Police have arrested a man in possession of “lots of furniture” on the island of Maafaru in Noonu Atoll, reports ManadhooLive.
The online newspaper reported that the police have now prepared the items to be taken to Manadhoo in Noonu Atoll.
The site reported that man was now in police custody, however the reason for his arrest was unclear.
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(0)Sri Lankan Higher Education Minister S.B. Dissanayake has raised the possibility of establishing a Business Management Faculty, affiliated to the Sri Jayewardenepura University, with High Commissioner of the Maldives to Sri Lanka, Hussein Shihab.
The Faculty will provide postgraduate degrees and diplomas in subjects including business management, business administration, marketing, finance and IT.
Haveeru reported Dissanayake as saying that the proposal would give Maldivian students greater access and opportunity to pursue Sri Lankan degree programs.
“There is a large number of Maldivian students doing their higher studies in Sri Lanka. This university will help students who want to pursue their higher studies but cannot afford to do a degree in Sri Lanka and those who want to complete their higher studies in Maldives itself,” he told Haveeru.
There are currently 3000 Maldivian students studying in Sri Lanka.
(0)Dislikes(0)The government has said it intends to develop mid-market tourism along the coastline of Gan in Laaamu Atoll, to try and promote the development of small and medium enterprises.
The Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture said it would provide details of the project “at a later date”, but the project is expected to come under the first phase of a tourism development plan for the South Central Province.
The government made this decision after considering a paper on the matter submitted by the Ministry of Tourism on Tuesday.
(0)Dislikes(0)A comparison of Maldivian MPs salaries and allowances with those of MPs in other countries reveals that should the recently-passed MP Privilieges Bill be ratified, Maldivian MPs will earn thousands more than their counterparts in many developed countries.
The comparative list, currently being circulated by protesters on the ‘Majlis Membarunge Musaara Bodu kurumaa Dhekolhah’ Facebook group lobbying against the recently-passed MP Privileges Bill, notes that Majlis MPs have voted themselves a total monthly salary increase from US$4863 to US$7083 (including base salary and allowances of $US1667), despite the country having a crippling budget deficit of over US$370 million.
According to the comparison, also available as an interactive graph, an Indian MP earns US$5966 per month, a French MP US$6651 and an Italian MP US$6936.
In fact if the bill were ratified in its current state, a Maldivian MP would earn just US$215 a month less than MPs in Sweden, one of the world’s most highly developed economies and ranked ninth in the United Nations’ Human Development Index. The Maldives ranked 86th.
Ahmed Adheeb, a local financial consultant in the private sector, observed that MPs were seeking to raise their salaries and allowances at a time when the country was in a “very critical economic situation”, and under pressure from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to drastically cut the wage bill for civil servants and independent institutions.
“I hope the President does not ratify it, for the sake of the country,” he said, suggesting that neither parliament or the independent institutions had performed to a standard befitting a substantial pay increase in a climate of economic catastrophe.
“Parliament and independent institutions are trying to give themselves increased pay and benefits without justifying what the country is getting in return – for instance, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has not concluded a case since 2008,” he observed.
“We haven’t had an Auditor General appointed for over a year. Banks are investing in T-bills and bonds because they feel they are more secure, and so they are giving loans to the private sector. The Maldive Monetary Authority (MMA)’s foreign exchange reserve is falling. Everyone, including the IMF, has agreed we are in bad shape.”
While the deficit had improved to 16 percent of GDP, this was in part due to several “once-off” income events such as the US$78 million upfront payment from Indian infrastructure giant GMR.
“I think people need to realise how bad the situation is – very few people are talking about the economy,” Adheeb said.
DRP MP Rozaina Adam, who voted in favour of the MP Privileges Bill, said the party had a whip line “and most MPs wanted to pass it”.
“It’s unfortunate that parliament has to decide its own salary,” she noted. “Ministers don’t decide their own salaries, we do it. On the other hand, it is written in the constitution that we determine our own.”
Rozaina explained that the figure of Rf 62,500 (US$4883) commonly given as the MPs salary “is not our full salary – it includes our living allowances, phone bills, secretariat, travel.”
It was also important to note, she said, that in the Maldives an MP’s salary “is also seen as a welfare fund by many people. If anything goes wrong, constituents go to their MPs. It has been like this for a long time now, and I feel we need to move out of it – these are things that are supposed to be done by the government, but it has been a tradition for a long time to ask MPs. When someone comes and says their nine year-old needs a kidney transplant, it is hard to say no. In the long term, this means that only rich people can be MPs.”
Nonetheless, Rozaina said, protests outside parliament over the MP’s salary increases “don’t really reflect what the public is thinking. Most of [the protesters] were MDP supporters. I think the government is very unpopular at the moment, and because of that the President is trying to degrade the work of parliament. and the government is doing its best to make people think parliament is not doing enough. After the bill was passed I travelled to Haa Alif and Haa Dhaal Atolls and nobody was talking about it there, and there were no protests.”
Adheeb suggested that because of the penchant in parliament and independent institutions for members to approve themselves salary increases, “I propose an independent commission to structure the pay scale, linked to the economy and bench-marked against the private sector – because it is the private sector that generates the income for the government.”
The country’s fledgling democracy, he said, was proving too expensive for the economy to sustain.
“The Constitution cannot be financed like this. When democracy first arrived in the US, people gave their own time to work in the Senate,” he noted.
Further taxing the private sector to fund a bloated state wage bill, he said, such as with the recently-passed Business Profit Tax, could not be done without improving confidence in the private sector.
“We have not had a direct tax on businesses before, instead we have had duties and a high import tax, relative to other countries, and businesses have passed the tax on to the public. Businesses prefer direct taxes, because it is a tax after profit rather than a tax on imports during operations. But my concern is not so much increased taxes, but whether the money that is being collected is being invested in good purposes.”
None of the three arms of state, or any of the independent institutions, were really concerned with the economy, Adheeb said, “just their own policies and agendas.”
“Parliament has passed a budget with a huge deficit, but if you see any of their statements, they say they are worried about the economy. Yet now they are increasing their benefits.”
MP’s salaries compared:
Maldives
MP’s monthly salary (US $):7,083
(Base Salary: 5,416 & Allowance: 1,667)
GDP (US $) (2009 est): 1.683 billion
Current Account Balance (US $) (2009 est): -$370 million
Sri Lanka
MP’s monthly salary (US $):877
Plus Rs 500 for every parliamentary session
GDP (US $) (2009 est): 96.47 billion
Current Account Balance (US $) (2009 est):-$291 million
India
MP’s monthly salary (US $):5,966
GDP (US $) (2009 est):3.68 trillion
Current Account Balance (US $) (2009 est):-$26.63 billion
Singapore
MP’s monthly salary (US $):9,264
GDP (US $) (2009 est):251.2 billion
Current Account Balance (US $) (2009 est):32.63 billion
UK
MP’s monthly salary (US $):8,552
GDP (US $) (2009 est):2.123 trillion
Current Account Balance (US $) (2009 est):-$23.65 billion
US
MP’s monthly salary (US $):14,500
GDP (US $) (2009 est):14.12 trillion
Current Account Balance (US $) (2009 est):-$378.4 billion
Australia
MP’s monthly salary (US $):9,687
GDP (US $) (2009 est):321.6 billion
Current Account Balance (US $) (2009 est):8.73 billion
France
MP’s monthly salary (US $):6,651
GDP (US $) (2009 est):2.094 trillion
Current Account Balance (US $) (2009 est):-$51.86 billion
Italy
MP’s monthly salary (US $):6,936
GDP (US $) (2009 est):1.737 trillion
Current Account Balance (US $) (2009 est):-$66.2 billion
Sweden
MP’s monthly salary (US $):7,298
GDP (US $) (2009 est):335.1 billion
Current Account Balance (US $) (2009 est):30.23 billion
Interactive comparison: http://www.shakeupmedia.com/mpsalary/
(0)Dislikes(0)The Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) has formed an eight-member advisory panel it claims will provide technical assistance in holding the government accountable.
Haveeru reported party leader Ahmed Thasmeen Ali as saying the inauguration of the panel would open a “new chapter” in the party’s history.
The panel will include: former Television Maldives (TVM) CEO Ali Halid serves as Advisor on Media and Communication, former Maldives Transport and Contracting Company (MTCC) Managing Director Ibrahim Athif Shakoor as Advisor on Public Enterprises, former Assistant Police Commissioner Abdulla Riyaz as Advisor on Law and Order, and Lecturer at Faculty of Education/Maldives College of Higher Education (MCHE) Muhsina Mohamed as Advisor on School Education, Faculty of Hospitality and Tourism Lecturer Dr Mohamed Saud as Advisor on Human Resources, General Surgeon at Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) Dr Mohamed Solih as Advisor on Health Services, former Maldives Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) Board Director Thoriq Ibrahim as Advisor on Construction and Infrastructure, former Deputy Tourism Minister Abdul Hameed Zakariya as Advisor on Foreign Services,
Haveeru reported that during the inauguration at Nasandhura Palace Hotel today, Thasmeen acknowledged the party had weakened since losing the Presidential election but could remain a strong opposition party because of the technical expertise of its members.
The party would prepare for the 2013 elections “in a responsible manner”, Haveeru reported Thasmeen as saying..
“The responsibilities have increased as the current government does not listen to the people, does not accept the norms, and does not respect the laws and regulations. In order to produce a positive outcome we have huge challenges ahead,” he said.
(0)Dislikes(0)China’s legislative body the National People’s Congress (NPC) has pledged closer cooperation with the Maldives Majlis after a meeting between NPC Standing Committee Chairman Wu Bangguo and Majlis Speaker Abdulla Shahid.
Wu met Shahid in Bejing on Monday, reports Chinese news agency Xinhua, and stated that he was keen to expand “mutual trust and economic and trade cooperation” in areas such as fisheries, tourism, infrastructure and construction.
China would encourage Chinese companies to further participate in the Maldives’ national construction and more Chinese tourists to visit the country, Xinhua reported.
Shahid said the rapid growth of the Chinese economy offered inspiration to developing countries, including the Maldives.
(0)Dislikes(0)President of the Elections Commission (EC) Fuad Thaufeeq has said that local council elections in Addu could be delayed by up to two months, with the EC forced to conduct voter registration again after President Mohamed Nasheed declared the atoll a city for the second time yesterday.
The Civil Court ruled on Sunday in favour of the minority opposition Dhivehi Quamee Party (DQP), that the President had no authority to do declare Addu a city until it met the then-unstated requirements for a city, as determined by the Local Government Authority.
Yesterday the authority – currently consisting solely of the Home Minister – published the requirements in the government gazette, and the President declared Addu a city for the second time, after Adduans and MDP activists took to the streets to protest against the Civil Court’s decision and the DQP.
“The Local Government Authority consists of only one person, which is Hassan Afeef, and today I asked Afeef to determine whether Addu Atoll meets the requirements to be a City,’’ President Nasheed said, addressing a rally at Thinadhoo in Gaafu Dhaalu Atoll.
However overcoming the technicality raised in the Civil Court was not so simple, warned Thaufeeq.
“When the Civil Court ruled that the first declaration of the Presdient was invalid, it also invalidates all the work done by the commission to hold the Local Council Election,’’ said Thaufeeq.
“Now we will have to register all the citizens of Addu, will have to announce for the elections, will have to elect candidates and will have to give them time for campaign. The commission will have to repeat the whole process for the Local Council Elections in Addu.
“There would be a delay of almost two months [in Addu], while all the other atolls will have concluded the elections and have elected councilors,’’ he explained. “The best way is to hold the elections across all the islands at the same time, by overturning the Civil Court’s ruling.’’
He said the EC was seeking legal advice and trying to determine a way to resolve the issue.
“We have not decided what we will do yet, but these are the issues that will arise if the second declaration is be implemented,’’ he added.
Attorney General Dr Ahmed Ali Sawad has already said the government will seek to appeal in the High Court, but with the elections scheduled for February 5, a delay could be possible.
(1)Dislikes(0)The Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP), led by former Attorney General Dr Hassan Saeed, has released a statement saying that the party fully supports Addu becoming a city, but only if it was accomplished through lawful procedure.
Following the President’s first declaration that Addu would become a city prior to the local council elections, DQP Deputy leader Imad Solih filed the issue in the Civil Court stating that the President had not followed correct procedures and that therefore his declaration was invalid.
On Sunday, the Civil Court ruled in DQP’s favour and overturned the President’s decision to make Addu a city.
Adduans and ruling-party activists gathered near Dr Hassan Saeed’s house after the court ruling, and called for DQP to be abolished. Saeed is himself a prominent Adduan.
”The Decentralisation Act was drafted by the government and was ratified by the president,” observed DQP in a statement today. ”The Act very clearly states how cities should be determined in different parts of the Maldives.”
DQP said that if the government was unhappy with the procedure mentioned in the Act, it had the option to propose amendments to the Act.
”There are five ruling party MPs representing Addu in parliament, and to date they have not proposed any amendments to the Local Council Act,” the statement said. ”The President or anyone else should not be acting against the law.”
The party called on the government to cease its attempts “to create civil unrest.”
The Civil Court ruled that Addu could not be declared a city until it met unspecified requirements stipulated by the Local Government Authority. Home Minister Hassan Afeef, the sole member of the authority, yesterday published these requirements in the gazette and President Nasheed officially declared Addu a city for a second time.
However the Elections Commission has now stated that this will require it to redo the voter registration process, potentially delaying the elections by two months.
(0)Dislikes(0)The President’s Member on the Judicial Services Commission (JSC) and outspoken whistleblower Aishath Velezinee has vowed to continue pushing for a public inquiry into the activities of the JSC, despite what she has described as an “assassination attempt” on Monday January 3.
Velezinee was hospitalised after she was stabbed three times in the back, in broad daylight on the main tourist street of Male’, “right outside the Home Minister’s door.”
Many international organisations, including Transparency International and the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), have expressed “grave concern that the attack may be politically motivated.”
Velezinee turned whistle-blower on the JSC in August 2010, after parliament failed to issue an injunction she had requested on the reappointment of judges before the conclusion of the constitutional interim period. Velezinee contends the reappointment of unsuitable judges – many largely uneducated and some with criminal convictions – was rushed through in collaboration with senior members of parliament.
Since then she has campaigned against what she alleges is a “silent coup”, an “alliance between parliament and the judiciary to subvert the rule of law, derail constitutional democracy and use the courts to bring down the executive.”
“I didn’t stop complaining. I realised this was a bigger thing, a conspiracy, and mentioned names. They were not interested in change – they are using all their powers, their status and the respect people have for them to subvert the rule of law.”
The public, she claims, is poorly informed on the matter as “there is a huge information gap because the JSC meetings are closed. If the JSC sittings were open to the media, the public would be able to put together what has happened.”
“I sit in the JSC and I see the Speaker of Parliament (Abdulla Shahid) and DRP MP (Dr Afrasheem Ali), also members of the Commission, do whatever they will. What is done in the JSC is done by parliament.”
For example, she explained on the last day of the final parliament session for 2010, the opposition-majority Majlis amended the Judges’ Act (13/2010) to award a Rf 53,250 (US$4140) monthly retirement package to former JSC Vice Chair and Interim-Supreme Court Justice Mujthaz Fahmy, despite a conviction for embezzling state funds in 1996.
“It was not an honourable discharge, he was not fit to be a judge. But they made an amendment to the judges bill solely for one man – only Mujthaz it applies to, and only Mujthaz it will apply to,” Velezinee explained.
MP Afrasheem observed at the time that judges are awarded high salaries and benefits to ensure their ethical and disciplinary standards, and that it is essential for them to continue to be able to uphold their dignity and impeccable ethical standards even after they leave office.
“If a retired Justice were forced to wheel a cart on the street after leaving the bench, it will not give them the respect and the love that they received in office, and still deserve,” Afrasheem said.
The entire amendment, Velezinee alleges, was “to pay Mujthaz his dues for his role as an instrument in the silent coup.”
Meanwhile the public, she stated, “ is misinformed as to the reality of the judiciary they have. We have high state officials using their status and their authority to confuse the public, and legitimise that which is unconstitutional.
“The public are helpless when it is the state that has dissented. We Maldivians have been taught to obey. Obedience is the priority – our religion is about obedience. It is a completely different culture for us to stand up for ourselves and demand things of our leaders.”
Lead-up
Days prior to being stabbed in the street, Velezinee had been trying to get the Majlis to distribute a 34-page letter to members of the JSC’s parliamentary oversight committee, without apparent success. On January 2, she delivered 250 posters to citizens around Male’, calling for a public inquiry into the JSC.
“The Constitution grants everyone a free and fair trial, but JSC’s treason has deprived the people of not only a right to a free and fair trial but thereby compromised all other fundamental rights,” she wrote on her website, the day before her stabbing. “The State can neither protect fundamental rights of the people, nor further human rights and practice democratic government without the institutionalisation of an Independent judiciary.”
The attack
At 10am on the morning of January 3, Velezinee was walking along the main tourist street of Chandhanee Magu near Islanker school, “when I felt this knock on my back.”
“I thought I had been bumped, I didn’t realise I had been stabbed,” she said. “When I looked back I made eye contact with a guy as he was turning around. So I kept walking and then he turned back and stabbed me a second and third time.”
Her assailant, whom she described as “a young kid, a teenager”, jumped on the back of a waiting motorbike driven by another and rode off.
“At that point I put my hand up and it was completely soaked in blood, and I realised I had been stabbed. If I had fallen I would have been dead, the second two stabs would have finished me off, as would the first if their aim had been correct. But I’m light and my bag got in the way. I think it was meant to be assassination attempt or else hit my spine and make me a vegetable for the rest of my life.”
While still upright she was, however, “bleeding everywhere. I was soaked through.”
“My fear was that I would easily I bleed to death. 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.”
“I tried calling 119, it took four attempts to get through, I told them I was stabbed. Nobody stopped to help me, so I saw a neighbour from my childhood and didn’t give him a chance to say no and jumped on the back of his motorbike and said ‘take me to IGMH (Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital), I’ve been stabbed.”
“He took me round the corner to his home, where he could get a vehicle. At that point another man stopped and said “no, you can’t wait if you’re bleeding like that, get on my bike.”
“I got on the bike without thinking and then wondered, ‘who are you?’ He was really good, screaming at traffic to get out of the way, but I was bleeding very heavily. I had to hold on and he was afraid I would faint – it was dangerous on a motorbike.
“He came to Majeedhee Magu. He tried to get a taxi to respond, but I saw a police car and they took me to hospital.”
On the agenda at 2:30pm that day at the JSC was the decision over which applicants would qualify for appointment as High Court judges.
“It was very suspicious the way the Commission acted [after the stabbing],” Velezinee said.
“Not a single Commission member called or came to the hospital or made any effort to see how I was. Instead they hurried to organise an extraordinary meeting to discuss the assault, and then decided to hold a press conference – all of this without checking on me – and as I understand it, it was suggested by the Speaker of Parliament that the Chair of the Commission, who’ve I’ve previously alleged is suffering from a psychiatric disorder, be nominated to give a press conference.
“At the press conference they made very strange statements. They said that ‘Nobody should be attacked for having different opinions, or the way they express their different opinions’.
“The commission did not show me any respect, because after that press conference they organised a meeting on Tuesday to decide on the High Court judges. The Commission had previously agreed not to meet on Tuesdays because Tuesday is cabinet day.
“So I requested Commission members talk with the chair and make him postpone the meeting. The Speaker was leaving the country that night – I asked the Secretary General to speak with the Chair and delay the meeting until Wednesday, but the response I got was that they could not delay the meeting because it was ‘the right of the people to have the High Court’.
“I put out a rude statement accusing the Commission of trying to expedite things while I was incapacitated, and that persuaded them to cancel the meeting. But they did not say they were doing so out of concern for my wellbeing – instead they told the media that the meeting was postponed “because some members are busy.”
Still busy
Velezinee says she does not believe last week’s attempt on her life will be the last.
“I don’t believe the State can actually protect me. Because it is the state that wants me silenced – the parliament and the judiciary. If you look at what happened in the days before the attack, there was a flurry of attacks in the media – including by the parliamentary oversight committee – criticising me, my character and my performance in the JSC. This has been a very organised effort to discredit me, and some people speak in different voices.
“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. It was only because of God’s grace that I survived.”
The police, she said, had been “very effective” in their investigation so far. However police spokesperson Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam said that it was “very difficult” for police to release an update on the case, as it was “complicated”.
Police were, he said, collecting evidence and would release an update to the media “as soon as it is available.”
As to whether the attacks would dissuade her from continuing to campaign against the “derailment of democracy” by parliament and the judiciary, “if I close my eyes, I will have betrayed my country and people,” Velezinee said.
“I will have betrayed them by failing to inform people and give them a chance to change this. When the State fails it is up to the citizens to hold the State accountable. The state has failed here, and as a state official it is my responsibility to inform the public and give them the chance to make an informed decision.
“I know for a fact that rule of law has been subverted. I know for a fact that there is corruption at the highest level in parliament. And I know that if I join the majority in keeping silent, I have become a traitor.”
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