Tag: maldives news

MDP requests parliament dismiss Dr Afrasheem from JSC

The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) Parliamentary Group has sent a letter to the parliament requesting the removal of DRP MP Dr Afrasheem Ali from the Judicial Service Commission (JSC).

The letter was signed by the leader of MDP Parliamentary Group MP Moosa ‘Reeko’ Manik.

In the letter, Moosa alleged that Dr Afrasheem had violated Judicial Service Commission’s Act, Act number 10/2008 Section 20[a] and [b] which states that a meeting of the JSC could be held only if more than half of the total number of members were present and 20[b] which requires majority vote of present JSC members to make any decision.

Moosa referred to the incident where Dr Afrasheem allegedly phoned JSC member Fahmy Hassan also head of Civil Service Commission (CSC) to ask whether he was fine with Dr Afrasheem speaking in the Supreme Court on behalf of the JSC in the trial conducted after Criminal Court Judge filed a case against the JSC’s appointment of Judges to the High Court.

”Records of the JSC shows that Dr Afrasheem Ali has made that decision against the policy that the law state,” Moosa said in the letter. ”Although Article 164 of the constitution very clearly states that persons appointed to the JSC who is not a member of the parliament shall receive allowances and salary as decided by the parliament, records of the JSC shows that Dr Afrasheem Ali has been paid such allowances.”

Dr Afrasheem had played a role in the unlawful and unconstitutional activities the JSC had conducted, and he has been insincere in carrying out the responsibilities of the JSC, Moosa claimed.

”Therefore, [we] find Dr Afrasheem is not an appropriate person to represent the parliament in the JSC, [we] hereby present this complaint according to article 165 of the constitution and request his dismissal,” Moosa said in the letter.

Minivan News understands that parliament is currently conducting a closed door investigation of the JSC, however no information on the progress or outcome has been provided.

The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) recently published a report on the JSC critical of the commission’s independence, among other observations. The JSC has not tabled the report.

Dr Afrasheem was not responding to calls at time of press. JSC interim Secretary General, Abdul Faththah, also the JSC’s legal representative, referred Minivan News to the JSC’s media spokesperson, Hassan Zaheen. Zaheen said the JSC had no comment on the matter, but noted that “the parliament decides which MP represents it on the commission.”

Faththah has previously told Minivan News that while there “should be quorum”, in time-sensitive matters such as court summons members sometimes had to make decisions outside formal meetings, with the approval of other members.

“This is not a matter so important to take a decision with the discussion of the members,” he said at the time.

JSC members had also previously decided who should attend court hearings, during a meeting of full attendance, he added, “[but] that day the Chair was not in Male’, so members decided instead that the Deputy [Afrasheem] should attend [court],” acknowledging that “they may not have had quorum that time.”

“These kind of things happen with things like court attendance issues, but no other decisions,” he said.

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Laamu Hithadhoo ‘Responsible Officer’ arrested on suspicion of arson

Responsible Officer Abdul Raheem Idris, the highest-ranking civil servant at the Laamu Hithadhoo island council, has been arrested on suspicion of arson following a recent spate of fires in the island, reports Haveeru.

According to Island Councillor Mohamed Hussein, police took Idrees into custody last Saturday after a number of palm trees were set on fire.

The Councillor explained that police evidently had reason to believe that Idrees was behind the acts of arson.

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Adhaalath urges Maldivians to provide assistance for Japan

The Adhaalath Party has called on all the Maldivians to provide assistance to Japan quake victims.

The Party said on its website that it was fully participating in the mourning for the Japanese dead, now thought to be over 18,000.

Many different community programs to raise funds for the quake victims in Japan were held in Male’ last weekend.

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Maldives ease to victory against Cambodia 4-0

The Maldives national football team kicked off its AFC Challenge Cup qualifying campaign with a comfortable 4-0 victory over Cambodia in Male’ last night.

Cheered on by enthusiastic home support, a goal in the first minute by Muhthar Naseer and a hat-trick by Captain Ali Ashfag sealed the victory, which takes Maldives top of Group C on goal difference.

In the other game in the group, 2006 Champions Tajikistan beat Central Asian neighbour Kyrgyzstan 1-0 courtesy of a late own goal.

The Maldives was chosen by the AFC to host Group C games last month. The next matches will take place on March 23 and 25 at the National Stadium in Male’.

The two teams placed top in the group will qualify for the AFC Challenge Cup in 2012.

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DRP statement condemns opposition conduct on cabinet vote

A press statement reportedly sent from from the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) has criticised fellow opposition politicians for voting in favour of the government at the Majlis yesterday over cabinet appointees.

Miadhu reported that the party, currently gripped by internal struggles between supporters of current leader Ahmed Thasmeen Ali and his predecessor and former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, released a statement saying it was unhappy that four ministerial nominees were endorsed by the Majlis yesterday.

According to the statement, the endorsements came despite Thasmeen having decided to reject three of the ministerial appointments.

“We are disheartened that some of those who voted in favour of the government were those individuals who spoke from the first rows of the different podiums, different TV Channels, taking the government to account,” the DRP were reported as saying.

The statement also raised concerns that DRP politicians Ilham Ahmed and Ali Mohamed did not participate in the votes that, in certain cases, narrowly approved the new cabinet ministers.

Home Minister Hassan Afeef and Transport Minister Adhil Saleem were narrowly approved in spite of the DRP declaring that it would impose a three-line whip to reject the two nominees.

Afeef and Saleem were approved after a few independent MPs along with Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP) MP Riyaz Rasheed and Republican Party MP Gasim Ibrahim sided with the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) – Saleem was approved with 39 votes in favour while Afeef received 37 votes from the 73 MPs present and voting.

However, MPs rejected the reappointment of Attorney General Dr Ahmed Ali Sawad for a second time. Dr Sawad received 36 votes in favour and 37 against from the 73 MPs in attendance.

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JCI president optimistic over Maldives development awareness following visit

The President of Junior Chamber International (JCI) has claimed that humanity is in a unique position for the first time in its history to be able to overcome development challenges and other restrictions on “Human Security” that may have been previously beyond its collective abilities.

The claims were made JCI World President Kentaro Harada following his visit to the Maldives last week to look at the organisation’s involvement in local development projects.

The JCI, an NGO which describes itself as a UN-affiliated network of young people and entrepreneurs in their 20s and 30s, claims to have over a quarter of a million members worldwide that work to collaborate on community development projects in their respective countries.

Harada said he believed that the country’s work and awareness of global development projects in fields such as the environment reflected the wider international acceptance and improved technical knowhow for overcoming challenges that once seemed insurmountable – even a few decades ago.

“We can all begin working together with small and medium enterprises in order to find solutions to major development goals,” he said. “There is a very high mountain to climb, but we can achieve this I am sure.”

The JCI president said that while showing such optimism in the 19th or 20th century may have seen him derided as a “crazy person”, he believed that there was a much greater acceptance today of the role young people and enterprises could play in working towards meeting goals outlined by organisations like the United Nations.

Maldives visit

Harada himself spent two days in the Maldives last week as part of a wider tour of JCI member nations during 2011, having already visited 13 countries since New Year. He used his Maldivian visit to view initiatives such as education and environment programmes that were being managed locally.

Visiting certain projects along with JCI Maldives President, Shaneez Saeed, Harada said that he had been pleasantly surprised during a school visit by statistics that claim 40 per cent of the Maldivian students were aware of the UN’s Millennium Development Goals.

“In most countries, around just one percent of the similar population know these goals,” he said.

Rather than a spot of last minute revision, Harada believed that the Maldives’ apparent success in detailing the eight UN objectives, based around attempts to try and globally cut poverty and hunger, combat diseases such as HIV/AIDS, improve child health and universal education and ensuring gender equality, all stemmed from concerns about the country’s long-term geographic stability.

“The main reason I believe [that these goals are commonly known in the Maldives] is down to environmental sustainability,” he said. “I remember breaking news all over the world of your government having underwater meetings. It is the efforts of groups and business working to these goals that have made these objectives well known.”

Although the JCI aims to work with business and organisations at local level to try and encourage various development programmes, the organisation claimed that the growing ease of connecting with others through social networking and the internet made communication about development challenges much easier.

Despite upholding differences between countries like the Maldives and Harada’s native Japan in terms of cultural identity, the NGO’s president said he still believed that it was vital for groups like the JCI to help try and foster mutual understanding between different nations and communities.

Shaneez Saeed, who heads the work of the JCI in the Maldives, told Minivan News following last week’s visit how training schemes brought to the country from other nations were highlighting possibilities for mutal understanding.

Saeed, used the example of a training programme held this month where parents were being encouraged to listen more to the views of children as successful examples of overturning nationally held beliefs.

Harada conceded that despite his overall optimism for global development initiatives such as those promoted by the JCI, there was significant work required to improve human security both nationally and internationally to ensure that everyone was able to have a “daily peaceful life”.

“This is true not only in the Maldives, but in Asia, Africa and all over the world. We cannot ignore that awful things happening in this world that require attention,” he said. “Since the end of the cold war, we have seen national governments trying to evade human rights.”

Nonetheless, Harada claimed that governments, businesses and everyday citizens had unprecedented opportunities to achieve significant steps forward in human development globally.

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Voice clip of MDP T-shirt negotiations leaked to local media

A voice clip of a conversation has between Special Envoy to the President Ibrahim Zaki and a person named Anandhu, purportedly in the UK, has been leaked to the local media, concerning negotiations for the delivery of T-Shirts for the Maldivian Democratic Party ahead of the Presidential election.

In the voice clip that first appeared on the website of local radio station SunFM, Zaki and Anandhu speak about payment for the T-shirts ahead of the 2008 presidential elections.

The General Elections Act article number 70 states that “products or money” given by foreigners shall not be used by a Presidential Candidate or any person on behalf of a Presidential Candidate, and article 70[a] states that ”Products or money given by foreigners, foreign parties or foreign administrations shall not be used.”

Zaki told Minivan News that he had provided ”many T-shirts” to the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP).

”No foreign party has directly contributed the MDP, it all came to me and from the things I received I gave things that I felt like giving to MDP,” he said. ”The General Election Act prohibits political parties accepting offers from foreign parties.”

Elections Commissioner Fuad Thaufeeq did not respond to Minivan News at time of press, while Vice Commissioner’s phone was switched off.

Director General of the Elections Commission Mohamed Tholal said he was out of the country and was unable to comment.

The leaked conversation:

Anandhu: Yes, Zaki. On the 1st I will make the transfer. Now, I understand from you, from the email I got also, that I got to do it directly to Elements (?) Garment.

Zaki: Yes, because that makes things very easy for us. That means by wire transfer.

A: Ok, no problem. The rest, I mean you can count me. On the 1st it will be done by wire transfer, ok? And I will then send you an email on the 1st itself to say it’s done and chase it up with Elements Garments to make sure everything goes according to plan. But if I do it on the 1st, say we receive the funds on the 2nd, I mean, do you know the company very well? Does Mausoom know the company very well?

Z: Mausoom knows very well.

A: OK, tell Mausoom to tell then that the funds are coming. Prepare everything and as soon as they receive the funds they can just send it. Because what my fear is that by the time it comes to Male’ – I don’t know how long it will take.

Z: I think it will not take more than about five, six days.

A: Five, six days, ok. As of today, when do you envisage the date of the election will be? It will be around the 11th of September?

Z: Well, you know, the original contemplation of the government was to have the first round on the 20th of September and to have the second round on the 4th of October.

A: Then we have enough time. Because what my worry was, I didn’t want the t-shirts to get to you too late.

Z: Yeah, and in the meantime, an EU delegation came here a couple of days ago.

A: Yes, yes.

Z: And they met us and they said they’ve been talking to Gayoom also and talking to us. And they said their idea is that the 1st of September to the 30th is the month of Ramazan, the fasting month. So their suggestion is why don’t we have the first round on the 4th of October and the second round after two weeks.

A: It makes sense. I don’t know how you feel, but it makes sense. It gives you a bit more time to prepare.

Z: No, our reply was very simple. We cannot agree that the current regime can be extended more than the 11th of November.

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“Tolerance and passive acceptance of others is not enough”: UK High Commissioner Rankin

British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka and the Maldives, John Rankin, has said that yesterday’s International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination marked an “opportunity for all of us to re-commit to defending and promoting fundamental equality.”

“We live in an age of diversity, where societies grow ever more complex each day. Diversity is not a choice – it is a reality that we live; a reality that makes it imperative that the prejudice and injustice of racial discrimination is purged from society,” Rankin said.

“Tolerance and passive acceptance of others is not enough. Racial discrimination is a breeding ground for tension and mistrust that can lead to conflict – a phenomenon we have witnessed, time and again, in history. Overcoming racism will lead to the evolution of a strong, dynamic and healthy society – the foundation for sustainable peace and development in the twenty-first century.”

He added that the first article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirms that “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination reminds us of our collective responsibility for promoting and protecting this ideal.”

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