The Strategic Climate Fund, one of two funds under the Climate Investment Funds scheme, will grant US$20 million (Rf255 million) to develop renewable energy resources in Maldives, reports Haveeru.
Delivery of the grant is expected next month and will be invested in the carbon neutral plan announced by President Mohamed Nasheed, according to deputy environment minister Dr Mohamed Shareef. “We cannot do everything with this money. We can only carry out [projects] in some islands, which we have yet to determine,” he said.
“The Program for Scaling-Up Renewable Energy in Low Income Countries, approved in May 2009, is aimed at demonstrating the social, economic, and environmental viability of low carbon development pathways in the energy sector,” says the Strategic Climate Fund website. “It seeks to create new economic opportunities and increase energy access through the production and use of renewable energy.”
The President’s Office has announced a swearing-in ceremony for the new cabinet at 2:45pm this afternoon.
Yesterday, Political Advisor Hassan Afeef said the new cabinet would only be proposed when the government had “reached an understanding with the opposition parties in the Majlis.”
The new cabinet must be endorsed by the opposition-majority parliament, according to the Constitution. The executive has been deadlocked with the legislature following the arrest of two MPs and allegations of corruption.
Meanwhile, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa arrived in the Maldives this morning on a state visit.
President Rajapaksa will meet with President Nasheed, former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, Parliament Speaker Abdulla Shahid, and Chief Justice Abdulla Saeed.
The attitudes and social behaviour of men will have to change if they are to compete successfully against women in the modern global economy, claims Hanna Rosin in the latest edition of The Atlantic.
“With few exceptions, the greater the power of women, the greater the country’s economic success,” Rosin writes. “Aid agencies have started to recognize this relationship and have pushed to institute political quotas in about 100 countries, essentially forcing women into power in an effort to improve those countries’ fortunes…
“Last year, Iceland elected Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir, the world’s first openly lesbian head of state, who campaigned explicitly against the male elite she claimed had destroyed the nation’s banking system, and who vowed to end the “age of testosterone”…
“Researchers have started looking into the relationship between testosterone and excessive risk, and wondering if groups of men, in some basic hormonal way, spur each other to make reckless decisions. The picture emerging is a mirror image of the traditional gender map: men and markets on the side of the irrational and overemotional, and women on the side of the cool and levelheaded.”
A new cabinet will be proposed when the government reaches an agreement or understanding with the opposition parties in the Majlis, said the President’s political advisor Hassan Afeef at the daily President’s office news conference, reports Miadhu.
Afeef described the departing cabinet as ‘dynamic, brilliant and hard-working’, and said the government wants any new cabinet members to be endorsed by the opposition dominated Majlis.
Despite scientific evidence and dire warnings, developed countries are destroying the current controls on global warming, reports Indian magazine Frontline.
‘The “pledge and review” scheme was the handiwork of the U.S., which was against accepting any legally binding commitment on emission reductions,’ writes Frontline’s R. Ramachandran. ‘Acting behind the scenes since mid-2009 and with active help from other developed countries which did not want to commit to a second commitment period such as Australia, Canada, Japan and Russia, the U.S. succeeded in having the scheme formalised as a “political agreement” at Copenhagen.’
Professor Tim Naish, the lead author of the next international climate change assessment due for release in 2014, is predicting a one metre rise in sea levels over the next 90 years. This will be a doubling of the present rate of sea-level rise, but a slower rate rise than predicted by other researchers.
Prof. Naish has been appointed lead author by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. His forecast is based on rock cores drilled from the Antarctic coastline that provide evidence of the earth’s geological condition 4 million years ago when the climate was similar to the ‘climate we are heading towards in the next century with global warming,’ he says.
During that ancient period, the West Antarctic ice sheet melted and raised seas by a total of five metres, and the Greenland ice sheet melted adding another seven metres, says Prof. Naish, who is director of New Zealand’s Antarctic Research Centre at Victoria University in Wellington.
Prof. Naish’s latest findings will be presented at the Australian Earth Sciences Convention in Canberra 4-8 July 2010.
The current majority of members in the Maldives Majlis have been cynically irresponsible in their handling of financial legislation.
Though they have found the energy to pass detailed amendments to the Finance Act which threatens to create administrative chaos and undermine the constitutional powers of the executive, they have ignored two tax bills – the Tourism Goods and Services Tax, and the Business Profits Tax.
These two bills are a vital part of the IMF program that stabilises the economy and keeps the country from bankruptcy.
The tax bills have been buried in the ‘Whole of Majlis’ committee for around a year, and it is obvious the members are not interested in passing them.
The sensational phone recordings released this week featured Majlis member Mohamed ‘Kutti’ Nasheed reading out a plan to ‘fast process’ the Financial Act Amendments bill and no-confidence motions, and “cease all work on the tax bills submitted by the government to the Majlis”.
It is unlikely the IMF and international banking groups will tolerate this situation for much longer without a downgrading of the country’s credit rating, especially now the tax bills’ delay has become associated with high levels of corruption in the Majlis.
The IMF is not a benign charity. It is a hard-nosed organisation quite capable of taking action against countries that take its money and fail to keep their promises and obligations.
Unless a better taxation system is established in the Maldives, international bankers may pull the loan plug, and the public sector and lower income groups in the population will both experience job losses and extreme financial hardship.
The blame for this potential economic disaster will rest squarely on the Majlis members who the people elected in 2009.
The latest IMF report for Maldives criticises the high public sector wage bill that is “very high by international standards”, and the low tax rate for its tourism sector, which the IMF says “remains well below international standards”.
Maldives’ hotel tax rate is one of the world’s lowest, well behind India, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Indonesia, and other comparable tourist destinations such as Dominica, Fiji, Barbados, Mauritius, Costa Rica, Vanuatu, Bahamas, Seychelles, Tahiti, and Jamaica.
Most of the profits from the tourism sector go to wealthy men and families who are often members of the Majlis and/or owners of media companies. The dreaded word ‘tax’ is rarely heard in the political discussion programs that dominate Maldives’ radio and television. Print and internet website news organisations also avoid the subject of tax. Serious informative articles on economics and business are impossible to find.
Significant government tax revenues will undermine the present system of patronage and corruption that permeates Maldivian society. People’s loyalties would shift away from wealthy men towards the government, which will be able to provide pensions, subsidies, adequate salaries and health care. These are the foundations of a just and fair society.
The Majlis majority who are refusing to pass tax legislation are acting against the best interests of the people and threatening the independence and national security of the country.
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President Mohamed Nasheed met last night with four of the country’s opposition parties, in a meeting arranged by US Ambassador Patricia Butenis to try and resolve the current deadlock between the executive and the legislature.
The US Ambassador recently attended the July 4 Independence Day celebrations at the Holiday Inn in Male’, organised by the Embassy. During the event, President Nasheed addressed Speaker of the Majlis Abdulla Shahid, saying he “is an honest man. We may have issues but I would like to work with him.”
Last night, representatives from the People’s Alliance (PA),Dhivehi Quamee Party (DQP), Jumhooree Party (JP), along with Deputy Speaker Ahmed Nazim and leader of the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) Ahmed Thasmeen Ali, met the president in a private meeting.
The President attended the meeting alone “and kept his own minutes”, a senior government official said.
Spokesperson for the US Embassy in Colombo, Jeffery Anderson, later confirmed that Ambassador Butenis arranged the meeting “between the President and the main opposition party”, but provided no further information.
Foreign embassies and international bodies have been eyeing the Maldives nervously ever since Nasheed accepted resignation letters from his cabinet in front of the media last week, fearing his actions could signal a reversion of the country’s nascent democracy.
Political Advisor for the President Hassan Afeef has confirmed the meeting took place, but would not discuss further details.
The President reportedly met DRP MP and Parliamentary Speaker Abdulla Shahid on an earlier occasion. Shahid said he did not attend last night’s meeting, and Thasmeen was not responding to calls at time of press.
Press Secretary for the President, Mohamed Zuhair, meanwhile claimed that “a new cabinet” will be established once the government has overcome the problems it faced.
“The cabinet resigned after accusing parliament of having a spirit of altering votes in exchange for money, and felt they were obstructed in their duties by the Majlis,” he said.
Under Secretary for the President’s Office, Ibrahim Rasheed, said that “corruption cannot be solved by discussing it with people who have already committed it.”
He also said that the government was “ready to discus and solve the issues” and called on the political parties to cooperate with the government in its effort to eliminate corruption.
The music piece from the famous French composer Erik Satie wafted through the air, setting the mood for a night of music.
All those gathered in the hall at Iskandhar School leaned a bit closer as Yukari Matsuda played three music pieces on the piano, two pieces by Satie and a third by Claude Debussy.
It was July 1, and Alliance Française (AF) along with Music House was holding an event to mark Fête de la Musique, or World music day.
Fête de la Musique
“Alliance Française will mark this event all over the world,” says Muriel Schmit, the director of AF.
After all World Music Day originated from France, where it first took place in 1982. Traditionally marked at the start of summer, the concept is to have professional and amateur musicians perform free concerts for one evening.
It also aims to encourage people to make music, and the growing popularity of the event has meant that it has spread all over the world and is held in numerous countries annually.
Anya plays for the crowd
“We want to promote young Maldivian artists and music of all genres,” says Muriel.
AF is mandated with promoting the local culture, and creating a cultural scene.
“Music in an integral part of a country’s culture and it should be valued,” Muriel says.
AF has sought the help of an NGO, Music House, in hosting the event.
“We managed world music day with AF in 2007, 2009 and this year,” says Ahmed ‘An’du’ Tholaal Hassan, managing director of Music House.
An’du believes marking the event is beneficial to the music scene: “It’s a good platform for new bands to perform.”
However he rues the fact it cannot be marked in its original concept, with free concerts and people playing music on every street corner.
“In other countries it’s a bigger event, but here even the weather plays a part as the day falls during the monsoon.”
Noting that this year’s theme is ‘women in music’, Muriel says “we are happy to have female
musicians perform at this event, as it’s mostly a male dominated industry.”
Having the Maldives first all-female heavy metal band perform was a highlight of the evening, she says.
Promoting Different Genres
Anya, 18, with an acoustic guitar, performs classical songs next. Despite her young age Anya is a
known face having performed in popular music programmes like TVM’s ‘E Hadhaan.’
Industry stalwarts like singer Shifa performs with Music House’s own band ‘Eykolli Baaga’.
Playing original movie soundtracks with a rock feel, Shifa sings songs like Raol and Hithuge Therein. The crowd – mostly youngsters – shows their appreciation.
‘The Sanctuary’, a band of four guys, set the place on fire. Lead singer Visham, complete with kohl rimmed eyes, throws himself into the performance with gusto. A sudden swarm of mostly young men and a couple of girls appear from nowhere and plant themselves at the base of the stage.
What follows next is the most amazing ‘head banging’ at the foot of the stage in rhythm to the black metal music that is played on the stage.
“Black metal has a very dedicated fan following,” says An’du. Dedicated they are, as The Sanctuary are a hitherto unknown name in the music scene and this being their first performance.
‘Chord Sequence’ played grunge music. ‘Nebt-Het’, the all-female band was next, a performance
of four members as their fifth member was abroad. Nebt-Het has ambitions to become the first female
band in the Maldives to play heavy metal.
“They had practiced for just four months,” says An’du. Their performance of Eh heelun and Wicked Games rocked.
The popular Boduberu group ‘Harubee’ did a mean boduberu piece for their intro.
Innovative and modern, it sounded like an invitation to dance. A dozen young men took up the invitation and after doing freestyle dance, switched to traditional boduberu dance moves.
The night truly captured the essence of world music day, the performances mixing different genres
of music.
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