As the deadline given to former President Mohamed Nasheed to nominate a person to the Commission of National Enquiry (CNI) set up to probe the transfer of power on February 7 expires tomorrow, the government today expressed concern and urged Nasheed to expedite his nomination to the CNI. Government Spokesperson Abbas Adil Riza stressed today that Nasheed had been afforded sufficient time to make an apt nomination and raised questions over the sincerity of the former President following his failure to nominate a candidate under the mutually acceptable criteria agreed between the government, Commonwealth and opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP).
“The government wishes to expedite this process. The main reason behind Nasheed being given this opportunity after changing the position of the government was to accelerate this process and take this matter forward smoothly. Government even today urges Nasheed to nominate a candidate who meets the specified criteria as soon as possible,†Abbas stressed.
However, no prominent official of MDP had been available for a comment in relation to the government’s claims.
MDP had stated earlier that the government had rejected all ten nominations made to the CNI on behalf of Nasheed after claiming that the nominees had not met the agreed criteria.
The last nomination made by Nasheed was Mariyam Manaal Shihab who is the daughter of former Minister in the previous administration Mohamed Shihab, a government official had said.
In addition to the government, Commonwealth Special Envoy to the Maldives Sir Donald McKinnon had also accepted Manaal’s nomination to the CNI, according to the official. However, shortly after the government had made the statement, MDP had refuted the claims.
MDP further alleged that the claims made by the government were baseless and if Nasheed did make a nomination to the CNI, the former President would duly inform the party first.
The former President’s previous nominees include Lieutenant Colonel Zubair Ahmed Manik of the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF), Machchangoalhi-north constituency MP Mariya Ahmed Didi, former Housing Minister of the previous administration Mohamed Aslam, former Youth Minister Hassan Latheef, former Education Minister Shifa Mohamed, former member of the Judicial Service Commission Aishath Velezeenee and former board member of the Maldives Airports Company Limited (MACL) Ibrahim Saleem.
In addition to holding a degree, the criteria specified by the government states that the person to be placed in the Commission by Nasheed must be a person who has been away from the political scene for a period of two years, must also be a person who has not taken a specific stand in relation to the regime change, must be unprejudiced and generally acceptable to the public.
The government had decided to appoint a retired Judge from Singapore as the Co-Chair and a nominee of former President Nasheed to the Commission, following the call by the Commonwealth to revise the CNI in order to make it more independent, impartial and generally acceptable by the people.
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