have been in possession of detailed guidelines on if, how and when a member of the judiciary can be removed from the bench, the court heard.

Shareef alleges the JSC deliberately decided not to wait for the legislation to be passed by the Majlis and, in fact, expedited the dismissals to suit members’ own personal opinions and interests.

“Speaker of the Parliament Abdulla Shahid is a member of the JSC, and so is Dr Afraasheem Ali, another MP. How can the JSC in all honesty tell this court that it was unaware of the contents of the impending legislation?” Shareef’s lawyer Zaheen asked.

“It is a shame if lawmakers do not know the contents of their own laws,” Zaneen said.

The JSC pointed out that the Judges Act post-dates its decision to remove Shareef from the bench and argued that it cannot be expected to rely on legislation that did not exist. Nor can it be expected, it said, to pay heed to impending legislation.

Shareef is asking the court to reinstate him on the bench and to order the JSC to reimburse his “full salary and privileges” from August 2010 till now. He is also claiming to have suffered great emotional and financial distress as a result of the dismissal and is also seeking compensation for psychological damages.

The case will resume at the Civil Court within the next 10 days, on a date yet to be confirmed.

Correction: Documents provided by the JSC to the court mistakenly labelled the other party in the affair for which Magistrate Shareef was convicted as another male. The  party was female and the JSC has since claimed this was a typo. Minivan has corrected the error for this story.

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“Sunlight is the best antiseptic”: the case for an independent judiciary

The structure of the Judicial Services Commission (JSC) is compromising its accountability and obstructing the creation of an independent judiciary, says Professor Murray Kellam, a former Australian Supreme Court Justice who has spent several weeks observing the group.

The UNDP brought Kellam to the Maldives to observe the JSC based on a recommendation in a report by the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) that suggested the commission be subjected to independent outside oversight.

As well as a former Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria, Kellam is the current Chief Commissioner of the Tasmanian Anti-Corruption Commission and also has extensive experience assisting with the development of legal systems in countries such as Burma and Bangladesh.

He has also been appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia, an award given for distinguished service of a high degree to Australia or humanity at large.

“I think there’s a real problem when you’ve got members of both the executive and the legislative body administering judicial affairs,” Kellam said, on conclusion of his visit to the Maldives.

“You have the Speaker, Attorney General and an MP sitting in judgement on their own recommendations. That situation doesn’t need describing any further.”

Kellam said his observations were not intended to be critical of the members of the JSC, but rather to assist in the development of an independent and respected body.

In other countries it was usual for the Chief Justice to chair the body responsible for judicial accountability, but the members were made up of respected people from the community “rather than those allied to the executive or legislature.”

“The process in your Constitution here is that [in the event of] gross misconduct and gross incompetence, the Majlis (parliament) has the job of dismissing them, and that’s consistent with other places in the world. But the problem is that the body making the recommendation is also the membership.”

Kellam was provided with full access to the JSC’s meetings and files during his visit, however he acknowledged that language was a barrier – most significantly, the lack of official English translations of most legislation.

“The unofficial translation of the Constitution is pretty good, but I have doubts about the accuracy of the translation for the JSC Act. The UNDP assisted, but the [language gap] makes it pretty difficult.”

However, Kellam said that he agreed with the ICJ’s recommendation that parliament should evaluate the JSC “and ensure it operates more transparently.”

“There may be an argument that the appointments and complaints processes [for judges] should be separated,” he said. “At the moment it appears that the expectations of the authors of the constitution are not being met.”

There had been, he noted, a requirement for the JSC to undergo training, ”but that was removed by the Supreme Court and subsequently by the legislature.”

Urgent legislation required

Beyond a review and possible reform of the JSC by parliament, the Majlis needed to urgently pass a Criminal and Civil Code, a Penal Code, and an Evidence Act, as currently, “the courts have no guidance as to the exercise of their powers under the constitution.”

“These legislative enactments ensure consistency on the part of the courts and a proper legal basis for the process of litigation,” he said, adding that under the current circumstances, “I can’t see how the courts can operate. The importance of the legislature passing such legislation cannot be overstated.”

As for oversight, the parliament, he said, was entitled to take an interest in the functioning of the judiciary, as the courts were funded by public expenditure.

However, Kellam did mirror the concerns of the ICJ at the interference of the executive, and particularly, the “the extra-constitutional use of the Maldives National Defence Force and police and defiance of court orders.”

He noted the ICJ’s concerns over public statements of members of government meeting with judges and members of parliament imploring the President to ignore both the courts and the legislature: “Actions such as this brought Hitler to power,” he warned.

Judges needed to be able to make decisions contrary to interests of the executive, and should not be subject to pressure from the politically powerful, commercially powerful or any other specific social interest groups.

“I have in my own career made decisions the government was extremely unhappy with – but they did what they were told in due course, because that’s the way the rule of law operates.”

At the same time, “‘Rule of law’ does not mean ‘rule of judges’. Judges are not free to do as they wish. They are subject to the Constitution and the laws enacted by parliament. It is not their role to make disparaging
remarks about parties, witnesses who appear before them, or to send signals to society at large in order to intimidate and undermine other basic freedoms such as freedom of expression.

“Respect is not gained through coercive use of power. The judiciary earns respect by its performance and its conduct,” Kellam said.

Framework in place

The Maldives’ Constitution provided an excellent model for an independent judiciary, “much better than the ones in many countries I’ve worked in,” Kellam said.

“There was quite clearly a real endeavour to set up accountability mechanisms, such as the JSC, Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and provision for an independent prosecutor – a really significant step.

“But having a model is one thing, executing the plan is another. In the end that depends on the calibre and integrity of people who run these organisations. They need to set the gold standard in terms of behaviour, conduct and transparency.”

Paying judges generously was a significant part of the equation, he said, recalling a judge he met in Cambodia who drove taxis at night to avoid having to accept bribes.

Australia, he commented, had never had a judge convicted of bribery.

“Judges misbehave in Australia just like elsewhere, but we do not have corruption. I think that’s a reflection of accountability, but also a significant reflection of the fact that they are well-paid. As a judge in Australia you would have to be extremely silly [to accept a bribe], because the risk of losing your salary and all your pension entitlements is simply too high.”

Transparency trumps nepotism

In both his interview with Minivan News and a lecture held on completion of his visit to the Maldives, Kellam repeatedly emphasised the importance of independence.

It was not, he said, necessarily a obstacle to independence that the Maldives was a small country with myriad family, political and business connections.

“I chair the Anti-Corruption Commission in Tasmania, a state with a population of 500,000 people,” he said. “Many families have been living there a very long time, and everyone knows everyone else which is a reason why they brought an outsider like me to chair their Anti-Corruption Commission.

Transparency, he said, was the answer to the problem, and was as much a defence for those drafting contracts with those they knew as a means of mitigation corruption.

“There should be a declaration at the start of meetings, where interests should be stated,” he said.

“If you are awarding a contract to your brother-in-law, which can happen in Tasmania, it must be on the table. The person awarding contract should make the declaration. It must be a similar problem for judges in island courts here – judges here know the islanders, but you can’t have them disqualifying themselves.

“We have a jury system in Australia, and in a town with a population of 20,000 the jury will know all the victims and the witnesses. The important thing is that there is transparency and it is on the stable.

“Sunlight is the best antiseptic. The real problem of perception happens when these things are not out in the open – when they are done under the table, and somebody says ‘Hang on, he’s related or they had dinner the other week.’ If it is in public, decisions can be made impartially. If it’s disclosed you can look at the tender process and say ‘Not withstanding that this person is the uncle of the person delivering on the contract, on the face of it this is transparent.’ That’s entirely different to somebody awarding a contract to a relative behind closed doors.”

Rulings had to also be open to public scrutiny, and actively published and subjected to public analysis. Judges and their verdicts were open to scrutiny and criticism, Kellam said, and in Australia it was understood that judges did not pursue cases of defamation against them.

The economic case for justice

An impartial judicial system was a key factor in encouraging foreign investment, Kellam said, and could have a direct and significant impact on the economy.

This was something that Singapore recognised 15 years ago, he said.

“They understood the value of a civil system that is incorruptible and competent. They spent a lot of money on their judiciary and Transparency International now rates their civil legal system as one of the best in the world.

“Singapore realised that one of the best ways to attract investment was to have a system whereby international investors knew they would get a fair go in domestic courts. If you look at the circumstances in other parts of the world where investors have no confidence in the judiciary, that deters investment and takes it offshore. They’ll go somewhere else.

Citing Adam Smith, considered one of the founders of modern capitalism, Kellam observed that “Commerce and manufacturers can seldom flourish long in any state which does not enjoy a regular administration of justice, in which people do not feel themselves secure in possession of their property, in which the faith of contracts is not supported by law.”

As a foreign investor, Kellam said, “you want to know that contact you enter into with domestic partners will be understood and enforced by courts if there is a breach. You want courts to judge you impartially – you don’t want to be discriminated against because you are a foreigner.”

“Secondly, it’s no good getting judgement if no there is enforcement – which is a major factor in developing countries. Sure you can get a judgement, but it’s not worth the paper it’s written on because there is no process for getting it enforced, and you can’t turn judgements into anything productive.”

Singapore had recognised this, and become not only a hub for foreign investment but also a regional hub for commercial arbitration.

“People from around the region will use Singapore as a place of law and business,” Kellam observed.

“The constitution sets up [an independent judiciary] for principled reasons. But there are not only good arguments for these in terms of principle, there are very good economic arguments. But the judges have got to understand that, and they’ve got to build it.”

Perhaps tellingly, President’s Member of the JSC Aishath Velezinee observed on her blog that “not a single member of the Judicial Service Commission (except for myself) or staff attended Professor Kellum’s lecture.

“What cannot be ignored is that neither the JSC nor the judges have the willingness and interest or the knowledge and capacity to reform the judiciary in accordance with the Constitution, despite the rhetoric.”

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Speaker calls on Majlis to speed up legislative duties as president opens parliament

As the People’s Majlis today reconvened for the first time in 2011, the Parliamentary Speaker Abdulla Shahid called on MPs to speed up the rate in which they worked to pass legislation with a very “busy” session ahead.

Shahid’s comments were made after President Mohamed Nasheed opened the year’s first parliamentary session with an address to MPs on the current state of national finances and developments.

Nasheed used his annual address in order to play up what he saw as “marked improvements“ in various national sectors, as well as warning of the need for further national budget cuts and unity amongst MPs in relation to recently formed local councils over the year ahead.

“The most important accomplishment is the establishment of local councils. Obviously, there are obstacles in the management of some of these councils,” Nasheed said during his opening remarks. “The government’s aim is to solve these complications in introducing decentralisation in a manner that does not compromise the features of a unitary state stipulated in the Constitution.”

The Presidential Address is required under the constitution to be given during the first meeting of the Majlis each year.

Nasheed claimed in the speech that he hoped that competitive parties would “not deliberately participate” in trying to sabotage the role of local councils, in reference to disputes over the location of some Atoll Council offices this week.

Speaking to Minivan News after the address, Abdulla Shahid, the Parliamentary Speaker and MP for the opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) said that today’s meeting of the Majlis was solely for delivery of the Presidential address. He added that no administrative duties were therefore carried out at the sitting.

Shahid claimed that DRP leader Ahmed Ali Thasmeen – as the head of the country’s largest political opposition – would be providing the response of his party to the president’s speech within 14 days as allowed under law.

However, in reflecting on the work ahead for Parliament when it meets next on 8 March, Shahid claimed that vital bills related to the country’s Penal Code and judiciary were among key early acts that he hoped to see passed within the Majlis.

Yet, the agenda for the next Majlis sitting expected to be unveiled within the next 24 hours, Shahid claimed that parliament had a full schedule ahead on the back of what he called a busy session last year.

As such, the parliamentary speaker added that parliament needed to speed up its work rate in the year ahead and could not afford to relax while a number of important bills had yet to be passed.

Shahid accepted however that there were challenges in passing laws, particularly in translating bills from their original English form, made in consultation with “overseas experts”, into Dhivehi to gain approval through the Majlis.

“When we look at the original English documents [of bills] they make a lot of sense,” he said. “Sometimes it is when these documents are translated into Dhivehi that they don’t always make much sense. There is a lot of work that needs to be done.”

Speaker encouragement

However, the speaker claimed that he was encouraged by the work of the parliament during 2010, despite partisan infighting that led to the resignation of the country’s cabinet at protest at so-called scorched earth politics adopted by some MPs.

“The amount of work concluded by parliament last year is quite remarkable,” Shahid claimed. “The passing of 42 bills out of a total of 52 that were submitted was quite good I think.”

The sentiments appeared to be shared by President Nasheed who believed the Majlis has helped bring about a number of improvements for infrastructure and development in the country despite overall differences.

“2010 was a year of achievement in many areas,” he said, during the speech.

Economy

Taking the economy as an example of the developments, the president claimed that after the previous budget was delivered back in December 2009, the country’s financial deficit was about Rf3.8 billion – amounting to 18.7 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Nasheed said that despite expenditure being higher than revenue on the back of recent budget cuts, the deficit as of the latest budget delivered in December 2010 was down 2.3 percent to 16.4 percent of total nationa GDP, amounting to Rf3.1 billion.

“By the end of 2010, the income revenue of the government amounted to Rf6 billion.” he said. “By 2010, the government had estimated recurrent revenue of Rf9.1 billion.”

While continuing to address financial developments, Nasheed said that the government would also aim to try and increase the value of Maldivian currency by strengthening existing monetary regulations.

“Additionally, we need long and mid-term measures for effective solutions to the economic infrastructure. According to the Strategic Action Plan, recurrent expenses and income are required to be kept in line with national income,” he said. “The government had made several efforts to achieve this target, including corporatising and privatising government services.”

In addressing the passing last year of taxation structures such as a Business Profit Tax and a Maldives Tourism Goods and Services Tax (GST), the president thanked parliament for supporting these bills.

Nasheed claimed in addition that small and medium enterprises would also continue to receive financial assistance from the government under a programme of soft loans and other financial packages designed to try and compliment schemes like business development centres.

These development centres – set up in Kulhudhuhfushi and Hithadhoo – were designed to offer training in fishing, guest houses, handicraft and agricultural training amongst other disciplines.

“Important steps taken to eliminate obstacles facing those wishing to start a business, include enabling vital information, trade licenses and permissions to be submitted and received via the Internet,” Nasheed claimed in the speech. “These will be facilitated this year.”

Agriculture

In areas such as agriculture the president said that the government was focusing on a number of regulations outlining new guidelines for catch and exporting products aimed at improving the income within the fisheries sector.

“Last year, much work was also done to develop agriculture in the Maldives. In this regard, agricultural products of 3 islands were brought out to the market, by contracting tourist resorts and food supply companies,” he said. “Moreover, efforts were made to raise the prices of poultry farming and agricultural yield through the production and marketing of locally produced goods. In addition, Rf1.7m worth of goods were made available to farmers at reasonable rates and 1,932 farmers were trained in various aspects of agriculture.“

The president claimed that this focus had also allowed for the establishment of subsidies totaling about Rf50m in order to allow 25 islands to be sufficiently capable of regularly marketing produce grown there. The focus was also expected to be backed by an Agricultural School in Laamu Atoll Gan, according to Nasheed.

Tourism

In addressing plans for the country’s tourism sector, Laamu Atoll was also highlighted as a zone that would be developed to additionally host three to four star resort properties as part of stated aims to cater for more middle-market tourism.

The president also focused on national developments in the form of land reclamation and the construction of a number of airports that were started during the previous year.

“This would introduce even greater opportunities to all the islands in the region, and multiply economic activities,” he said. “The construction of an airport in Fuvahmulah is underway and the airport in Baa Atoll Dharavandhoo is likely to reach the stage of completion by the end of 2012.”

Developments at Gan International Airport were also touched upon in the speech in relation to a local joint venture between the existing site’s management, the State Trading Organization (STO) and the Maldives Airports Company. The president expressed hope that the partnership would lead to a boost in services in and out of Addu Atoll.

Transport

The issue of transport networks was also raised during the speech, with Nasheed stating that modernisation of transport systems between the country’s numerous islands and atolls was still being planned as a vital development challenge for Maldivians.

Infrastructure

Among planned infrastructure developments, the president claimed that the government remained committed to pledges to try and provide sewerage and drinking water, along with affordable housing wider to wider numbers of the population.

“We have commenced the project of building a total of 10,000 housing units, of which 4,150 have been contracted and 1,750 of which are currently under construction,” he said. “In order to resolve the issues of congestion and lack of housing in Male’, under the first phase of Veshifahi Male’ programme, application forms are being issued for those wishing for housing. The second phase of the Gulhifalhu Project is underway and the reclamation of the 50-hectare land is scheduled to begin next month.”

A further 298 housing units were also said to be in the course of being supplied to people in areas such as Gaaf alif Atoll who still required shelter following the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

Environment

Alongside these infrastructure developments, the president also used his speech to touch upon the environmental programmes that he had been a vocal campaigner of internationally – such as the Maldives becoming a carbon neutral nation by 2020.

“Various efforts were exerted by the government last year to transform the Maldives into a carbon-neutral nation. In this regard, auditing of carbon present in the Maldives and the measure of greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere were identified,” he claimed. “It is highly essential that we embrace renewable energy and diversify sources and techniques used to generate renewable energy. The environmental changes instigated by the emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere are directly linked to the life of every Maldivian.”

The tourism industry was not deemed immune to the need for greater attempts at providing sustainable initiatives, with the president claiming that sub divisionary offices of the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) would be also be established to expand their presence and influence around the country.

Health

Looking at areas such as health, the president said that over 56,000 Maldivians had been signed up to the state run health insurance scheme known as Madhana, a figure that was expected to grow during the coming year.

“The government expended over Rf144m on social protection last year in an effort to assuage the public plight of having to depend on handouts for healthcare,” he said. “Work will continue this year on increasing the number of people registered under Madhana. The government’s aim is to raise the number of Madhana clients to nearly 100,000 by the end of this year.”

Nasheed also played up the developments such as Telelmedicine in his speech, a service he claimed was currently introduced in five islands to alleviate potential strain on medical services, with a further 34 islands expected to adopt the system in 2011.

“This system would instead allow patients to benefit from the expertise and facilities of hospitals and doctors all across the world,” he said. “This service would be introduced in another 34 islands of the Maldives in the future.”

Two additional bills were also expected to be put in front of the Majlis during the coming year. According to the president, both the Health Service Bill and the Medical Negligence Bill were devised to bring important overhauls to the country’s medical services that he hoped would see them put in place as soon as possible.

Nasheed claimed that important breakthroughs had also been brought in by the Majlis in areas such as protecting rights for disabled people along with providing financial aid.

“In order to maintain social security costs at a sustainable level, a social security fund has been established and is being developed further to protect people from economic instability and insecurity,” he said. “A special budget has been allocated for this purpose.”

Education

The president claimed that “significant steps” had also been made by parliament during 2010 to finalise and roll out an amended national education programme including technical training and standards.

The measures, outlined under a new Education Bill had now been submitted to the Majlis. Despite the government’s intentions, Nasheed accepted that not all aims were as yet being made.

“Last year, I stated that our main goal for 2010 was to increase the percentage of graduates holding 5 [O-level] passes from 32 per cent to 41 per cent,” he said during the speech. “Even though this goal was not reached, the figure has now been increased to 35 percent. Performance improvements were achieved by 100 schools in 2010 over 2009. To sum up, the percentage of students who passed in 5 subjects has increased in those schools.”

The President also claimed that his government had also obtained the grandest achievement within the country’s academic history so far with the establishment of theMaldives National University.

“The university will serve the purpose of creating, preserving and disseminating knowledge and skills required for national development in cultural, social, economic and public spheres to safeguard the Maldives as a sovereign Islamic nation,” he said. “I take this moment to sincerely thank the honourable members of this Majlis for granting passage to the National University Act”

Religion

The president also used his speech to claim that 2010 had seen “notable achievements” within the Maldives in regards to strengthening religious awareness and rejuvenating Islam among the public.

To this end, Nasheed said that religious scholars had been used to provide sermons across the country, while additional mosques were constructed in 12 islands across the nation.

“Alms collection was also increased compared to last year, and the funds were used for major projects. 39 islands were selected for construction of new mosques this year, 21 of which would be funded by the state budget,” he said. “Construction of these mosques is set to begin this year, and work is being done to procure foreign assistance for the construction of another 18 mosques. In addition to those, I would like to highlight that the first Islamic bank to be established in the Maldives will be opened during this month.”

Crime

In relation to criminal activity in the Maldives, the president claimed that the number of crimes, at least reported, to the Maldives Police Service had fallen by eleven percent in 2011. Nasheed added that a new police strategy to run from this year until 2013 had also been put in place in order to try and focus additionally on emerging areas such as cyber crimes.  Drugs were said to remain a key focus for law enforcement officials.

“The efforts exerted by the government to prevent the illegal trafficking of narcotic drugs into the country have been rewarding,” said Nasheed. “This is evidenced by the reduction in the number of people reported for drug offences by 46 percent in 2010, compared with that of in 2009, according to recent Police records. Moreover, these records indicate a 40 percent reduction in the percentage of youth exposed and therefore, are highly susceptible to adopting the habit of drug abuse.”

Culture and sport

According to the president, another important area of focus for the country was deemed to be in the development of cultural and literary talent.

The inaugural Hay Festival Maldives, a sister event to the annual Hay Festival in Wales, UK, was seen as an important step in highlighting the works of local artists and writers alongside their international counterparts.

The president claimed that on the back of the event, the government was looking to try and develop local skills and talent with the aid of an Arts Council and Heritage Council during 2011.

Similarly, Nasheed praised developments made in the fields of national sports such as the success of the Maldives cricket team after its triumph in the ACC Trophy Challenge held in Thailand this year.

Gender

Raising the issue of equality, Nasheed said that significant steps had been taking to try and reduce gender discrimination.

“In this regard, a resort forum was held to promote products crafted by women and financial aid was rendered to organizations striving to encourage and emancipate women in our society to gain their rights and opportunities, and to extend and employ their potential in managing trade and businesses,” he said.

Security

Under plans outlined for the year ahead and beyond, the president said that the work of the country’s National Security Council was in the process of trying to be expanded. An office of a National Security Advisor had also been set up to extend this work including laying out marine security, identifying internal threats and improving bilateral relations.

“This action plan will be devised within 90 days forward,” the president added. “For the first time in the Maldivian history, Maldivian soldiers will participate in the UN Peace Keepers’ regiment under a contract to be signed this year.”

Political privileges

In discussing the controversial Privileges Bill that the Majlis had attempted to pass at the end of last year within the budget, the president said that he felt that revisions needed to be urgently considered in line with recommendations he had provided.

“I regard it as being highly important that the members of the Majlis receive their necessary privileges and protection,” Nasheed said. “During the history of 77 years of the Majlis, there have been several circumstances under which some respected members of the Majlis, either incumbent or resigned then, had to face various contemptible consequences concerning politics, justice and other controversies.”

In considering these potential difficulties, the president asked parliament to consider a Privilege Bill that was provided under an established and legitimate law.

Judiciary

Nasheed added that with democracy being a key aim of his government, ensuring efficient division of the different branches of the state were a key part of these goals. Amidst recent concerns addressed by some bodies like the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) that the nation’s judiciary may not be working independently, Nasheed said he believed the role of the Majlis in trying to ensure this was increasingly important.

“A noteworthy example is the establishment of important offices that come under the judicial system in the Maldives last year,” he claimed.

“Today, my main appeal is for you endeavor to instill trust and faith in the judicial system of the Maldives and in the work of parliament. I appeal for unity in the national interests and prioritize constructive judgment and wisdom to allow for peace, progress and order in our country, without being associated with those seeking abrupt opportunities to disrupt and topple the government.”

The full address can be read here.

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