Parliament to vote on approval for ministers on Monday

The parliament has scheduled voting on the fifteen ministers appointed by President Yameen Abdul Gayoom for Monday.

This has been announced by the Parliament Secretariat.

At a meeting last night, the parliament’s Government Oversight Committee passed that it does not approve eight out of the fifteen ministers.

The appointments rejected by the committee are Mohamed Nazim as Minister of Defence and National Security, Abdulla Jihad as Minister of Finance and Treasury, Ahmed Adheeb as Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Ameen Ibrahim as Minister of Transport, Dr Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed as Minister of Islamic Affairs, Umar Naseer as Minister of Home Affairs, Mohamed Muizzu as Minister of Housing and Infrastructure, and Dr Mariyam Shakeela as Minister of Health.

Four MPs representing the government coalition in the committee voted in favour, while six MPs representing Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) voted against the eight appointments.

All ten members of the committee voted in favour of the remaining seven appointments, which are Dhunya Maumoon as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr Mohamed Shainy as Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture, Mohamed Saeed as Minister of Economic Development, Thorig Ibrahim as Minister of Environment and Energy, Dr Aminath Shiham as Minister of Education, Mohamed Maleeh Jamal as Minister of Youth, and Mohamed Anil as Attorney General.

With the exception of Umar Naseer, all the ministers rejected by the committee were ministers also in former President Dr Mohamed Waheed’s government.

While MDP has majority in the committee that rejected the eight ministers, it does not have majority in the parliament.