MP Rozaina: Nasheed and Eva “hijacked” Parliament

The Parliament representative for Addu Meedhoo constituency MP Rozaina Adam on Tuesday stated that the Speaker of the Parliament Mohamed Nasheed and the Deputy Speaker of the Parliament Eva Abdulla has “hijacked” the Parliament.

The 14 day notice given to Eva for the no confidence motion submitted by Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) against her expired on Sunday, and members of the party expressed their concerns as it was not set in the agenda for Monday’s sitting.

Despite the motion being on Tuesday’s agenda, the sitting ended prematurely as there was no MP assigned with the task of presiding. Parliamentary regulations dictate that the Speaker must appoint an MP to preside over sittings if both the Speaker and Deputy Speaker are unavailable.

Opening the session, Parliament’s secretary-general Fathimath Niusha said the Speaker Nasheed must preside as there was the no-confidence motion against Eva. However, Nasheed had sent a letter on Monday recusing himself from sittings until a decision is made regarding the motion against him.

Hence, the SG Niusha announced that the session was ended.

Addressing these events, MP Rozaina said via Twitter that despite the no confidence motions against them, Speaker and Deputy Speaker has “hijacked” the Parliament for their greed of the position. She also criticized Nasheed’s decision to recuse himself from sitting.

Additionally, Rozaina was critical of Nasheed during MDP’s Parliamentary group’s press conference as well. She accused him of being the one to halt the work of Parliament, and said that even after refusing to preside over sittings, he was taking part in other activities taking place.

According to regulations, the Parliament’s General Purposes Committee should have set the debate time for the motion against Eva.

However, committees have not been reappointed based on the changes to the Parliament’s composition after 13 MPs from MDP, including Eva, left the party last month.