Malé, Maldives – Former President and Current Speaker of the Parliament of Maldives Mohamed Nasheed said that the Parliamentary Committee in Member’s Privileges and Ethics would investigate whether the Minister of Communication, Science and Technology Mohamed Maleeh Jamaal who is currently facing a no confidence case, made false statements at the Parliament sitting today.
Speaking at the Parliament sitting today, Minister Maleeh said that false allegations are being raised against him saying that he didn’t make laws which in reality have already been done.
Replying to Maleeh, MP Meekail raised a point of order saying that Maleeh in his speech, criticised Parliamentary Members multiple times and requested the Minister to clarify the date on which the laws were made. Speaker Nasheed accepted MP Meekail’s point after his speech.
The Parliamentary Committee on Member’s Privileges and Ethics will investigate as to whether the Minister made any false statements in the Parliament. If it is proven by the committee, the issue will be submitted to the Prosecutor General to raise charges.
Speaker Nasheed
Following Speaker Nasheed’s statements, Minister Maleeh also requested for the investigation to be continued. He added that anu issues from the Parliament will also be revealed by doing so.
The no confidence vote against the Minister also comes following his comments aimed at the PG group of MDP on a TV program, in which he said that the Parliament members cannot dictate how the government should do it’s job and that no such policy can also be formulated.
Meanwhile, there has been public concerns against Minister Maleeh regarding the steep internet prices lack of accessibility. The average cost of one gigabyte (1GB) was then calculated and compared to form a worldwide mobile data pricing league table on which the Maldives was ranked at 135 with cost of data varying from $3.88 – to $10.63 per GB. This makes internet unaffordable for most of the average families.
The motion was submitted by the Parliamentary Group leader of MDP Ali Azim. The Parliamentary Group (PG) of the leading governing coalition party, Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) voted in favor of moving forward with a no confidence vote against Minister Maleeh with 14 members signing the motion.
A total of 43 members need to vote for the no confidence motion in order to remove the Minister from his job.
