Newly formed independent commissions lack qualified people!

The new constitution requires the parliament to decide on the names sent by the president to appoint as members of the independent commissions. These independent commissions are Elections Commission, Anti-corruption Commission and Judicial Commission. They will replace the existing transitional commissions set up by the previous parliament which drew up the new constitution.

While contemplating over the names of potential candidates for these commissions we see nothing but party politics. Selfish MPs putting their party policies or agendas before the needs of the country and desires of her people. Each party has been advocating for their agents to get approved by the parliament. At the same time, we have seen the opposition party, DRP, insistent on rejecting the names of the previous election commission based on their own election results in the recent presidential election and parliament election. Mohamed Ibrahim, the former chairman of the Election Commission, who was previously appointed to the post with the full backing of DRP, was rejected by them this time because they feel he betrayed them. Similarly, Hussein Siraaj, the former vice chairman of the commission was rejected by DRP MPs because he voiced not to cancel the candidancy of the opponent of Gassan Maumoon, the son of the former president and DRP candidate for Thimarafushi constituency.

We also notice that the names of the people sent by the president to the parliament are not the most suitable people for those positions. One example is the president's unwillingness to sent the name of Ali Rasheed, the former chairman of the Anti-corruption commission. We have information that while he is one of the few chartered accountants in the country he is not affiliated with any political party and has extensive experience in financial auditing. Also, we have seen the president reconsidering and pulling out the names after sending them to the parliament to consider.