Tag: parliament

Majlis reconvenes with elections and legislative reforms atop agenda

The People’s Majlis reconvened today with both opposition and government-aligned parties claiming elections and legislative reforms were among the key focuses of their respective parliamentary agendas following an extended break.

According to the Majlis’ Counsel General Fathmath Filza, today’s opening session saw debates take place on two declarations and eight bills, including the repeal of a motion to remove the Maldives’ membership within the Commonwealth.

The session was also said by the official to include the distribution of the Commonwealth-backed Committee of National Inquiry (CNI) report to all MPs and the respective parliamentary committees dealing with security services, independent institutions and national security.

“These committees will review the report and report to the Majlis on the actions that then need to be taken,” added Filza.

Despite reconvening temporarily for an emergency session to pass the General Regulations Act in August, the Majlis has not reconvened since July after Speaker Abdulla Shahid suspended the institution, deciding a safe environment could not be ensured in the chamber after heated exchanges on the floor.

This suspension led straight into the Majlis traditional recess period, although parliamentary committees have resumed their work as of last month.

Parliamentary Speaker Shahid told Minivan News today that the recess period had provided sufficient time for tensions between leaders on both sides of the country’s political divide to “calm”.

“This has allowed for dialogue between party leaders and for me to set up agreement to have the current third parliamentary session begin on time,” he claimed. “This is important to ensure parliamentarians were part of the process to address their respective agendas.”

The speaker said that in line with a number of reports from independent institutions, the decision had been taken – in line with parliament’s minority and majority leaderships – to pass the findings of the Commonwealth-backed Commission of National Inquiry (CNI) onto the relevant regulatory committees.

Function undisturbed

Abdulla Yameen, Parliamentary Group Leader of the government-aligned Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) told Minivan News by SMS that with parliament resuming today, he expected the Majlis to function undisturbed despite ongoing tensions relating to February’s controversial power transfer.

From the perspective of the PPM, which presently holds minority leadership in the Majlis with the second largest number of MPs after the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), Yameen said he believed passing pending legislation was his party’s foremost concern.

“[The PPM] hopes to see all pending legislative agenda addressed in order to ensure free and fair presidential elections,” said Yameen, who is the half-brother of former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.

Having met personally with former President Mohamed Nasheed late last month – without providing direct details of their discussions – Yameen said there had been agreement that the Majlis should function “smoothly”.

Meanwhile, MDP MP and Spokesperson Hamid Abdul Ghafoor claimed that in order to try and facilitate early elections, the party’s national council had asked for the Commission of National Inquiry (CNI) report to be distributed in the Majlis in attempts at having its recommendations implemented.

These recommendations, according to the MDP, include the need for reforms to strengthen the country’s independent institutions like the judiciary, as well as bringing senior defence force figures accused of mutinying against the former government to justice.

According to Ghafoor, the speaker has sent the CNI report to the relevant parliamentary committees to review recommendations made.

He claimed the request was part of a wider process to enact early elections within the Maldives – a key focus of the MDP since former President Mohamed Nasheed’s controversial resignation back in February.

Nasheed, who is presently the MDP’s presidential candidate, has continued to claim he was forced to resign under duress.

However, the party’s claims that the former government was removed from office in a “coup d’etat” were dismissed by the CNI report published in August.  The report was later accepted by the MDP, albeit “with reservations”.

These reservations were first raised by Ahmed ‘Gahaa’ Saeed, former President Nasheed’s appointee on the CNI panel, who alleged there had been a failure to take into account certain key evidence and witness accounts compiled by the panel regarding the transfer of power.

The MDP has claimed that despite its reservations, the CNI report has provided the party with a “way forward” to push for institutional reform.

Just last month, the MDP’s national council had called on the party’s parliamentary group to back a boycott of the Majlis over allegations that working within the present political process was failing to secure reforms highlighted in the Commission of National Inquiry (CNI) report.

The proposed boycott was criticised strongly at the time by parties serving within the coalition government of President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Parliament Watch aims to increase citizen involvement in the legislative process: MDN

Maldivian Democracy Network (MDN) has beta-launched its ‘Majlis Watch’ website, although the site remained password protected at time of press.

MDN Executive Director Fathimath Ibrahim Didi told Minivan News today that the project and its website are meant to provide a platform allowing citizens to more conveniently get involved in the legislative process. The website will also provide updates about the events at parliament on a more timely manner than the annual reports currently being released by the NGO.

“Through the website, you can access draft bills which the parliament is working on. This will give citizens a chance to submit comments and concerns. In future, we will highlight bills we are working on each week, so as to increase efficiency,” Didi said.

MDN has also released its Parliament Watch report, an analysis of the work of the parliament for the year from March 2011.

Representation and attendance

The political parties holding seats in the parliament in this period were Maldives Democratic Party (MDP), Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP), Jumhooree Party (JP), People’s Alliance (PA), Qaumee Party (QP) and Adhaalath Party (AP). DRP had split up into two factions, one of which was later registered as the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM). However, although the party held a number of seats, PPM was not officially recognised in the parliament.

According the report, by 31 December 2011, MDP had 34 representatives in the parliament, while DRP and PPM each had 15 members, JP and PA had 2 members, QP and AP had 1 member each, and there were 7 independent members.

In 2011, the 17th People’s Majlis held a total of 91 meetings. While the report states that 67 members showed at least 81 percent attendance, it further points out that only four members of parliament attended all meetings. They were MDP MPs Imthiyaz Fahmy, Mohamed Rasheed, Ibrahim Rasheed and Abdul Ghafoor Moosa.

Independent MP Ismail Abdul Hameed attended 55 out of the 91 meetings. He had a corruption case against him in the courts, and his right to attend the meetings were a contentious issue during that year’s parliamentary meetings.

The least number of meetings were attended by DRP MP Mohamed Ramiz, who attended 47 out of the 91 meetings, and Independent MP Ahmed Shiyam who was present at only 45 meetings.

The report further speaks of the number of times parliamentary meetings were disrupted for various reasons. It states that there are 193 instances where meetings were stopped due to lack of quorum and 26 instances where meetings were adjourned until the members named by the speaker were escorted out of the parliament hall. A total of 13 members had been asked to leave the parliament meeting hall, the most common being PPM MP Ahmed Mahloof.

Parliament remains suspended by Speaker Abdulla Shahid due to his concerns over political turmoil several months ago, however committees are meeting.

Legislative work

A total of 17 bills were passed in 2011, half the amount of bills passed in 2010.

Similar to the previous two years, the maximum number of bills that were passed in 2011 were in the area of Constitutional and Administration. The two other areas that were given priority are Religious and Social bills and Economic and Financial bills.

What needs to change?

MDN calls on members to not discriminate between members of their own party and those of the opposition when working with the constituents they represent.

It further notes that many MPs have expressed concerns that they are expected to spend on constituents from their own salaries. MDN states that this practice would prove detrimental to democratic norms. The NGO calls upon MPs to refrain from giving out hand-outs, and to instead work on strengthening the necessary social security frameworks.

MDN also calls on the parliament to increase accessibility to meetings, bills, motions, etc to the general public. It also notes the importance of members considering national interest ahead of political gains.

The electorate itself is asked to ensure that they cast an informed vote when electing members to represent them in parliament.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

MDP confident MPs will support a parliament boycott as party seeks international pressure for reforms

The opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has said its parliamentary group is expected to support proposals to boycott the People’s Majlis, alleging the government is failing to secure agreement on early elections or reforms to key national institutions.

MDP MP and Spokesperson Hamid Abdul Ghafoor said today that despite delaying a decision this week on whether the party’s parliamentary group would back its calls for a boycott, support would be forthcoming for “disengagement” from a political process he claimed was failing to secure reforms highlighted in the Commission of National Inquiry (CNI) report.

However, a number of government-aligned parties speaking with Minivan News have slammed any such boycott, claiming that with the release of the CNI’s findings last month, parliament was now the only place where agreement and concession on the nation’s political “differences” can be made.

MP Ghafoor said that talks scheduled for Sunday (September 16) between the MDP Parliamentary Group and its national council had failed to come to a decision on whether such a boycott would be supported.  Ghafoor added that a number of MPs were unavailable to participate either through travelling or being in their constituencies.

“Yesterday we didn’t have adequate numbers to make a decision so we wanted some more time on this matter,” he claimed.

Ghafoor said he was confident there would ultimately be support to move ahead with the boycott, which was claimed to be vital in maintaining international pressure in securing hosting early elections as soon as possible.  Several recommendations were raised through the conclusions of the CNI concerning the capacity of the country’s judiciary and “excessive force” used by elements of the police between February 6 and February 8.

The MDP has maintained that as well as highlighting a need for reforms of the country’s judiciary and certain civil society institutions, the CNI’s conclusions also called for action to be taken against key defence and military officers suspected of instigating acts of violence in the build up and aftermath of the transfer of power.

Ghafoor claimed the government had failed to show any substantial commitments meet it obligations in addressing these concerns, as well as rejecting a role for the MDP in the new president’s coalition government.

“The boycott should be viewed as a total disengagement from the process of engaging with opposition parties both through talks and the Majlis,” he said. “We hope to create a vacuum that would bring an international third party into the process.”

Ghafoor added that the party had been “engaged” since February 7 in dialogue to try and secure agreement on moving forward with the national unity coalition government of President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan, which it accuses of coming to power in a “coup d’etat”.

The MDP’s claims of a “coup d’etat” were dismissed by the CNI report, which was published last month and later accepted by the MDP.  This acceptance was said to be made with several reservations that were raised by the appointee of former President Mohamed Nasheed about an alleged failure to commit certain key evidence and witness accounts from the report’s findings.

Ghafoor contended that a number of concerns remained including the the government rejecting allowing the MPD to join the national coalition government as well as the inclusion of the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) and the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) in the executive following the transfer of power.

“What we have right now is a structural problem here. We are told that no coup has occurred yet, we have opposition parties in the executive, while we have now become the country’s opposition according to the Majlis,” Ghafoor said. “The onus right now is on parliament to carry forward on these talks and ensure agreements can be reached. We are not confident this can be done [through dialogue with the government and coalition parties],” he added.

Ghafoor claimed that the MDP’s strategy was aimed at ensuring a renewed role for the international community to help push for reforms, something the party earlier this week stated be a key focus for former President Nasheed during an ongoing visit to the UK.

“The international community still has a responsibility to engage the situation here and try and find a solution to the issues being faced,” he said.

Responding to the proposed Majlis boycott, Jumhoree Party (JP) Deputy Leader Abdulla Jabir said that any party – no matter their political allegiance – opting to boycott the Majlis was a regrettable development as the country sought political and economic stability.

“I would regret any party, be it the MDP, PPM or DRP deciding to disrupt the People’s Majis. We are a small country after all,” he said.

Jabir claimed that in line with “many mistakes” made by former President Nasheed whilst he was in office, the MDP’s proposal to block the work of the Majlis was a similarly “regretful” decision.

Meanwhile, Abdullah Ameen, Secretary General of the government-aligned Dhivehi Quamee Party (DQP) told Minivan News that he believed that the Majlis remained a place of “engagement” for political parties, as well as the only place where any “concessions” between politicians could be made.

“There are definitely issues that need to be addressed on all sides and parliament will remain the best place to discuss issues such as early elections or any changes to the constitution,” he said.

Ameen added that while international assistance was welcome in trying to resolve political matters, local independent institutions already existed to address any issues that arose.

“If it becomes too difficult to find resolutions through the Majlis, then international assistance is welcomed, but it is best practice to try working through the Majlis first,” he said.

“As a nation we need to sit down and talk. If you wish to pressure the government the streets are not the place to do so. The government and coalition parties are here to speak. It’s very sad that people are not choosing to do so.”

According to Ameen, Dr Waheed’s coalition government had already conceded to what he claimed were MDP demands to reform the CNI with international participation to address concerns about its independence.

“The MDP demanded international observers and we addressed these concerns. I don’t know what more we can do,” he added.

The original three member CNI was reformed under pressure from the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) to include a co-chair in retired Singaporean judge, an appointee to represent former President Nasheed and international observers. The reformed body began its work back in June.

Minivan News also sought a response over the proposed boycott from DRP Leader Ahmed Thasmeen Ali and PPM Interim Deputy Leader Umar Naseer, whowere not responding to calls at the time of press.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

MP Nasheed proposes bill criminalising sexual offenses

Independent Member of Parliament Mohamed Nasheed has published on his personal blog a bill he submitted to parliament in June this year, proposing to criminalise sexual offences.

The bill defines actions to be taken against specific types of sexual offenses, including rape, spousal rape, prostitution, bestiality and incest.

Nasheed stated that he felt a bill like this is immensely important because of the serious nature of modern day sexual offenses. He states that the current legislative framework governing such offenses is too lenient, and that the proposed bill would provide a stronger penalisation structure.

Nasheed has said that he believes it is equally important to criminalise sexual offenses against adults, similar to the existing laws criminalising such acts against children.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

People’s Alliance confirms “attempts” under way to reconvene Majlis next week

Senior representatives from the government-aligned People’s Alliance (PA) party have said attempts are under way to reconvene the People’s Majlis by next week.  Parliament was indefinitely suspended late last month by Speaker Abdulla Shahid over concerns about maintaining order in the Majlis chamber.

PA MP Moosa Zameer told Minivan News today that Majlis Deputy Speaker and fellow PA MP Ahmed Nazim had confirmed that the speaker was committed to restarting parliament by next week – despite no agenda yet being set.  Both Nazim and Speaker Shahid were not responding to calls from Minivan News at time of press.

The opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) meanwhile said it had been aware of the speculation over reconvening parliament next week, but added that it was “impossible to say” ahead of an MDP National Executive Committee meeting today whether an agreement could be reached on the matter.

Just last week, informal parliament-initiated talks – running parallel to the formal All-Party talks – were deemed to have stalled after participants failed to reach a consensus on resolving wider ongoing political deadlock and the suspension of the Majlis.

Following last week’s meeting, resort tycoon and leader of the government-aligned Jumhoree Party (JP), Gasim Ibrahim, called for the resignation of the speaker after he did not appear at the high-level talks.

Shahid said he had decided to suspend Parliament indefinitely pending a resolution to the ongoing political turmoil.

Parliament temporarily reconvened for a one-off emergency session in early August as government-aligned and opposition MPs agreed to extend the General Regulations Act until April 2013.  The Majlis has not held a session since the vote was passed.

However, MP Zameer claimed today that ahead of a Majlis recess scheduled for next month, it was important to reopen discussions between elected MPs through parliamentary channels.  Zameer claimed reconvening parliament remained the most viable path to ensure a potential political breakthrough.

“I think we need to go back to the Majlis, once we have dialogue there, we can begin to discuss key issues,” he claimed. “We need to get back to the Majlis to see what can be done and at least talk about finding a solution.”

Quoting MDP MP Ali Waheed, who represented the opposition party at last week’s informal talks, Zameer said that it had been agreed that it was down to Speaker Shahid to decide on reconvening the Majlis.  He claimed therefore that the MDP was not taking responsibility for the suspension.

The MDP has itself been criticised in local media by the government-aligned Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP) for its conduct and perceived role in having parliament suspended, which was claimed to be an “infringement” of democratic rights in the country.

DQP Vice President and Vilufushi MP Riyaz Rasheed was at the time quoted by local newspaper Haveeru in calling for parliament to press ahead with its work to amend and enact national legislation such as through restarting various parliamentary committees.

However, despite the ongoing political stalemate, Zameer contended that it has been possible, despite the current highly partisan environment, to reach compromises in parliament; such as with the recent reconstitution of the Majlis’ committees.

“During the events of the last two months we have discussed and agreed to a compromise that I proposed for the MDP to have more members on the Government Oversight Committee,” he said.

The PA – led by Deputy Speaker Nazim – last month gave up its seat on the Government Oversight Committee to the former ruling party in exchange for one of the MDP’s four seats in the Finance Committee.

Zameer claimed that although there was still concerns amongst government-aligned parties about the MDP’s commitments to ceasing street protests, he believed the Majlis remained the only institution at present where an agreement had the potential to succeed.

“It is certainly a lot better than sitting at home doing nothing,” he said.

Should parliament reconvene next week as speculated by the PA, Zameer added that there were “a lot” of pending issues needing to be addressed, including a number of reports compiled by parliamentary committees that needed to be returned to the floor for debate.

“Had the Majlis convened one week earlier [than currently anticipated] you’d have seen a lot of work being done by MPs,” he claimed.  “There are issues lying there right now that have a wide consensus to be enacted ,” Zameer added, not providing specifics.

MP Ali Waheed, who represented the MDP during last week’s informal parliament-initiated talks designed, was not responding to calls from Minivan News at the time of press.

However, MDP Spokesperson and MP Hamid Abdul Ghafoor said that the issue of resuming parliament would be discussed at a meeting of the MDP National Executive Committee today. Ghafoor claimed no agreement had yet been reached on setting a date for parliament to resume.

“My understanding is that we will give our cooperation to the Majlis for it to conduct meetings once we have seen how talks are progressing,” he claimed.

Ghafoor claimed that, with the MDP continuing to question the legitimacy of the government of President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan, the party was waiting for progress in securing early elections through ongoing road-map talks before returning to the Majlis.

“It is impossible to say if an agreement will be reached on resuming parliament. I have been made aware of such suggestions, but there has been no public announcement on this matter,” he said. “Right now this talk [of reconvening the Majlis] is just speculation. There is no room for speculation in the current climate.”

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

High level talks stall after senior party figures fail to appear

Resort tycoon and leader of the government coalition Jumhoree Party (JP), Gasim Ibrahim, has called for the resignation of Speaker of Parliament Abdulla Shahid, after he did not appear at high-level talks on Tuesday morning.

Shahid made the decision to suspend Parliament indefinitely pending a resolution to the ongoing political turmoil.

Gasim was reported as stating in local media that “if the Speaker had any sincerity he would have been here.”

The latest round of informal parliament-initiated talks – running parallel to the formal All-Party talks – were to involve a series of high-level discussions between senior party leaders. The all-party talks are one track of the international community’s response to the political turmoil in the Maldives, together with the Commonwealth-backed Commission of National Inquiry (CNI).

A UN source disputed that the all-party talks had collapsed, stating that “on the contrary we are still hoping to reach agreement on holding them again soon.”

The previous round of the UN-mediated talks, held at Vice President Waheed Deen’s Bandos Island Resort and Spa in early June, collapsed after parties aligned with the government presented the ousted Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) with a list of 30 demands.

The list included calls that the MDP “stop practicing black magic and sorcery”, “stop the use of sexual and erotic tools”, and “not walk in groups of more than 10”.

Following the Bandos retreat, Convenor of the All-Party talks, Ahmed Mujuthaba, acknowledged the lack of progress and suggested that “In the end, the most senior political leaders will need to create an atmosphere conducive to discussions, and come together prepared to work in good faith.”

Following this morning’s meeting, Gasim observed to local media that “parliamentary group leaders of the so called big parties, Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM), Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) and MDP were absent.”

Speaking to reporters outside the President’s Office, MDP MP Ali Waheed revealed that the party made two proposals, which were for all parties to agree to early elections or to determine a course of action based on the conclusions of the CNI report.

“Going for an early election would certainly cool the political atmosphere. Then we talked about how to act on the CoNI report due on the 30th this month. [We said] if they conclude it was a coup d’etat, President Nasheed should be reinstated and there won’t be any further discussions on that. If it was not a coup, if they conclude that the transfer of power was constitutional, we will wait for 2013,” the deputy leader of the MDP parliamentary group explained.

He added however that those found by the commission to have violated the law or committed criminal acts should face prosecution.

Ali Waheed said he expected a response from the President’s Office to the MDP’s proposals.

Gasim told reporters that participating in such talks was “meaningless” as the subject of resuming Majlis sittings was not discussed.

JP would not participate in any further talks until a solution to resuming sittings could be sought through parliament, Gasim said.

Correction: An earlier version of this article inaccurately stated that talks were part of the India-initiated All-Party talks. The talks were parliament-initiated.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Suspension of parliament leaves legal void for regulations on freedom of assembly, political parties

Several general regulations without parent legislation, including rules governing political parties and freedom of assembly, will cease to have legal force if an extension is not approved at a parliament sitting before midnight on Sunday, August 5.

Parliament however remains deadlocked and sittings have been suspended indefinitely amidst forced cancellations and escalating political tension.

Prior to the ratification of the new constitution on August 7, 2008, parliament passed a General Regulations Act as parent legislation for over 80 regulations without a statutory basis, or were not formulated under an Act of parliament. These include regulations for criminal justice procedures, companies and finance leasing transactions, insurance, jails and parole, freedom of information and building codes.

Article 271 of the constitution states, “Regulations derive their authority from laws passed by the People’s Majlis pursuant to which they are enacted, and are enforceable pursuant to such lawful authority. Any regulations requiring compliance by citizens must only be enacted pursuant to authority granted by a law enacted by the People’s Majlis.”

The parent act prolonged the lifespan of the regulations – deemed necessary for administrative functions and service provision – for a one year period until new legislation, such as a Criminal Procedures Act, Evidence Act, Freedom of Information Act and Political Parties Act could be enacted.

The act provided for further extensions based on recommendations by parliament’s Rules Committee. The last extension was approved in December 2011 and is set to elapse on August 5, after which the regulations would become null and void.

With the People’s Majlis at a standstill and the outcome of talks between parliamentary group leaders unclear, Deputy Speaker Ahmed Nazim yesterday warned of an impending “legal void” should the parent act be allowed to expire.

Nazim told newspaper Haveeru that the Act included “two very important regulations” for the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA).

“This problem will become a huge issue,” the People’s Alliance (PA) leader was quoted as saying. “It is therefore of utmost importance that a Majlis sitting is held before Sunday to find a solution. If not, the country will face a big constitutional problem.”

Parliament’s Rules Committee meanwhile met last week and decided to remove six regulations from the General Regulations Act.

According to the Majlis secretariat, the committee also decided to extend the deadline for the remaining regulations to April 2013, following “consideration of legal opinion by the Attorney General’s Office.”

However, article 5(b) of the Act states that extensions must be approved by the Majlis and previous extensions were put for a vote on the floor.

Independent MP for Kulhudhufushi South, Mohamed ‘Kutti’ Nasheed, told the local daily today that failure to approve a further extension could disrupt services and raise questions of the legality of government functions.

As the regulations concerned a number of areas and would “directly affect” people from “various fields and arenas”, Nasheed said a sitting of parliament had to be held before Sunday “even for five minutes” to vote to approve an extension.

The formerly ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has meanwhile called for President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik and leaders of political parties represented in parliament to come to the negotiating table to resolve the ongoing political dispute.

A statement released by the MDP parliamentary group yesterday contended that in the wake of the “coup d’etat” on February 7, the Maldivian state, constitution, democracy and economy had “come to a halt.”

The party would cooperate with resuming parliament sittings after a compromise agreement is reached through dialogue, the statement said.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

MDP would consider halting protests for “substantial” high-level talks

The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has said it will not rule out halting ongoing protests to facilitate fresh “high-level talks” with its political rivals, but would only do so should it see  “substantial” commitments from government-aligned parties.

President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan’s government meanwhile stated it will not consider reconvening talks between senior politicians and former President Mohamed Nasheed until he ceases the alleged “harassment” and “threats of violence” against its ministers.

Proposed “Roadmap” talks were launched in February with the stated aim of overcoming the political deadlock resulting from the controversial transfer of power that brought President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan into office. Former President Nasheed and his party  continue to allege that Waheed came to power in  a “coup d’etat” – and that the government is illegitimate.

Convenor of the roadmap talks, Ahmed Mujuthaba, on July 12 announced that a series of “high-level” discussions will be held between President Waheed and the leaders of the country’s man political parties after 16 previous attempts had resulted in “no breakthrough.”

The last round of the UN-mediated talks, held at Vice President Waheed Deen’s Bandos Island Resort and Spa in early June, collapsed after parties aligned with the government presented the ousted Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) with a list of 30 demands.

The list included calls that the MDP “stop practising black magic and sorcery”, “stop the use of sexual and erotic tools”, and “not walk in groups of more than 10”.

MDP MP and Spokesperson Hamid Abdul Ghafoor told Minivan News today that while the party’s protests that it maintains are “largely peaceful” were “totally within” the law, it would not be a “big deal” to stop the street demonstrations if it would help secure meaningful talks.

However, Ghafoor claimed that the party was ultimately sceptical over the commitment of government-aligned parties to ensure “substantial” and “worthwhile” dialogue.

“We have always maintained dialogue is the best way to proceed in the current situation,” he claimed. “What we have seen in the last party talks has just been ridiculous demands such as the issues about keeping crows and using black magic. We found out as a party that we are not dealing with serious people.”

According to documents said to have been provided to the international community by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, former President Nasheed has over the last week offered to stop ongoing street demonstrations to facilitate high level talks – but only if certain conditions are met by his political rivals.

The conditions stated in the document include addressing possible outcomes of the Commission of National Inquiry (CNI) presently investigating the events during and leading up to February’s transfer of power.  The CNI has been given a deadline of the end of August to concludes its report.

The MDP is also said to have requested allowing only the participation of parties with an elected parliamentary representative to attend the talks.  Such a condition would effectively rule out the participation of President Waheed.

Speaking to Minivan News today, President’s Office Spokesperson Abbas Adil Riza claimed that the government had been attempting since February 16 this year to hold high-level talks with the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) to facilitate talks on resolving the current political situation.

However, he denied that the government had called for an end to the MDP’s ongoing protests, claiming instead that it was more concerned by the alleged “unlawful” behaviour of opposition supporters such as in the “harassment” of government officials during demonstrations in recent weeks.

“There has been harassment on several occasions of late by the MDP,” he claimed. “The government will not yield to threats of violence.”

Abbas claimed that in negotiating over continuing potential talks, the government had also refused to negotiate regarding addressing any potential outcomes of the CNI.

“Nasheed has continued to insist on doing this,” he claimed. “But we have said that we refuse to interfere with the country’s judiciary.   We have been clear that we will not negotiate on the CNI or do anything that may compromise its work.”

In a statement released last week, the government called for Nasheed and his supporters to stop “violent activities” in order to ensure any high-level  talks could conclude “fruitfully”.

“Former President Nasheed’s supporters have been agitating and protesting on the streets at times with violent incidences for the past two weeks,” the statement read. “He and his supporters have been harassing government officials for the past five months indulging in violent attacks including the burning of the gender minister’s car, a police motorcycle and a newly constructed police building.”

Foreign Ministry view

According to a Ministry of Foreign Affairs briefing, discussions took place last Thursday, (July 26) between Ahmed Mujuthaba, President Waheed and UN Resident Coordinator Andrew Cox to convey a message that Nasheed would conditionally agree to end the MDP protests.

According to the document, the conditions set by the MDP required high level talks to resume at the “highest Level”, with the discussions taking into account the outcomes of the CNI’s findings on top of the existing six-point agenda set for the all-party talks.

The government was said to have responded the following day with five conditions that included:

  • All talks are held in the Maldives
  • The nine parties previously involved in the talks should continue to take part
  • Participants must be at the level of party deputy leaders or higher
  • The previous six-point agenda remained in place without adding the CNI to the discussion or anything that might “influence” its conclusions
  • The MDP agree in writing not to continue street protests for a “period of time” before talks resume

The briefing document claimed the MDP responded by calling on the government to only allow political parties with a parliamentary representation in the discussions. The opposition party said it would then put a stop to ongoing protests that have taken place over the last few weeks once talks continued.

The opposition party also said to have called for any agreed agenda to include the outcomes of the CNI.

By Sunday (July 29), the government was claimed to have responded that talks between the MDP and coalition parties be conducted on the basis of a “two-track” system based around political discussions and parliament.  The government also called for all parties including the MDP to refrain from holding protests.

The proposal was also said to have called for the agenda on the previous all party talks to remain unchanged, with the MDP addressing any issues regarding the CNI through parliament.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Parliament sittings canceled indefinitely by Speaker

Speaker Abdulla Shahid has announced that parliament sittings will be cancelled indefinitely as “a peaceful atmosphere could not be assured” for sittings to proceed amidst rising political tension.

In a press statement today, Speaker Shahid said that MPs of the formerly ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) confronted the Speaker in his private chambers after MDP MP Mohamed Rasheed ‘Kubey’ was forcibly removed at the beginning of today’s sitting.

“Moreover, confrontations occurred between MPs in the chamber to the point of becoming dangerous,” the statement read, adding that “an atmosphere of calm necessary to conduct sittings could not be assured” as all recent sittings had to be cancelled due to disorder.

Shahid explained that he decided to invoke the Speaker’s authority under section 213(e) of the rules of procedure to cancel sittings indefinitely as he believed a political solution had to be sought through dialogue among parliamentary group leaders.

Section 213(e) states that the Speaker has the discretion to not conduct sittings for a period “as a precautionary measure if there is fear of a certain type of danger facing the Majlis.”

Both today and yesterday’s sitting were cancelled after MDP MPs vociferously raised points of order to protest the arrest of MPs during the party’s ongoing street demonstrations and the government’s decision to alter the ‘Aasandha’ health insurance scheme to charge patients from private hospitals and clinics.

MDP MPs led by MP Ali Waheed also disrupted today’s meeting of the Finance Committee alleging that the committee had failed to investigate the government “illegally borrowing” MVR 300 million from the Bank of Maldives.

“Paralysed”

Speaking at a press conference yesterday, MDP MP Ali Waheed argued that parliament has been “paralysed” since the transfer of power on February 7 and that “nothing productive” had been done in the past six months.

MP Ibrahim Mohamed Solih ‘Ibu’, parliamentary group leader of the MDP, contended that the government was violating the Public Finance Act by borrowing large sums of money without parliamentary approval.

Ibu claimed that the Finance Minister had written to parliament’s Finance Committee seeking MVR9 billion (US$583 million) for the budget as well as MVR 3 billion (US$194 million) in additional expenditure.

MP Ali Waheed meanwhile noted that MPs last month overwhelmingly rejected a Finance Committee recommendation to make changes to the Aasandha health insurance scheme.

Speaking to press after today’s sitting, MDP Chairperson and Hulhu-Henveiru MP ‘Reeko’ Moosa Manik said the party would not allow parliament to resume while the current government was altering the MDP’s flagship free universal health insurance scheme.

MDP MP Eva Abdulla claimed that the government was facing a shortfall in budgeted funds for the health insurance scheme due to increasing expenditure on the police and army.

“What we’re seeing is the result of a group of people assuming power without making any pledges to the public,” she said. “That is, they do not have to be accountable to the people. They do not have to let the people know what is going on.”

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)