The Parliamentary Group (PG) Leader of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) Mohamed Aslam has stated that the Secretariat of the Parliament has not held discussions on the re-formation of the committees.
Majority Leader Aslam made the remark in response to a letter sent by the secretary-general, which stated that the work to re-form the committees was postponed at the request of the majority leader. In the response letter, Aslam said that the parliamentary regulations do not dictate that the work of the standing committees be halted after parliamentarians change their party affiliations. He noted that parliamentarians have changed parties before but it did not lead to the suspension of the committees.
Additionally, Aslam denied requesting that the work to re-form the committees be postponed and claimed that he is not being given the right to speak as the majority leader in order to re-form the committees so that MDP will lose the majority of the seats. He added that the speaker has failed to re-form the committees in accordance with the regulations.
In the letter, Aslam requested the secretary-general to resume the work of the standing committees and proceed with the no-confidence motions. Specifically, he emphasised the need to prioritise the no-confidence motion against Deputy Speaker Eva Abdulla and requested that it be scheduled for June 12.
The disagreement between MDP and the Secretariat of the Parliament arose due to the failure to reconstitute the committees following the resignation of 12 parliamentarians from the party. The secretariat has not provided an explanation for the suspension of committee works following the change to the register of members, which is in contrast to previous instances where the committees continued their work despite changes in party affiliations.
The issue has halted numerous important work at the parliament, including no-confidence motions against a minister as well as the speaker and deputy speaker. The proceedings for the no-confidence motions can only take place once the General Purpose Committee assigns time for the debates. However, the work of the committees has been halted until the parties reach an agreement on the new composition of the committees.