Male’, Maldives – The Maldivian Democratic Party’s (MDP) Parliamentary Group (PG) has decided not to support a motion submitted to the Parliament by opposition members last month to depose the Minister of Home Affairs Imran Abdhulla after he was accused of downplaying the high profile rape of a Kenyan tourist on a Safari vessel.
A motion of no confidence was filed against Minister Imran by opposition People’s National Congress (PNC) on the 26th of October with 11 signatures of Parliamentarians after Imran stated on a talk that the incident that occurred in the safari was not a “big issue” and that it only became big due to how the incident was reported. Imran further stated that such an incident can happen in a public place as well.
The motion also mentioned Imran’s problematic remarks on 2 other cases; The murder of former MP Dr Afrasheem Ali, and the abduction murder of journalist Ahmed Rilwan. The motion states that Minister Imran made comments which contradicted earlier statements concerning the murder of Dr Afrasheem on a nationally broadcasted radio programme.
The motion also noted that on October 21, Imran claimed that evidence connecting Rilwan’s disappearance to former Vice President Ahmed Adeeb and senior officials of the past administrations has been lost.
At a MDP PG meeting today, it was decided that that party would not move to depose Imran, which MDP’s PG leader Central Henveiru MP Ali Azim previously said would be the most likely outcome.
Parliamentary rules state that a motion of no confidence against a Minister requires at least 10 signatures from Members of Parliament, and that the Minister can be only deposed after the majority (43 members) of Parliament votes for deposition. As MDP holds majority in Parliament, it is impossible to pass the no confidence motion of a Minister without support from MDP Parliamentarians.
