Parliament approves recommending Governor Hashim’s removal to President

At Monday’s sitting, the parliament has approved recommending Governor Hashim’s removal to President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu.

63 members voted in favor of recommending President to remove Hashim. Only nine MPs voted against it.

Parliament Deputy Speaker, Dhiggaru MP Ahmed Nazim first submitted the no-confidence motion against Hashim, citing the governor has failed to perform according to his mandated responsibilities. Nazim submitted the motion at the Public Accounts Committee meeting.

The committee granted three chances to Hashim to respond to the motion, but had not attended once citing health-related issues.

Qasim Ibrahim, Maamigili MP and Public Accounts Committee’s chair, while presenting the committee’s report said Hashim wrote to them confirming he would provide written responses for any inquiries instead of attending in-person.

The committee members unanimously voted not to grant additional chances for Hashim to appear before them.

“The president has not given any details about this to me, and none of the committee members were aware. We had extended three chances since the governor informed, he was ill, but after he refused to attend, we had no option but to call for a vote,” Qasim said.

In his written response, Hashim said he provided timely counsel to the government but was not heeded resulting in the turbulent economic conditions presently.

Ministry of Finance however, argued that it had not received any formal counsel from the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) or the Governor towards monetary reforms.

Qasim, while presenting the report, said the governor, in his response letter claimed he provided reform suggestions in 2021, 2022, and 2023, but the reports and documents the Public Accounts Committee reviewed did not indicate to this.

“The committee decided to fulfill its mandated duties by recommending the Governor’s dismissal to President since Hashim lacked the eligibility to perform his responsibilities,” Qasim added.

Hashim was the former Finance Minister from 2008 to 2010 during former President Mohamed Nasheed’s administration, after which he was appointed to the Governor’s position on September 8, 2019.

Several international financial institutions, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank have warned of rising debt risks Maldives faced and subsequent risks in servicing them. Highlighting the sensitive nature of the country’s public spending, and mounting debts, Fitch Ratings had recently downgraded the Maldives’ credit rating from “B-“ to “CCC+”.