Raajje News Blog

#Maldives: Unfolding political scenarios country wide bear witness that incumbent President Dr. Mohamed Waheed Hassan will be a formidable challenge to any opponent in the upcoming Presidential Elections 2013. President Waheed yesterday publicly announced that he would be contesting the 2013 elections, leading a coalition of interested parties. The announcement was greeted with support and respect in Maldivian social media and online media, even in the light of the fact that it came on the one year anniversary of the black day that his predecessor Mohamed Nasheed tried to topple him through brute force and arson on February 8th, 2012. Dr. Waheed's popularity is on an exponential rise within all voting segments, bolstered by a series of bold nationalistic decisions in 2012 in the face of immense international and internal pressures. His historic decision, in the face of extreme Indian Government pressure, to terminate a contract made by Nasheed illegally with Indian multinatio...

#Maldives: The scale and range of corruption rampant in the administration of former President Mohamed Nasheed is only now being brought to light as the Auditor General reports on Nasheed's various Ministries and Government projects. In his report to the Parliament last November on a Harbor Project for Haa Dhaalu Kumundhoo, the Auditor General reported that the Nasheed Government had paid the contractor, Heavy Load Maldives, nearly 12 million Mrf in excess of the contracted amount of Mrf 10.3 million. Heavy Load Maldives is owned by MDP's Interim Chairman Reeko Moosa Maniku, MDP MP for Hulhu-Henveyru. The Auditor General reported that, by giving various unsubstantiated reasons, Heavy Load had stopped work on the project from 12 June 2008 to 7 Februay 2009. However, within months of coming to power, the Nasheed Government had paid Heavy Load over Mrf 4.7 million for this period, calling it "idle time", although the delays were on the contractor's side. In this...

#Maldives: Parliament's Finance Committee told media last week that the Auditor General had reported over 55 million MRF state funds had been given by former President Mohamed Nasheed's government to various parties without receiving any services or goods in return for the payment. The three cases totalling over 55 million MRF involved high ranking officials of Nasheed's party, Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP). One case involved Mrf 12.7 million paid by the Health Ministry to a company called F-Tech Solutions to supply medical supplies. F-Tech Solutions was owned by high ranking MDP officials, one of its Director's and Human Resources Officer being a Ms. Fathimath Shiuna (aka "Prepaid Shiuna), a leading MDP activist working closely with Nasheed. "Prepaid" Shiuna is reported to be Nasheed's personal secretary. Another F-Tech director, Riluwan Shareef, is also a leading member of the MDP. 'Prepaid' Shiuna also fronted a successful bid for a ...

#Maldives: The current political struggle in the Maldives has been grossly oversimplified and wrongly reported by some foreign powers and foreign media as a military coup that put back in power the government of former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom. An unbiased look at the facts of the popular non-violent struggle that led to the transfer of power on February 7th shows that it was neither a coup, nor was it an illegal ouster of a "democratic" leader. Rather, it reveals the triumph of the Maldivian people over an increasingly dictatorial leader, Mohamed Nasheed, a man who had repeatedly violated the Constitution. Fortunately for the citizens of this highly vulnerable country, their struggle has been recognized by the world powers that continue to keep a close eye on the Maldives, namely India and the United States. Nasheed's sudden claim of a military coup, over 24 hours after his public resignation telecast on all local television stations, has been blamed on his close...

--> #Maldives Police today arrested four persons in relation to the brutal murder of MP and moderate Muslim scholar Dr. Afrasheem Ali. One of the individuals arrested was Mariyam Naifa, a leading activist of ex-President Nasheed’s party, Maldives Democratic Party. Unconfirmed reports in social media state identify a second individual amongst the arrested four to be a member of a gang providing “security” to MDP Interim President “Reeko” Moosa Maniku. A book launched by Nasheed on 10 th September repeatedly attacks Dr. Afrasheem, former Vice President of the Judicial Services Commision (JSC) at the time the majority of the present Judiciary was sworn in, calling him a “traitor” who allegedly subverted the Judiciary. Dr. Afrasheem’s murder comes within hours of Nasheed’s refusal to appear before court in a human rights abuse case against him. Nasheed refused to obey the court, denouncing the Judiciary as political and not to be obeyed. Nasheed, holding a lifetime position as the...