Police have today said that a 17 year-old runaway girl has been found.
The police did not provide further information about the case.
The girl was identified by the police as Aishath Roona, 17 of Bijilee Ufaa house in Thulusdhoo, Kaafu Atoll. She had been reported missing on 5 January.
According to police, she left home on December 27.
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(0)The State Trading Organization (STO) has launched a campaign to cut operational costs by MVR 50 million in 2014 (US$ 3,242,542).
The state-owned STO is the country’s primary wholesaler, responsible for bringing in the vast majority of basic foodstuffs such as rice and flour, as well as other imported commodities such as electrical goods.
It also imports the vast majority of the Maldives’ oil, used to fuel fishing and transport vessels, diesel generators, air-conditioners and water desalination plants.
The company’s chairman Ahmed Niyaz inaugurated the “Save 50 million” and a second campaign “Saafu STO” (Clean STO) at a ceremony held in front of the company’s headquarters this morning.
The Saafu STO campaign intends to encourage cleanliness, a pleasant work environment and efficient resource utilization, STO’s media official Ismail Sodiq told Minivan News.
Speaking at the ceremony STO’s new managing director Adam Azim called on staff to be ethical in using the company’s resources.
“It is my wish that everyone is loyal to STO, and be ethical in using STO’s resources. A place without ethics does not have progress or life. If we are ethical, it is not 50 million that we save, I am certain we can save more than 100 million in 2014,” he said.
“Our Maldives is very dirty. And STO has become very dirty. So we all have to unite and bring out the new STO culture to the streets. From the streets we will take [the culture] to the houses and be more determined to clean things up,” he added.
Meanwhile, Minister of Economic Development Mohamed Saeed said all businesses must take STO’s new campaigns as examples.
In November, President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom said STO is bankrupt.
“Not only does STO not have dollars, it does not have Maldivian Rufiyaa either. Funding the oil import through STO is now a burden for the state,” he said.
“I checked today where STO is now. By the time I left STO, the company had developed many commercial projects and STO was making MVR 154 million in profit. Today, STO is bankrupt. I am telling you, it is bankrupt. STO does not have money,” said Yameen, who chaired the organisation during the rule of his half-brother, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.
(0)Dislikes(0)Indira Gandi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) in capital city Malé has announced that management of the state hospital’s security will be handled by the Special Constabulary or Reserve Force of the police from February 1.
IGMH’s Deputy CEO Mohamed Habeeb stated that the “access points” and all premises of IGMH will then be under the security of the police’s reserve force, adding that he believed this would bring “massive improvement” compared to the level of security currently seen at the hospital.
He stated that formalities regarding the matter have been completed except for the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the two institutions.
“It has already been agreed that we will begin implementation of this initiative by February 1. Police are now drafting the MoU which we will sign as soon as they send it to us,” Habeeb stated.
Stating that at present, the hospital has its own employees serving as security guards, Habeeb revealed that this caused a number of problems, including the “lack of suitable candidates who apply, and the irresponsible nature of those already employed”.
He revealed that the hospital’s management had tried to solve the matter by outsourcing to a private security firm, which had also proved unfruitful due to the lack of discipline of the guards.
“Everyone agrees that IGMH is in dire need of stronger security. We had some thieves walk out with our fundbox, we had keys stolen, we have had our doctors threatened…we absolutely are in need of taking stronger security measures,” Habeeb explained.
The police reserve force will be paid for their services by IGMH, Habeeb said, adding “mark that this is the special constabulary we are hiring. Not people from the real police force”.
“Even though we will need to pay them too, it is a far more feasible and effective measure than hiring our own guards or a private security firm. Police are well-disciplined and trained to deal with such situations, so we approached the police requesting for security assistance,” he continued.
“Police seniors then suggested we take the option of hiring the reserve force, which is what we have now agreed to do. We did request that they be especially trained to route patients and visitors to facilitate them to better obtain our services, and to prepare them for working in a hospital environment.”
“Now that we are hiring this force, we will not need to make special provisions for leaves and sick days and other such bureaucratic matters. All of that will be managed by police when it comes to security personnel,” Habeeb stated.
The police media official stated that while the Special Constabulary is managed by the police, it does not consist of “real police officers”.
The official – who requested to remain unnamed – stated that the Special Constabulary had a number of officers who have received basic police training but do not have the authorisation that comes with being an officer.
“For example, they will not have the jurisdiction to use weapons unless they are assigned to a particular task. They are a reserve force and do not have to report to duty daily. They only get paid when they are deployed on some project – oftentimes when other institutions or resorts request for police security assistance,” he explained.
He further added that the special constabulary force will be difficult to identify on sight as they wear the same uniform as regular officers, with a small identifier showing the difference in rank.
(0)Dislikes(0)The Criminal Court has today decided not to accept any cases submitted by the Prosecutor General’s Office and to halt all existing cases because the position of Prosecutor General (PG) has been vacant for over 30 days, the PG’s Office has confirmed.
On November 25, former PG Ahmed Muiz submitted his resignation, shortly before parliament was set to debate a no-confidence motion against him.
Speaking to Minivan News today Deputy Prosecutor General Hussein Shameem said that as soon as he receives the court’s decision he will appeal it at the High Court.
Shameem stated that the laws do not say that the Deputy PG cannot take over the responsibilities of the PG in a case where a new PG is not appointed within 30 days.
He also said that it was for the parliament to appoint a new PG, noting that the Criminal Court had not discussed the issue with the parliament before making the decision.
Shameem expressed concern that there were people held in pretrial detention who are to be kept there until their trial was concluded.
“So what do they do now, it would not be fair to keep them in there until the parliament comes back to work from recess after three months and appoint a new PG,’’ Shameem said.
“That is one of my biggest concerns over this issue, it is a responsibility of the PG office to uphold constitutional rights of the people.’’
He said the court had not approached the PG’s Office before making this decision.
“And also, this morning the court made the decision but today afternoon we received a chit from the court stating that two cases have been scheduled for tomorrow,’’ he said, adding that “maybe the two cases are concerning someone close to them.’’
Furthermore, Shameem said that there were no laws stating that the Deputy PG cannot fulfill the responsibilities of PG in the case of the position being vacant. He argued that the work of PG’s Office should not come to a halt because the parliament had failed to appoint a new PG.
He also said that the court had informed the PG that it will continue the extension of detention trials for those under arrest.
On December 10, President Abdulla Yameen proposed his nephew Maumoon Hameed for the post of Prosecutor General and submitted the name to the parliament for the MPs to approve.
The issue was sent to parliament’s Independent Commissions Committee and the committee decided to seek public opinion on him before sending it to the parliament floor for voting.
However, the parliament is now on recess and will not re-commence work until March.
Criminal Court Spokesperson Ahmed Mohamed Manik did not respond to Minivan News at time of press.
(0)Dislikes(0)President Abdulla Yameen has re-established the Council of Higher Education, appointing his Vice President Dr Mohamed Jameel Ahmed its head, local media has reported.
Haveeru has reported that the council will be tasked with setting the criteria for courses at Maldivian higher education facilities as well as handling the transferring of students’ credit.
Joining the vice president on the council is reported to be six cabinet ministers from the ministries of health, youth, finance, fisheries, environment, and the Islamic Ministry.
They will be joined by Villa College rector Dr Ahmed Anwar, Dr Simad Saeed, Dr Ibrahim Saeed, Deputy Education Minister Azleen Ahmed, Director General of the Education Ministry Fathimath Amira, and Chancellor of the Maldives National University Dr Mohamed Zahir Hussein.
Vice President Jameel yesterday visited the Maldives National University, explaining that expanding academic opportunities was of the utmost importance to the new government.
Earlier this week, the Anti-Corruption Commission ordered the reevaluation of vetting procedures in the previous administration’s tertiary student loan initiative.
“[THe] Vice President spoke of the government’s vision to introduce short term professional training programmes for youth in fields such as offshore-financing, managerial economics, banking, accounting, auditing and tourism,” read a President’s Office press release.
During the meeting, Jameel also noted the government’s desire to include the youth in nation building.
Recently appointed Home Minister Umar Naseer this week revealed his intention to introduce obligatory government service for school leavers, explaining his motivations to Minivan News:
“We need to bring youth into a disciplined system where they get up early, become presentable, pray, have breakfast, work, and well, become responsible.”
“One of my objectives is to increase the number of trained professionals which will be useful in protecting the independence of a small country like ours, ” Naseer continued.
The Ministry of Education last week released its aims for the first 100 days of the Yameen administration, revealing a 19-point plan including the introduction of the Quran as a subject for grades 1-7, greater civic education, as well as greater professional standards for teachers.
According to the Ministry, the government will choose two islands to establish Arabic medium schools within the first 100 days as well as expanding special education and child protection policies.
As part of this plan the ministry is seeking to assign Quran teachers for all Schools before the academic year 2014. The ministry’s Permanent Secretary Dr. Abdul Muhsin Mohamed said that the ministry is still short of 26 Quran teachers to achieve this this objective.
(0)Dislikes(0)Chinese visas can be obtained from the Chinese Embassy in Male’ starting from 9 January 2014. The service will be available on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays from morning 9:00am till 11:00am, and will be provided free of charge for Maldivian citizens.
The Chinese Embassy is located at H. Nookurikeela (Dhanbugas Magu- Boduthakurufaanu Magu junction).
The issue was discussed last month during the Chinese Ambassador to the Maldives Yu Hongyao’s courtesy visit to President Abdulla Yameen.
In that meeting the Chinese’ government confirmed the granting of 50 million Yuan (USD 8.2 million) in grant aid to the Maldives for developmental projects and public services.
(1)Dislikes(0)President Abdulla Yameen has proposed Ibthishama Ahmed Saeed for the Majlis’ approval as the new governor of the Maldives Monetary Authority.
Ibthishama’s nomination for the position comes after the resignation of Dr Fazeel Najeeb last week for what he cited as being made for family reasons.
Upon his departure, Najeeb urged the state to reduce expenses and to withhold from printing money to cover debts: “A central bank must not resort to printing and releasing money, especially at a time when the economy is as weakened as it is now.
The President’s Office today reported that President Yameen had written to the former governor, thanking him for his work in strengthening and modernising the central banking authority.
(0)Dislikes(0)Police have arrested three Bangladeshi nationals and two Maldivians in connection with the robbery of the tsunami site office on the island of Villingili in Gaafu Alifu Atoll.
A total of MVR12,000 was stolen from the office and police were able to recover half of it, said police.
Police said that MVR3000 was found with the two Maldivians arrested in connection with the case while the other three ex-pats had MVR1000 each.
Gaafu Alifu Villingili police station is further investigating the case.
(0)Dislikes(0)Police have asked for public assistance in locating a 17 year-old runaway girl.
Police identified the girl as Aishath Roona, 17 of Bijilee Ufaa house in Thulusdhoo, Kaafu Atoll and said that she was reported missing on 5 January.
According to police, she left home on December 27 and her whereabouts are unknown since then.
Police appealed anyone with information concerning the whereabouts of the girl to contact police hotline 3322111 or police emergency hotline 119 or Family and Child Protection Department at 9790163.
The police had also publicized a picture of the girl on their website.
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