Independent institutions committee chair Rozaina Adam has said that Speaker Mohamed Nasheed has expressed interest in forming a special committee to interview or dismiss candidates for independent institutions.

Currently, the independent institutions committee is tasked with interviewing and dismissing candidates.

Committee chair Rozaina said Speaker Nasheed has proposed this change at the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP)’s parliamentary group meeting on Sunday and that he wishes to establish the new committee with a chair, party leaders, and the speaker.

The committee was scheduled to interview the nominees for information commissioner on Monday, but it was pushed back on the recommendation of MDP PG leader Ali Azim at Sunday’s meeting.

At Monday’s committee meeting, Rozaina confirmed that the interviews have been pushed back and asked for opinions. She said that committee members were split on the decision, some expressing concern over a proposed change leading to parliamentary work being stalled and the nominees having to wait and others thinking that interviewing candidates were a waste of their time.

She said that, due to the differences of opinion, Speaker Nasheed has recommended that the committee continue their work since no change has been made while the MDP PG leader recommended that they stall the interviews.