Government to withdraw no-confidence against MMA Governor

The government will withdraw a no-confidence motion against Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) Governor Fazeel Najeeb, President Mohamed Nasheed announced last night.

Briefing press about a meeting with opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) Leader Ahmed Thasmeen, President Nasheed said that he did not believe the motion should be carried forward at a time when the government had proposed sweeping economic reforms.

“In my view, it should not be brought to the floor,” he said. “I will inform the Speaker of Parliament in a letter [Sunday] to this effect. I feel that we will need Fazeel Najeeb’s experience at a time when we are bringing major changes to the government’s economic and fiscal policy and we should acknowledge the work that he has done.”

He added that the government believed it could “go forward” with Fazeel Najeeb as the governor of MMA.

The President’s announcement comes after a five member sub-committee of the opposition-dominated Public Accounts Committee evaluated the complaints against Najeeb and declared the stated nine reasons “baseless.”

On the charge of not attending MMA board meetings, the sub-committee found that Najeeb had chaired 82 percent of the central bank’s board meetings.

The sub-committee consisted of MPs ‘Colonel’ Mohamed Nasheed and Abdulla Abdul Raheem from the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) and MPs Ali Azim and Dr Abdulla Mausoom from the opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP).

Local media however reported today that parliamentary procedure might not allow the motion to be withdrawn at this stage, with the Public Accounts Committee due to present its report to the floor.

In March this year, the MDP parliamentary group called for Najeeb’s dismissal, accusing him of “repeatedly failing to fulfill his legal obligations.”

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