Tag: media

Teachers forced to work overtime without pay: Teachers Association

The Teachers Association has voiced concern over claims that teachers are being forced to work overtime by certain schools without pay.

President of the Teachers Association, Athif Abdul Hakeen, told local media that teachers are only paid 8 hours worth of overtime regardless of the length of their extra working hours.

In accordance to Article 37 (b) of the Employment Act, Athif told local media that it is mandatory for all employers to pay their staff for the time spent working beyond scheduled working hours.

“I would like to tell all heads of schools to refrain from forcing any staff to work for more than 8 hours.

“If they are to work more than the mentioned 8 hours, they shall be paid for their overtime work, as mentioned by Article 60 of the Civil Service Act,” Athif was quoted as saying in SunOnline.

The Teachers Association president claimed that some schools have threatened teachers who refuse to work overtime, stating that ‘they might have to think twice’ about how they fill out their appraisal forms.

Education Minister Asim Ahmed told local media that claims by the Teachers Association regarding a lack of overtime payment are lies that have no basis.

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Man arrested in connection to March 5 unrest

Police have arrested a 26 year-old male in connection to unrest at a protest outside Male’ City Council on March 5, local media reported.

Hussain Abdullah, of Blue Bird house in Male’, was arrested on Monday (March 11) after police posted a video online searching for individuals who had allegedly caused unrest during the protest.

The demonstration on March 5 followed the arrest of former President Mohamed Nasheed ahead of his scheduled trial hearing at Hulhumale’ Magistrate Court the next day (March 6).

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DhiFM Plus forced to apologise after allegedly airing pornographic content

DhiFM Plus has been accused of violating the broadcasting code of conduct after allegedly airing pornographic content during a late night news show.

The Maldives Broadcasting Commission (MBC) said that DhiFM Plus has been notified regarding the controversial content shown on February 8 during the 10pm news, local media reported.

MBC has now called for Maldives Media Company, who own DhiFM Plus, to air a statement of apology without any reservations from the station between 08:00am to 11:00 am before March 13.

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Man sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for importing 0.8 grams of Xanax

A Maldivian man has been sentenced to 10 years imprisonment and a MVR 50,000 (US$3,217) fine for importing less than one gram of a widely prescribed anti-anxiety drug.

Shafeeq Ibrahim of Seeni Hithadhoo, Soama was sentenced by the Criminal Court after confessing to importing drugs into the Maldives after arriving in Male on flight on October 7, 2012, local media reported.

A test of the substance that was carried into the country in two packets revealed it to contain 0.8314 grams of the commonly prescribed anti-anxiety drug Alprazolam, also known as Xanax.

Director Department of Judicial Administration Ahmed Maajid told Minivan News on Monday (March 11) that Shafeeq had not been caught with any substance other than Alprazolam.

“It is a pharmaceutical drug, but it is included in Schedule 2 of the Narcotics Act, and it is, by virtue of the act, an offence to import it [Alprazolam] unless it is by a licensed pharmacy,” Maajid said.

Despite the Xanax being the most popular psychiatric drug in the United States – according to American publication Forbes – Australian media reported the pharmaceutical drug to be as “addictive as heroin and harder to stop using”.

Criminal Court has ordered Shafeeq to pay the MVR 50,000 within a period of one month, according to local media.

Death penalty for illegal drug smuggling: NDA

In February, National Drug Agency (NDA) Chairperson Lubna Zahir called for the death penalty for those found to be importing illegal narcotics into the Maldives.

Speaking on state broadcaster Television Maldives (TVM), Lubna claimed that drug importation needed to be in the same category as murder.

“We can only prevent drugs from coming into the Maldives by implementing the death penalty against them. Importing drugs is not a less serious crime.

”One solution to this is to implement the death penalty against those who bring in drugs and commit murder,” Lubna said.

Lubna requested parliament include the death penalty as the most severe punishment for drug smugglers when passing relevant laws.

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Fire causes MVR 2 million worth of damage

Over MVR 2 milllion (US$128,700) worth of damage has been predicted by the owners of ‘Parkway 3’ shop, after a fire damaged the building on Saturday (March 9).

Director of Golden Lane – the company that operates Parkway 3 – Abdulla Saeed told local media that the fire had damaged the interior of the building and large quantities of furniture.

“The ground and first floors are used as a show room. The fire ignited in a store room on the first floor. Nobody accesses that area.

“That’s where the fire ignited and the first floor sustained some damages, the fire caused large damages to the building too. The ceiling was also burned,” Saeed told  SunOnline.

Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) firefighters attended the scene on Saturday, extinguishing the fire around 4.00pm.

Saeed said that attempts by MNDF to extinguish the fire meant that the area had to be hose with large amounts of water, which had then caused water to drip down onto the furniture placed below the ground floor.

The MNDF were reported by local media to have geared up two ‘known’ activists of the government-aligned Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) with gas masks and oxygen tanks at one point, before leading them into the burned building.

One of the affected offices, according to local media, had been used by PPM in previous instances, and had also been used by the former PPM deputy leader for his own personal business.

According to Sun Online, the two PPM activists went inside the building to retrieve some ‘very important objects’, but it was not clear what those objects were.

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Setbacks in Maldives have security implications for India: Deccan Herald

The Maldives has been generating bad news for some time. On February 12, former president Nasheed refused to honour court summons and threatened with arrest, sought refuge in the Indian embassy. India was in a quandary, writes R S Chhikara for the Deccan Herald.

India wants democracy to take root in the Maldives and Nasheed was the only democratically elected president of the country.

His arrest and conviction would disqualify him from participating in the upcoming elections. Indian diplomacy went into overdrive to ensure participatory elections that would require Nasheed’s participation as a free man. Nasheed expected Indian support but India could not be seen to be partisan.

The government in Male has for the time being desisted from arresting and trying Nasheed but the reprieve is only for a month and there are signs that an agreement to this effect, if one exists, may not after all, be honoured. If that happens, Waheed and Gayoom will have a cake walk. Democracy will lose out.

India’s leverage with Male does not appear to be working and there lies the rub.

After a spell of autocratic rule by Ibrahim Nasir and Abdul Gayoom lasting nearly 45 years, Nesheed became the first elected president of the country in 2008. In January 2012, Nasheed ordered the arrest of Abdullah Mohammad, Chief of Criminal Court who was accused of blocking legitimate legal action against Gayoom. Nasheed was forced to resign at gun point in what was for all purposes, a coup.

It is not too far fetched to imagine that last year’s coup against Nasheed and current efforts to neutralise him as a potential presidential candidate through a judicial verdict could well be a conspiracy by Islamists and others to ensure that democracy does not stabilise and terrorists get the required political patronage.

Read more

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President appoints new Maldives high commissioner to India

Mohamed Naseer has been appointed as the High Commissioner of Maldives to India.

President Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik presented a letter of appointment to Naseer on Sunday (March  10).

Speaking at the presentation, Waheed said he was confident that Naseer would protect and promote the interests of the people Maldives, and work to increase ties between Maldives and India.

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President Waheed claims 10,000 members for GIP by March 10

President Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik has claimed that his Gaumee Ithihaad Party (GIP) will reach 10,000 members by Sunday (March 10).

Speaking to local media, the president claimed that 9,000 members had signed for the party and that extensive campaigning was being carried out in Male’ to increase GIP’s membership.

Despite the president’s claims, the Elections Commission political registry presently shows that his party has only 4,012 registered members, local media reported.

President Waheed told local media that the push to reach 10,000 members was due to the recently passed political party bill, which states that any party with less than 10,000 members could face dissolution.

“I still don’t believe that this is something they [Parliament] should have done. I believe forming clubs, organisations and political parties is a right enshrined in the constitution. That is a fundamental right,” Waheed was told local newspaper Haveeru.

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Liberian player signed to Maldivian football club “trapped” in Male’ after salary dispute

A Liberian striker brought in to play for a Maldivian football club has spoken of his desperation as he remains trapped in the Maldives with no money and no ticket home.

Wright Charles Gaye, a former striker for Maldivian football club Club Valencia, has spent the last six months living in poverty after the club failed to provide him with two month’s owed salary and a promised one-way ticket home.

Speaking to Minivan News on Thursday (March 7), the 27-year-old Liberian national revealed how he had been forced to live in accommodation with no water or electricity, having to survive on handouts from club officials and other players.

“It has been terrible. I am owed US$2,600 and a one-way-ticket home to Liberia, but for six months I have received nothing.

“It’s hard because I have family back in Africa. They are looking to me because I have to send money back. My son is no longer is school because I don’t have the money to send home,” Charles said.

The issue has now attracted the attention of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), after Charles lodged a formal complaint to the international organisation.

A letter from FIFA calls for the Football Association of Maldives (FAM) to provide Club Valencia’s position on the claim lodged by Charles no later than March 25.

FAM was not responding to calls from Minivan News at time of press.

Charles, who has played for multiple clubs in Maldives, Sri Lanka and Liberia, claimed that Valencia’s Chairman Ibrahim Raai Rasheed had told him not to put anything in the news regarding his situation.

“He [Rasheed] is going around telling people that everything is okay for me. But if you want to believe that you can come and see my apartment.

“A former official from the club is giving me MVR 500 (US$32) a week because he feels sorry for me. It’s hard to survive on, but I feel ashamed to be calling for help,” he added.

The Liberian striker said that he had been recently moved into a guest house by his former club after he complained about the lack of electricity and water at his apartment.

Charles claimed that Rasheed had made multiple “promises” to the striker, assuring him that he would be given his wages and a flight home, but each time the chairman did not deliver.

“Sometimes the chairman would call me and say ‘Charles pack your things, you are leaving tomorrow, get your money together and get ready’, so when I pack and call him back, he doesn’t pick up. This has happened two or three times,” Charles said.

“In December I was told I would be leaving on December 23 and would arrive on December 25 on Christmas morning. It meant I would see my son and would get to spend Christmas with him. But over the next few days he was not taking my calls. When he did eventually pick up, he would just say ‘I’m busy, I’ll call you back,” he added.

Club Valencia responds

Responding to the footballer’s claims, Club Valencia Management – when contacted by Minivan News – said that Charles will be paid his full wages and will be given a ticket home to Liberia in Africa.

“There has been a lot of miscommunication recently. Charles has communicated with me on only a few things, but I feel bad for him,” a club official claimed. “His salary and ticket home is now all sorted had he will be returning home.”

The club’s management denied that Charles’ apartment was without running water and electricity, adding that they had written proof of utility bills for the months he had stayed there.

The reason behind the delay in Charles’ payments – according to Club Valencia Management – was that there had been delays in financial assistance from the sports ministry and from the club’s sponsorship.

Despite Valencia’s claims of financial hardship, the Liberian striker claimed that the club had recently brought in three foreign new players and a new coach for the team.

“[Valencia] must have the money. If they don’t, how can they bring in these new players, put them in a big hotel and let them eat in good restaurants? How can they do all that and not pay me?” Charles said.

Club Valencia Management confirmed that three new players and a coach had been taken on by the club.

Life as a foreign footballer in the Maldives

Wright Charles Gaye came to the Maldives four years ago after being signed by New Radiant SC, where he experienced similar pay disputes with the club before transferring to VB Addu FC – known as VB Sport Club until January 2012.

Following a complaint to the Football Association of Maldives over a lack of pay for six months, Charles was eventually paid by New Radiant SC in November 2012.

The striker joined Valencia in the June 2012 transfer period, and started playing in July until the clubs last game on September 28.

Having allegedly only received one month’s pay for July, Charles then left the club and has been waiting for a promised ‘one-way-ticket’ home and his remaining two month salary.

“When you first come to the Maldives as a player, they talk to you nicely and treat you well, but as soon as you sign the papers, it all finishes.

“Some Maldivian players have the same issue, I know two or three players from different clubs who have had payment problems, but for the foreign players it is worse,” Charles said.

The Liberian national also revealed how certain clubs retain foreign player’s passports over concern that the players will buy their own tickets and fly home.

“I have a friend who played here from Cameroon and the club hid his passport, and would not return it when he asked for it back.

“Whenever you ask for your passport they would give you a story, maybe say that is being kept in immigration. They have asked for mine before, but I know what would happen if I gave it them,” Charles alleged.

Addendum: Wright Charles Gaye subsequently contacted Minivan News to say Valencia had paid the US$2,600, an additional one month’s salary and had booked him a one-way flight to Liberia.

Photograph: Maldivesoccer.com

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