Parliament Speaker given 30 minutes to respond to impeachment motion

Parliament Speaker Abdulla Maseeh Mohamed has been given 30 minutes to address the motion to impeach him, at the sitting to be held on Thursday night.

Members of the General Purposes Committee decided on Wednesday that the impeachment motion put forth in July, 2017 is valid and will be pushed through to the parliament floor.

The committee has also allocated a two-hour period for deliberations on the motion. The committee consists of several members aligned with the Progressive Party of Maldives, of which Maseeh is a member, and is chaired by the party’s spokesperson, MP Ali Arif.

Maseeh has thus survived four motions seeking his impeachment, through votes and by barring lawmakers aligned with the opposition from entering the parliamentary premises, with the assistance of the military.

The sitting will be held on Thursday night, at 8:00. Maseeh, who has been described by his opponents in parliament as a ‘rubber stamp’ or ‘puppet’ of President Abdulla Yameen, is one of the longest serving parliamentarians.

Maseeh has been accused of barring parliament from holding the government and state institutions accountable, by vetoing motions to summon officials and of assisting pro-government lawmakers pass laws that benefit President Yameen and the ruling party.