Three ministers rejected by parliament reappointed

President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu has reappointed the three ministers the parliament voted to deny approval to earlier today, to their respective ministries.

An opposition MDP-dominated Parliament on Monday voted to deny approval to Housing Minister Dr. Ali Haidar Ahmed, Islamic Minister Dr. Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed and Attorney General Ahmed Usham.

Sun has learned that the three ministers retook the oath of office during a ceremony held at the President’s Office on Monday evening.

The oath was administered by Supreme Court Justice Husnu Al Suood.

Haidar was rejected with a vote of 46-24, while Usham was rejected with a vote of 44-24, and Shaheem with a vote of 31-30, with eight abstinences.

The Parliament had been scheduled to vote on the cabinet on December 18, but the original report by the Government Oversight Committee was rejected. The Parliament held an extraordinary sitting on Sunday to take the vote on the committee’s new report, which was passed on December 30.

But just ahead of the vote, the main opposition MDP - which holds a majority in the Parliament – issued a three-line red whip to deny approval to the four cabinet members.

They were:

• Ahmed Usham, attorney general
• Mohamed Saeed, economic minister
• Dr. Ali Haidar, housing minister
• Dr. Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed, Islamic minister

The move sparked clashes between pro-government and opposition lawmakers, leaving the Parliament unable to hold the vote.

The long-delayed vote finally took place on Monday afternoon.

Saeed, against whom the whip also applied, narrowly passed rejection with a vote of 37-32.

Ahead of today's vote, MDP threatened to withhold approval to Defense Minister Mohamed Ghassan Maumoon and Home Minister Ali Ihusan if pro-government lawmakers continue to disrupt the Parliament. However, they had allowed the vote to proceed.

The reappointment of the rejected ministers comes after, MDP, on Monday, announced they had gathered enough signatures to submit a motion to impeach President Muizzu and are preparing to submit the motion to the parliament.

Notably, the ruling PPM-PNC, on Sunday, submitted no-confidence motions against Speaker Mohamed Aslam and Deputy Speaker Ahmed Saleem – both from MDP. The motions were submitted with the endorsement of 23 lawmakers.