Tag: MDP

Z-DRP faction files case against MDP with Anti-Corruption Commission

The main opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) has filed a case in the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) against the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), accusing the party of bribing opposition MPs to join the party.

A senior member of Gayoom’s faction of the opposition and former Deputy Leader of the DRP, Umar Naseer, sent a letter to the Anti-Corruption Commission stating that ‘’offering money to an MP to shift parties is nothing less than an act of corruption.’’

The letter alleges that former DRP Deputy Leader and MP Ali Waheed, who resigned from the MP today, was bribed with “millions of rufiya”.

Naseer called on the ACC to monitor the bank accounts of Ali Waheed, his friends and family to assure that there was no corruption involved in Waheed’s decision to join MDP.

Umar Naseer did not respond to Minivan News at time of press while MP Ahmed Nihan and MP Ahmed Mahlouf were unavailable.

Meanwhile, tomorrow night MDP has said it will hold a special ceremony during which Ali Waheed publicly sign with the party.

Ali Waheed has not officially confirmed his decision to the media, however, senior MDP officials have confirmed that it will happen.

Aside from Ali Waheed, two other DRP MPs will sign with MDP tomorrow night during the special ceremony.

A Z-DRP faction senior official also told Minivan News that Ali Waheed and Hassan Shujau, a DRP council member, decided to join MDP after they were offered millions of rufiya “and other assets”.

Hassan Shujau has been now appointed as the State Transport Minister, days after he decided to join MDP.

MDP Secretary General Ahmed Shah and Spokesperson of MDP Ahmed Haleem did not respond to Minivan News at time of press.

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MDP condemns PA Shareef’s appointment to Elections Commission

)The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has today issued a statement condemning the Elections Commission (EC)’s decision to appoint former Peoples Alliance Party (PA) Secretary General and Spokesperson Ahmed Shareef as the Secretary General of the EC.

‘’MDP believe that anyone appointed for any position at the Elections Commission shall be a person away from influence, independent, fair and a person that would not protect the interest of a specific person,’’ said MDP in the statement.

MDP said it regretted that the commission would appoint a political figure to the commission and condemned the action “in strongest possible terms.”

Former Spokesperson of MDP Ahmed Haleem told Minivan News that ‘’as long as Shareef is in that position, this country can never hold free and fair elections.’’

Haleem said if he remained in the post, it will cause to “violence following future elections as people to question the fairness of the elections.”

‘’He is a person definitely adapted to a political idea and he will have his own interest,’’ Haleem claimed. ‘’The Elections Commission is the commission that has to be most fair and independent.’’

He also said the new President of MDP Dr Ibrahim Didi “will do anything that he has to, to solve this issue.”

Secretary General of EC Ibrahim Shareef told Minvan News that he had resigned from his post in the PA earlier this month and “resigned from politics.”

‘’My position in PA then was not also a political position, it was more an administrative position and it was my job then, I worked there as an employee,’’ Shareef said. ‘’Now I am in a non-political position and I will work independently.’’

Shareef said he was “very confident” that his actions would not be those claimed by the MDP.

‘’I assure the people that my actions will not be like that,’’ he said. ‘’I will follow the EC rules and regulations as well as the constitution and other laws and continue my work sincerely.’’

President of Elections Commission Fuad Thaufeeq did not respond to Minivan News at times of press.

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DRP MP Ali Waheed to join ruling MDP, claims senior party member

A senior member of  the opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP)’s Z-DRP faction has confirmed to Minivan News that the party’s Deputy Leader and Council Member Ali Waheed is shortly to join the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP).

Head of the DRP’s sports wing, Hassan Shujau, will also join the ruling party along with Waheed, the source said.

The opposition figure confirmed that the pair were shifting sides “after receiving offers that, if they accept, will allow them to live the rest of their lives without doing any work.”

Rumours of Waheed’s possible jump to the MDP began circulating in the media over the weekend.

MDP Parliamentary Group’s former spokesperson, MP Ahmed Shifaz, told Minivan News that Ali Waheed was “99 percent likely to join MDP.”

”Ali Waheed is very, very close to joining MDP,” said Shifaz. ”But I do not have any information that he has joined as of yet.”

Recently MDP Deputy Leader and MP Alhan Fahmy was quoted in local newspaper Haveeru as saying ”the next time I step foot on this land it will be with Ali Waheed.”

Alhan, himself a former opposition MP and now the deputy leader of the ruling party, was speaking at an MDP rally held in Waheed’s North Ari Atoll constituency of Thoddu.

Waheed kept media silence amidst the spread of the rumours that he was intending to shift parties.

Leader of the DRP Ahmed Thasmeen Ali said that he could not believe Waheed would join MDP “unless I see him join.”

”I don’t believe that he will join MDP after getting elected to the parliament on DRP ticket,” Thasmeen said, refusing to speculate on what Waheed’s departure would mean for the party.

DRP Deputy Leader and Spokesperson Ibrahim ‘Mavota’ Shareef said that Waheed had not signed, “and still remains a deputy leader of the DRP. This is propaganda to try to discredit some of us in the party.”

However, “Ali Waheed is a rising star with widespread support, and it would be a great blow to the party if he were to leave,” Shareef acknowledged.

Waheed’s decision comes at a time when the opposition is torn by factional strife, between leader Ahmed Thasmeen Ali and the ‘Z-DRP’ faction organised around former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who remains the ‘Honorary Leader’ of the party he founded since announcing his political retirement in February 2010.

The DRP’s internal troubles were “not a matter of factions – this is something much deeper,” said Shareef.
The DRP deputy leader suggested that the split was linked to the ideological difference of overthrowing the government through violence rather than electoral victory.
“When we have criticised the government for bad policy, many times they have listened to us. Street action and protests should be the last resort, and even then it should be peaceful protest and not violent disruption of ordinary peoples’ lives. We do not want to polarise this country further,” Shaeef said.

“It is very sad that our Honorary Leader believes that the opposition can under no circumstances support the policies of the government, even if they are good. This is a government elected by the people, and we must honour their decision, and accept it.”

Shareef also expressed concern at criticism leveled at Thasmeen by former President Gayoom, on his arrival to Male’ on the weekend.
“It is very sad, especially given that our honorary leader, who has served for the past 30 years, should now put his own interests before those of the country,” Shareef said.
“They are of the opinion that it is the duty of the opposition to violently overthrow the government. For us, it is not- our objective is to regain power, not by overthrowing the democratically-elected government but by putting forward policy, showing what the government is doing wrong, and reflecting the aspirations of the people. We want this country to prosper. If a policy is good we should support it.”
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Comment: Will the real DRP please stand up?

The Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP), the main opposition party of Maldives held their last congress in February, 2010. During this congress there were two main lines of thought regarding electing their presidential candidate.

One group, led by Umar Naseer, proposed the presidential candidate should be elected through a party primary. The other group, led by the DRP council, proposed that such a primary was unnecessary and the leader of the party will be the party’s presidential candidate.

After much heated debate and talks during party meetings and local television, the issue was to be decided by the members of the party, at their upcoming congress. A vote was taken and more than 95 per cent of the attendees of the DRP congress voted in favour of the proposal made by the DRP council to make the elected leader of the party their presidential candidate.

The issue was solved. The presidential candidate of DRP would be its leader. This means Thasmeen will be the candidate from the DRP, for the 2013 presidential elections.

For a while it at least appeared to me, as an outside observer, that the debates were forgotten and everyone was working together. But as time passed, DRP started to show hints of a divide. Before long, the divide deepened and today DRP is split into two unequal parts. There is the main DRP under its leadership, and there is its “Z faction” as they now call themselves.

Z faction seems to be functioning under the leadership of Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, the former president of the Maldives. The letter Z in the name of this faction stands for Zaeem, an affectionate reference made to Gayyoom. Zaeem is an Arabic word, translated as ‘the honorary leader’. This honorary position was awarded by the DRP leadership to Gayyoom, who played a major role in founding DRP.

Gayyoom was thought to have resigned from politics for he announced his resignation in January 2010. So people expected him to spend his time away from the local political scenario. But if he did resign at that time, he seems to have re-entered politics and is now seen as an active member of the Z faction of DRP. Some even associate him as the reason why the Z faction was born.

Z faction, as the name indicates, is a faction of DRP. But on Saturday, after returning back to Male’ from a recent trip to India, Gayyoom announced that the Z faction of DRP is “the real DRP.”

My question is can this even be a legitimate faction? I think as long as they call it a faction of DRP, it cannot be legitimate before the DRP approves of its legitimacy. I don’t think the DRP will approve of its legitimacy because no matter what the supporters of Gayoom would like to call it, Z faction is formed of a rebellious group of DRP members.

The main leadership of DRP considers the Z faction as DRP members who do not accept decisions made by the party’s councils and committees. This is except for one person – Umar Naseer, whose name has been struck off the DRP membership register. Even though Umar Naseer and others who belong to the Z faction think Umar is still a deputy leader of DRP, DRP leadership considers him one of their ex-deputy leaders.

It is also worth noting here that most relatives of Gayyoom that I have seen on televised meetings of DRP are now seen in the frontline of the meetings held by the Z faction. So the Z faction is seen mainly as Gayoom, his relatives and supporters.

Representatives of a few minor political parties can be seen in the meetings held in the name of the Z faction of DRP. Many such meetings are solely or partially supported by the People’s Alliance (PA). PA’s leader, Yameen can be seen playing an active role in most of these meetings. Because of this and based on the comments made to local newspapers, until very recently, I was under the impression that Z faction is trying to promote Yameen as their presidential candidate. Like probably everyone else, I too was speculating. But now, I am thinking maybe I was wrong. I am now speculating that Z faction wants to bring Gayoom back as the president of this country.

Z faction has their own leadership which they selected only last week. I am not aware of how they chose their leadership. I only know that they announced the names of their leaders and council members. All of Gayyoom’s children hold posts in this newly announced leadership. This is not surprising to many of us because it is also widely speculated that Gayoom wants to create a dynasty. This will not be easy to achieve in the views of many political analysts.

Last Thursday night, Z faction held a meeting at the Artificial Beach. This was to publicly announce their leadership, amongst other things. In this meeting they tell us that Z faction holds the thinking of Gayoom. They also tell us that it is a democratic organisation. I cannot understand how it can be both. From what I understood, Z faction revolves around Gayyoom. How can an organisation that revolves around someone be democratic? If they love democracy so much, why did they split from the main DRP in the first place?

According to what they said, recently some of the council members of Z faction have even met foreign diplomats in Colombo, as the leading opposition party of the Maldives. They even discussed issues that are of national interest. I wonder what the foreign diplomats will think of this group. I also wonder whether they presented themselves as those belonging to a faction of DRP. If the members of Z faction met the diplomats, as members of DRP, then yes, they are indeed the leading opposition party. If they met as members of Z faction, I disagree.

Z faction is not a registered political party. Z faction is not DRP. Yet the members of this faction claim they are the “real DRP.” If they are the real DRP, why call it Z faction? Why not just DRP? For me, it appears that the Z faction is trying to highjack DRP and then bring a coup to it.

Even though the DRP congress decided that their presidential candidate will be their leader, in the minds of those belonging to Z faction, this issue has not been solved. Z faction does not want Thasmeen to be the presidential candidate from DRP. They want their favourite person to be the DRP presidential candidate. And because, under existing party regulations, this will not be possible, they have to search for an alternative means to do this. The result is the birth of Z faction.

Legitimate or not, the creation of Z faction has hit DRP hard. The biggest opposition party has not disintegrated but is weakened. All because one man wants to fulfil his dreams?

All comment pieces are the sole view of the author and do not reflect the editorial policy of Minivan News. If you would like to write an opinion piece, please send proposals to [email protected]

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New MDP President summons political appointees “to make government accountable”

Newly-elected Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) President and former Fisheries Minister Dr Ibrahim Didi has said that he will summon political figures in the current government and question them regarding the fulfilling of the pledges made by the party.

“Those in political positions received those positions from the party. I am legally obliged, and it is also my responsibility, to query them,’’ Dr Didi said, speaking to the people of Thoddu in North Ari Atoll. The island is the constituency of opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) Deputy Leader, MP Ali Waheed.

Dr Didi said he will summon senior officials from the Works Corporation to determine whether solutions for Thoddu’s sewerage system of Thoddu had been found, and also said he would summon officials from the Education Ministry to discuss the challenges to improving the education system in Thoddu.

New Deputy Leader of MDP and MP Alhan Fahmy, MP Ilyas Labeeb, MDP Thoddu branch president Hassan Shiyan and Thoddu Council member Ali Naseer spoke at the rally held in Thoddu.

Speaking at the rally, Alhan criticised the oppositio, saying that the biggest challenge for today was that there is no responsible opposition party in the Maldives.

‘’The future of this nation lies in the hands of youths. Ali Waheed is also a person who needs political progression. He can make progress in politics by joining MDP,’’ said Alhan, urging Ali Waheed to join MDP.

Rumors are currently circulating in the Maldivian press that Waheed has already joined the MDP, and that the party was planning to hold a special ceremony to celebrate it, however Waheed was unavailable for comment at time of press.

MDP Secretary General Ahmed Shah said he had no information that Waheed had joined MDP.

”Lately everyone on the MDP podium has been calling on Waheed to join the MDP,” said Shah. ”It may happen – I think that is the reason why everyone is speaking about it and rumors are being spread.”

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MDP announces preliminary election results

The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has announced the preliminary results of its elections held to appoint the President, Deputy President and other special posts of the party, after vote counting was formally completed.

Former Fisheries Minister Dr Ibrahim Didi successfully challenged acting President of the party Ibrahim Hussein Zaki and won the top post of the party, with 10600 votes against Zaki’s 9519 votes.

Current Environment Minister Mohamed Aslam, former Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) MP Alhan Fahmy and Hussein Adam ran for the Vice President’s post.

Alhan won the post by 12225 votes while Environment Minister Aslam won 7230 votes and Adam 158 votes. Both Zaki and Aslam have conceded victory to Didi and Alhan.

Shiyama Adam was elected as the leader of Women’s Wing and Khadheeja Abubakur ‘Aniyath’ was elected as the deputy leader of the Woman’s Wing.

Five members for the MDP Religious Council were also appointed in the election: Mohamed Farooq, Ibrahim Shafeeu, Ahmed Zanin Adam, Ahmed Zaki and Hussein Ibrahim. The former leader of the Religious Council resigned after claiming that he was unhappy with the party’s religious policies.

Nine members for the Appeals Committee were also appointed:  Mohamed Mahir Easa, Hassan Ahmed, Ibrahim Rasheed, Ahmed Siraj, Abdul Hameed Abdul Kareem, Mohamed Falah, Imtiyaz Fahmy, Ahmed Rasheed and Nazil Afeef.

Former Minivan News journalist Aiminath Shauna, now working in the President’s Office, was elected as the head of Youth Wing and Hamza Hassan was elected as the deputy head. Shauna won the post challenging Lufshan Shakeeb ‘Looppe’, a well-known local actor.

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Sri Lankan man’s passport held for over a year in Reeko’s bootleg booze case

A Sri Lankan national has appealed to the Criminal Court to release his passport, which has been held for over a year in relation to a case concerning the discovery of hundreds of bottles of cheap alcohol  in a car belonging to Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) Parliamentary Group leader ‘Reeko’ Moosa Manik.

The Court identified the expat as Muhaidhee Mohamed. Following his complaint the Court summoned the police investigator in charge of the case, Staff Sergeant Ali Faiz, who told the court the matter would be resent to the Prosecutor General this week.

Faiz told the Criminal Court that the leader of a group of expats involved in importing alcohol illegally to the Maldives had fled during the police investigation.

‘’We would like to note that it has been one year, two months and 10 days from the day he was arrested,’’ said the Criminal Court. ‘’He was released by the Criminal Court after he was kept in detention for two months.”

In February last year police arrested four expatriate men loading 168 bottles of whiskey and menthol gin into a car registered to Moosa, on the same day controversial liquor licensing regulations were unveiled by the Ministry of Economic Development.

Main opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party Vice President Ibrahim Shareef then said he doubted the case “would go very far”, noting that “in the worst case scenario Reeko’s driver will be implicated and that will be the end of the story.”

The investigation into the case was concluded in October last year, and the case was sent to the Prosecutor General who rejected it and sent it back to police.

Police then said that the case was rejected because there was some necessary information was missing in the investigation.

Local media reported that during the court hearing during the investigation police told the judge that the main subject of the investigation was a person known only as  ‘Tin Tin’.

Moosa, who was in Singapore at the time of the incident, has maintained that his driver was bribed and the bottles were planted in his car to attack him politically.

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MDP council approves “direct action to defend government” on Friday

The National Council of the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has approved a resolution to conduct “direct action to defend the government, the constitution of the Republic of the Maldives, the President of the Maldives and senior government officials” against an opposition-led protest planned for Friday afternoon.

“Following disturbances over the past three nights, the [opposition allied] parties said [Monday night] that as they do not recognise the President and consider the government inept, their real purpose is to gather people to the capital Male’ from all across the country on Friday, May 6, 2011, to take the President out to the Republic Square, remove him from office in the presence of the police and army, and then torture and kill the President along with ministers and MDP leaders,” the resolution states.

The MDP resolution adds that as the opposition parties’ “decision to carry out this brutal deed was announced openly and publicly on VTV and DhiTV at 2.30pm last night [Monday night]” a council sub-committee shall be formed to determine the measures to be taken “in defence of the state.”

The committee consists of newly-elected MDP President Dr Ibrahim Didi, Vice-President Alhan Fahmy and MP “Reeko” Moosa Manik, leader of the party’s parliamentary group.

While the protests have adversely affected the public, school children and shops in the busy intersection of Chandanee Magu and Majeedhee Magu, the MDP resolution claims that corrupt ministers of the former government, wealthy businessmen and resort owners capable of controlling the dollar supply were leading and orchestrating the demonstration “in the name of youth”.

The resolution further accuses the protestors of “misleading the international community and the public” by spreading false information using opposition-aligned media.

Bad blood

Moosa meanwhile claimed today that a large group of opposition protesters broke into the house where his three children use to live, Henveiru Zeeniya, and made death threats against them and their grandmother before causing damage inside the residence.

“Fortunately, my children don’t live there anymore,” Moosa told the MDP website.

Moosa alleged that the group was acting on orders from Umar Naseer of Gayoom’s faction of the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP), whose dismissal as Deputy Leader precipitated the rancorous split in the party.

On the second night of the protests, VTV showed footage of Moosa getting hit on the head with a rock while he was attempting to confront the protesters with a group of MDP activists.

Umar Naseer told Minivan News that “Moosa Manik must have been drunk and he probably meant to say Mohamed Nasheed and mistakenly said ‘Umar Naseer’.”

He called on Moosa to clear his car’s trunk, referring to the incident where some alcohol bottles were discovered inside a car belonging to Moosa, an incident over which Moosa sacked his driver claiming it was a set up.

Naseer added that protests would continue this evening, starting from the artificial beach.

”The youth are organising these protests, and we are taking part in it,” he insisted.

The National Council of the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) approved a resolution Tuesday to determine direct action to “defend the government, the constitution of the Republic of the Maldives, the President of the Maldives and senior government officials” against an opposition-led protest planned for Friday afternoon.

“Following disturbances over the past three nights, the allied parties said [Monday night] that as they do not recognise the President and consider the government inept, their real purpose is to gather people to the capital Male’ from all across the country on Friday, May 6, 2011, to take the President out to the Republic Square, remove him from office in the presence of the police and army, and then torture and kill the President along with ministers and MDP leaders,” the resolution states.

The MDP resolution adds that as the opposition parties’ decision “to carry out this brutal deed was announced openly and publicly on VTV and DhiTV at 2.30pm last night (Monday night)” a council sub-committee shall be formed to determine the measures to be taken “in defence of the state.”

The committee consists of newly-elected MDP President Dr Ibrahim Didi, Vice-President Alhan Fahmy and MP “Reeko” Moosa Manik, leader of the party’s parliamentary group.

While the protests has adversely affected the public, school children and shops in the busy intersection of Chandanee Magu and Majeedhee Magu, the MDP resolution claims that corrupt ministers of the former government, wealthy businessmen and resort owners capable of controlling the dollar supply were leading and orchestrating the demonstration “in the name of youth”.

The resolution further accuses the protestors of “misleading the international community and the public” by spreading false information using opposition-aligned media.

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Alhan wins MDP Vice Presidency while Dr Ibrahim Didi in line for top post

The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has announced the preliminary results of the party’s elections for its President and Vice President.

The results currently show that former Fisheries Minister Dr Ibrahim Didi has won the presidency of the party with 6909 votes, in close competition with the President’s Special Envoy Ibrahim Zak (6554 votes).

Meanwhile former Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party MP Alhan Fahmy has beaten Hussein Adam and Environment Minister Mohamed Aslam for the MDP Vice-Presidency with 7709 votes. Aslam received 5421 votes while Adam received 71 votes.

Fahmy changed sides to the ruling party in early 2010 after he was brought before the DRP’s disciplinary committee for voting against its party line on a motion to dismiss then-Foreign Minister Dr Ahmed Shaheed for opening relations with Israel.

Housing Minister Aslam has congratulated Alhan for his victory, following the release of the preliminary results. 121 ballot boxes of 218 have been counted so far, with official results to be announced in three days.

Aslam has also congratulated MDP Chairperson Mariya Ahmed Didi on running a successful election.

Alhan did not respond to Minivan News at time of press.

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