CSC member Amira given five days to respond to impeachment motion in writing

The Parliament’s Independent Institutions Committee, which has initiated an impeachment motion against Civil Service Commission (CSC) member Fathimath Amira, has provided her with five days to respond to the motion in writing.

The decision was passed with the unanimous consensus of all committee members present during a meeting on Wednesday.

While committees have abandoned virtual meetings and begun convening within the Parliament for meetings, the committee made the decision to allow Amira to respond in writing instead of in person citing similar arrangements for the other four CSC members who also face impeachment.

The committee received the go-ahead to initiate the impeachment motion against Amira on Monday, with the declaration of her name at the parliamentary floor.

The motion to have Amira’s name declared at the parliamentary floor to initiate a no-confidence motion against her was submitted to the committee by Velidhoo MP Mohamed Abdulla Shafeeq last week.

Presenting his motion to initiate a no-confidence motion against Amira, Shafeeq said the law did not prevent the dismissal of a CSC member simply because the said member may have been appointed by the government in power.

He said he saw no reason to make exceptions.

“It has been one and a half year since this government came to power. And the ministers of this government are saying they aren’t receiving cooperation from the Civil Service Commission. Amira was appointed to the Civil Service Commission in December 2018. This government came to power on November 17, 2018. So I do not see any reason to make any exceptions for anyone,” said Shafeeq.

Shafeeq said Amira had provided false information to the committee, and that it would be proven from the minutes of meetings.

Shafeeq proposed that the committee revise its earlier decision to initiate no-confidence motions against CSC members with the exception of Amira, and to instead initiate no-confidence motions against all five members.

The motion was announced by Parliament Speaker, former President Mohamed Nasheed during the parliamentary sitting on Monday morning.

After making the announcement, Nasheed said that the motion is being sent to the committee for an official review.

The committee had passed the motion to initiate a no-confidence motion against Amira with a majority vote of six members. Five had voted against the move.

The committee has decided to expedite the no-confidence motions against Civil Service Commission.

While the Independent Institutions Committee has moved to initiate no-confidence motions against Civil Service Commission members, the Human Rights and Gender has initiated no-confidence motions against members of Human Rights Commission of Maldives (HRCM).