Transport Minister Ameen Ibrahim dismissed

Minister of Transport and Communication Ameen Ibrahim has been dismissed from his post.

This has been confirmed to Sun Online by President’s Office Spokesperson Ibrahim Muaz Ali.

Ameen’s dismissal comes less than 24 hours after he was notified not to attend work, or to ‘stay at home’ until further notice by the President’s Office.

In addition to Ameen, other Jumhooree Party (JP) members holding government posts including Minister of State for Transport Ahmed Zubair and Deputy Minister of Transport Ikram Hassan were also notified yesterday to ‘stay at home’.

This comes following JP Leader Gasim Ibrahim’s decision to stand for election as Speaker of Parliament.

Ruling party Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) had warned that its coalition agreement with JP shall be terminated if Gasim stood for election as Speaker of Parliament after PPM nominated a person for this post.

Gasim nonetheless held discussions with opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) and competed against PPM’s Abdulla Maseeh Mohamed for the Speaker post at the parliament sitting yesterday. Maseeh won with 43 votes, while Gasim received 39 votes.

PPM has argued that since it has majority in the parliament, the post of Speaker should go to one of its members.

The coalition agreement between the two parties has suffered due to this dispute regarding the parliament Speaker post. PPM has accused JP of disrespecting the coalition agreement by working with the opposition.

At yesterday’s sitting, MPs also elected MDP’s Hulhu-Henveyru MP Moosa Manik as Deputy Speaker of Parliament. His opponent, PPM’s Fonadhoo MP Abdul Raheem Abdulla lost by one vote.