Government agrees to make NCI a five-member commission

The government has agreed to change the composition of the National Commission of Inquiry (NCI), formed to investigate the transfer of power, to make it a five-member commission, and also include a representative of former President Mohamed Nasheed.

Speaking at a press conference held at the President’s Office, Attorney General Aishath Azima Shakoor said that the number of members of the commission had been changed from three to five following an agreement between the government and Commonwealth Envoy to investigate the political situation of the Maldives, Sir Don McKinnon.

She said that in addition to the three existing members of the commission, a retired Judge from Singapore, plus a member appointed by former President Nasheed will become part of the commission.

“The agreement is to have a co-chairperson, and an additional member. They are a retired Judge from Singapore, and another member appointed by Nasheed. It was also agreed that these members should fulfill certain requirements,” Azima said.

The requirements for the member to be appointed by Nasheed are that he should not have been politically active in the past two years, he should not have taken a public stand on how the government changed, and that he should have obtained higher education.

She also said that several names were proposed by Nasheed, including members of his cabinet, relatives, and activists who had been involved in protests. However as none of them were politically impartial, the government was not in agreement with the names that were proposed. Nasheed has a deadline of two weeks to suggest a new person:

“Nasheed proposed nine names. If he fails to propose a new name within two weeks, it was agreed with Sir Don McKinnon that the commission will continue its work by including a lawyer as a new member.”

The people proposed by Nasheed are Macchangolhi Uthuru MP Mariya Ahmed Didi, former Housing Minister Mohamed Aslam, former Youth Minister Hassan Latheef, former Education Minister Shifa Mohamed, former JSC member Aishath Velizinee, Hudha Ahmed, MNSL Board Member Ibrahim Saleem and Fareesha Abdullah.

Azima said that NCI will continue with its past work with the new members, and that the government will extend the deadline for it to present the report.

Earlier, NCI was supposed to complete their report by the end of May. Two new members are added to the commission following Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG)’s claim that the commission was not impartial, and requested that the composition of the commission be reviewed before tomorrow. CMAG said in their report that failure to make the commission independent will result in Commonwealth taking action against Maldives.