McKinnon pleased by agreement on Nasheed's nominee

Commonwealth Special Envoy to Maldives Sir Donald McKinnon has said that he was pleased that the government and former President Mohamed Nasheed had reached consensus on the nominee of Nasheed to the Commission of National Inquiry (CNI) set up to probe the transfer of power on February 7. "I am happy that we finally have a resolution on the issue of Nasheed's nominee, and I commend both sides for their patience and perseverance in this regard," Sir Donald said in a Commonwealth statement yesterday.

However, the Commonwealth’s statement had not disclosed the identity of Nasheed’s nominee.

In keeping with the commitment with the Commonwealth, the government had agreed to appoint a Commonwealth-funded senior retired judge from Singapore as the co-chair of the Commission, in addition to a representative of the former President.

The Commonwealth and the United Nations respectively would provide an expert adviser for support of the work of the CNI, the statement further read.

After rejecting the 12 or so nominations made by Nasheed to the CNI, reliable sources had confirmed to Haveeru that the government had finally accepted the last minute nominee, Ahmed 'Gahaa' Saeed as the former President’s representative to the Commission.

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.

Government had earlier rejected the nominations made by Nasheed to CNI, claiming that the nominees do not meet the specified criteria.

Prior to President Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik’s departure to the United Kingdom yesterday morning, when asked of his views on Nasheed’s nomination, Waheed had said that though there were certain reservations about the nominee, he believed that the person was “good enough.”

He also expressed hope that the CNI would be able to function efficiently with the addition of Nasheed’s representative.

In response to a query about the reservations the government had with Nasheed’s nominee, Waheed claimed that the person had made certain remarks in relation to the change in government.

However, he stressed that the government would strive to move past such reservations.

“We have no intention of rejecting that person because we want to move forward with this process,” President said.

"Now that we have agreement on the reconstituted Commission, I look forward to it starting its work and carrying out its important mandate. I hope also that with its enhanced terms of reference and revised composition, the Commission will be a more broadly acceptable mechanism and will allow the country to move forward," McKinnon further added in the statement.
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