Tag: maldives

Half the population under 25, statistics reveal

Half the 330,652-strong population of the Maldives are below the age of 25, according to the 2013 yearbook published by the Department of National Planning.

However despite the huge youth demographic, the statistics suggest the education system is failing young people, with just 19 percent of students going on to higher secondary education.

Moreover while just 7 percent of the country’s 408 schools are located in Male, a third of all students in the Maldives attend these institutions. Of their teachers, 32 percent are foreigners, while 14 percent have had no training.

The civil service meanwhile remains the country’s largest employer at 17,657 staff (5.34 percent of the population), but also highlights the country’s considerable wealth disparity. 47 percent of civil servants are paid less that MVR 5000 (US$330) a month, while just one percent are paid more than MVR 10,000 (US$660).

Statistics meanwhile show that while the government received MVR 9.8 billion (US$635.5 million) in revenue and grants, total expenditure was MVR 14.2 billion (US$921 million) – 74 percent of this on recurrent expenditure, and representing a total shortfall of US$285.5 million.

Approximately MVR 970 million (US$62.9 million) was spent on social protection programs such as pensions. Of this money, 782 million (US$50.7 million) was spent on the Aasandha universal healthcare scheme.

While the country’s exports were valued at MVR 2.5 billion (US$155.6 million), imports were MVR 23.9 billion (US$1.54 billion). Meanwhile, almost all of the MVR 14.5 billion (US$940 million) worth of loans and advances issued by banks to the private sector were for tourism and resort development. Annual inflation sat at 10.9 percent,

Tourism capacity at the end of 2012 was 25,571 beds, with an average occupancy rate of 70.6 percent and average tourist stay of 6.7 nights.

Likes(1)Dislikes(0)

Local fish exporters reduce price paid for catch

Local fish exporters have this week announced that they will be reducing the price paid to fisherman following a drop in global fish prices.

Horizon Fisheries, Koodoo Fisheries Maldives Ltd (KFML), Felivaru Fisheries and MIFCO have all reduced fish buying prices, telling local media that the price would increase along with global market prices.

Global fish prices are reported by local media to have dropped from US$2500 to US$1850, with Maldivian fishermen now receiving MVR18 per kg of fresh fish with ice, and MVR16 per kg without.

Ibrahim Manik of the Fisherman’s Union has suggested that leading government figures are amongst the country’s largest fish exporters.

“The senior officials of the PPM administration are fish exporters. Gasim’s Jumhooree Party and Yameen’s PPM’s [Progressive Party of Maldives] Zameer are fish exporters. As they make profits fishermen are facing a lot of damages.”

In the wake of the reduced prices, however, the government’s KFML announced it would be reducing ice and fuel charges in order to lessen the effects of the reduced fish prices.

The company reduced the selling price of diesel from MVR 17.25 to MVR 17, and the price of a ton of ice from MVR1050 to MVR 850, Sun Online revealed. The company also announced it would be reducing maintenance fees as well as attempting to penetrate new markets.

The newly appointed Minister of Fisheries Dr Mohamed Shainee told local television last week that he hoped the ruling Progressive Party of Maldives manifesto pledge to ensure all fishermen receive a basic income of MVR10,000 could be introduced next year.

“There is a lot of support for the policy from fishermen. This will incentivize the fishermen. They catch more than MVR 10,000 on good fishing days. But if the weather is bad or if the catch is low, there is a degree of despair. We are providing an incentive to overcome this despair to get ready for the next fishing season,” Shainee told Sun TV.

He revealed that the government would finance the scheme through the collection of MVR500 from each fisherman during the good months of fishing each year. It was also noted that the government planned to allocate MVR45 million from the MVR100 million allocated to subsidies fuel charges for fishing boats and hopes to designate a budget of MVR 90 million for the scheme.

While tourism is the Maldives’ largest economic sector, indirectly responsible for up to 70 percent of GDP and up to 90 percent of foreign exchange, fisheries is the country’s largest employer at over 40 percent.

The total fish catch has been declining each year since 2006 reaching 83.1 thousand metric tonnes in 2011, leading to fears about the impact of climate change and overfishing by better equipped fishing fleets on the borders of the Maldives’ Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

The European Union earlier this month declined to extend the duty-free status of imported fish from the Maldives, following the country’s failure to comply with international conventions concerning freedom of religion.

The Maldives exports 40 percent of its US$100 million fishing industry to the EU, its single largest export partner by value.

Before January 2014 those exports are duty-free under the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) program, a non-reciprocal trade agreement extended to developing countries.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Criminal Court open on Saturday to dispense criminal records checks

The Criminal Court is to open during this weekend to provide criminal record checks for those seeking to contest in January’s local council elections.

The Criminal Court is facing an unusual amount of traffic for criminal record and debt record checks with an estimated 4000 candidates contesting the 1091 local council seats.

In 2011, candidates had to sign a declaration stating they had no record of criminal activity or decreed debt. However, several councillors were disqualified from their seats after election and the Elections Commission amended its regulations mandating candidates to submit criminal and debt records with their applications.

Applications are due on December 8 and elections are scheduled for January 18.

The Criminal Court will be open from 9:00 am – 5 pm on Saturday.

Debt and criminal records will be made available on the day of request from the Criminal Court, local media reports.

In addition to the Criminal Court, the Department of Judicial Administration, the Supreme Court and the Department of Penitentiary and Rehabilitation Services (DPRS) also provides records of criminal activity and debt.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Cabinet approval scheduled for December 29

Parliamentary approval for President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom’s 15 ministers will be scheduled for December 29, People’s Majlis Speaker Abdulla Shahid has said.

Shahid appealed to the Majlis’ Government Oversight committee to conclude its report on the proposed cabinet by December 23 in order for the December 29 vote to proceed.

Chair of the Government Oversight Committee MP Ali Waheed said the committee has started the vetting process for ministers and will commence debate on the proposed cabinet on December 15.

Yameen’s 15 member cabinet includes seven incumbents. They are Finance Minister Abdulla Jihad, Minister of Health and Gender Dr Mariyam Shakeela, Minister of Defense and National Security Colonel (Rtd) Mohamed Nazim, Minister of Transport and Communication Ameen Ibrahim, Minister of Tourism Ahmed Adheeb, Minister of Housing and Infrastructure Dr Mohamed Muizzu, and Minister of Islamic Affairs Dr Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed.

The opposition Maldivian Democratic Party had tabled a no confidence motion against Defense Minister Nazim in the last days of Dr Mohamed Waheed’s presidency.

The new appointments are Umar Naseer as Minister of Home Affairs, Dr Aishath Shiham as Minister of Education, Dunya Maumoon as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr Mohamed Shainee as Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture, Mohamed Saeed as Minister of Economic Development, Mohamed Maleeh Jamal as Minister of Youth and Sports and Thoriq Ibrahim as Minister of Environment and Energy.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

President appoints Shamshul Falah to JSC

President Abdulla Yameen has appointed Shamshul Falah as the president’s representative at the Judicial Services Commission (JSC) today.

Shamshul Falah served as the Secretary of Legal Affairs at the President’s Office under former President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan.

Falah’s appointment is the third new appointment to the JSC this month. President Yameen appointed Attorney General Mohamed Anil to the judicial oversight body earlier this week.

On November 10, former president Dr Mohamed Waheed administered the oath of office to opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP Ahmed Hamza who will act as the parliament’s representative.

The seat occupied by the President of the Civil Service Commission on the 10 member JSC remains vacant amidst a dispute between the Supreme Court and People’s Majlis regarding the dismissal of former CSC head Mohamed Fahmy Hassan.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Maldives elections veered into the realm of farce: New York Times

At a certain point this fall, the presidential elections in the Maldives stopped looking like the hiccups of a young democracy and veered into the realm of farce, writes Ellen Barry for the New York Times.

Mohamed Nasheed was the leader after a first-round election back in September, but the country’s Supreme Court begged to differ. The court, which was allied with one of his rivals, voided the September election before it could reach a second round, citing irregularities in voter rolls.

The court scuttled another vote planned for October, ordering the police to surround the election commission. In November, after Mr. Nasheed had trounced his rivals again, the court derailed a second-round vote with another last-minute delay.

Something about it felt familiar. I had just arrived in South Asia after five years in the former Soviet Union, where I saw one leader after another dispensing with truly competitive politics.

Elections kept happening, but there was only a glaze of competition; for the most part, the opposition candidates were docile, handpicked characters, because no one else was allowed to run. On the rare occasions when actual rivals were able to take part, as in recent elections in Ukraine and Georgia, the candidates who lost found themselves in court or in prison. The experiment in democracy, born in the euphoria of the 1990s, seemed to be ending.

In South Asia, that experiment is much closer to its beginning.

Read more

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Disgraced CSC chief appointed Deputy High Commissioner to Malaysia

President Abdulla Yameen has appointed disgraced Civil Service Commission head Mohamed Fahmy Hassan as the Maldives’ deputy high commissioner to Malaysia.

Fahmy was dismissed from his post by parliament last year, after he was found to have sexually harassed a female staff member at the Commission.

However Fahmy’s dismissal was blocked as “unconstitutional” in a sudden injunction issued by the Supreme Court, preventing President Mohamed Waheed from appointing Fahmy’s replacement, Fathimath Reeni Abdu Sattar.

The stand-off led to both CSC heads arriving for work, and the CSC eventually blocking Fahmy from accessing its offices in September 2013. Minivan News was told by a CSC source at the time that Fahmy’s fingerprint access was rescinded after the former commissioner continued to come to the office for a few minutes every day.

The head of the CSC sits on the Judicial Services Commission (JSC), the judicial watchdog body mired in controversy and accused of wanton politicisation and gross misconduct, and thus has influence over the judiciary.

Fahmy was alleged to have called a female staff member over to him, taken her hand and asked her to stand in front of him so that others in the office could not see, and caressed her stomach saying ”it won’t do for a beautiful single woman like you to get fat.”

According to local media, the woman told her family about the incident, who then called Fahmy. Fahmy then sent her a text message apologising for the incident, reportedly stating, ”I work very closely with everyone. But I have learned my lesson this time.”

In response to the allegations, Fahmy told Minivan News previously that the female staff member had made up the allegation after she learned she had not won a scholarship to Singapore offered by the CSC.

Likes(1)Dislikes(0)

Will the new President’s ‘conciliatory mode’ last, asks the Eurasia Review

Soon after he took over, the first thing President Yameen did was to take a swipe at the losing candidate Mohamed Nasheed, by declaring that “People have proved that they do not want a puppet of foreign powers,” writes Dr S Chandrasekharan for the Eurasia Review.

Better sense prevailed and soon he quickly made some conciliatory gestures to make up for that indiscreet statement.

Though Nasheed lost, nearly fifty person of the electorate had voted for him and this cannot be ignored. The international community also stressed that the new government in view of the close contest, should engage the opposition in a conciliatory manner.

Some appointments have been disappointing. The selection of Umar Naseer, a loose canon as the Home Minister is one. This perhaps has been done more to quieten him and as part of the deal with the Jumhooree with whose cooperation Yameen has come to power. It may be recalled that Umar Naseer in losing his bid for becoming the party candidate for presidentship in the PPM had abused Yameen of having used the convicted and the drug smuggling network to get elected. He was out of the party for a while and now he says that he either wants to join the PPM or the Jumhooree again!

The appointment of the Foreign Minister is another disappointment. Yameen’s niece and Gayoom’s daughter Dhunya Maumoon has been elevated and reappointed as the foreign minister. In one of the first interviews he gave, Yameen said that his priority would be on the Maldives- India relations that had taken a downturn in the last two years. As a minister of state in Waheed’s government, Dhunya looked after the foreign relations and the relations with India deteriorated mainly because of her.

Read more

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

No labourer permits for those who retain passports, warns immigration department

The immigration department has warned that permits allowing employers to bring expatriate workers into the country could be withheld if they are found to be forcefully retained.

Local media has reported the department as noting that the practice remains common, as does the practice of some employees demanding money before passports are released.

Such methods appeared on a list of grievances compiled by the Indian High Commission in Male’ early this year. Indian authorities said at the time that tightened restrictions over providing medical visas to Maldivians were a “signal” for the country’s government to address a number of concerns about the nation’s treatment of migrant workers.

The immigration department’s warning comes as the incoming government attempts to improve relations with the Indian government, with the Indian Prime Minister today extending an invitation to new President Abdulla Yameen.

Bangladesh recently lifted a ban on worker migration to the Maldives after a government delegation was sent to investigate allegations of fraudulent recruitment, forced labour and migrant unemployment.

The country had temporarily blocked its nationals from migrating to the Maldives in September – an action described by one key local employer as a response to decades of failure by Maldivian authorities to deal with “human trafficking” and labour management.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)