Malé, Maldives — Chairman Abdul Hameed and five members from the National Drug Agency (NDA) board has been dismissed from their position.
Following the increased number of problems in the NDA board, five of the ten board members were dismissed from their position along with the Chairman of the board. While new members were arranged for the board at the start of this July, a Chairman has not been appointed yet.
The new five members for the NDA board are from:
- Education Ministry
- Home Ministry
- Youth Ministry
- Health Ministry
- President’s Office
Current Administrative Head of NDA and the State Minister of Health Ministry, Aishath Rasheed stated that early May, NDA was brought under the supervision of Health Ministry, after which a board review was done on the agency. Aishath informed that changes will be made to NDA considering the things they noticed from the review.
Aishath also informed that the Ministry is having discussions on bringing changes to the law on drugs. While NDA is currently operating without a CEO, the latest CEO, Mohamed Habeeb was dismissed form his position on May 16, 2021.
The National Drug Agency, a government agency responsible for the implementation of policies relating to regulations of the country, was established under the Drug Law (17/2011).
However, its work is overseen by the National Drug Control Council established under the new Drug Law, and is managed by a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) who reports to a ten member Advisory Board appointed by the President.
The Board is accountable to the Minister of Home Affairs and the Minister is accountable to the Parliament on all matters relating to the Agency.
