PPM axes lawmaker for backing motion against speaker

The Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) has dismissed MP Mohamed Ameeth, who had supported the no-confidence motion against parliament speaker Abdulla Maseeh.

The party’s ethics committee, the one operated under the party’s faction loyal to President Abdulla Yameen, had summoned Ameeth on Tuesday.

The official statement said that Ameeth was suspended for tainting the party’s reputation and for violating decisions made by PPM’s parliamentary group.

Ameeth had noted how PPM’s founder Maumoon Abdul Gayoom had dismissed the committee, and so asked if its decision has any legal standing.

The committee members reportedly responded by saying that it is the valid ethics committee and is charged with probing ethical and disciplinary cases filed by or against the party.

Gayoom suspended the committee after they dismissed MP Faris Maumoon, on the grounds that its members had failed to oversee cases with objectivity.

The lawmaker has assured that he would appeal the committee’s decision.