Speaker of the Parliament and president of main-ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) Mohamed Nasheed has made the decision to take up the issue of dismissing Economic Minister Fayyaz Ismail, to the party’s national council.
Sibling of MDP’s first President, Ibrahim Ismail, Minister Fayyaz was appointed to the cabinet on an MDP slot. Fayyaz is a close aide of President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, and is trusted by the president.
Earlier in August, Nasheed initiated efforts to remove Minister Fayyaz from the cabinet by collecting signatures from parliamentarians to submit a no confidence motion against the minister. Around 30 parliamentarians loyal to Nasheed signed the petition.
After Nasheed began efforts to seek a no confidence vote against Fayyaz, Presiden Solih himself had asserted his trust in his Economic Minister, and said there was no reason to remove the minister from his post. Many members of MDP also pledged their support for Fayyaz. The efforts to dismiss Fayyaz came to a standstill soon afterwards.
Nasheed on Monday said he had not given up the efforts to have Fayyaz dismissed. Nasheed said he would take up the issue with the party’s National Council before presenting it to the parliament. Stressing that Fayyaz needs to step away from the party even for a short while, Nasheed said the issue is an internal issue of MDP and therefore must be resolved internally. He is seeking a solution from the National Council for this reason, said Nasheed.
A top aide at the President’s Office Monday said the government will not pay much heed to Nasheed’s statements. Noting that President Solih has made his stance on the matter clear, there is no need to move forward with seeking Fayyaz’s dismissal, he said.
“We continue to receive different messages from Nasheed every single day. Some days, he accuses ministers of theft. Other days, he would claim that the government does not have any basis. Lately, we have not been taking his complaints seriously,” said the aide appointed to his post at the President’s Office on an MDP slot.
