MDP office in Male' vandalised by thieves

Male' - Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) head office in Male' was broken into and vandalised by thieves on Wednesday. According to the secretariat, the incident occurred whilst the office was shut between 4:30pm and 9:30pm. "They broke in and forced open all the lockers. They also ripped the wood off the walls and door. We called the police immediately," Sec-Gen Hamid confirmed. It is unclear whether this was a random incident or a premeditated assault on party premise by the Dictator's thugs, which could not be ruled out considering such incidents in the past. Premises belonging to democracy activists and supporters have been under attack since the movement began and recent incidents such as that of robbery at Capital Travel office have once again raised concerns about the on-going lawlessness in the capital Male'. Many believe that these incidents are organised to create fear and unrest amongst the public.

Finance Ministry Tight Lipped On $30 Million HSBC Loan

By Ajay Makan
September 24, 2007

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The government is refusing to explain why it has borrowed $30 million from international bank HSBC at commercial interest rates.

Governments are generally able to borrow money from development institutions such as the World Bank or Asian Development Bank at below market rates.

But HSBC is a profit making private bank, and their loan must be repaid at 2.25% above LIBOR, LIBOR is the floating rate at which banks lend to each other.

LIBOR is currently at just over 5%. Repayments are due to start in two years and must be complete within eight.

A Finance Ministry statement said the loan will be used “to rebuild harbours destroyed in the 2004 tsunami,” and for, “other important projects.”

But Finance Minister Gasim Ibrahim had already earmarked finance for harbour rebuilding in his 2007 budget.

It is the second time the government has turned to HSBC for finance. In 2002, the bank lent just over $10 million for the redevelopment of Gain airport.

But this time the government has borrowed for an already budgeted spend, adding to fears it has failed to raise finance to meet the ambitious spending plans outlined in Gasim’s $1 billion budget.

Analysts are speculating on other possible motives for borrowing from a private bank.

A Colombo based financial journalist said a development bank would demand expenditure is linked to development projects, whereas a commercial lender does not impose any limits on how money is spent.

The HSBC loan could therefore be intended for money printing, or to resolve a short term cash flow crisis.

"But 7.5% is not a bad rate for a country like the Maldives, if they spend it wisely. It just depends what they are going to use it for," she added.

Ali Hashim the former shadow Finance Minister, suggested the government may have been forced to borrow from a private bank because of a poor credit rating.

According to Hashim a team from Standard and Poor visited the Maldives two months ago to carry out an independent credit rating, but the Finance Ministry has refused to reveal the results.

“If the government’s credit rating is poor, private banks will be the only people they can get money off,” Hashim said.

Government finances have been under intense scrutiny following a barrage of negative assessments from international institutions, including the International Monetary Fund and Asian Development Bank.

But the government is avoiding questions about the loan. The Finance Ministry statement was not released to Minivan News or Jazeera, the papers most critical of the government.

Minister of state Rilwan Shareef told Minivan News “I have nothing to add to the press statement.” While Finance Minister Gasim Ibrahim said he was too busy to comment.

HSBC has so far also refused to comment.

Referendum fraud case accepted by court

Male' - The case of referendum fraud submitted by Ali Sawad of S. Feydhoo has finally been accepted by the courts yesterday. "Initially they refused again but I called the Minister and a few minutes later the court called me and it was accepted", explained Sawad. This is the first of the many such cases which are being filed in the courts to prove that the August 18th referendum results were heavily rigged by Dictator Gayyoom. Sawad's case is about irregularities with voting procedures in his Atoll which he personally witnessed. Gayyoom's courts initially refused to accept any cases relating to the referendum but the new Justice Minister Muizzu appears to be a much more open minded person who is unwilling to bend the law to please his master.

Excess Ballot Papers Proof Of Vote Rigging: MDP

By Minivan News
September 26, 2007

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The opposition Maldivian Democratic Party claims to have more evidence of vote rigging in last month’s constitutional referendum as it seeks to have the result overturned.

Party chairman Mohamed Nasheed (Anni) appeared at a press conference yesterday brandishing a photocopy of a referendum ballot paper, which should not have passed out of the hands of election officials.

Anni told journalists the party had received “a number” of papers, “enough to change the result,” although he would not reveal exactly how many or where they were obtained from.

”Let The Special Majlis Decide”

Last month’s vote appeared to give victory to a government backed presidential system over an opposition backed parliamentary system by over 30,000 votes out of 160,000 ballots cast.

But the MDP has accused the government of vote rigging, and is seeking to overturn the result in the courts and in the Special Majlis.

The party says the government appointed election commissioner distributed additional ballot papers to allow vote stuffing in favour of a presidential system, and this is how the party has obtained a ballot paper.

“We want the results to be invalidated and for the Special Majlis to decide on a form of government,” Anni told Minivan News.

An in built government majority means the Special Majlis would most likely vote for a presidential system. But with an eye on next year’s presidential election, Anni is determined to alter the impression that the MDP suffered a popular electoral defeat in last month’s vote.

“We don’t want the government to say the people have voted for a presidential system, when they didn’t,” Anni says.

Key Report

With no court hearings scheduled on the legal challenges to the referendum results, the MDP is relying on the Special Majlis voting to overturn the results.

A key report from the committee of Special Majlis members which oversaw the vote is to be submitted by Saturday.

Annis is hoping the committee will detail sufficient voting irregularities for the result to be scrapped.

The committee has been divided between opposition aligned members of the People’s Association (PA), who are intent on highlighting irregularities, and government members led by committee chair Moosa Nizar, who support the result.

But PA member of the committee Abdullah Jabir said the committee is likely to agree a report by the postponed Saturday deadline. A draft document was circulated Monday, and will be discussed by members tomorrow.

Jabir stressed the report will not recommend either endorsing or rejecting the result, as “the Special Majlis must decide either way.”

Delaying The Constitution?

The government has seized on the MDP’s objections to the result to accuse the party of delaying the agreement of a new constitution. With a new constitution required for multi-candidate presidential elections to be held next year, and a November 30 deadline for agreeing a text looming, no party can afford to be seen stalling.

But Anni insists the MDP is doing everything it can to ensure a constitution can be agreed in time. And he says the party is willing to vote on any constitution proposed by the Special Majlis drafting committee in full, rather than debating individual chapters and amendments.

Is the five star hotel the solution?

The decision of the Government of Maldives to develop a 15-storey 200-bed tourist hotel on one of the few remaining public open spaces on Male' is an issue of serious concern for the residents of Male'. Given the urban conditions, the placement of this development in Male' is inappropriate and will further exacerbate the social, transport, housing and environmental problems. The process of decision making and execution of this project contravene existing government policies and strategies to alleviate the urban congestion of Male'. Based on this assessment, it is concluded that a better choice for the location of this development could be found elsewhere within the Greater male' Urban Region. This is an assessment made by a team of local professionals. download report (0.97MB)

MDP sues Elections Commissioner over Referendum fraud

The Maldivian Democratic Party last week submitted complaints against the Commissioner of Elections Mr. Kaaf Dhaal Ahmed Maniku to the Civil Court in Male’, citing him culpable in a number of fraudulent practices pertaining to the Referendum on a system of governance held on 18 August 2007. more