Tag: Majlis

MDP proposes bill to reform judiciary, reappoint higher courts

The ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has proposed a bill to amend the Courts Act (22/2010) which would reduce the number of judges on both the benches of the Supreme Court and High Court if passed.

In a press released issued by the party’s parliamentary group, amendments have been proposed to article 5 and article 27 of the Courts Act which dictates the number of judges on the benches.

The first amendment proposes changing clause (a) of the article 5 of the Courts Act, reducing the Supreme Court bench to five judges inclusive of the chief justice. The amendment would also dissolve clause (a) of the article 16 in Judges Act (Act 13/2010).

The second amendment proposed reducing the High Court bench to seven judges, inclusive of a chief judge.

The current Supreme Court has a bench of seven judges, including the chief justice, while the High Court consists of nine judges including the chief judge of the High Court.

The bill also states that once it is passed and ratified, the judges for the Supreme Court and the High Court should be reappointed within 30 days.

MDP Spokesperson and MP Imthiyaz Fahmy stated that the bill was proposed because the ruling party believes that the Supreme Court and the High Court have been inefficient in finishing cases, and that it is not feasible to have a large bench of judges if the efficiency of the courts were below expected standards.

“Only 31 percent of the cases submitted to the Supreme Court in 2008 were actually finished while the remaining 69 percent remained pending. In other countries with similarly-sized benches the same number of judges finish more than 90 cases annually,” Fahmy said.

Fahmy also said that the MDP is not seeking to remove specific judges from the bench,and that instead the intention was purely to reform the judiciary and ensure the people had free and fair access to justice.

The MDP was confident that the bill would pass despite neither the opposition or the ruling party having an absolute majority, Fahmy said.

Prominent lawyer Ali Hussain raised doubts about the sincerity of the MDP parliamentary group’s decision considering the timing of the proposal. Hussain claimed the government had a majority in the JSC and the parliament for six months [referring to the 16th parliament which ended its term in February 2009 after the general elections] and had done nothing to reform the judiciary.

Independent MP for Kulhudhuhfushi, Mohamed Nasheed, was reported saying in the local media that the bill to amend the Act was an attempt by the government and the ruling MDP to intimidate the current sitting judges of courts of the Maldives. Fahmy denied the claims.

The MDP recently launched a campaign to reform the judiciary. The government subsequently took Chief Judge of the Criminal Court Abdulla Mohamed into military custody maintaining that Judge Abdulla posed a threat to the wellbeing of the society.

Tempers have flared across the capital Male’ with an ongoing series of opposition-led protests calling for the government to uphold the constitution and release the chief judge.

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Accountability of political accounts not so clear: Transparency

Transparent political financing in the Maldives is moderately but unspecifically supported by legislation, however in practice political parties and candidates can easily manipulate funding with little consequence and leaving no clear trail of public accountability.

“In the Maldives political financing is mainly viewed as a book keeping and procedural issue rather than as an issue of accountability to one’s constituency that directly affects the level of democracy within the system”, reads the report.

“Transparency in Political Financing in Maldives” is part of the Crinis Project, a joint effort between Transparency International and the Carter Center that began in Latin America in 2006, and has since been executed in Indonesia, Bangladesh and Nepal.

Using surveys, interviews and analysis carried out between November 2010 and April 2011, the project measures 10 “dimensions of transparency” in the financial reporting practices of nine political parties, 15 MPs, eight presidential candidates from the 2008 elections, and various donors. Official legislation was jointly analysed.

Ratings for both ‘Law’ and ‘Practice’ were measured on a scale of 0 to 10, where 10 indicates full compliance with standards of transparency and accountability and 0 indicates no compliance.

The project distinguishes between non-electoral funds, campaign funds, and funds received and managed by candidates independent of their parties.

The Maldives ranked 4.6 on the Crinis Index overall, qualifying as “average”. With ‘Law’ rated at 5.1 and ‘Practice’ rated at a lower 4.1, the report notes that “there is much room for improving both the legal framework on political financing and political financing practices in the country.”

Average aggregate scores in the categories State Oversight, Prevention (of manipulation), Disclosure (of information to the citizens), and Reliability, Depth and Scope of reporting leveled the total score at 4.6, the report states.

However, the majority of these categories barely reached above the ‘Insufficient’ rating, with Non-State Oversight and Sanctions, or penalties for non-compliance with the legal framework, received the lowest scores.

The only category to qualify as “good” (6.8-10) was Book Keeping, scraping in with the minimum score of 6.8.

In each category the Maldives’ legislation for political financing qualified as ‘average’ with a median score of 5.7. However the law was not rated for Reliability as it was a perception-based dimension, or for Non-State Oversight, as there is no mechanism stipulated in Maldivian law.

Practices in political financing were generally found to be‘insufficient’, notably in the categories of Reporting, Disclosure, and Prevention. Sanctions (1.0) and Non-State Oversight (1.2) scored the lowest.

Comparatively, Book Keeping and Scope (of reporting) scored positively with ratings of 7.5 and 8.4, respectively.

The report observes that the Maldives only introduced multi-party democracy in 2005 and did not have an independent elections commission (EC) until 2008.

Although reporting to the EC is mandated by law, the study finds that the legal framework enforcing this mandate ranks only at 4.5 on the Crinis scale. In practice, reporting received a score of 3.3 (insufficient), as “parties do not specify separate sources and amounts of funding” when they do report and “in most cases, the absence of the standardised reporting format also leads to inconsistencies on the information provided by parties.”

Moreover, information is poorly disclosed to the public. In the category of measures which prevent abuse of resources and conflicts of interest, the study ranked party behavior at 2.8  and practice at 3.2–both insufficient rankings. Meanwhile, the law scored an average ranking of 4.7.

“The Regulation on Political Parties does not require political parties to conduct their financial transactions through a bank account; nor is there a provision in the law prohibiting the acceptance of cash donations; nor is there an upper limit to cash donations which parties are allowed to accept,” the report states. “Since parties are not required to conduct all its transactions through a bank account, there is no way for Elections Commission to verify that parties have reported all of its income and expenditures, nor can the Elections Commission verify that parties have not accepted types of income which are prohibited by law.”

The report points out that the system of political financing is interdependent. “For example, the public’s access to financial reports depends on whether political actors submit reports to a state oversight agency. Such disclosure, in turn, is nearly impossible to obtain if parties lack an internal book-keeping system.

“As such, transparent political financing is not guaranteed even if the proper operation of one or two of these dimensions is confirmed in practice”, the report states.

The effort involved in assembling the report further highlights the system’s weaknesses.

“We had quite a bit of difficulty getting information from almost all sources,” said Project Coordinator Ma’rifa Hassan. “After a long time of asking and waiting for donors, political parties and politicians” to respond to inquiries, she said most information came from the EC “because they’re the only ones with the financial records”–in itself a surprise.

Of the fifteen candidates approached, Hassan said, only one provided a single set of records. “The rest just said ‘you can get it from the EC, we do not have it anymore.’ Our impression is that once the campaign is over and they’re elected, they don’t care about the financial aspects,” she said. “In my opinion, it’s quite absurd that a lot of political parties or campaign candidates claim they do not have those records.”

Approaching the EC was a struggle as well.

“Just getting the first appointment to explain our project was very difficult,” said Executive Director Ilham Mohamed.

Once allowed to access the information, researchers found that they had to sit with an official to look over the records, and could only copy the information by hand. “The average citizen, public official or a journalist is not going to have the drive or the time to wait and wait for an appointment, and then have to copy everything by hand,” she observed. “These things should be available, and people shouldn’t have to justify why they want to see the records in the first place.”

The team conceded that the research collided with the primary elections, and that the EC was understandably busy at the time.

Aside from their own experience, the team took the pulse of the public’s interaction with the information.

Sending out 14 volunteers from the public with a list of information to obtain, the team examined the level of proactive disclosure among donors, politicians, political parties and the EC. According to the team, none of the volunteers were able to obtain any information.

The team affirmed that the lack of transparency and accountability in political financing supports the recent finding that 90 percent of Maldivians believe that “corruption has increased” or remained level in the last three years and perceive parliament as the “most corrupt” institution, as stated in Transparency’s recent report “Daily Lives and Corruption: Public Opinion in Maldives”.

“Asking about a party’s financial records and spending practices also labels you as suspicious,” Mohamed pointed out. “A majority of people we interviewed saw this as a privacy issue. But if you’re spending money or taking money from a budget to be elected to a public post, then it is a public matter. You’re privacy stops there.”

The team observed that although the country scored ‘average’ for its laws and clauses, “the objective of having those laws and clauses is not achieved. The EC is required by law to facilitate public access to records, but it doesn’t specify how.”

The Elections Commission received the brunt of the report’s constructive criticism, along with Parliament. The report charged the EC with streamlining and enforcing the reporting methods to be used by political parties and between parties, the EC and the public. Meanwhile Parliament was tasked with amending legislation to make financial transactions among political parties and electoral candidates more transparent, for example, by requiring that all transactions be done through a specific bank account.

Other recommendations included consistent and balanced media coverage and work by civil society organisations to inform the public of political financial operations. Political parties were tasked with reporting clearly to the public and the EC in a timely manner.

“Basically, we have a lot of work to do”, the Transparency team concluded.

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Parliament passes bill reducing, eliminating import duties

Parliament today passed a bill proposed by the government under its economic reform package to amend the Export-Import Act of 1979 to reduce and eliminate import duties for a wide range of goods.

The amendment bill was passed today with unanimous consent of 60 MPs present and voting.

Among the items for which custom duties would be eliminated include construction material, foodstuffs, agricultural equipment, medical devices, passenger vessels and goods used for tourism services.

However, the bill was passed with an amendment to charge a Rf10,000 (US$650) annual fee for passenger vessels and no change to tariffs for spare parts. While import duties were eliminated for construction material such as cement, glass, tin, aluminium, plywood and plastic fittings, an import duty of five percent will be levied on tiles, which was reduced from the previous 25 percent.

Import duty was reduced to five percent for furniture, beds and pillows as well as cooking items made from base metals. Other kitchen utensils had duties reduced to 10 percent.

While import duties were eliminated for most fruits and vegetables, 15 percent would still be levied on bananas, papaya, watermelon and mangoes as a protectionist measure for local agriculture. Areca-nuts would have duty reduced from 25 percent to 15 percent.

Import duties for tobacco would be hiked from 50 percent to 150 percent. However an amendment proposed by the government to raise import duties for alcohol and pork from 30 to 70 percent was defeated at committee stage.

A total of Rf2.4 billion was projected as income from import duties in the 2011 budget. With the passage of the amendment bill today and ratification by the President, the figure is expected to decline to Rf1.8 billion next year. The shortfall is to be covered by Rf2 billion in tourism goods and services tax (T-GST) and Rf 1 billion as general goods and services tax (G-GST) revenue.

MDP parliamentary group leader MP Ibrahim Mohamed Solih was not responding to calls at the time of press.

PPM Media Coordinator and Vili-Maafanu MP Ahmed Nihan told Minivan News today that all members of the party’s parliamentary group voted in favour of the bill and stressed the importance of “providing relief to businesses” paying GST on top of custom duties.

“By this vote today, we have answered the MDP’s allegations that we tried to stop Majlis sittings to prevent this bill from being passed,” he said.

Speaker Abdulla Shahid and the ruling party should bear full responsibility for the cancellation of nine sittings over three weeks, Nihan said, as the dispute over the convicted Kaashidhoo MP’s attendance could have been avoided.

The PPM council member condemned the ruling party’s “efforts to blame the Majlis cancellation on opposition parties.”

“PPM will support any measure that will provide relief to the public,” he said, adding that the party would “very closely monitor” pricing by retailers following the elimination of import duties.

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“Overdue” national drug survey active across Maldives

The first “scientifically robust national survey” of drug use in the Maldives is kicking off with training for employees and volunteers this week. The survey was contracted by national research organisation Inova Pvt Ltd, in partnership with the Ministry of Health and Family.

The survey examines the drug use habits of Maldivians ages 15 to 64, and is a contributing factor of the program, “Strengthening the National response to Combat Drug Abuse in the Maldives”, which began in July under the remit of the United Nations (UN) and the Maldivian government.

United Nations’ Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC), the All Indian Institute and the European Union are providing funding and expertise, and 13 local NGOs are assisting the project, particularly within island communities.

International Project Coordinator for UNODC, Sarah Waller, said the survey would add structure to the Maldivian government’s sparse drug policy.

“The survey should generate a better understanding of where treatment gaps in the community are, in order for the government and civil society to target appropriate evidence-based treatment and interventions in their drug-treatment planning. At the moment, it’s a bit of a guess how services are set up. This will enable to the government to provide a much more targeted response to the issue.”

The survey is being conducted according to two methods.

On islands, ‘enumerators’ employed by Inova will gather and process data by conducting household interviews.

Waller said many enumerators come from the recovering community, and staff from Journey are providing specific training to those who have little to no experience in drug use and abuse.

“Many have likely never interacted in the past with drug users. The first few days of training are about building awareness and sensitisation around drug users, around the Maldives’ treatment systems, and around the patterns and trends of drug abuse here,” Waller said.

Another method will be applied on Male’. Volunteer ‘respondents’ will serve as the middle man, gathering survey participants from Male’s more dense and urban community and connecting with them enumerators.

“The methodology for Male’ is quite different from what is given out on the islands,” said Waller. “The method, Respondent Driven Sampling (RDS), is more appropriate to the community on Male’. This approach identifies initial seeds in the community, and those seeds generate additional seeds. So you’re really generating responses through one initial seed.”

Respondents will be rewarded with coupons according to their efforts gathering participants. Waller emphasised that the compensation had been carefully designed to protect the survey’s validity.

“The evidence base suggests that incentivizing the driving of seeds to identify more individauls to take part in the study can enable a much more representative and accurate sample. When it comes to incentivizing recovering or abusive populations, there are ethics that need to be considered regarding that incentive. In particular with doing research amongs drug users, there have to be ethics whereby monetary incentives aren’t sufficient enough to encourage the workers to use them on drugs.”

Minivan News spoke to Journey volunteer member Imlaaq Shareef about the survey’s methods.

“It’s an advanced form of snowballing. First, the respondents will bring one or two and give a reward, maybe three coupons. Then they’ll bring another three addicts, and get a reward for that. So from one respondent the team will get more and more samples,” said Shareef.

When asked if the survey was likely to be accurate, Shareef doubted that all participants would initially be honest.

“But in the survey there are a lot of recovering addicts who are volunteering, and they’ll be able to identify the community here,” Shareef observed. “This is a small place, so, even the person who is doing drugs the most secretively somehow some people will know about it. So we can reach for them. I think by this survey, we can get a good estimate.”

In Shareef’s opinion, the survey is overdue.

“It should have been done earlier. Day by day, the number of IV users is getting high, and drug users are getting high, the number of sex workers are increasing. And in most cases, sex workers are addicts because it’s the easiest way for a girl addict to get money to buy her drugs. There is no choice for these girls, and most do not enjoy it,” said Shareef.

In addition to having an information shortage, the Maldives is struggling to plug the gaps between drug rehabilitation and law enforcement.

“There are very few rehabilitation service providers here,” said Shareef. “The problem is, once people get out of rehab they have to sign up for community service and stay here for a year or so. If they relapse during that period, it’s a big case. They might end up in court or jail. So most people are afraid of taking a treatment, because of the loopholes in the law.”

Shareef complained that a drug reform bill has been stalled in Parliament.

“Even very recently, at Journey, we put out a petition that was signed by nearly 8,000 people and sent it to the Majlis to pass the drug bill. But they don’t give a damn about it. They are just concerned about the Rf20,000 they are getting. I wonder what kind of risk they are taking,” said Shareef.

Parliament accepted the bill in March 2010 and sent the legislation to committee for further review.

Shareef said the bill would significantly improve drug addicts’ recovery process.

“A user should never end up in jail. It has been scientifically proven that addiction is a chronic brain disease. So why should they end up in jail? It’s a big problem,” Shareef said.

Waller said the survey could provide a base line for developing a sufficient drug management infrastructure.

“The data can assist government in how and where to apply the information, and what communities need in terms of service. There is certainly an affinity between the two,” she said.

The project’s final report is due for release in February 2012.

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Comment: Parliament is laughing at you

What a laugh the Majlis is having at the people’s expense. If voting to give themselves the extra MRF20,000 (US$1300) was like spitting people in the face, having the pay cheque backdated is like rubbing the polity’s face in the MPs’ bejewelled excrement.

For what is this money being rewarded? For emotional distress caused by having to bend to the people’s will for eight arduous months? Has life really been that tough on MRF60,000 US$(3900) a month that MPs need financial redress for their suffering?

It really must have been difficult coming up to Ramadan, having to forgo one or many of all those pre-Ramadan MP necessities. No pre-fasting trips to Bangkok, no spiritual rejuvenation trips to Sri Lanka, no shopping trips to Malaysia, no tri-annual holiday abroad for the parliamentary off spring.

Having had to endure a month in which the prices from fish to furniture have gone beyond the common man’s reach, the collective empathy of the people are no doubt with the Majlis.

Kudos to the 17 who have said they do not want the allowance.  Most fascinating, though, are the 16 who abstained. Would the allowance have been possible without them?

How complex and nuanced a question is: do you think you deserve the MRF20,000 a month at a time of grave national debt? It requires a simple yes or no answer – you are either with the people or you are not. Sitting on the fence on this question is even more self-serving than those who voted to keep the allowance – at least they were honest.

And then there are the MPs who are speaking out against the proposed income tax. On the grounds that it applies only to a small percentage of the population! Taxing the small percentage of the mega rich who have this country in a stranglehold, and letting the poor escape the burden – that is the purpose of it, one would have thought. In some MPs’ books, taxes should be equal – this is some people’s understanding of democracy, alas.

The avarice in the parliament is widespread, and its connections to big money are many. On the day of the salary vote at the Public Accounts Committee, its Chairman Ahmed ‘Jangiya’ [Panties] Nazim was in court for allegedly embezzling money from the public coffers to the tune of US$400,000.

If MPs stuck the polity’s face in their excrement, the Criminal Court’s decision to ban the media from MP Nazim’s court hearings buried the public in shallow graves dug in the same matter.

The accused is the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, the man who chairs the meetings at which decisions are made on how public accounts are to be balanced. He stands charged with fraud. If this is not a matter of public interest, then what is?

And what does the Criminal Court’s justification for the decision to ban the media even mean? Article 42 of the Constitution, to which the Court referred in its decision, says courts can only exercise their discretion to exclude the media if doing otherwise would disrupt public order, public morality or national security. None of these issues are at play here.

If the Criminal Court’s decision to gag the media refers to ‘other special circumstances where publicity would prejudice the interests of justice’ as said in Article 42, what the Court is effectively saying is that it is open to suggestion by every lowly hack out there.

The ‘democratic norms’, only according to which the discretionary powers in Article 42 are to be exercised, has long established that dangers of prejudice by media criticism arises where a jury is involved – not in cases where judges are sitting alone.

Unlike a jury of 12 ordinary people, judges – assumed to have achieved higher levels of education and higher levels of ethics and morality than ordinary people – are seen as above outside influence, and able to make a ruling based solely on the evidence before him.

By saying the court cannot come to a fair and impartial ruling because of what is being said in the media, it is clearly admitting that the judge sitting alone is easily influenced and cannot be trusted.

Perhaps balancing the people’s right to freedom of expression with an accused person’s right to a fair trial was not a module covered in the Sentencing Certificate?

The media should be in an uproar over this gagging order. Apart from a statement from the Media Council, however, there has been nothing.

Where is the Maldives Journalists Association with their usual indignation? Where is the Maldives National Journalists Association? Where are the highly paid members of the Broadcasting Commission? Where is the burgeoning ‘free press’?

Will the real Fourth Estate please stand up?

All comment pieces are the sole view of the author and do not reflect the editorial policy of Minivan News. If you would like to write an opinion piece, please send proposals to [email protected]

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PA MP announces decision to leave party following coalition split

MP of the opposition-aligned People’s Alliance (PA) Ahmed Rasheed has announced on MNBC his decision to leave the party “to better serve the public as an independent.”

Rasheed, who spoke to the state broadcaster on Sunday, also said he was open to joining other parties “if it was within the public interest.”

The PA’s acting Secretary General Ahmed Musthafa however told Minivan News today that he was unable to confirm whether Rasheed had left the party: “We don’t believe he has moved. I saw him yesterday,” he said, adding that the party would issue a formal communication on the matter in the next few days.

“Maybe he has been pressured by another party such as the MDP to join, although I don’t think he will,” Musthafa said.

Once Rasheed officially informs parliament of his new status as an independent, his departure from the PA could force the committee composition to be revisited for a third time this session.

While the PA would be entitled to fewer seats, parliamentary rules dictate that Rasheed must be given a seat on at least one committee as an Independent.

MP Ahmed Rasheed represents the constituency of Isdhoo in Laamu Atoll, an area of strong opposition support that voted largely for PA candidates under its former coalition agreement with the Dhivehi Rayithunge Party (DRP).

The PA decided decided on July 13 to break the longstanding coalition agreement, after internal strife within the DRP saw the party split into factions loyal to its leader Ahmed Thasmeen Ali or the party’s ‘honorary leader’, former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.

Eleven of the DRP’s MPs met with other opposition parties, including the Jumhoree Party (JP), the Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP) and an independent MP to discuss the creation of a new voting bloc, one which could see the DRP’s majority control of parliament reduced to 13-15 MPs.

DRP MP Abdulla Mausoom raised concern following the split that the PA’s decision to break the coalition agreement would upset constituents in Laamu Atoll who “are very loyal to the DRP but voted for the PA tag.”

Z-DRP MP Ahmed Mahlouf responded that such islands “voted for the PA because President Gayoom asked them to do it. Even now Zaeem (Gayoom) is with the PA, they are working together. Voters in Laamu didn’t vote for Thasmeen – they voted for Gayoom.”

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Parliament should appoint a ‘Sergeant-at-Arms’ to enforce order, not the MNDF, says Independent MP

Independent MP Mohamed Nasheed has called for parliament to appoint a ‘sergeant-at-arms’ to enforce discipline in the chamber, after weeks of disrupted sessions caused by rowdy MPs.

The situation came to a head today, with the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) on standby to ensure the continued functioning of the legislature.

Deputy Speaker Ahmed Nazim terminated the session this morning after opposition MP Ali Arif refused to leave the chamber on instruction. The military was not deployed in the chamber.

Minivan News last week witnessed MPs from former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s ‘Z-DRP’ faction of the opposition chasing Speaker of Parliament Abdulla Shahid as he left the parliament chamber. Journalists and the public were subsequently removed from the gallery.

“I think that was a bit extreme. In my opinion it should not have got to that level,” said MP Nasheed today. “No one person or party within an institution should be capable of bringing it to a halt, be it a minister of cabinet, a judge on the bench or a member of a commission.”

At the same time, “parliament being parliament, the nature of the beast is that we allow a greater latitude for sentiment.”

The government’s decision to deploy the military to ensure order in the chamber was “not sensible”, he observed: “That is a shortcut.”

The key issue, he said, was that the new parliament had not yet applied rules in its regulation governing enforcement of discipline through the formal appointment of a Sergeant-at-Arms, as provided for.

“We have instead focused on the greater latitude and freedoms to say what we think,” he said.
“We have seen occasional sporadic disruption, and sometimes organised disruption – by both major parties.”

“That scenario has led to a cumulative ignoring of discipline. MPs used to stand in their chairs, then they went up to other members, now they go right up to the secretariat. That is a line that hasn’t been crossed yet, and discipline has deteriorated,” Nasheed said.

Despite last week’s pursuit of the Speaker, there was “no risk of physical harm”, he suggested. “I don’t think parliament has got to the level where MPs will personally inflict physical harm on the Speaker.”

Nasheed recommended the Majlis follow the example of other parliaments and allocate a force under the direction of a Sergeant-at-Arms, to enforce discipline.

“Some parliaments have a paramilitary force, while others have a unit of the army or police seconded to parliamentary security,” Nasheed explained. “They have a different uniform and answer to the speaker. Given our resources I think it is fine to take a police or military unit and second it to parliament, under a man we appoint as sergeant-at-arms.”

The disruption of parliament by the opposition MPs comes scarcely weeks after the publication a ‘Parliament Watch’ report by NGO Transparency Maldives, which noted that a quarter of all sittings held last year ended in disruption.

Parliament’s first votes of the June session saw MPs voting against a motion to cut a controversial Rf20,000 in committee allowances – an effective 33 percent salary increase that sees Maldivian MPs earning on par with those in Sweden. A quarter of the chamber was absent during the vote.

At the same time, Transparency Maldives noted that key bills of national interest, including bills vital to the state and preservation of justice, such as the evidence bill, right to information bill, political parties bill, penal code bill and drugs bill “remain stagnated at committee stage”.

MP Nasheed dismissed ruling party speculation that the present disruptions were an attempt by the opposition to delay the passing of such bills, although he acknowledged that “Yes, the agenda will suffer because of this.”

“Half the session has been consumed because of this delay over the constitution of committees, but I don’t think the opposition is deliberately trying to disrupt the agenda,” he said, suggesting that the political divide and sentiments remained deep.

The opposition MPs have complained of the manner in which the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) last week gained control of parliament’s two most powerful committees, concerning finance and national security.

“Some people are objecting to the way the committees were constituted, others at the way it was endorsed in parliament,” Nasheed said.

“At 6:30pm MPs were sent an SMS message saying there would be a session at 8:30pm, lasting for five minutes, with one item on the agenda – the proposed parliamentary setup. Members did not take time look compositions, and there was no debate.”

Nasheed said that such an extraordinary vote was unnecessary, “as there was bipartisan support and it would most likely have been passed [anyway] during normal voting hours.”

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“Government can only be as good as its opposition,” says Commonwealth Deputy Secretary-General

The Maldives “throws up all the challenges of consolidating a transition to multi-party democracy,” Commonwealth Deputy Secretary-General Mmasekgoa Masire-Mwamba observed this morning at the opening of the Commonwealth’s regional workshop on parliamentary cooperation.

The aim of the workshop, she said, was to help create a constructive partnership between government and opposition parties in each participating country.

“While they may be political adversaries, they share a common national responsibility and obligation of nation-building and advancing the prospects of real development – human, political, social and economic — of the people of their respective countries,” she said.

“This can only be achieved if the political system works constructively for the welfare of all, not if it creates or exacerbates ruptures in society.”

Government and opposition have to see themselves as partners, Masire-Mwamba said.

“Government must acknowledge that there needs to be democratic space for the opposition to function and to enable other viewpoints to exist. Indeed it is often said that government can only be as good as its opposition – thus the role of opposition is a very real one in holding governments accountable and ensuring they deliver.

“On the other hand, oppositions also need to be constructive, using the democratic space provided responsibly to raise legitimate dissent where this is required, without becoming needlessly disruptive,” she suggested.

The Maldives’ consolidation of its hard-won democracy has been “long and bumpy”, Speaker of Parliament Abdulla Shahid noted, also speaking at the opening of the workshop.

“The state has spent the better part of the last three years struggling to demarcates the roles prescribed under the new constitution. It has been three years of exceptional experience for all of us,” he said at the launch of the event, which will run until June 15 at Traders Hotel in Male’.

“The perception of political parties injected a new paradigm into Maldivian politics. There is no simple formula to build a healthy rapport between political parties. The concept of a government with a legitimate opposition in the political spectrum was one that was hard to grasp for many,” Shahid said.

“We have had situations where some thought that the new democracy in the Maldives was too much for the very small and widely spread out society. We have instances in which some questioned whether democracy and the party system was te best form of governance for us. We have had instances when almost all hope was lost.

“It is to the credit of the leadership and the people of this nation that we have been able to sort out these challenges and resolve many of the encounters we have come across.”

The workshop is jointly organised by the Commonwealth Secretariat and the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA), and hosted by the People’s Majlis in the Maldives.

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Shifting loyalties: parliament lines redrawn as members cross floor

Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) MP Abdulla Abdu Raheem has resigned from the party, following similar pattern to MP Ali Waheed who defected to the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) after resigning from the party over the weekend.

As with Waheed, Raheem did not immediately state that he would be joining the MDP, however journalists reported witnessing Raheem leaving President Mohamed Nasheed’s residence of Muleeage yesterday afternoon.

The Maafannu-West MP told local media he had left the DRP on the urging of his constituents, and because “a few tycoons [in parliament] are opposing taxation”. Ali Waheed’s home constitutency of Thoddu also backed the MDP in the recent council election.

Raheem narrow defeated the Councillor for Maafanu West, Mohamed Falah, in the 2009 parliamentary election by a mere eight votes, after Maldives National Shipping Ltd Chairman and MDP member Mohamed ‘Sanco’ Shareef, who lost in the primary, competed as an independent and split the MDP vote.

Should Raheem follow in Waheed’s footsteps and join the ruling party, the MDP will establish itself as the largest single voting bloc in parliament with 34 members (35 including coalition signatory ‘Redwave’ Saleem).

This will exceed the opposition DRP-PA coalition’s 32 members (25 DRP, 7 PA).

However with the cooperation of allied parties including Gasim Ibrahim’s Jumhoree Party (3 MPs) and Dr Hassan Saeed’s Dhivehi Qaumee Party (1 MP), the opposition still control a narrow majority with 36 votes.

For an outright voting majority, either party needs to control 39 votes – giving great sway to the seven independents; six if Raheem join the MDP. Of Independent MPs Mohamed Nasheed, Ahmed ‘Sun’ Shiyam Mohamed, Ismail Mohamed Hameed, Ahmed Amir, Ibrahim Riza and Mohamed Zubair, Riza and Zubair have a voting history backing the DRP and MDP respectively, further increasing the sway of the other four.

Speaking at an MDP rally held on the weekend in honour of Waheed’s signing, President Mohamed Nasheed confidently proclaimed a parliamentary majority for the party and instructed the MPs to use it responsibly. However to obtain that majority, two more MPs would need to defect.

Local media has speculated that other MPs in the opposition may be considering crossing the floor, focusing on Yousuf Naeem, Mohamed Ramiz who has publicly denied the rumours, and Ali Mohamed who’s absence from the chamber notably and narrowly secured parliamentary endorsement of Home Minister Hassan Afeef.

Parliament sessions resume next month.

Shifting loyalties

  • Opposition support:
    Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP): 25
    People’s Alliance (PA): 7

    DRP-PA Coalition: 32

    Jumhoree Party (JP): 3
    Dhivehi Quamee Party (DQP): 1

    Total: 36

  • Government support:
    Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP): 33
    MP ‘Redwave’ Saleem (coalition agreement): 1

    Total: 34

  • Independents:
    Mohamed Nasheed
    Ahmed ‘Sun’ Shiyam Mohamed
    Ismail Mohamed Hameed,
    Ahmed Amir
    Ibrahim Riza (DRP leaning)
    Mohamed Zubair (MDP leaning)
    Abdulla Abdu Raheem (ex-DRP)
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