MP Meekail accuses President Muizzu of giving ‘direct orders’ to cancel Parliament sittings

Opposition lawmaker Meekail Ahmed Naseem alleges that the Parliament’s failure to hold sittings for no apparent reason is on direct orders from President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu.

The Parliament had gone into recess for the last 10 days of Ramadan and the Eid al-Fitr holiday after its sitting on March 19. The legislative assembly reconvened for sittings on Monday after an 18-day break. But the Parliament did not hold a sitting on Tuesday – which is an official working day for the institution.

The Parliament did not provide a reason for the decision.

In a post on X on Tuesday, Meekail, a politician from the main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), said that the Parliament has been turned into “a counter of Muliaage.”

“Sittings aren’t being held with no explanation given, despite the pileup of notices to summon ministers for questioning, because of direct orders from @MMuizzu,” he said.

Meekail told Sun that this has never happened in the past.

He said that now, lawmakers usually don’t get the agenda for upcoming sittings until midnight.

“Parliamentarians are often in a state of confusion. We aren’t sure if there’s going to be a sitting the next day or not. So, there’s also a high chance of missing sittings, right? Not holding sittings without an explanation is not something that has ever happened in the past,” he said.

Meekail also expressed concern over the failure to implement notices to summon government ministers for questioning – an issue he also raised in a letter to Speaker Abdul Raheem Abdulla back in March. This concern is not shared just by the dozen MDP lawmakers in the Parliament, but also Addu Meedhoo MP Abdul Rahman – one of the only two independent lawmakers in the 93-member legislative assembly.

The ruling People’s National Congress (PNC) has been repeatedly accused of abusing its supermajority in the Parliament to block anti-government bills and motions.