Tag: maldives news

PPM Submits 3600 forms to Elections Commission

The Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) has submitted 3600 forms to the Elections Commission, 600 more more than the amount required to register a political party.

Media Coordinator of PPM and MP Ahmed Nihan said there were many more party registration forms filled which had not been submitted today, so as to hasten the registration procedure.

“If too many registration forms are submitted at once it will take a long time for the Elections Commission to approve all the forms. We just want to hasten the registration procedure and finish it soon so we can get on with our next steps,’’ Nihan said.

Nihan claimed that “many Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) members” and members from other parties have signed up for former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s new party, PPM.

‘’The additional 600 forms were because sometimes due to information errors or other errors forms get rejected, so as a backup to replace any form that might get rejected,’’ Nihan said adding that he believes that “all forms are genuine”.

Nihan said today at the Elections Commission building none of the commission members showed up to meet the senior PPM figures, and said he regretted the incident.

‘’When some particular persons go to register a political party, the commission members take them to the hall and serves food and juice with a warm welcome. It is very unfair,’’ He said. ‘’It is we who appointed them for the commission and today the commission members were like a selfish soothsayer who pops his head out from the window when a normal person goes to see him.’’

He said that several parliamentarians and other senior figures in the PPM went today to the parliament to submit the relevant forms. Currently there were 14 MPs in the party and “very soon” the number would reach 20 or 21, he added.

President of the Elections Commisison Fuad Thaufeeq today told Minivan News that it was true that no commission member met with the PPM delegation.

‘’The commission has always treated all political parties equally and has applied the same procedure on all the parties, we always meet with senior officials of parties when the first 50 forms are submitted to the commission, and we met with senior officials from the PPM when they submitted the first 50 forms,’’ Fuad said.

Fuad explained that the forms will always be received by the staffs at the reception.

‘’The next time commission members meet with senior officials will be the day when the registration process is concluded and the 3000 forms are approved,’’ he said. ‘’That is the procedure we apply for all the political parties.’’

He said that the commission was free from influence and pressure and could not be pressured or influenced.

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MDP calls for “justice” for Maafushi deaths

The ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has called for “just punishment” to be meted out to senior officials of the previous government culpable in the custodial death of Evan Naseem on September 19, 2003.

In a press release to mark the eighth anniversary of the watershed incident, the MDP noted that President Mohamed Nasheed had called on doctors to determine Evan Naseem’s cause of death before the death certificate was signed.

The MDP statement reiterated the party’s call for trials to be conducted against prison guards or National Security Service (NSS) officers believed to have tortured and abused inmates.

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Three men accused of Hoarafushi hostage murder face terrorism charges

The Prosecutor General (PG)’s Office today pressed criminal charges against three persons accused of murdering 61 year-old Hussain Mohamed after taking him hostage and robbing him on Hoarafushi in Haa Alifu Atoll.

Hussain, a prominent businessman known as ‘Hussainbe’, was found dead inside an abandoned house in September last year.

The PG’s lawyer told the judge that the three of them stole more than Rf 100,000 and US$1000 in cash but the three denied the charges, according to local media.

Police at the time said they believed that year-old Hussain Mohamed may have been murdered.

An official from the island office had told Minivan News that the body was discovered by the caretaker of the building that night.

“There were no injuries on the outside his body,’’ said the island official. ‘’He is from another island but has lived in Hoarafushi for a long time.’’

Local media reported that Manik’s hands were tied behind his back with rope, and that the body was lying on the ground in a prone position when discovered.

The island official said that it had rained heavily the previous evening, and that “nobody goes out in the rain. The streets would probably have been empty.”

The sale of oil in Hoarafushi in Haa Alifu ceased following the death of the prominent businessman.

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Amana Takaful seeking to “kick start” Maldives stock market with landmark IPO

Sharia-compliant insurance company Amana Takaful will issue 800,000 shares in an initial public offering (IPO) on the Maldives Stock Exchange (MSE).

In a first for the country, 20 percent of the shares will be made available to expatriates and 15 percent to overseas applicants. The remaining 65 percent will be offered to Maldivians.

The Sri Lanka-based company hopes to generate Rf16 million (US$1.4 million) in proceeds through the IPO, by selling shares at a low issue price of Rf20 (bundled in packages of 25).

Amana Takaful’s board of directors announced the IPO on Monday afternoon at the Nasandhura Palace Hotel.

CEO of Amana Takaful Maldives, Hareez Sulaiman, said the IPO would “change the way the Maldivian Stock Exchange operates as this will be the first time that Maldivians, expatriates and foreigners will be able to purchase securities in a Maldivian listed company.”

The decision to price the shares low “at a price affordable to any average Maldivian” also promised to “be a kick starter for an active stock market which may benefit the entire economy at large,” the company said in an accompanying statement.

The company expects the Sharia-compliant nature of its business to be a key attraction in the market, it noted in its prospectus, with the “growing religious awareness within the domestic market further reinforcing [Amana Takaful Maldives’] decision to embark on expanding its shareholder base in the Maldives.”

Globally, Director of Amana Takaful Osman Kassim, also chairman of the first licensed Islamic bank in Sri Lanka, Amana Bank, explained that Islamic finance was “a phenomenon worth 1.4 trillion and growing at a rate of 20 percent annually.”

It functioned, he explained, through the prohibition of riba, or interest.

“Taking a return without participating in the risk of the return is not allowed, be it 1 percent or 99 percent. Any additional revenue is riba,” he said. “Even if you give a loan and he gives a gift, and is not in the habit of giving a gift, that is also riba.”

Islamic finance in its current form emerged 40 years ago, Kassim explained, first in Egypt and the Arab Emirates.

“It promises to be a just system. Interest is oppression – the charging of something where nothing is due,” he said, noting that in the wake of the global financial crisis, “All major banks now have Islamic financing products, and the more adventurous have their own Sharia Councils.”

Certain terminology used in Islamic finance was now routinely used in normal banking, he said, also observing a rise in financial offerings that were all but labelled Sharia-compliant.

In its IPO prospectus, the company predicted strong potential growth on the back of a higher disposable income as the rufiya eased against the dollar, brought on by a “significant” decrease in the cost of imports.

The key areas of the Maldivian economy – fishing and tourism – had shown strong growth, the company noted. Tourist arrivals grew 18 percent in 2010, while bed nights grew 13 percent even as capacity grew by almost 3000 beds to roughly 24,000.

Fishing was a key area of interest to the company given the high number of insurables. The industry had registered a slight decline in productivity in recent months, the prospectus noted, but nonetheless annual fish purchases had increased 29 percent and fish exports by volume had risen fourfold. Higher prices had led to 77 percent increase in monthly earnings.

The company has set a target of 30-40 percent growth in the Maldives, identifying a key market as the local, atoll and city councils following the government’s policy of decentralistion.

“Considering the current trends in religious conciousness, it is generally believed that the level of awareness and preference for investing in Sharia- compliant investments would be greater at the grassroots level,” the company noted.

It also indicated its intention to offer a micro-insurance product in the Maldives targeting the expatriate market.

The IPO will open on September 20 and close on October 19. The company has pegged a minimum subscription of Rf 2.4 million (US$156,000) or 15 percent to proceed with the IPO.

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Two ton shipment of new five rufiya notes “routine”, says MMA

A shipment of newly-printed five rufiya notes brought in last week is part of a “routine” process and not intended to finance either the fiscal deficit or government expenditure, the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) has said.

According to a press statement issued by the MMA yesterday, the stock of five rufiya notes was running low and the new notes would be stored at the state treasury.

“This is routine work, every now and then we print different notes when the stock runs low,” explained MMA Executive Director Abdul Hameed Mohamed. “We print notes as often as is necessary. We are surrounded by water, fishermen handle it, it gets lost and sometimes we have to replace these old notes.”

Abdul Hameed stressed that the new notes would have “no effect on circulation” as it will be stored in the treasury and that there would be “no increase in the money supply.”

“As you know, the central bank in any country always prints money to replace damaged notes,” he said. “Replacing notes is something we do daily.”

Local media reported today that the shipment of new notes was brought in 40 boxes weighing 2.4 tons on an Emirates flight that landed on the morning of September 13.

“The MMA has brought in newly printed money while President Mohamed Nasheed has signaled that money might have to printed if the reduced amounts from civil servants salaries had to be given back,” reads a report on Sun Online.

Abdul Hameed speculated that “the only reason this has become news is because of the President’s remarks.”

In late 2009, the current administration ceased deficit monetization – printing money to finance the fiscal deficit – and the MMA introduced open market operations to mop up excess liquidity.

MMA Governor Fazeel Najeeb told press in August 2009 that printing local currency in previous years had led to the current dollar shortage as “there is too much rufiya chasing too few dollars.”

Prior to 2009, the MMA printed new money to issue loans and overdrafts to plug the expanding budget deficit – stoking inflationary pressures due to excess local currency in circulation.

Meanwhile in lieu of printing money and accumulating domestic debt, in December 2009 the new government began issuing US dollar denominated treasury bills to finance the deficit.

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Five parties contracted to conduct training programmes

Five private parties have been contracted to teach new skills to 645 youth under the government’s national training programme.

On Independence Day, July 26, President Mohamed Nasheed unveiled a massive Rf360 million (US$23 million) national programme with an ambitious target of training 8,500 Maldivians for skilled employment.

Haveeru reported today that an agreement was signed with Clique College to train 100 youth in front office management while training youth in welding was contracted to Clique College, Bayan Training Centre and the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF). An addition to Male’, the training programmes will be conducted in Haa Alif Hoarafushi in the north and Gaaf Dhaal Thinadhoo in the south.

A third agreement was signed with Maldives Polytechnic, MNDF and the Centre for Career and Training Education (CCTE) to provide training in electronic wiring for 200 youth. The CCTE will also train 100 youth in heavy vehicle operations.

An agreement was also signed with Cyrix College to train 50 youth in digital animation while an additional 50 youth are to be trained in fish processing and quality control by Clique and Polytechnic.

The government has invited youth above 16 years of age to apply for the national programme. Participants will be given a Rf2000 a month allowance while undergoing training.

Application forms are available from the Polytechnics Institute and island councils.

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Supreme Court celebrates third anniversary

The Supreme Court held a function at Dharubaaruge last night to celebrate its third anniversary.

According to local media reports, Chief Justice Ahmed Faiz said that citizens would accept judgments and rulings by the courts “if the person making the decision is someone who lives in a way that is acceptable to them.”

The Chief Justice vowed that he would not allow judicial independence to be compromised: “I accept that there will be challenges. I accept that there will be criticism. Nonetheless our direction will be forward with the independence assured by the constitution,” he said.

Justice Faiz also launched a book containing the rulings and judgments of the Supreme Court.

Newspaper Haveeru meanwhile reported that a number of judges from the Civil Court, Family Court and Criminal Court as well as some judges from the High Court did not attend last night’s ceremony.

An unnamed judge from a superior court told Haveeru that a lot of judges were unhappy with the decisions of the Supreme Court.

“I’m not at all satisfied with the way the Supreme Court has been acting so far,” another judge told the local daily. “There is dissatisfaction among judges about the rulings of the Supreme Court. That is why I didn’t attend last night. But I can’t say why some other judges did go.”

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Yellow paint at ICU prompts complaints from Hithadhoo citizens

Citizens of Hithadhoo in Addu City have “heavily criticised” the decision to paint the walls of the newly-built four-bed Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at the Hithadhoo Regional Hospital yellow, the color of the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), according to Sun Online.

The ICU was constructed under the budget for the upcoming South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit in Addu City.

Unnamed residents of Hithadhoo told Sun Online that “the hospital should not cater to people of a certain color” and that yellow paint was not suited to an ICU.

Southern Health Corporation Managing Director Noorullah Saeed however denied that the decision was political.

Saeed revealed that the yellow was going to be painted over and a new color will be chosen after consulting with the hospital’s doctors and nurses.

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DRP leader urges Foreign Minister to support UN recognition of Palestinian statehood

Opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) leader and MP for Kendhoo constituency Ahmed Thasmeen Ali has sent a letter to Foreign Minister Ahmed Naseem, urging him to support UN recognition of Palestine as a state at the UN.

Thasmeen asked the Minister to fully participate in all the discussions held at the UN concerning the issue, and to vote in favor of Palestine in all votes regarding the issue.

Ending the letter, Thasmeen urged Minister Naseem to seek the support of friendly countries, saying it was “what the citizens of the Maldives would want to see.”

Meanwhile, the Foreign Ministry has stated that the Maldives strongly supports UN recognition of Palestinian statehood, with Naseem advocating the position before the UN Human Rights Council following the announcement by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas that he will apply to the UN Security Council for full UN membership.

“Let us be clear, the Palestinian people have, like everyone else, the right to self determination – the right to a state of their own. They have waited long enough for that most basic of rights. When the Palestinians present their case to the UN, the Maldives will stand shoulder-to-shoulder with them, and we call on all others to do likewise,’’ Naseem told the UN Human Rights Council.

Naseem has said the Maldives does not believe that UN recognition of Palestinian statehood will would narrow the chances of a negotiated peace.

‘’We believe that rather it will help those chances by creating a situation in which two state partners can negotiate as equals,” Naseem said. “We hope the US will maintain its historical support for the right of all peoples to self-determination and we believe that the recognition of Palestinian statehood will help secure a negotiated peace in the future.”

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