The State Trading Organisation (STO) has announced plans to place three additional oil storage tanks in Kaafu Funadhoo, just off the northern side of the capital Malé.
Managing Director of STO Adam Azim said that the Maldives’ oil storage capacity needs to be increased, according to local media Sun Online.
“We are planning to place three more tanks in Funadhoo. If the oil reserve continues to decline at the present rate, we might face difficulties later. We’re planning to prepare for that,” the news outlet reported.
He added that efforts will begin soon to facilitate bigger vessels to enter the harbour.
“Right now the harbour can take up to about 8,000 ton vessels. We want to increase it to about 15,000 or 16,000 ton vessels.”
The Maldives Meteorological Service has issued a yellow alert and warned of bad weather in the coming days.
According to office, heavy rain will be experienced through out the country in the next 24 hours. While the seas are expected to remain relatively calm for most areas, winds may reach up to 30 miles per hour during showers.
Isolated heavy thunderstorms are to be expected in central and northern atolls.
The office advised safe travel and being on alert when travelling in this weather. According to the office the weather in south is good compared to the northern areas.
According to the office the weather change is due to the changing of the monsoon winds. The South-West Monsoon, locally known as Hulhan’gu Moosun begins on 8 April according to traditional weather calendars, and will continue until 9 December.
Heavy winds are usually experienced during this period.
The Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) candidate Ibrahim ‘Hiyaaly’ Rasheed – recent runner-up in the Mid-Hithadhoo constituency seat – has today asked the High Court for police intelligence regarding the bribery allegations he has made.
Rasheed’s lawyer – PPM MP-elect Ibrahim ‘Wadde’ Waheed – is reported to have told the High Court that was unsure whether police intelligence had information regarding bribery involved in this specific poll, though he knew there was evidence of bribery in some races.
Rasheed lost the constituency seat to Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) candidate Ibrahim Mohamed Didi, who won just over 43 percent of the popular vote.
Wadde alleged that the other two candidates in the Mid-Hithadhoo contest had distributed money and other things as bribes to influence the election, and also that they had withheld the ID cards of constituents.
Wadde had submitted the names of 10 witnesses to prove his client’s allegations that there was bribery involved in the parliamentary elections.
Local media also reported that Ibrahim Mohamed Didi was involved in to the case today, with Didi’s lawyer reportedly telling the court that there were procedures to follow when issues arose regarding elections, before filing a lawsuit at the court.
The judge inquired as to whether Rasheed had filed the complaints with any other institution and his lawyer told the court that he had not.
Ibrahim Mohamed Didi won the Mid-Hithadhoo constituency seat with 1,099 votes. Rasheed got 898 votes, while independent candidate Hussain Solih got 554 votes.
Ibrahim Didi is still facing charges for the controversial military detention of Chief Judge of Criminal Court Abdulla Mohamed in January 2012, though the case has been stalled for over 12 months.
Didi was also the Malé area commander in a special operation conducted by the military ‘Operation Liberty Shield’ to control unrest in Male’ following the arrest of the judge.
On 3 April, the opposition MDP condemned alleged attempts by government-aligned parties to influence voting in the recently held parliamentary elections through coercion and threats.
“The MDP expresses concern and strongly condemns the actions of government-aligned political persons to buy votes, threaten people with losing their jobs, and instruct some voters to make a special marking on ballot papers – thereby compromising the confidentiality of votes cast,” the party said in a statement issued that day.
The MDP accused the ruling parties of threatening that individuals would lose their jobs, and requiring these people to specially mark their ballot paper in order for observers and party representatives to see how the vote was cast.
Following the conclusion of the election, Transparency Maldives stated that while it was well-administered and transparent, “wider issues of money politics threatens to hijack the democratic process”.
On March 27, The Adhaalath Party spokesperson Sheikh Ali Zahir told Minivan News that the party lost many seats it ought to have won in the Majlis elections due to bribery and undue influence from competing candidates on all sides.
“It was really sad that a lot of money transactions were involved in it, it was an obstacle to electing the most capable person to the parliament,’’ Zahir told Minivan News at the time.
Teachers across the Maldives have today (April 6) taken part in a ‘black protest’ – wearing black clothes to school – to raise awareness of pay discrepancies and what they see as the state’s failure to improve the education sector.
“This is the first step, we want to draw attention to these issues. For the sake of our students we will go to work until we exhaust all other ways,” said Teachers Association Maldives (TAM) president Athif Abdul Hakeem.
One teacher told Minivan News that the move has come after repeated attempts to work through official channels.
“The reason we are doing this to express our grievances. Our discontentment with salary and allowances, lack of resources and and other issues we face in teaching,” stated Mausoom Saleem of Thaajuddheen School, Malé.
Athif had previously explained to Minivan News that teachers were working overtime without being paid for it.
“Independent institutions haven’t noticed this. If they don’t do this work it could be reflected in their appraisal, and they even fear termination. So they work. But without getting paid for the work,” he said.
Teachers’ overtime allowances have been reduced to just five percent of the basic salary, which on average amounts to less than MVR300 per month. But teachers have complained that school will not run without teachers doing overtime work.
In a letter sent out to schools prior to the protest, the Ministry of Education had said that pamphlets distributed by the TAM consist of false allegations that might create conflict and unrest, it has been reported.
The ministry also stated that since school premises are “dignified”, teachers must not do anything that may have a negative effect on students, reported local media Haveeru.
“Therefore, no one must participate in an an activity encouraged in the documents distributed under the name of Teachers’ Association on April 6. Please inform the teachers working in your institutions accordingly,” the letter was said to have read.
One ministry official with whom Minivan News spoke today denied there was any protest happening, and was unwilling to provide further comment.
Show of solidarity
Saleem – who has worked as a teacher for 10 years, with 8 of those at Thaajuddheen – explained that an estimated 60% of the teachers were taking part in the black protest.
“I don’t think wearing a specific colour to school will have any impact on the students. I believe they will understand that we are doing this for them. This is not just about teachers, this is about the education system.”
Parents, too, he noted were taking part in the protest by dropping off the children today wearing black.
“I think this was a display of solidarity. We are also seeing a lot of pictures [of people wearing black] on social media, with supportive comments.”
Teachers from Thaajuddheen School take part in the 'Black Protest'
Another teacher taking part in the protest– who wishes to stay anonymous – spoke with Minivan News today. The source stated that as well as marking, there are other demanding after school and weekend functions that teachers are expected to work without getting any overtime pay.
“I have never been paid any overtime,” stated the source, who has taught in the Maldives for three and a half years. They gave the example of working the Founder’s Day celebration which took place across many schools and organisations- “we had to work the function and we didn’t have a choice. This was 8 hours work during the day on our day off, with no payment and no choice.”
“I personally don’t have adequate time to plan, I have too many lessons after they recently changed my timetable.” In a previous school, the source stated they had taught for 18 periods per week – that has recently gone up to 31.
Free periods are often time that teachers will use for planning, marking, ensuring children get to their next lessons safely, or after school activites.
“I have 11 free periods, but we also do after-school clubs, I run an extra support class where I teach children for an extra hour after the lesson.”
“I may not be teaching, but these things are not taken into consideration,” the source stated.
“So in late January (2014) we requested to arrange a meeting but there was no response. So sent another letter this month. now we are waiting to discuss our issues. our next step will depend on how that goes,” Athif said.
According to TAM the organisation has 1,500 permanent member and an estimated 4,000 Maldivian teachers across the country who will participate. Recent Civil Service Commission data shows there to be 5,676 teachers in the Maldives – 4,855 of them are locals.
This week saw continued reverberations from the Majlis elections, with further switches to the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) swelling the Progressive Coalition’s number of seats to 57.
With the defection of Thimarafushi MP-elect Mohamed Musthafa, the Maldivian Democratic Party’s (MDP) numbers dropped to 25, whilst three of the five successful independent candidates have now moved to the PPM.
The MDP this week accused the coalition parties of bribery and corruption during the Majlis polls, urging further investigations by relevant stakeholders.
At the conclusion of the party’s national council meeting – during which former President Mohamed Nasheed became acting party president – Reeko urged fellow party leaders to follow his lead.
After seeing the official confirmation of its electoral success, the government announced the details of its fisherman’s allowance – beginning last Tuesday (April 1) – with up to MVR10,000 pledged for lean months.
President Yameen’s largesse was also felt by 169 convicted prisoners granted clemency, as well as prospective foreign investors who were promised they would be made to feel at home.
“We are going to open up the Maldives in a huge way to foreign investors. Our thirst cannot be quenched. The opportunity to foreign investors is going to be enormous,” he told those present at the launch of a new housing project in the proposed “youth village” of Hulhumalé.
The State Trading Organisation’s plans to tap into the tourism market in order to secure a steady stream of dollars look set to come to fruition early next year with the completion of their Hulhumalé hotel.
The outgoing members of parliament appeared intent on finishing the session productively, passing legislation on anti-money laundering as well as extending the General Regulations Act.
After having rejected a near-identical penal code draft in December, a more amenable quorum this week passed a replacement for the current 1960s version – more than four years after it was first introduced to the legislature.
In the committee room, approval was given for the new governor of the monetary authority and member of the police watchdog, though consent for the long-awaited new prosecutor general was withheld.
The PG’s Office meanwhile revealed that the Criminal Court – with whom it has quarreled over the Majlis failure to approve the new nominee – had used numerous excuses to turn away 30 percent of cases forwarded to it in the past three months.
The offices workload looks set to be added to by the Anti Corruption Commission’s recommendation that charges be filed against former Malé City councilors in relation to the contract for last year’s night market.
Eighteen months after the murder of PPM MP Dr Afrasheem Ali, the Criminal Court heard revealing testimony in the trial of Ali Shan – accused alongside the already-sentenced Hussain Humam.
The Maldives’ first ever Hackathon, organised by local not for profit Kickstart, has concluded today in Malé City Hall.
A Hackathon is an event that brings together web developers from the local community to create new software or applications. The Hackathon hopes to inspire participants to develop products that could have a high social impact, or ‘kickstart’ a viable business.
The 24 hour event – which has attracted 40 local developers – started on April 4 2014 at 4pm and concluded today at 4pm. Software developers have come together at the event to work on a variety of interesting and inspiring projects – competing with each other to win a set of prizes sponsored by numerous partners.
Starting in the mid to late 2000s, Hackathons have become significantly more widespread worldwide, being held as a means to quickly develop new software technologies, promote local software developers and to locate new areas for innovation and funding.
According to the event website, the Hackathon enables people to “give back to the community, solve a problem, change lives, and contribute to the open-source world.”
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony on Friday, one of the organisers Ahmed Riyaz ‘Dadi’ Mohamed said that there is no industry for software and application development in the Maldives, but there are very talented Maldivians at it, reported local media Haveeru.
According to the rules, participants may work on any type of project and are free to use any tools, programming languages, architecture and hardware of their choice.
Projects so far range from an app to facilitate traffic police and immigration authority work, to an app for checking hospital and clinic queue numbers and announcements
Vnews’ creative editor Mohamed Afzal is developing an app to facilitate the transport system. Afzal said that ferry schedules will be made available with the app.
“When guesthouse businesses are expanding at such a fast rate, such an app would really help the many tourists that come to the Maldives. With this app they will not have to roam around lost and aimless,” he explained to Haveeru.
Any software and systems developed at the hackathon will remain the property of the respective developer. Developers may choose to release their project as open-source software with a license of their liking, or keep their project private or may offer it for sale.
The winners of first and second and third prize will be awarded MVR15,000, MVR10,000 and MVR 5,000, respectively. The National Centre for Information Technology has decided to award two special prizes of MVR8,000 to a participant below the age of 21 and to a female developer.
Winners will be selected through peer voting after the presentations at the end of the event.
A man has been released from police custody yesterday (April 2) after being taken to the Criminal Court seven minutes past his legally allowed period of detention.
Local media reported that the police had arrested the individual on a drug case, and that he was allegedly one of the drug barons arrested earlier this year.
When authorities realised his detention period had expired, the man was released by police without charge.
According to the constitution, any person detained must be presented before a judge within 24 hours.
The Prosecutor General’s Office has revealed that the Criminal Court has rejected 120 out of 383 cases submitted over the past three months.
At a press conference held on today (April 3), Deputy Prosecutor General (PG) Hussain Shameem stated that the total number of cases rejected and returned by the Criminal Court had now reached 435.
The Criminal Court had previously refused to accept new cases from the PG’s office, citing the Majis’s failure to approve a new candidate within the constitutionally stated period after or Ahmed Muiz’s November 2013 resignation.
The backlog of cases pending at the PG’s Office reached 533 as a result of the Criminal Court’s stance, before the court resumed acceptance of cases after a Supreme Court intervention.
Shameem stated today that the Criminal Court has still returned 120 cases since that time.
After the Criminal Court introduced new regulations governing the procedures for submitting cases in February, it subsequently rejected 60 cases forwarded from the PG’s Office, prompting Shameem to accuse the court of usurping powers reserved by the Supreme Court.
Shameem today revealed that one of the justifications given by the court when returning cases is that the accused is not originally from the capital city Malé where the court is located, claiming that hence the jurisdiction therefore falls to the relevant island magistrate court.
Shameem claimed that the Criminal Court can indeed preside over these cases as the crimes were committed in Malé and also because referring the cases to island magistrate courts would five rise to further administrative complications.
“The objective of the law is also to provide services conveniently. This is why the law is in such a way that allows superior courts to preside over all types of cases,” said Shameem.
“However, things are currently not proceeding in a way that fulfills the objective of this law,” Shameem claimed.
He further added that the PG’s Office has again appealed to the Supreme Court to assist in finding a solution to the matter.
According to Shameem, another reason the courts have used in returning cases is the state’s failure to appoint interpreters in cases where there are foreign witnesses.
Shameem explained today that the law states the provision of interpreters to fall under the mandate of the court presiding over the particular case in question.
After disputes with court staff over unpaid overtime, local media reported the court had been forced to curtail working hours due to budgetary restraints.
The deputy PG stated that police had sent 829 cases in the past three months to his office after completion of investigation.
He further revealed that the office had sent 932 cases to various courts in the past three months, adding that 356 other cases were currently prepared to be forwarded to a court after the prosecution’s work has been completed.
According to Shameem, the cases recently submitted include 383 cases forwarded to the Criminal Court, 210 cases submitted to the Drug Court, 22 cases submitted to the Juvenile Court, and 317 cases submitted to various magistrate courts around the country.
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