President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s request seeking approval for the newly appointed tourism minister, has been forwarded for committee review.

While the president appointed Dr. Abdulla Mausoom as Tourism Minister on Thursday, parliament approval is required for ministerial appointments.

Dr. Mausoom had previously served in the cabinet; he was appointed as the Minister of Tourism and Civil Aviation in 2008 and had also held the portfolio of Minister of Environment, Energy and Water.

Prior to that, he had served as the Deputy Minister of Tourism and Civil Aviation as well as a Member of Parliament, representing the Kelaa constituency. Dr. Mausoom had also served as a board member of Maldives Association of Tourism Industry (MATI).

Most recently, he had been serving as the Maldives’ High Commissioner to Singapore, non-resident High Commisioner of Maldives to Commonwealth of Australia and as the non-resident High Commissioner of Maldives to New Zealand. He was relieved of these duties, prior to the appointment as tourism minister last week.

He attained his Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom.

The post of tourism minister became vacant after the dismissal of Ali Waheed in early July. He was fired over “inappropriate behavior at the workplace” following sexual abuse allegations from ministry staff.

While police have also launched an investigation into the allegations, Waheed has denied them and claimed that “this is politically motivated”.