Governor Hashim fails to appear at parliament to respond to no-confidence motion

Central bank, Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA)’s Governor Hashim has informed that he will be unable to attend the Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee’s meeting scheduled for this morning, where he is due to respond to his no-confidence motion.

The Committee meeting was scheduled for 11:00am on Monday morning. Notably, Hashim was summoned to a Committee meeting scheduled for last Monday as they sought to inquire regarding the financial state of the country.

However, the meeting was canceled.

Sun has learned that Hashim was unable to attend today’s meeting as he is unwell.

The no-confidence motion against Hashim was initiated when the Public Accounts Committee earlier passed a motion to counsel Parliament Speaker Abdul Raheem Abdulla to recommend to President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu to dismiss Hashim.

The motion, put forth by Deputy Speaker, Dhiggaru MP Ahmed Nazim, accused Hashim of failure to perform his duties as the head of the country’s central bank.

In this regard, he detailed that MMA’s monetary policy had not been implemented to its best capacity as the Maldives’ economy declined to a point where it would be difficult to revive.

Nazim also said Hashim recommended indirect measures to control the issuance of bank loans and for banks to maintain reserves at a certain limit which had reduced the amount of money circulating in the economy. Moreover, he added that he does not see MMA properly regulating the domestic market, which the government is now seeking funds from.

The motion was passed at the floor, following which the committee is now tasked with reviewing the no-confidence motion. Their report on the motion will be submitted to the floor, which will make the final decision on recommending the President to dismiss Hashim.

According to the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) Act, the governor of the central bank will be dismissed by the president, under the advisement of the parliament.