maldives news – Page 790 – Minivan News

Foreign Ministry slams “baseless” allegations against Indian High Commissioner

The Foreign Ministry has issued a statement condemning “in strongest words” allegations made by senior Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) officials to India’s Open magazine, among them that Indian High Commissioner Dnyaneshwar M Mulay had failed to pass critical information to the Indian government on February 7.

“The allegations made in the article against the Indian High Commissioner to the Maldives are totally baseless and unfounded,” the Foreign Ministry stated.

“The government and the people of the Maldives have the utmost respect for High Commissioner Mulay and his contributions to further strengthening the close bilateral relations between the Maldives and India. While the government of Maldives fails to understand the motives behind such unacceptable allegations made in respect of an esteemed diplomat of Mulay’s caliber, it may be recalled that close aides of President Mohamed Nasheed have in the past leveled similar allegations against President Waheed, the Maldives National Defence Force, the Maldives Police Service and all other political leaders of orchestrating the transfer of power,” it said in a statement.

“The government hopes that MDP will refrain in the future in accusing close allies of the Maldives.”

The MDP maintains that President Waheed’s government is illegitimate following Nasheed’s resignation “under duress” on February 7.

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High Court rules Deputy Solicitor General cannot represent state in ACC lawsuit

The High Court has ruled that Deputy Solicitor General Ahmed Usham cannot represent the Attorney General’s Office (AG) in a case forwarded by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) over the Nexbis border control contract.

In a hearing Monday, the High Court said Ahmed Usham, appointed by the AG’s Office to defend the state, was a member of the tender evaluation board that originally awarded Nexbis the contract . It ruled that Usham’s involvement in the process therefore represented a “conflict of interest”.

The High Court added that having Usham as a representative for the government would not be appropriate to continue the case, which was related to the tender evaluation process of the contract.

The court body said the decision was made was by the three presiding judges Dr Azmiraldha Zahir, Abdulla Hameed and Yousuf Hussain.

The case was first filed at the Civil Court after the previous government defied an ACC order to discontinue the Nexbis border control system project. The ACC claimed that there might have been corruption involved in awarding the contract to Nexbis and asked parties to re-submit their bid for the contract. Nexbis denies the allegations.

In a previous ruling, the Civil Court issued a declaration that there was no legal grounds for the Immigration Department to follow the ACC’s order to stop the border system. The case has now been filed by the ACC at the country’s High Court.

Meanwhile, newspaper ‘Haveeru’ reported that a hearing was held yesterday where the state attorney told the High Court bench that the Home Ministry had asked the Immigration Department to stop the border control project.

The state attorney told the High Court bench that the Home Ministry had sent a secret letter to the Immigration Department. The letter could not be given to the ACC, but was able to be shown to the presiding judges, reported Haveeru.

The paper also reported that lawyers for the ACC contended that the Immigration Department was still continuing with the Nexbis project.

Legal authority

The Civil Court in January 2012 ruled that the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) did not have the legal authority to order the Immigration Department to terminate the agreement. Judge Ali Rasheed said at the time that while the ACC Act gave the commission the authority to investigate corruption cases, it was not able to annul contracts.

Judge Rasheed asserted that it was “unfair” to contractors if the ACC could annul an agreement without their input, as this violated their protections under Maldives Contract Law.

In December last year, the ACC forwarded a corruption case against former – and now reappointed – Immigration Controller Ilyas Hussain Ibrahim to the Prosecutor General’s Office (PG). The case, which also implicates Saamee Ageel, Director General of the Finance Ministry at the time, alleged that the pair had abused their authority for “undue financial gain” in giving US$39 million to Nexbis as agreed under the deal.

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Large discrepancies in Transport Ministry’s financial records: audit report

Auditors have found large discrepancies between the financial records maintained by the Ministry of Transport and Communication and the general ledger kept by the Ministry of Finance and Treasury.

According to the Transport Ministry’s 2010 audit report, the ministry’s records show that a total of Rf26 million (US$1.7 million) was spent on purchasing information technology hardware, while the Finance Ministry’s ledger for National Center for Information Technology had no record of the expense.

Meanwhile, income received as Driving Licence Insurance Fee was recorded in the Transport ministry’s books as Rf229,935 (US$14,911) more than the amount stated in the Finance ministry’s ledger while the total income received by the Transport Authority in 2012 was recorded as Rf2.3 million less in the ministry’s ledger.

The latter discrepancy occurred because the ministry had not updated their records with the income generated from ministry’s services provided in the atolls under the Decentralisation Act, the report said.

Furthermore, Rf47 million (US$3 million) allocated to three regional airports in 2010 were recorded as expenses in the ministry’s financial statements, although auditors found a sum of Rf947,014 (US$61,500) remained unspent in the respective airport’s bank accounts.

Over Rf 600,000 (US$39,000) received as revenue to the Kadhoo Regional Airport between November 2008 and February 2010 was not deposited to the state’s consolidated revenue account, the report added, while poor management of airport’s invoices and records made it difficult for auditors to determine how much money is owed to different parties or supposed to be received as income.

Auditor General Ibrahim Niyaz observed in the report that the the ministry had not “identified and reconciled” the aforementioned discrepancies.

The ministry also did not compile its financial statement in accordance with ‘International Public Sector Accounting Standards’ (IPSAS) as stipulated by regulations under the Public Finance Act, and as a result lacked important information such as detailed disclosure notes, Niyaz added.

Therefore, Auditor General refrained from providing an opinion of the ministry’ financial statements and instructed to adjust the figures accordingly to remove discrepancies and compile it in accordance with IPSAS.

The report further noted that the ministry had purchased equipment without the stipulated bidding process and had assigned maintenance of traffic lights to a company prior to signing the contract, thereby violating public finance regulation.

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GMR offers to exempt Maldivian nationals from airport development charge

GMR has offered to exempt Maldivian nationals from paying the contentious Airport Development Charge (ADC), in a bid to end a legal and contractual stalemate that threatens to bankrupt the Maldives Airport Company Limited (MACL) and deprive the government of the majority of all airport revenue.

The Indian infrastructure giant signed a 25 year concession agreement with former President Mohamed Nasheed’s government to upgrade and manage Ibrahim Nasir International Airport (INIA). Under the concession agreement, a US$25 charge was to be levied on all outgoing passengers to part-fund the US$400 million upgrade.

However while in opposition the Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP), led by Dr Hassan Saeed, now President Dr Mohamed Waheed’s special advisor, filed a successful case in the Civil Court in December 2011 to block the payment of the charge, on the grounds that it was effectively a tax not approved by parliament.

Nasheed’s government had agreed to deduct the ADC from the concession fees payable by GMR while it sought to appeal to verdict. As a result, Dr Waheed’s government received only US$525,355 from the airport for the quarter, compared to the US$8.7 million it was expecting.

In a statement today, GMR said the government had “expressed a desire to exempt Maldivian citizens from the ADC”, as “the majority of Maldivians travel abroad for the purposes for healthcare and education.”

“The ADC was conceptualised and incorporated into the concession agreement by the government to yield a maximum return to the Maldives while ensuring development of the airport and a reasonable return to the successful bidder,” GMR stated.

“We are sensitive to the apprehensions expressed regarding ADC; and would like to assure all concerned that the management of GMR Male International Airport is doing everything possible by offering viable options to reduce the impact on the Maldivians, thereby helping the government for the ADC implementation.”

GMR presented the government with two options:

Option 1: No Maldivian passport holder will have to pay ADC. Every departing foreign passenger will pay an ADC of US$28.00; or
Option 2: Maldivians travelling to SAARC countries will not have to pay any ADC. Every Maldivian Passport holder departing to countries other than SAARC and every foreign passenger will pay an ADC of US$27.00.

No fee would be charged to either Maldivians or foreigners using the domestic terminal, the company noted.

In the statement, GMR noted that the government received US$33 million in 2011 from airport concession fees, “three times the money the government ever made in a year [from the airport] before privatisation.”

Following construction of the new terminal in 2015 – including “a state-of-the-art 600,000 square foot integrated Passenger Terminal and a 20,000 square foot VIP terminal, and various other airside and landside developments,” expected revenue from the airport to the government was expected to reach US$50 million per year, GMR observed, and almost US$100 million from 2021 as passenger numbers increased.

“In effect, GMIAL’s contribution to the government would be over US$2 billion over the concession period of 25 years, which will make a very significant contribution to the economy of the Maldives.”

President’s Office Spokesperson Abbas Adil Riza said the government had not yet officially received details of the offer, but said that such an offer would be evaluated by the Attorney General’s office “to see whether it is in line with the Financial Regulation Act.”

Attorney General Azima Shakoor was yesterday reported as expressing concern that settling the issue would be “quite difficult”, but vowed that “the government would settle the issue for the benefit of the country.”

On May 2 President Dr Mohamed Waheed told media at the inauguration of the Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation (CANSO): “I do not believe [the ADC] can be charged in the current situation because of the court’s decision.”

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Government to consult tourism industry on potential T-GST increase

The government will hold a consultation with the tourism industry this week to test its appetite for an increase in the Tourism-GST (TGST), Tourism Minister Ahmed Adheeb has said.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has urged the Maldives to increase the T-GST from six percent to 12 percent, among several measures the organisation says are urgently needed to offset the Maldives’ spiraling budget deficit, and avoid miring the country in poverty.

Parliament’s Finance Committee last week calculated that the budget deficit would reach 27 percent of GDP, on the back of plunging revenues and a 24 percent increase in government expenditure.

Adheeb told Minivan News that the government would present the IMF’s report to the industry, and discuss how to proceed: “We have to be realistic,” he said.

“The IMF has recommended an increase to 12 percent – we need to discuss what kind of increase the industry would like to see over the next five years,” he said.

Adheeb emphasised the need for stability rather than sporadic increases in the tax, cautioning against a sudden change in the T-GST which would affect those tour operators who make pricing agreements and publish brochures up to a year in advance.

However, Secretary General of the Maldives Association of Tourism Industry (MATI), Mohamed Ibrahim ‘Sim’, warned that the tourism industry was already under pressure from a decline in traditional markets.

“Is there an appetite [to increase the TGST]? No, not really. The European economy is not doing well and we would like the costs to remain the same – GST is something we have to pass to the customer. We need to maintain it, at least for the moment,” Ibrahim said.

One resort manager told Minivan News on condition of anonymity that such an increase would have “serious ramifications on many of the markets.”

“Some operators will not accept the increase mid-contract and hence resorts will have to absorb this from revenue,” he explained. “The additional costs will need to be balanced somewhere in the operation and you will find resorts have to [reduce] some of the nice touches for guests, [cut] staffing levels etcetera in order to deal with these ever growing expenses.”

The manager expressed exasperation that resorts were being asked to shoulder the burden without a parallel commitment from the government to reduce expenditure.

“We have seen an increase in some public services salaries and a reduction on working hours in many government departments who are meant to serve the resorts. Many of these government departments make it difficult for the resorts to do their jobs, with bureaucracy and rules to keep extra people in a job rather than making it easier to support the resorts in order to do their job: build more business, increase revenue and hence increase GST [revenue] in a positive manner. An increase in GST right now is the wrong solution.”

The government “needs to take a more supportive approach to the resorts”, he suggested, “whether it be processing visas, expediting customs waits or speeding up the immigration process for guest at the airport. A serious revision of the various government departments is required.”

According to figures from the Maldives Inland Revenue Authority (MIRA), the T-GST brought in 32.4 percent of all government revenue in April.

Total revenue collected in April was Rf2.5 billion (US$162.1 million) – almost double that collected in April last year – however MIRA’s figures do not take into account the substantial revenues lost from the phasing out of import duties, previously the Maldives’ main source of tax revenue.

Former government to blame?

Adheeb blamed the need for the increase on the former government’s changes to the calculation of land lease rents, which he claimed were responsible for an Rf540 million (US$35 million) shortfall overall after the new taxes were introduced.

MATI’s Ibrahim however contended that the changes to the fixed rents were offset by the new taxes: “Our calculation at the time these taxes were introduced were that overall it balances out, but that some resorts pay more.”

Recent changes introduced by the new government to the payment of lease extensions – from a lump sum to an annual basis – have also pulled US$135 million in revenue from the 2012 budget, the ousted Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) contends.

Economic indicators published by the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) meanwhile show a fall in the number of tourist arrivals for March 2012 compared to the previous year, from 80,732 to 76,469. The number of bed nights fell 6.8 percent for the same period, one of only a few recorded declines since the 2004 tsunami. February – a month of high political turmoil and widespread negative international media coverage – recorded a 2.5 percent decline.

An increase in prices would affect established markets already under strain, Ibrahim reiterated.

“It’s hard to say if emerging markets would be put off – China, Russia and the Middle East – maybe not. But [price increases] are affecting the established market. The market situation is not looking good at the moment.”

A survey of nearly 3000 tourists last year reported that 46 percent believed accommodation in the Maldives was too expensive. Soft drinks, alcohol were rated as expensive by 42 percent, while food, water and souvenirs received a similar rating from 41 percent of tourists polled.

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Nasheed launches campaign for MDP presidential primaries

Ousted President Mohamed Nasheed launched his campaign for the Maldivian Democratic Party’s (MDP) presidential primary, on the island of Magoodhoo in Faafu Atoll on Sunday.

Nasheed alleges he was deposed in a coup d’état on February 7 and has called for early elections within 2012. The Commonwealth and the EU have supported the call. However, new President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan has said the earliest constitutionally-permitted date for elections was July 2013.

The MDP presidential primary is to be held on June 15. Nasheed is presently the MDP’s sole candidate, but has to win 10 percent of votes in order to gain the MDP candidacy.

Speaking to Magoodhoo residents, Nasheed emphasised the importance of an elected government claiming the chances of a 2013 election were slim if an election could not be held in 2012.

“When a government is elected through a vote, it fosters a close relationship between the people and their leaders. Such a government will benefit the people, it will fulfill the needs of the people. Because the government originates from the people,” Nasheed said.

“No earthly power, not even that of the police or military, can equal the power of the people. When an individual finds courage in another, and the people come out to enforce their will, no one can challenge that will. Not even the police, the military or judges,” he added.

President Waheed’s administration was established by force, Nasheed claimed, and was prioritising the approval of the police and military over that of service delivery.

“The current administration will prioritise getting the approval of the police and military. The government treasury, the government’s expenditure, will not be spent on the people. They will have to end Aasandha, dismiss the utility companies, abolish the health corporations. They will have to stop the transport network,” he said.

President Waheed has repealed many of Nasheed’s policies, including the abolition of regional health and utility corporations, reviewing the free universal healthcare scheme Aasandha, ending the second chance program for rehabilitation of inmates, and halting all public-private-partnership development projects claiming the contracts’ legality needed to be reviewed.

The coalition of political parties backing Waheed have accused Nasheed of corruption in the awarding of development contracts.

Waheed had also decided to accept resort islands’ lease extension payments in installments rather than upfront at the end of the lease. The MDP has alleged the move will immediately take US$135 million out of state coffers.

“They did not make any promises, hence, they have no way to fulfill promises,” Nasheed said regarding Waheed’s policies.

Nasheed campaigned on a platform of development, pledging to continue installing water and sewerage systems, development of harbors and improving education, utility and health services at island level through public-private-partnerships.

The policy would “award an island for resort development to companies who develop water and sewerage system in an inhabited island,” Nasheed said.

“I cannot understand why we should hoard Maldives’ resources when Maldivian citizens do not get the services they need. Magoodhoo does not have a proper sewerage system or potable water. Magoodhoo does not have a harbor. But Magoodhoo has two to three islands in its lagoon. I do not understand why we let these islands be left untouched for Valla [sea bird] to lay eggs on in the belief they are invaluable natural resources,” he added.

The MDP administration had allocated 150 islands to lease out to companies on the condition of carrying out development work in the atolls of the Maldives.

Nasheed urged all MDP members to vote in the party’s primary.

“I assure you I will not take undue benefits from your vote. I pledge to fulfill the party’s promises to you. I assure you I will not steal a single laari of your money,” Nasheed said.

“We have a vision, a picture, a hope, a dream, a thought to change this island. MDP knows what must be done to gain development,” he added.

During his visit, Nasheed also visited the islands of Kudhahuvadhoo, Meedhoo, Bilehdhoo and Feeali. He lay foundations for MDP offices in Meedhoo and Biledhoo.

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Police recover electronics stolen from Irin Enterprises offices

Police have recovered a laptop and other electronic items stolen from Irin Enterprises Office and returned them to the owner.

Police said the items were discovered inside the house of a minor, already in police custody, following a police search of his house.

The minor was arrested on April 23 for alleged involvement in a different case, police said.

A police investigation revealed that another minor involved in the robbery of Irin Enterprises was also in police custody, arrested in connection with a different case on April 25.

According to statistics released to the media by the Home Ministry’s Juvenile Justice Unit, 155 offences committed by minors have been filed this year.

Most of the cases involving male juveniles were related to drugs, theft, sex, assault and vandalism, while most of the cases concerning females related to alcohol, creating unrest in an unlawful gathering, and theft, according to the Juvenile Justice Unit.

The unit also noted that 68 percent of minors who committed felonies are children who do not attend to school. The most number of crimes were committed by children between the ages of 16-18.

Factors leading to the involvement of children in criminal activities included the “negative influence of the media”, adults luring them into a criminal environment, and having parents who were criminals, the report noted. and

According to police statistics for the month of May, 58 cases of theft, five cases of robbery, five cases of assault and 18 cases of drugs have been reported.

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All-party talks will not resume until EC decision reached

All Party Roadmap Talks will not continue until the Elections Commission (EC) has completed its investigations into a dispute over leadership of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), local media has reported.

The secretariat of Ahmed Mujuthaba, who is mediating the all-party discussions, has said that talks were expected to reconvene after the EC makes a decision over the legitimacy of a vote to remove the MDP President and Vice-President, Haveeru reported.

The latest round of all party talks, scheduled for last Saturday, were aborted after parties aligned with the government refused to recognise the legitimacy of the MDP representatives in attendance.

Dhivehi Rayithunge Party (DRP) Deputy Leader Ibrahim Shareef said last week that the DRP was waiting for the EC to make a decision on the legality of the MDP’s current leadership, as well as its authority to appoint representatives to the all party talks.

“[The representatives] must be properly endorsed by the party. Somebody with the authority to nominate the representative of the party, such as the president or vice president,” he said at the time. Shareef also noted that the DRP was “unhappily” not present during Saturday’s talks.

Dr Ibrahim Didi was removed from his position as President of the MDP, as was the Vice President Alhan Fahmy, after the party’s national council voted unanimously in support of motions of no-confidence brought against them on April 30.

Two days later, Dr Didi presented an official complaint to the EC, arguing that the procedure used to remove him from power was against the rules of the version of the MDP constitution that is legally registered at the EC.

The EC announced on Sunday that it would take a further ten days to reach a decision on the MDP case, Haveeru reports.

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Service inequalities plague thalassaemia sufferers

Eighteen years ago when Aishath Hassan got pregnant with her third child, little did she know of how her life was about to be completely changed. Six months after the birth of her daughter, Aishath became extremely concerned about the worsening health conditions of her baby.

Worried, she took the baby to a doctor, where she heard the word “Thalassaemia” for the first time.

“The doctor told me my daughter was thalassaemic. Till that day, I did not know what it was or how it had happened. But from that day onwards, my life completely changed,” Aishath, now 45, recollected.

With almost 18 percent of the population registered as carriers, Maldives has the world’s highest incidence of the crippling genetic blood disorder. For those like Aishath’s daughter with Beta Thalassaemia Major, the disease causes severe anaemia and requires lifelong blood transfusions and treatment.

“Screening for thalassaemia, as well as treatment of thalassaemics, is costly but at the moment it’s free in the Maldives. Thalassaemic children require continuous and regular care and treatment to stay alive,” wrote Dr Ibrahim Mustafa, PhD in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, an important contributor of thalassaemia projects in his blog in January 2012.

“They require monthly transfusions and treatment with the drug Desferrioxamine, injected five times a week. The annual cost of treatment exceeds US$6,000. At present only, Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT) ensures permanent cure for Thalassaemics. But the cost of this treatment ranks between US$30,000 and US$50,000. Due to the low income of average people, this costly treatment BMT cannot be afforded by many families,” he noted.

Currently, 535 patients with thalassaemia major are registered and receive regular blood transfusions at the National Thalassaemia Center (NTC) in the capital Male’. Aishath’s daughter is among them.

The pair visit the centre every two weeks, despite the costly and exhausting four-hour journey from their home island of Thodoo in Alif Alif Atoll.

“It is very tiring and every trip nearly cost nearly Rf3000 as travelling and accommodation prices. We don’t have any other choice,” Aisthath noted.

“On the islands, sometimes blood and medicines such as Desferal (a drug used to moderate iron in the blood of transfused patients) is not available while vital medical treatments charge money. But once we came [to the NTC]almost everything is free. Blood is guaranteed. All services and medicines are available,” she further explained.

Inequalities and financial burdens

The inequalities in the services available to the thalassamia patients in Male’ and on other islands was noted as a key problem in the statement released by Maldivian Thalassaemia Society (MTS) on the occasion of World Thalassaemia Day, marked on May 8.

While the world marks thalassaemia day with the motto “Patients Rights Revisited”, MTS contended that today authorities have “largely neglected” the rights of thalassaemia patients who face numerous challenges to stay alive, especially those in small inhabited islands of the Maldives.

The statement read: “We see huge inequalities in the provision of medical treatments and services to thalassaemia patients living in the islands and services available from the centre established by the government in Male.”

Even though the government has arranged for blood transfusions on the islands, MTS says that for various reasons the service and necessary medications are unavailable, forcing patients to bear high costs of travelling to other nearby islands or to the capital in order to get blood transfusions, without which they will die.

Meanwhile, Program Manager of the Maldives Thalassaemia Society, Imaan Mohamed, noted that the organisation was receiving numerous complaints regarding problems receiving services under the national health insurance scheme, Aasandha.

“We have received several complaints from thalassaemia patients and their parents that hospitals and health centres are charging for medical treatments, including blood transfusions, because they have reached the outpatient coverage limit. But, we were informed during the scheme’s inception that thalassaemia patients would not have the Rf10,000 limit allocated for outpatient services,” Imaan explained.

“So we are discussing with relevant authorities about how to solve this problem, but we have not received a good response,” she added.

Aishath meanwhile called for authorities to make mandatory blood donor tests and other associated treatments free.

“Around Rf1000 is required to test a blood donor,” she said. “That money is deducted from their Aashandha account or we have to pay the donor. So it will be a huge relief if the tests are available for free,” she noted.

The Aasandha Office was not responding at time of press.

“More awareness”

With contributions from the government and NGOs across the country, thalassaemia awareness increased dramatically after 1992 and the word became a household name.

The intitiatives included the Thalassaemia Prevention Program, comprising health education, population screening and genetic counseling by the Society for Health Education (SHE), while in 1993 the National Thalassaemia Program was formulated and in December 1994 the National Thalassaemia Centre inaugurated with a 17 bed ward, blood bank facilities and a diagnostic laboratory service.

Of those screened for thalassemia in 1999, 21.9 percent were carriers, while this rate fell to 18.3 percent in the same period while the number of new thalasaemia cases decreased by almost 50 percent from 43 in 1999, to 24 in 2003.

However, Imaan from the Maldives Thalassaemia Society warned that with “no existing comprehensive national program” to address thalassaemia in the Maldives, the success rates may not be maintained in the future.

“In the past five years, 30 new cases of thalassaemica have been registered while earlier statistics show that the figure was lower,” Imaan observed.

She noted that the Health Ministry’s National Thalassaemia Program, which ended in 2006, included important elements such as population screening, thalassaemia education, prenatal diagnosis and medical termination of pregnancies of foetuses with thalassemia major.

“It is very upsetting that we don’t have a national program now. People need these services and more awareness programs need to be conducted for prevention of Thalassaemia,” Imaan concluded.

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