Tag: maldives news

Ali Waheed wins ‘man of the match’ in football friendly with German MPs

Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP Ali Waheed has won the ‘man of the match’ in a friendly football match played yesterday between Maldives parliamentarians and German MPs.

‘’Maldives MPs won the match by 5 – 3. Ali Waheed scored a hatrick,’’ Maldives Soccer reported. ‘’MP Ahmed Amir and [MDP Deputy Leader and MP] Alhan Fahumy each scored a goal.’’

Speaker of Parliament Abdulla Shahid inaugurated the football match.

Acting Chairperson of MDP, MP ‘Reeko’ Moosa Manik has congratulated Waheed for winning the man of the match and the rest of the team.

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Judge Ghany resigns from JSC as Gasim sworn in

The High Court’s member on the Judicial Services Commission (JSC) Judge Abdul Ghany Mohamed has resigned from the judicial watchdog.

Haveeru reported Judge Ghany as saying that the high court appointments were incomplete at the time of his appointment, and that his departure would allow the lawful appointment of another member.

Business tycoon and MP Gasim Ibrahim has meanwhile been sworn in to JSC, after narrowly beating former MDP Chairperson Mariya Ahmed Didi as parliament’s representative on the JSC. Gasim took the oath of office before Supreme Court Judge Abdulla Areef.

The JSC’s membership currently includes Judge Abdulla Didi, Supreme Court Judge Adam Mohamed Abdulla, Attorney General Abdulla Muiz, MP Gasim Ibrahim, Speaker of Parliament Abdulla Shahid, public representative Shuaib Abdu Rahman, lawyer Ahmed Rasheed and the President of the Civil Service Commission Mohamed Fahmy Hassan.

The President’s member on the commission is currently vacant.

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Transport minister talks Maldives’ SAARC ferry plans

Minister of Transport and Communication, Mohamed Adhil Saleem, has said that he expects the Maldives to be among the first beneficiaries of expanded ferry services between South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) member states.

Miadhu reported that Saleem said he expected the Maldives to be included within initial plans to strengthen the regional transport network between different SAARC member states with a ferry service travelling to the country from India and Sri Lanka. According to the news service, Pakistan and Bangladesh are also expected to be included in these regional ferry services at a later date.

Adil Saleem claimed that the services are expected to provide Maldivians with more cost efficient opportunities to transport goods and travel around South Asia in a safe and secure manner.

Ferry services between Sri Lanka and India have been restarted in recent months after a 30 year cessation of the services.  Meanwhile, the expansion of similar regional transport links is expected to play an important part in discussions at this year’s 17th SAARC summit being held in Addu Atoll in November.

Earlier this week, summit organisers said that connectivity – both in physical and diplomatic terms – would be a central theme of the SAARC meeting.

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Maldivian woman arrested in Trivandrum in drugs case

A Maldivian woman has been arrested in Trivandrum for a drug related matter, reports Haveeru.

The woman was arrested on June 4 in a case relating to drugs that were found on an Indian police officer on the run from the authorities and living on the second floor of the same house, Haveeru reported, citing Maldivian Consul in Trivandrum Mohamed Rasheed.

Haveeru identified the woman as 29 year-old Niuma Zeenath from the island of Manadhoo in Noonu Atoll.

“The drugs were confiscated from the police officer’s apartment. The woman was arrested as she rented the apartment to the police officer,” Rasheed told Haveeru.

Consulate authorities had been in contact with the woman, he added.

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Under-fire Thasmeen won’t shift 2012 congress amidst DRP reconciliation attempts

Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) Leader Ahmed Thasmeen Ali has questioned calls to bring forward the party’s 2012 congress amidst initiatives designed to end infighting between his own supporters and those of his predecessor, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.

Amidst an escalating tensions between Thasmeen and former President Gayoom – the DRP’s honorary leader – a group of party councillors have moved to form committees to try and reconcile divisions that have occurred between the two figures.

Party members critical of Thasmeen’s leadership have said they hope that any potential reconciliation will resolve concerns regarding what they see as the serving DRP head’s failure to adhere to the party’s charter on a number of issues such as dismissing former party member Umar Naseer.

Thasmeen told Minivan News today that from his perspective, he welcomed the possibility of dialogue that served to “strengthen” the party, having nominated three persons to represent him as a committee. The DRP leader added that Gayoom had appointed representatives of his own to take part in the ongoing discussions, which he claimed remained at an early stage and had yet to deal with the key “issues” that had led to divides in the party.

“The talks have not gone far, yet if any good can come of them [for the party], I would welcome that,” he said. “It is too early to say what sort of outcome we are expecting and we would like to see how talks proceed before we make any prejudgments in the media.”

The DRP head added that despite welcoming the talks, he would not concede to calls from some MPs to bring forward the party’s scheduled 2012 congress or hold an extraordinary meeting concerning topics like his leadership. In the last party congress held back in 2010, Thasmeen was anointed by Gayoom as party leader and elected unopposed – the honorary leader’s support has since been revoked on the back of apparent professional animosity between the two men.

“President Gayoom has suggested bringing forward the party congress. Now I have my opinions on this, but I would rather not say them right now,” he said. “The DRP constitution says that a congress should be held in 2012, so why is there a need for this to happen sooner?”

Thasmeen claimed additionally that certain party members had been using the media to attack and cause further divisions within the party and that he wished to avoid making any comments that exacerbated the present situation.

Thasmeen criticism

Ahmed Nihan, a DRP MP allied to a spin-off faction of the party known as the Zaeem-DRP (Z-DRP), which supports Gayoom and dismissed Deputy Leader Umar Naseer in their criticism of Thameen’s leadership, said that a “lot of effort” was taken by general members and councillors to try and bridge divisions within the party.

Nihan said that he rejected the label of the Z-DRP and its description as a political faction as a media invention, adding that initiatives were being taken to resolve differences within the party between Thasmeen and Gayoom, including ending a boycott of DRP council meetings.

“We are still members of the DRP and I have the same rights as anyone else to speak my mind. We are a democratic party,” he said. “As of last night, we have agreed to attend the party’s council for the first time in months and sit down with [Thasmeen].”

According to Nihan, the key objectives for supporters of the so-called Z-DRP movement were to call on Thasmeen to run the party under the rules outlined under the DRP’s charter, something he alleged has not been the case at a time. He claimed this was unfortunate at a time when opposition parties needed to be working closer together to oppose the government.

In outlining areas about Thasmeen’s leadership that concerned him, Nihan claimed that not all had been bought to the attention of the public as yet.

“There are a lot of things Thasmeen has done that we haven’t revealed to the media. These relate not only to Umar [Naseer’s] dismissal, but actions taken afterwards,” he said. “He has tried to expel members of the party who do not agree with his rule. Being the leader he should think of the wellbeing of the party.@

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51 year-old arrested for allegedly molesting nine year-old

A 51 year-old man has been arrested for allegedly molesting a nine year old girl in Addu Atoll, reports Sun online.

Sun reported that police told the paper that the man will be summoned to court to extend his detention.

The paper also reported that the man was unknown to the girl’s family.

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Filadhoo councilor files suit for unfair dismissal after blowing whistle on bestiality

Head of Filadhoo Council in Haa Alif Atoll Mohamed Vijan, who was recently dismissed, has filed a lawsuit against the island council claiming that his dismissal was unlawful.

He told the media that the no-confidence vote taken against him was not conducted accordingly to the law.

The council forwarded a no-c0nfidence motion against Vijan after he told local media some islanders were committing bestiality with goats and that the owner of the goats had complained to the council.

The council dismissed his allegations as an attempt to give the island a bad reputation and filed the no-confidence vote.

The day after media reported on the issue, the goats were found killed.

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MP Sameer takes MDP parliamentary group leader role: Haveeru

MP Ahmed Sameer will succeed ‘Reeko’ Moosa Manik as the Maldivian Democratic Party’s (MDP) parliamentary group leader, according to local media reports.

Haveeru has said that Sameer, who serves as the MP for Dhidhoo, Haa Alifu Atoll, was appointed to the position yesterday, despite earlier reports that an election was to be held for the post on Wednesday June 22.

The position of MDP parliamentary group leader was left vacant after Moosa Manik was appointed to serve as the party’s acting chairperson during a national council meeting held at Bandos Island Resort over the weekend.

A spokesperson for the MDP was unavailable for comment on the news of Sameer’s appointment at the time of going to press.

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Quarter of all parliament sittings disrupted, report finds

A quarter of all parliamentary sittings last year were terminated due to disruption, a report into the legislature’s performance last year by Transparency Maldives (TM) has found.

The Parliament Watch report, produced with UNDP support, draws on attendance and voting data obtained from the parliament secretariat.

Attendance data shows that shows that 22 MPs were absent for 35 sittings of parliament – more than a third of the total number held.

In addition to the four months of recess, 13 MPs took casual leave for 58 days – almost two months – while 20 MPs took 38 days leave. Only seven of the 77 MPs attended all sittings of parliament.

Notable absentees included Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) MP Ali Mohamed, who was absent for 52 consectutive votes, and Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP Nazim Rashaad, who missed blocks of 34 and 19 consecutive votes with only several days in between.

Independent MP Ahmed Shiyam Mohamed was among those who attended the least number of votes, and was absent for 84.

The report’s “highlights” of the first session of parliament included the dismissal of the Auditor General (and failure to approve a replacement for over a year), and the provision of Rf 2 million in media subsidies to the two wealthiest opposition-supporting private broadcasters, one of which is owned by a sitting MP.

Performance evaluation

The report also interviewed 15 MPs from a spread of parties and seven professionals from the media, civil society and legal sectors in an attempt to evaluate parliament’s performance.

It found that the strongest perceived aspect of parliament was the relative freedom MPs had “to express their opinions freely, without executive and legal interference,” although interviewees noted significant under-representation of women.

Parliament’s oversight of the executive was also highlighted for its autonomy over the government and scrutiny of appointments to executive posts, although the effectiveness of committees scored poorly.

The weakest area of parliament, TM found, was accountability, particularly the public acceptability of the procedure whereby members determined their salaries.

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

The report highlighted oversight of party and candidate funding, procedures for preventing financial conflicts of interest, and reporting back to constituents as particular areas of weakness.

Based on its findings and interviews conducted, the report makes a number of recommendations. These include:

  • Fulfilling parliament’s constitutional obligation to publicise financial and other interests of MPs submitted to parliament. The report noted that the disclosure of such interests “should extend to the MP’s immediate children, spouse and parents”;
  • Prioritising bills of national interest, as bills vital to the state and preservation of justice, such as the evidence bill, right to information bill, political parties bill, penal code bill and drugs bill “remain stagnated at committee stage”;
  • Incentivising MPs to consult their constituencies, as despite allowances paid for such, “few MPs – if any – operate offices”;
  • Assessing the financial and governance impact of bills before they were passed, as bills such as the Public Finance Act and Decentralisation Act contained conflicting clauses;
  • Increasing the participation of women in parliament so as to ensure a balanced gender perspective;
  • Developing the infrastructure and human resource capacity of the secretariat, both of which were insufficient, as were the quality of documentation produced and its accessibility.~

Read the full Parliament Watch report

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