Parliament rejects information technology bill

Parliament has rejected the bill on information technology, which sought to establish a network to protect the communications between different institutions of the State.

Proposed by the government to the parliament today, the bill was rejected with 30 votes against, after recieving harsh criticism from MPs of the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) and MPs belonging to parties of the coalition government, Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) and Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) alike. The bill received 28 votes in favour, with one abstention.

Debating on the bill, the MPs said that the purpose of bill was not only to develop the information technology sector, but also to give legal standing to the National Centre for Information Technology (NCIT), and that it also requires the President to constitute a new 5 member Information Technology Board.