Tag: minivan

China offers Maldives US$8.2 million in grant aid: President’s Office

The President’s Office (PO) has announced China will give the Maldives 50 million yuan (US$8.2 million) in grant aid “for the implementation of developmental projects and the advancement of public services.”

The announcement was made following a meeting between Foreign Minister Dunya Maumoon and President Abdulla Yameen with the Chinese Ambassador to the Maldives, Yu Hongyao.

The grant aid comes at a time the Maldives is facing dire economic circumstances, with the government unable to afford its huge recurrent expenditure on a bloated civil service and failing to pay millions of dollars owed to state-owned companies for services such as oil and electricity.

The State Trading Organisation (STO), the country’s main importer and wholesaler which brings in most of the Maldives’ basic commodities such as food and oil, warned of oil shortages in November after it was unable to pay a US$20 million debt to suppliers.

The central bank eventually bailed out the STO by drawing on the Maldives’ dwindling foreign currency reserves, but warned the country was on the verge of needing to print money, while state debt reached MVR 30 billion (US$1.9 billion).

The US$100 million fishing industry is about to be hit in 2014 by the decision of the country’s top export partner – Europe – refusing to extend the Maldives’ duty-free status due to its failure to ratify international conventions on freedom of religion and women’s rights.

The government this week said it would look to sell fish to the Arab and Malaysian markets by certifying Maldivian fish as ‘halal’.

The Maldives’ other major industry, tourism, meanwhile flat-lined in 2012 with the number of tourist bed nights falling 0.1 percent, even as annual arrivals continued to increase, this week topping one million.

The Tourism Ministry revealed that Chinese tourists now represented 30.8 percent of the total arrivals to the Maldives, the highest arrival from a single source market, however the Finance Ministry observed that this had not been matched with new revenue.

“As the most number of tourists to the country now come from China, we note that the low number of nights on average that a Chinese tourist spends in the Maldives has an adverse effect on the tourism sector’s GDP,” read the Finance Ministry’s ‘Fiscal and Economic Outlook: 2012 to 2016’ report.

The enthusiasm of the Maldives’ usual aid partners dwindled over two years of democratic uncertainty following President Mohamed Nasheed’s ousting by mutinying police in February 2012, while others – particularly Scandinavian countries lost interest once the Maldives graduated from ‘least developed’ to ‘middle income’ in 2011.

This was to some extent offset by extensive funding for climate change adaption and mitigation efforts across the country, ranging from waste management to desalination projects, that followed the Maldives’ grandstanding at international climate events.

President Yameen has pledged to tackle the Maldives’ economic woes by exploring and drilling for oil, as part of the Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM) campaign pledges.

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MDP MP Ghafoor jailed as Supreme Court annuls parliamentary immunities

The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has deplored the sudden jailing of its MP Hamid Abdul Ghafoor, despite promises of “leniency” from the government.

Ghafoor was sentenced in absentia to six months in prison for contempt of court, after failing to comply with police summons and evading authorities for almost a month by hiding in the parliament building.

Ghafoor contended that the court was deliberately scheduling hearings during critical votes and debates, violating the Parliamentary Privileges Act which requires MPs be allowed to be present during voting.

The Supreme Court on Thursday annulled several articles of the Privileges Act, declaring that this requirement was unconstitutional.

The Home Ministry then told local media that Ghafoor had been taken to Maafushi prison to serve his six month sentence, and would not be returned to Male for parliament sittings.

The Supreme Court in October stripped MDP-aligned MPs Ali Azim and Mohamed Nashiz of their seats, delivering the verdict in absentia in what the opposition labelled a “purge” of its majority. Azim was eventually arrested after the military stormed the parliament building and took him into custody.

The campaign of dismissals and imprisonment of opposition MPs reduces their lead in parliament ahead of critical votes on approval of President Yameen’s new cabinet ministers, as well as the passing of the government’s revised budget.

In a statement, the MDP condemned the jailing of its MP and spokesperson, noting that this came despite assurances from new Home Minister Umar Naseer that the government would treat the case with “leniency”.

“He was [initially] arrested in clear violation of the Parliamentary Privileges Act, which states that MPs cannot be arrested while a no-confidence motion against a government minister is pending,” the party stated.

“On Thursday the Maldives Supreme Court – an institution widely discredited as partisan in recent months – annulled the Parliamentary Privileges Act, in an apparent attempt to target MDP MPs such as Hamid,” it added.

MDP deputy chairperson Ali Shiyam observed that President Yameen, “who won the presidency in contested circumstances with 52% of the vote, said he would rule as a president for ‘all Maldivians’.”

“Sadly, within days of his presidency, the courts – which are de facto controlled by the executive – have started a witch-hunt against MDP MPs. This does not bode well for co-operation or compromise between the opposition and the ruling administration,” he said.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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President Yameen vows not to interfere with judicial processes before calling for cases to be expedited

President Abdulla Yameen has stated that his administration will not interfere in the judicial process,  while also calling on authorities to expedite both the investigation and prosecution of pending cases.

“We will not try to influence the judiciary to rule on any case in any certain way,” said the president, addressing supporters at a PPM coalition rally held on Sunday night under the title of ‘Thank you, nation’.

“My government is not one that will pressurize the judiciary to rule on any case in any particular way. We will not do such a thing. However, the cases pending at courts must be expedited. This is a personal right constitutionally guaranteed to every citizen,” Yameen stated,

“Even tonight, I call to expedite any cases against a child or person. What the state can do to facilitate this is to ensure we provide the facilities needed to do this,” Yameen said.

Parliament

Yameen spoke about the no-confidence vote against Prosecutor General Ahmed Muiz – who subsequently resigned this afternoon – saying that members are appointed to independent institutions with trust placed in them, but that the current parliament removes them if they are dissatisfied regardless of whether any fault is found.

He commented on the work of the parliament, saying that although the state is working with loyalty and is aiming to protect the constitution, the parliament has the complete authority to send a particular person back home if they are displeased with him for any reason, regardless of whether or not they can pinpoint the reasons for it.

He then went on to say that when no-confidence motions are passed against senior leaders of independent institutions, their reason for dismissal and their faults must be laid out for all to see, adding that the current parliament did not seem to share his viewpoint.

“While the government is looking at providing services to the public, and at fulfilling the larger policies included in our manifesto, we require the institutions to be able to match us step for step and walk alongside us. If not, the complete development that I speak of cannot be brought to the Maldives,” he stated.

Nasheed Administration

Speaking at the rally, President Yameen announced that the various allegations made against members of the administration of former President Mohamed Nasheed will be investigated by “specific state institutions created for the purpose”, and that the current government will not be involved in the process.

Yameen spoke of the importance of leaving behind the mindset where the opposition are viewed as enemies, and highlighted the importance of working together with even those who differ in political views. He said that, despite differences in political opinions, one must forgive others.

“There is an Auditor General. There is an Anti-Corruption Commission. Thankfully, the judiciary is an institution we have trust in. Neither our party nor I believe these are matters that I need to interfere in,” he stated.

While noting that there are many needs of the citizens, the president said that the main thing the people desired was peace and stability. He commended the first days of his government, claiming they had demonstrated an exemplary conduct of working in unity and refraining from envy and enmity.

Local council and parliamentary elections

The upcoming elections for the local councils and parliament were also discussed, with Yameen stating that during contests, citizens would not judge the government by the fluency of their political rhetoric, but by the level of stability maintained in the country and the speed at which their needs are met.

“Regardless of how little time there is, with Allah’s will we have begun some work. Our work is to ensure that in the coming local council elections, our work is done in a manner that will be accepted by the citizens,” Yameen stated.

Vice President Jameel also stated that the PPM coalition will “employ the same formula used to win the presidential election to achieve a sweeping win with a large majority in the upcoming local council and parliamentary elections”.

Jameel stated that while the “formula” is based on three concepts, the main and most important one is unity amongst separate political parties.

“This is a success that was gained for the protection of this country. A success gotten for the sake of protecting the religion of Islam. If we are to offer thanks for this success in the coming days, we must listen to that prayer of the people. The thanks can be given by not forgetting to deliver the major things we must provide for the citizens,” Jameel told the gathered supporters.

He added that the biggest fear in Maldivian hearts is that Islam might be eradicated from the country, pledging to appoint Quran teachers for every Maldivian school in the next 14 days in an attempt to prevent this from happening.

The vice president added that the Yameen administration had also begun work to establish an Islamic University in the country.

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State Trading Organisation bankrupt: President Yameen

The State Trading Organisation (STO) is bankrupt, President Abdulla Yameen revealed at a rally in Hulhumale on Friday night, according to local media reports.

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 STO sparked fears of an impending oil shortage crisis in early November, after then Managing Director Shahid Ali warned the company would run out of oil as early as November 10 if it did not pay some of its US$20 million debt to suppliers.

Shahid told an emergency meeting of parliament that government-owned companies had failed to pay the STO the almost US$40 million it was owed, and appealed to the central bank to use the foreign currency reserves to bail it out of its debt.

Central bank governor Fazeel Najeeb meanwhile warned that currency reserves were dwindling, and the state was on the verge of having to print money.

Speaking during Friday’s rally, President Yameen said “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.”

“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.

Impact

The tourism industry is generally insulated from Maldives’ financial woes by virtue of operating a separate dollar economy – a practice technically illegal under the country’s monetary regulations, but which reduces the industry’s exposure to the rufiya as well as rendering it unexchangable and creating a foreign currency shortage for local people.

However the tourism industry – indirectly responsible for up to 70 percent of the country’s GDP and up to 90 percent of its foreign exchange – is unable to import oil and other commodities independently and therefore is exposed to any supply shortages experienced by local suppliers of commodities such as oil.

In June 2013 resort operators and businesses across the country were forced to dramatically alter menus and even temporarily close entire restaurants after weeks of disruptions to the supply of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG).

The general manager of one property told Minivan News at the time that the LPG shortage had created a “food and beverage nightmare” that lasted three weeks, while some restaurants in Male were forced to temporarily close.

One of President Yameen’s early acts in office was to replace Shahid Ali as head of the STO with Adam Azim, brother of Defence Minister Mohamed Nazim.

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MNDF searching for lost fishing boat

The Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) is searching for the fishing boat “Kanduroadhi” after it was reported missing 54 nautical miles east of Fahala in Thaa Atoll on Thursday around 8:00pm, reports Sun Online.

The MNDF described the missing boat at 75 feet long, dark blue on the sides and orange on top with a white shelter in the middle of the vessel.

Anyone with information on the missing vessel should contract the MNDF on 191 or 3395981.

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