Stop Influencing the Supreme Court

Stop Influencing the Supreme Court

Following the conclusion issues by the Foreign Council of European Union yesterday, the Government of Maldives reiterated its commitment to uphold the Constitution and the rule of law in the Maldives. This is a blatant lie to avoid any consequences. The government of President Abdulla Yameen has no such intention and this is clearly visible from the articles of the Constitution that were…

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2018 Budget: Recipe for a Disaster

The 2018 budget is a recipe for a financial crisis and destabilize the Maldives economy. It needs serious changes to make it practical.

Finance Minister, Ahmed Munavvaru submitted the 2018 Budget on 15 November 2017 for parliamentary approval. He contended the opposition lawmakers, in his submission speech, saying that “the goal of the 2018 Budget is to develop human resources for nation-building along with spending on infrastructure developments without pause, to complete the numerous ongoing projects”. The opposition block…

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Roadblocks to a Just Justice System

Roadblocks to a Just Justice System

The criminal justice system in the Maldives regularly does injustice and systematically fails to deliver justice to the people. The unjust system is built on three main roadblocks. The first roadblock is the incompetency and unfairness of Chief Justice, Abdullah Saeed. As it was earlier examined, there is no intention of repeating those. For details, click here. Secondly, the Judicial Service…

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Dear Commissioner, Where is the police investigation manual?

Dear Commissioner, Where is the police investigation manual?

Dear Commissioner of Police, Ahmed Areef, From your failure to formulate an investigation manual, it is clear that you have neglected your responsibilities, listed clearly in article 53 of the Police Act. According to article 53(b) of the Law, it is the responsibility of the Commissioner of Police to “establish and implement the guidelines, policies and principles for the use of the powers and…

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Police on a charging spree!

Police on a charging spree!

The Maldives Police Service on 30 September 2017 arrested four persons in connection with the unexplained death of Ahmed Haameem (22 years) and Fathimath Sama (18 years) in Hulhumale’ on 28 September 2017. Among the four suspected, are three men and a woman. At the remand hearing of the arrested four persons, the Police laid 12 charges. The charges announced at the remand hearing include:…

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Murder number 27; Government still to formulate anti-gang strategy.

The criminal problem illustrates the extent Yameen's government has failed the public.

Twenty seven murders has been committed since President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayyoom was elected to office. The number of knife attacks and gang-related harm, directly and indirectly is not known as none of the state institutions responsible for the task has an interest in this problem. Despite the physical and mental harm, and loss of life, the government has not formulated a strategy to address…

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State watchdogs must investigate the source of funds for Yameen’s Y18 Sports Fiesta

How did President Yameen’s campaign team raise MVR 7.5 million for organizing a sports fiesta? Amid widespread public corruption and embezzlement reported in the audit reports, people of the Maldives must be told how such a huge sum has been raised. The answer for this question is important for all Maldivians. Even if Dharubaaru Faction of PPM reveals the ways in which this sum was raised for just one event, the watchdogs must investigate the funding sources to establish that these are not embezzled from the state or laundered through illegal means. The recent behaviour of the Maldives at the UN (regarding the persecuted Rohingya community) and Yameen’s over-dependence on China also make this investigation important to ensure that the presidency is not a foreign-power installed presidency.

The Y18 Sports Fiesta —  a nationwide sports festival organised as part of the campaign event for the re-election of Abdulla Yameen was launched on 18 September 2017. Speaking at the ceremony, held at the National Art Gallery, Yameen praised his wife, Fathimath Ibrahim and her team for organizing such a large-scale event. The official logo of the festival and its website were launched by Yameen at the function. A women’s volleyball tournament and men’s futsal tournament will be held in the fiesta. The prize money allotted for the winning teams is MVR 7.5 million (US$490,000). This is excluding the expenses for organizing the fiesta.

The tournaments consist of three rounds and the 20 atolls are categorized into six regions for the fiesta. MVR 50,000 is set to be awarded to the champions of atoll tournaments while it is set to award MVR30,000 for runners-up. In addition, fair play teams will be awarded with MVR 20,000. Similarly, zone champions will be awarded with MVR 100,000 and runners-up with 75,000 and fair play teams with MVR 50,000. Champion of the tournament in which all champions compete will be awarded 200,000 rufiyaa and the runner-up with MVR 150,000. The fair-play team of the Champions’ tournament will get MVR 75,000. The event organizers will provide a Home Kit, Away Kit, and Official Kit for each team, and to prepare for the festival each team will receive MVR 15,000 (for the Atoll Round), MVR 50,000 (for Zone Round), and MVR 100,000 (for the Final Round).

The organizers are promoting the event as the “The Largest Sporting event in Maldivian History”. Obviously, nobody in the Maldives can miss such a humongous event, and especially when it is promoted by two media agencies, Vaguthu and state broadcaster Public Service Media (PSM).

Despite the strong marketing and the involvement of public servants in organizing the event, it has not come into the attention of the watchdogs, Elections Commission and Anti-Corruption Commission.

It should have come to their attention as it violates the laws. Firstly, the event itself amounts nothing less than offering bribes as the purpose of the event to gain political support for a candidate contesting in the 2018 Presidential Elections and not as for any other objective. Even if the event is considered to be organized by Fathimath Ibrahim, as an individual, it is a clear violation of Article 5 of Corruption Prevention Act (Law: 2/2000). Hence, it must be investigated by the Anti-Corruption Commission (with powers given to the Commission in Article 21(a) of the Anti-Corruption Commission Act).

In the media releases and public announcements, it has been admitted that the “fiesta is a campaign event for President Yameen for the Presidential Election to be held next year” . Hence, it is clear that the Elections Commission must be monitoring the progress of the Fiesta. In that respect, the Fiesta violates Article 29(b) of The General Law on Elections (Law 11/2008). Furthermore, the Fiesta is a step beyond the permitted activities for gaining support to a candidate contesting for a public office, as the permitted activities are clearly stated in Article 28(b) of Law 11/2008. The huge prize money and financial reward (prize money) and material reward (three sets of jerseys) for just participating in the Fiesta illustrates the extent the event can harm other potential candidates through undue influence, both directly and indirectly.