Committee passes to remove Broadcom president, vice president

Parliament’s committee on independent institutions has passed to remove the president and vice president of the Maldives Broadcasting Commission (Broadcom).

At a meeting held on Wednesday, the sub-committee formed to review the Broadcom members submitted its report based on the statements given by the Commission members after being summoned to the committee.

During deliberations on the report, Gan constituency MP Mohamed Wisam proposed to dismiss all members of the broadcasting commission, noting that they have failed to fulfill their responsibilities.

Bilehdhoo constituency MP Ahmed Haleem, Baarah constituency MP Ahmed Abdulla and Inguraidhoo constituency MP Hassan Ahmed supported Wisam’s proposal, while Villimalé constituency MP Ahmed Usham proposed to remove Mohamed Shaheeb as president of the commission.

Usham said that some of the members of the broadcasting commission had attempted to fulfill their responsibilities but that they were unable to due to Shaheeb’s actions.

MP Usham’s proposal was supported by South-Thinadhoo constituency MP Abdulla Sanif and Isdhoo constituency MP Ali Hameed.

While Usham highlighted that removing all members of the commission will create a void, Wisam proposed to remove all members after members are appointed to the current vacant positions at the commission.

This led to a disagreement within the committee members, with chair Addu-Meedhoo constituency Rozaina Adam trying to bring the members on to the same page.

MP Haleem then proposed to remove all current Broadcom members, except for Zeena Zahir who is currently on maternity leave and is to present herself to parliament on August 14 for questioning.

While 10 members attended Wednesday’s committee meeting, six of them had initially voted to pass the removal of all Broadcom members sans Zeena. However, South-Galolhu constituency MP Mickail Naseem later said that he had not taken part in the vote.

A second vote was taken at the meeting, regarding a proposal from Velidhoo constituency MP Abdulla Shafeeq, who had proposed to remove the broadcasting regulators president and vice president.

All 10 members voted in favor of this, including the committee’s only opposition Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) member Ibrahim Riza.

While Shaheeb has been the Broadcom president since 2016, Fathimath Zaina was recently appointed as VP following Ismail Sofwan’s resignation from the post.