Tag: parliament

Opposition parties seek Supreme Court order to remove ministers

Opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party-People’s Alliance (DRP-PA) coalition has filed a case in the Supreme Court seeking a court order to declare that ministers who did not receive parliamentary consent should be removed their posts.

The case was filed at the Supreme Court by DRP Deputy Leader MP Ali Waheed and PA Deputy Leader Moosa Zameer.

Former Attorney General and DRP Council Member Azima Shukoor will argue the opposition’s case in court.

PA Secretary General Ahmed Shareef told Minivan News today that the constitution was very clear on the matter: ”Parliament’s consent is required for cabinet ministers to remain in their position. It is the spirit of the constitution.”

He added that the minutes of the Special Majlis debates on the issue adds weight to the opposition’s position.

”It is unlawful for those in the cabinet who did not get consent of parliament to remain in their positions,” he added.

Following weeks of political stalemate, parliament voted this week voted to approve five out of 12 cabinet ministers reappointed by President Mohamed Nasheed in July.

After MPs of the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) boycotted the sitting before voting began, the remaining MPs voted against the nominees Finance Minister Ali Hashim, Education Minister Dr Musthafa Luthfy, Foreign Minister Dr Ahmed Shaheed, Fisheries Minister Dr Ibrahim Didi, Home Minister Mohamed Shihab, Defence Minister Ameen Faisal and Attorney General Dr Ahmed Ali Sawad.

The government however insists that as none of the ministerial appointees received 39 votes against – the majority required to pass a no-confidence motion – all cabinet members shall remain in their posts.

Meanwhile, Independent MP Mohamed Nasheed, Legal Reform Minister under the former government, told Minivan News yesterday that the dispute over cabinet endorsement highlighted “defects” in the process.

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Criminal Court summons DRP MPs Ali Waheed and Mahlouf

The Criminal Court has ordered main opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) MPs Ali Waheed and Ahmed Mahlouf to appear before the court to face charges of obstruction of police duty.

Mahlouf told Minivan News today that the case was most likely regarding a DRP protest held outside the presidential residence Muleeage earlier this year that led to violent confrontations with riot police.

”Yesterday Ali Waheed and I received a chit from the Criminal Court saying that a hearing would be conducted on the 29th [Monday],” he received. ”It stated that the charges were ‘obstructing police duty’.”

The DRP MP for Galolhu North added that ”unlike president Mohamed Nasheed, we do not go breaking laws one after the other.”

”That night we were not obstructing police duties and we were not engaging in any unlawful activities,” he insisted. “We were exercising our right to free expression and freedom of assembly.”

Mahlouf said that he was “very pleased” that President Nasheed decided to prosecute him because ”the international community would understand how democratic Nasheed is.”

”He says he would never arrest [opposition] politicians, but he is arresting and charging young politicians and MPs in the country,” he said.

The DRP protest in January that marched to Muleeage turned violent, resulting in injuries to both police officers and demonstrators.

Following the unrest, Ali Waheed and Mahloof were summoned to police headquarters and questioned about their role in the protest.

At the time, Mahloof and Ali Waheed, also DRP Deputy Leader, exercised their right to remain silent.

Regulations currently in place on public gatherings, enforced by presidential decree under the former government, prohibits demonstrations outside certain designated areas, including Muleeage and the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) headquarters.

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Speaker and Deputy Speaker will be unable to enter parliament if Hashim cannot, claims Reeko

Parliamentary Leader of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), MP ‘Reeko’ Moosa Manik, has threatened to bar the speaker of the Majlis and his deputy from entering parliament if Finance Minister Ali Hashim is prevented from performing his duties.

Manik has warned that if Finance Minister Ali Hashim is disallowed to enter the parliament chamber to present the annual budget for next year, Speaker Abdulla Shahid and Deputy Speaker Ahmed Nazim would be prevented entry by the MDP.

Ali Hashim was one of the five ministers parliament yesterday voted to dismiss from the cabinet.

After three weeks of stalemate, parliament voted to approve five out of a dozen cabinet ministers reappointed by President Mohamed Nasheed in July, while MPs of the ruling MDP boycotted the sitting before voting began.

Seven ministers – Finance Minister Ali Hashim, Education Minister Dr Musthafa Luthfy, Foreign Minister Dr Ahmed Shaheed, Fisheries Minister Dr Ibrahim Didi and Attorney General Dr Ahmed Ali Sawad – did not receive a majority of votes from the 42 MPs in attendance.

Moosa said that it was not for the opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party [DRP] to decide whether Hashim can or cannot enter the parliament in cases related to finance ministry.

”There is not even a slight difficulty for Hashim to enter the parliament as long as he remains as an appointed minister by the executive power,” said Moosa. ”The vote parliament took yesterday was also illegitimate.”

Moosa said yesterday that MDP MPs left the parliament chamber to loosen the deadlock in parliament over cabinet endorsement, so that the parliament could proceed with other necessary works such as a Witnesses Bill and approving next year’s budget.

Moosa’s remarks suggested it was a response to what DRP leader and MP Ahmed Thasmeen Ali and People’s Alliance party [PA] deputy leader and deputy speaker of the parliament MP Ahmed Nazim said following the parliament’s decision.

Thasmeen told the media that if the dismissed ministers remain in office to proceed with their work, ”it would be a really serious issue and the matter would be taken to the Supreme Court.”

Meanwhile, Nazim have told the media that ”there is no way Hashim could present the budget as he did not get the consent of the parliament to be in the position.”

Nazim also argued that any minister that did not get the consent of the parliament should not remain in the position.

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Parliament only approves 5 out of 12 ministerial appointees

After three weeks of stalemate, parliament today voted to approve five out of a dozen cabinet ministers reappointed by President Mohamed Nasheed in July, while MPs of the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) boycotted the sitting before voting began.

Seven ministers – Finance Minister Ali Hashim, Education Minister Dr Musthafa Luthfy, Foreign Minister Dr Ahmed Shaheed, Fisheries Minister Dr Ibrahim Didi, Home Minister Mohamed Shihab, Defence Minister Ameen Faisal and Attorney General Dr Ahmed Ali Sawad – did not receive a majority of votes from the 42 MPs in attendance.

The five ministers who won approval were Housing Minister Mohamed Aslam, Health Minister Aminath Jameel, Islamic Minister Dr Abdul Majeed Abdul Bari, Human Resources Minister Dr Hassan Latheef and Economic Development Minister Mahmoud Razee.

Press Secretary Mohamed Zuhair told Minivan News today that the cabinet will remain in place as “the only way to remove a minister is with 39 votes” through a no-confidence motion, pointing out that none of the seven nominees who failed to win consent received 39 votes against.

“No consent does not amount to no-confidence,” he explained, adding that today’s votes showed that “overall the Majlis has confidence in the cabinet.”

Zuhair said that the opposition parties failure to secure 39 votes “demonstrates splits” in their ranks.

The cabinet resigned en masse in June protesting the “scorched-earth policies” of parliament, accusing the opposition majority of corrupt practices, deliberate obstruction and attempts to wrest executive control from the government.

Aftermath

Speaking at a press conference this afternoon, “Reeko” Moosa Manik, MDP parliamentary group leader revealed that he “asked the parliamentary group to remain silent even if the Speaker acts in violation of the rules and to leave the Majlis and step aside.”

Feydhoo MP Alhan Fahmy argued that after the Supreme Court ruled that article 171(e), which allows nominees to be interviewed by committee, could not be applied “the whole process has to be undone” since the invalidated provision was in place when the nominees were reviewed by the government oversight committee.

Appointing cabinet members was a “fundamental power” of the president under the constitution, said Alhan, adding that parliament had to pass no-confidence motions to dismiss the ministers who did not receive parliamentary consent.

“What we saw today in the Maldives parliament was a decision made in absence of the ruling party by the opposition party on their own,” he said. “I note that by this decision, instead of helping the administration govern, they have deliberately obstructed the government.”

Alhan condemned the opposition for “acting dictatorially” by “using parliamentary power irresponsibly” to dismiss ministers the DRP were unhappy with.

“I wonder if the DRP can give any justification as to why they did not give consent to [Attorney General] Dr Sawad,” he said. “For example, they can say something about not approving the Home Minister by talking about the police and what’s happening on the street. But why would they not give consent to Dr Sawad?”

Meanwhile, DRP MP for Galolhu South Ahmed Mahlouf dismissed the government’s as “the talk of madmen.”

Mahlouf argued that 39 votes were not needed to remove a minister as the constitution specifies that consent must be given by “MPs present and voting.”

“We voted for the people we believe are competent,” he said. “I do not believe the rest of them are ministers anymore. They should immediately give up their official cars and other state assets and they should not go to work tomorrow.”

While the MDP MPs maintain that Finance Minister Ali Hashim would still present the 2011 budget, Mahlouf claimed that he “certainly would not allow Ali Hashim to enter the Majlis.”

He further insisted that DRP’s voting reflected the will of the public and not personal prejudice: “[Defence Minister] Ameen Faisal was involved in the November 3rd coup and we tabled a no-confidence motion against [Education Minister] Luthfy when the cabinet resigned and Ali Hashim has sold our airport.”

He added that the opposition voted to approve ministers they believed were “competent and performing”, such as Housing Minister Mohamed Aslam and Islamic Minister Dr Bari.

“For example, we voted for Dr Bari because we believe that if we didn’t the President might appoint somebody like [Aishath] Velezinee (President’s member on the Judicial Services Commission) as Islamic Minister. We didn’t want to take that risk.”

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Public losing confidence in democracy because of parliament’s delays, says HRCM

The Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM) has said the delay caused by the deadlock in parliament is obstructing citizens obtaining the human rights promised them under the constitution.

HRCM said laws and rules are necessary elements for people to obtain their basic human rights, and other services the state should deliver the citizens.

“As it is the constitutional duty of the parliament to legislate, [this delay] causes the citizens to lack their rights and also causes a loss of confidence in democracy, and obstructs the establishment of the rule of law in the country,’’ HRCM said. “When the necessary laws are not passed, it becomes an obstacle for the state to fulfill tis the constitutional duty as stated under article 18, to protect and promote human rights.’’

HRCM noted that the Witnesses bill, Penal Code, Criminal Procedure Bill , Law on Taxation and National University Law were yet to be passed, as parliament entered its third week of inaction following clashes over the cabinet endorsement issue. Today’s parliament sitting was also canceled after the MPs clashed over the cabinet endorsement issue. The 10 day public holiday begins on Thursday.

HRCM called on parliamentarians and political parties to work in the best interest of the nation and its citizens.

The opposition and the ruling party have blamed each other for the cancellation of the parliament sittings, and each session is derailed on points of order.

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Parliament immobilised for third week running over cabinet endorsement issue

The parliament sitting today was again cancelled this morning, with the political deadlock over the cabinet endorsement issuing immobilising the legislative branch of government for the third week runnig.

Speaker of Parliament Abdulla Shahid canceled the sitting and suggested the political parties come to an understanding over the cabinet endorsement issue, the same request he made last week.

The previous sitting was also canceled after the opposition and ruling party MPs clashed over the issue of cabinet endorsement, and MPs refused to debate other bills.

The opposition and the ruling party MPs have been continuously blaming each other for parliament’s repeated cancellation.

Opposition MPs claim that the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MPs were declining to follow the parliament’s rules of procedure and alleged they were trying to influence parliamentary proceedings.

Opposition MPs have demanded individual approval of each member of the cabinet, and announced that they intend to disapprove six current cabinet ministers.

However, MDP MPs believe that the parliament should amend the rules of procedure and shall give consent to the cabinet as a whole rather than voting individually, as the no-confidence motion already exists.

President Mohamed Nasheed has said in his weekly radio address that although the parliament voted to dismiss any member of the cabinet, they will still remain in office, despite parliament’s disapproval.

Opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) MP Ahmed Nihan once again said that MDP MPs were deliberately forcing the speaker to cancel the parliament by constantly creating point of orders, to try and dismiss the cabinet endorsement issue from parliament’s agenda.

”After what the president said during his radio address, we were comforted at the thought that MDP MPs would remain silent as they were told and would let the cabinet endorsement issue continue,” said Nihan. ”We condemn this act of the ruling party, it is regrettable that the parliament has malfunctioned for nearly three weeks now.”

Nihan said there was a lot of other work that the parliament needs to complete.

”There will be the budget that has to be passed by the end of November, work on the Tax Bill is also at a halt, and the committee meetings as well,” he said.

He called on all the political parties to discuss the issue and to arrive to a common understanding so that the parliament could reinstate its work.

President Nasheed said during his weekly radio address that disapproval by parliament would mean ministers would be dismissed, and suggested MDP MPs to remain silent during the vote so parliament’s agenda could proceed.

Press Secretary for the President Mohamed Zuhair told Minivan News that it was unfair to say that only MDP MPs were responsible for the parliamentary deadlock.

”The real issue is due to a misconception in the meaning of the constitution, for there are MPs in the parliament who still have an ancient way of translating the constitution,” said Zuhair. ”It is regrettable that the parliament have arrived to a halt .”

Zuhair said the opposition was now effectively obstructing the president from establishing his government.

”Some of them cannot accept defeat and are attempting to obstruct the president from establishing a government,” he said. ”

Speaker Shahid said that the next sitting will be held tomorrow.

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Despite parliament’s disapproval ministers will remain in office, says President

President of the Maldives Mohamed Nasheed has said that ministers will not be removed from their positions if disapproved by the opposition-majority parliament during the endorsement process.

The Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) has argued that parliament will endorse ministers individually and is reported to have a list of members it plans to disprove. The government contents that parliament’s endorsement of ministers is “ceremonial” and should be done wholesale.

Speaking during his weekly radio address, Nasheed said that he believed the consent of the parliament should be given ministers “as a whole, rather than voting individually.”

“Members appointed to the cabinet will remain in office whether the parliament approves or disapproves a member,” said Nasheed.

If the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MPs felt guilty in taking part in “an unlawful vote”, Nasheed requested them to remain silent in the parliament chamber and not take part.

Nasheed said although there were ministers who did and did not have the consent of the parliament, the DRP’s position was unrealistic.

“Although I desire the parliament’s approval for the cabinet it is not wise to keep the whole country in limbo until a condition that was not prescribed in a law is fulfilled,’’ he added.

Parliament ground to halt several weeks ago over the issue, and has been derailed on points of order.

Opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) MP Ahmed Nihan said the president’s decision would “drop the whole country into chaos.”

“He is disrespecting the constitution,’’ said Nihan, “even though he is the person who should be the most responsible for upholding the constitution.’’

Referring to the president’s position on the issue, Nihan suggested that “tomorrow a citizen might go in front of the president’s office claiming to be the president ‘because the constitution does not clearly state the details of who shall be president.'”

“If these things continue to go this way, one day the citizens may enter the president’s office and throw out the cabinet ministers themselves,” he warned. “I call on the president to respect and uphold the constitution.”

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Speaker cancels parliament after MPs continue dispute over cabinet endorsement

The parliament sitting today was again cancelled after the opposition and ruling party MPs clashed over the issue of cabinet endorsement.

Newly-appointed spokesperson of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP Alhan Fahmy told Minivan News that the parliament sitting became heated after the MDP parliamentary group leader MP Moosa ‘Reeko’ Manik took a point of order saying that the cabinet endorsement should only be included in the agenda after amending parliament’s rules of procedure.

“Moosa said that parliament should only proceed with the issue after amending the rules of procedure,’’ said Alhan. ‘’He said that there was no procedure to follow when endorsing the cabinet ministers.’’

The opposition MPs disagreed and the sitting was concluded.

The Supreme Court ruled last Thursday that while article 171(i) of the parliament’s rules of procedure does not contradict with constitution, it cannot be used in endorsing cabinet ministers.

Attorney General Dr Amhed Ali Sawad said the ruling “clearly establishes that even if the Majlis does something outside its stated precinct in the constitution, such an act will be ultra vires (beyond its powers)”.

“In terms of legal precedent it has established a Supreme Court endorsement of separation of powers theory in the constitution, and identifies the separate legal precincts of the executive, legislature and judiciary,” he added.

However he noted that the Supreme Court decision left it open to the parties to resolve the deadlock – which currently shows no sign of happening.

Opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) MP Ahmed Nihan claimed that “once again MDP MPs deliberately forced the speaker to cancel the parliament after making disruptive remarks.’’

Nihan claimed that MDP wanted to “use their power inside the parliament rather than following the rules of procedure.”

‘’If the parliament sitting is to  proceeded, than the ruling party must keep aside their stubbornness and let the sittings proceed according to the rules of procedure,’’ Nihan said.

Niahan said DRP parliamentarians have decided not to endorse ministers  “including Foreign minister Dr Ahmed Shaheed and Defence minister Ameen Faisal, for they have conducted actions against the constitution.”

He also said that DRP’s planned protests will be ongoing and it were delayed out of consideration for students’ exams.

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Tear gas used in second night of protests

Police used teargas to disperse a crowd of opposition supporters outside the President’s Residence of Muleaage last night, following a second night of protests.

The protests have been sparked by a parliamentary deadlock after the Supreme Court granted the government a temporary injunction on Monday, blocking the endorsing of cabinet ministers until a ruling on the process can be issued.

The Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) wants to endorse ministers individually, while the government claims the procedure is “ceremonial” and that this would be tantamount to a series of no-confidence motions.

Shortly before midnight, police took 15-20 DRP members into custody including Ali Arif and MPs Ahmed Mahloof and Ahmed Nihan, after the gathering left behind the main group of protesters near Sultans Park and approached Muleaage. demanding to see President Mohamed Nasheed.

“We are seeing a rising dollar crisis, housing crisis and many other things – look at the long line of people outside the Bank of Maldives every morning,” said Nihan.

“We called out to Nasheed to come out and meet us to solve these problems. We told police it was a peaceful gathering.”

The Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF) arrived five minutes later, Nihan said.

“MP Mahlouf was severely injured because of pepper spray. Mahlouf and Arif were handcuffed and we were taken to police headquarters and detained for an hour without reason. It was very peaceful, and we sat on cushioned chairs,” Nihan stated.

Police apprehended the group at 11:35pm, he said. “Very few of us made it though to Muleaage. The rest of the demonstrators were near Sultans Park.”

Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam said the MPs and demonstrators “were not really arrested. They tried to cross the MNDF line and police tried to send them back, but they were eventually taken to police headquarters,” he said.

No injuries were reported to protesters or police, he said.

Miadhu reported minority opposition Jumhooree Party (JP) leader Gasim Ibrahim as saying that the handcuffing of MPs was “unjust and illegal”.

“The police should be the furtherest of people away from being unjust and oppressive. They should not be biased to any party or any colour,” Gasim told Miadhu.

Nihan emphasised that the DRP was not disputing the Supreme Court’s injunction on the cabinet re-endorsement.

“We will always take into consideration the rule of law to ensure it prevails – in any court, not just the Supreme Court,” Nihan said.

“The government needs to accommodate the opposition, and accept that we are not out to topple them but rather to make them accountable,” he said.

The Supreme Court has meanwhile released a statement condemning “uncivilised” vandalism of the building last night, after crude oil was thrown on the walls, vegetation and name board around midnight.

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