Malé, Maldives – MP of Henveyru South Constituency Hussain Shaheem has expressed concern over the way the vote for the vacant position at Maldives Broadcasting Commission was scheduled. MP Hussain said that Fazeen was appointed to the commission against the recommendation of the Parliamentary Independent Committee and this leads him to believe that the committee should be dissolved.
During the debate of the report put together by the Parliamentary Independent Committee on the names sent by the President’s Office regarding the appointment to the vacant position at the Maldives Broadcasting Comission, MP Hussain who is a member of the committee said that he is displeased by the order the vote for the report was presented and that it was against the recommendation of the committee.
He said that the committee must be dissolved if the voting order was changed from the report they put together after lots of hard work interviewing the applicants. He added that if the decisions of the independent committee cannot be accepted, laws should be passed to appoint family members to positions.
President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih sent 10 names to the Parliament regarding the vacant position at the Maldives Broadcasting Comission. After thorough investigation by the Parliamentary Independent Committee, two names were selected from the list which are Mohamed Fazeen, journalist of Raajje tv and Shifza Musthafa, former journalist at VTV.
After interviewing by the Parliamentary Committee, Fazeen recieved 8 votes and Shifza received the vote of 10 members. Shifza who does not belong to any political party, has 14 years of experience in the field and has worked as a member of Maldives Media Council and Youth Council. She has also received the Rehendhi Award and various journalism awards.
Fazeen who was appointed to the position yesterday, is a registered member of MDP and has 8 years of experience in the field. He previously was a candidate in the MDP primary elections for Thulhaadhoo Constituency.
Previously, complaints were made that recommended personnel are not being appointed to positions due to the list being called for vote in the same order as the one sent by the President. This is why the Parliament decided for their reports to indicate highly recommended and recommended so that the order of voting preference is clear.
However this protocol was not followed in the voting order this time and Fazeen’s name was called out first for the vote. Fazeen was appointed to the broadcasting commission with the vote of 55 MPs present at the Parliamentary sitting.
The Broadcasting Commission of Maldives was introduced in 2010 under the broadcasting law. The aim of the broadcasting law of Maldives is to provide independence in expressing thoughts, developing the country while protecting the religion, culture, politics and other national abilities of Maldives.
