Cabinet Debacle and 116

Much is being said about changes which were brought to Article 116 of the constitution at the final amendment stage. Allegations are rampant, and of course, it is all aimed at me. I often marvel at the capacity of the spin doctors. Sometimes I think that Hill and Knowlton could learn a thing or two from the Maldivian political arena!

There is a bit of a history to this whole issue, and in order to understand the current cries of “treason”, it may be appropriate to briefly review the circumstances surrounding the issue. Article 116 deals with the procedure relating to the formation of a Ministry.

Until the early to mid 90’s, the formation of any Ministry required the passing of an Act by parliament. That is to say that the President did not have the power to create a Ministry (and hence couldn’t appoint people to the cabinet) just at his whim and fancy. Now, this is standard practice in all democracies. However with the Ilyas-Qayyoom fiasco of 1993 [initially I wrote 2003, but a reader pointed out the error. Thanks], the relevant law was abolished, and power was given to the President to create any Ministry that he wanted, whenever he wanted. We have seen the result of this action : the proliferation of Ministries all over the place. Ministries are created just overnight, and the cabinet reshuffled every other day. Ministries are not created to serve a targeted function, but rather defined according to who has to be appointed to the cabinet now, to please cronies and to juggle the balancing act within the cabinet. This has ultimately led to the creation of over 20 Ministries to manage a population of 300,000 people, and the appointment of persons to over 100 “cabinet and other senior level” posts, culminating in a monthly wage bill of over 6 million rufiyaa for the tax-payer.

When the Amended Constitution was being drafted, the consultant, Professor Schmeiser, advised strongly that in any democracy, be it Presidential or Parliamentary system of government, the ultimate power to create cabinet posts lies with the Parliament. So, the initial draft presented to the Majlis had a provision to this effect. However DRP proposed an amendment to move this power from the Majlis to the President, but this amendment was voted down by the Majlis. There was another amendment which was proposed by Thaa member, Riyaz Rasheed, the wording of which was very ambiguous (in the context of the constitution), because on the one hand it said the President had the power to create Ministries, but he should submit the decision to parliament. Now, in parliamentary terms, when something is “submitted” to parliament, it comes into the decision making mechanism of the parliament, and the parliament has an inherent right to accept, modify or reject the submission ( Refer to the second article in the Majlis Chapter of the revised constitution). This creates a legal quandary which would be difficult even for the Supreme Court to decide one way or the other. So, in the review process, to avoid a potential constitutional crisis after ratification, with the advise of Professor Schmeiser, the drafting committee unanimously agreed to propose to the Majlis to clearly define this power as lying with the Parliament.

When the revisions were proposed to the Majlis, there was some change or revision to virtually every Article in the constitution. So, for ease of reference, the changes had been classified into two main categories : changes with mainly editorial issues and changes which involve a substantial issue. Those with substantial issues were marked in yellow coloured highlights. In the preparation of the document Article 116 had been missed in the highlighting process. A simple and innocent oversight, by those who did the secretarial work. I am also mindful of the extreme pressures on them and the long hours they were working to meet deadlines.

What has not been spoken about are two important facts in the process. One is, on the page which outlined the legend, where mention is made of the “yellow highlights”, is also very clearly written, in red and blue ink, that in ALL the articles, including those with and without yellow highlights, ANY deletion of any text are presented in BLUE text with a line crossing out the text with a double line, and any additions to text are presented in RED text, with a single underline. Also, in the column right next to the column containing the modified text was the original text as passed by the majlis, allowing for easy and ready comparison.

So this “yellow highlight” was NOT the real marker of changes, but the blue and red text. All members of the majlis were given ample time to review the document before a vote was called. It is my belief, therefore, that all members of majlis knew exactly what they were voting for, and there is no room for anyone to claim that something had been “slipped in” to the constitution without their knowledge.

The fact of the matter is, the DRP were not diligent enough. They did not do their homework properly, and they are looking to blame me for the consequences of their action (or non-action?). Not really fair, is it not?

Furthermore, in the meeting of the Drafting Committee in which this change was brought, Cabinet Representative Nasheed and President’s Representative Zahir were present. So was Addu member Shareef and other DRP heavy weights. They did not object in committee.

The real dilemma for Qayyoom and the DRP, of course, is what are they going to do about the jobs of all their “boys and girls” once the constitution is ratified? Already the Cabinet is in disarray. More will be leaving the Cabinet soon. Qayyoom’s avenues for rewarding the “boys and girls who are loyal” are being closed fast.

My critics will remember that I have always maintained that Qayyoom can only be brought down by outsmarting him, and it can only be done in stages. This requires careful planning, and strategizing on the political and legal front. That is what I have tried to do. I have focused on removing his powers bit by bit, and doing it systematically. Every piece of legislation that we have passed has taken something away from him. The Amended Constitution will be the crown jewel in the process. That is why I have given every single minute of my time to the Constitution. I believe that Qayyoom’s armour has been split right down the middle now and he is at his most vulnerable. What we are now witnessing are attempts to rekindle the embers. Attempts to re-armour the regime. However, I believe that those are futile attempts.