Commonwealth Special Envoy to the Maldives Sir Donald McKinnon has highlighted the importance of preserving the confidentiality of the discussions related to the Commission of National Inquiry (CNI) due to its sensitivity and also to ensure room for the parties to reach a desirable outcome. A statement Commonwealth pointed out that the interlocutors are yet to agree on the appointment of a representative of former President Mohamed Nasheed to the CNI established to probe the circumstances surrounding the transfer of power on February 7, while stressing that McKinnon was continuing his efforts to facilitate agreement between the government and Nasheed on a suitable nominee.
The Commonwealth has urged the preservation of the confidentiality of matters related to the CNI after Nasheed had expressed concern over the government publicizing his every nomination to the Commission.
A press statement by Nasheed’s Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) yesterday claimed that the former President had raised concern with the Commonwealth after the government had shared Nasheed’s last nomination to CNI with the media.
However, government Spokesperson Abbas Adil Riza countered Nasheed’s allegations by claiming that the government had agreed to publicize a nomination after consulting with the Commonwealth if the nominee meets the specified criteria.
As the deadline given to Nasheed to nominate a person to the CNI expires today, the government had urged the former President to expedite his nomination to the Commission.
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, 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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