Some parliament members of main-ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) on Tuesday submitted a no-confidence motion against Health Minister Abdulla Ameen at the Parliament. The members are seeking Ameen’s dismissal despite a decision made earlier on Tuesday by the parties’ National Council which deemed that the minister had the confidence of the party.
58 parliamentarians were in attendance at MDP’s parliamentary group meeting held on Tuesday to discuss Ameen’s case. 31 members voted that they had confidence in Ameen while 27 members voted against the minister. According to some MDP MPs, the President of the party Mohamed Nasheed, who is also the Speaker of the Parliament is against the National Council’s decision and is heading the efforts to dismiss Ameen.
Nasheed, who was the President of the Maldives through 2008 to 2012 had previously attempted to dismiss Economic Minister, Fayyaz Ismail. While some 20 members had signed the resolution that needs to be submitted for the parliament to consider such a move, Nasheed gave up efforts to pursue Fayyaz’s dismissal through the parliament, and instead opted to seek his dismissal through the party’s National Council.
The Prosecutor General’s Office on Tuesday decided against pursuing charges of misuse of official capacity for alleged misconduct in procuring ventilators by Health Ministry officials. The Anti Corruption sought charges against 11 officials including the Health Minister after a compliance audit report on the ministry’s COVID-19 spending highlighted several red flags. According to the PG Office, the authority is not seeking charges due to lack of sufficient evidence to prosecute the individuals. However, the corruption watchdog insists enough evidence to convict the officials are available.
