Parliament approves new Tourism Minister, Defence Minister

The parliament has approved Moosa Zameer as Minister of Tourism, and Adam Shareef Umar as Minister of Defence and National Security.

Shareef’s appointment was passed with a majority of 66 out of 68 votes, while Zameer’s appointment was passed with the unanimous vote of the members present at today’s sitting.

Shareef and Zameer were appointed as ministers on 28 October 2015.

The post of Minister of Tourism has been vacant since Ahmed Adeeb was appointed Vice President on 22 July 2015.

Minister of Environment and Energy Thorig Ibrahim was appointed Acting Minister of Tourism following Adeeb’s arrest on suspicion of involvement in an assassination attempt on President Yameen.

The post of Minister of Defence has been vacant since Moosa Ali Jaleel was dismissed on 14 October 2015.

President Yameen has said that Jaleel’s dismissal was not related to the assassination attempt.