Maumoon Hameed drafts bill designed to mitigate social impact of virus outbreak

Bar Council’s President Maumoon Hameed has drafted a bill which declares emergency measures to take in order to mitigate the social implications of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Maumoon Hameed’s COVID-19 Emergency Measures Bill has 13 chapters and is 32 pages long.

He shared a copy of the bill via his Twitter account on Sunday, and said that it showed how such legislation may be structured.

Here's a proposal for a #COVID19 Emergency Measures Bill that shows how such legislation might be structured ⬇️ https://t.co/a0z1MwaPni

For those who don't want to wade through 38 pages of "legalese" (um, so, basically everyone ????), the (relatively) short version follows... pic.twitter.com/zUlwJFoJDg

— Maumoon Hameed (@maanhameed) May 10, 2020

Maumoon said that it was likely he had missed out some critical issues.

“The draft is intended to serve as an aid to reasoned discussion and debate, not to be the final word. I hope it helps,” he said.

The bill is designed to serve seven key purposes:

• Ascertaining that everyone has access to basic rights and essential needs during the state of public health emergency.
• Facilitating shelter for those evicted from their homes due to the COVID-19 pandemic during the state of public health emergency.
• Facilitating food to those who are facing difficulties in accessing food during the state of public health emergency.
• Facilitating protection to those who require special protection.
• Mitigating the impact of COVID-19 preventive measures taken in Maldives on lives and livelihoods.
• Protecting the jobs being lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Mitigating the economic slowdown due to COVID-19 preventive measures.

Once the bill is enacted, special measures will be taken to serve the purposes stated on the bill during a ‘special protection period’. The period begins on March 1 and ends once the state of public health emergency which has been declared in Maldives is lifted.

During the course of the special protection period, landlords will be prohibited from increasing rent, terminating rent agreement, evicting tenants, obstructing provision of public utilities, hindering tenants’ access to premises, or any act intended to force tenants to vacate.

People’s National Congress (PNC) deputy leader Mohamed Saeed had recently  submitted COVID-19 Support Bill which was also designed to prohibit evictions in the Greater Male’ Region amid the COVID-19 outbreak. However, the Speaker asked Saeed to withdraw the bill and resubmit it following revision as certain provisions of the bill impacted the treasury.

The Standing Orders of the Parliament dictates that only government lawmakers may submit such legislature.