Speaker: It isn’t right for Parliament to dismiss elected officials

Speaker of Parliament, former President Mohamed Nasheed says he doesn’t believe it wise for the Parliament to be empowered to dismiss elected officials.

He made the comment in response to a question asked by a member of the general public during last Saturday night’s Ask Speaker segment.

The Parliament’s Decentralization Committee, during its evaluation of the amendments proposed on behalf of the government to Decentralization Act, had recommended adding a provision to empower the Parliament to dismiss officials elected to local councils.

The recommendation was met with criticism by many who called it a violation of the separation of the executive branches of the government, and an attempt by the Parliament to usurper powers.

Nasheed, on Saturday night, was asked for his opinion regarding whether the Parliament should be empowered to dismiss officials elected by the people.

He responded that people may differ in their interpretation of certain provisions of the Constitution, but that he didn’t think it wise for the Parliament to dismiss elected officials.

“It’s not right for an official elected by the people to be dismissed by the Parliament,” said Nasheed.

The committee’s recommendation failed to gather the necessary support from the Parliament floor.

The final draft of the legislature passed by the Parliament, instead of empowering the Parliament to dismiss councilors, empowers Local Government Authority (LGA) to suspend councilors following investigation by an inquiry commission within the LGA.

The LGA will first review the findings by the inquiry commission, and will issue warnings to councilors in question to rectify their behavior. Failure to rectify their behavior will be met with suspension for any duration up to three months.

The legislature does not award the Parliament any role in disciplining councilors.