Abdul Raheem: Supermajority not an obstruction to scrutinize govt, but an easement

PNC’s Chairperson Abdul Raheem Abdulla (Adhurey), citing that the government’s supermajority in the incoming parliamentary assembly is not an obstruction to carrying out the parliament’s role to scrutinize the government, states the supermajority will make the job much easier to the ruling party.

Main ruling PNC won supermajority in April’s parliamentary election – winning 77 seats out of 93. Many have expressed concern over the ruling party’s majority being an obstruction to hold the government accountable.

Answering a question on the matter during an exclusive interview with Sun, Abdul Raheem expressed his belief that PNC’s supermajority in the parliament is an easement to hold the government accountable rather than an obstruction.

“I do not believe that the government’s majority [in the parliament] is an obstruction to hold the government accountable in anyway. I rather believe that it is an easement for accountability and guiding things towards the right path,” he said.

Abdul Raheem added that it would much easier for PNC to resolve the issues within the government by way of discussion.

“Issues that need to be resolved by the opposition and the work we need to undertake within inside are completely different matters,” he noted.

“I believe that the people gave such a majority to the government after careful consideration,” he stressed.

Abdul Raheem, underscoring that then-ruling parties securing majority in previous two parliamentary assemblies had not been viewed as an obstruction to parliament’s role to scrutinize the government, remarked that the ruling parties back then had advocated for government’s majority in the parliament.

“It would be a very easy thing, to hold the government accountable while also providing cooperation required by the government in the provision of services to the public,” he said.

Abdul Raheem affirmed that the incoming parliamentary assembly will be the most hard-working and diligent parliamentary assembly in the Maldives to date.

Speaking further, Abdul Raheem said the highest priority after the new parliamentary assembly takes oath on May 28^th will be to complete works that have been left incomplete by the incumbent parliamentary assembly. One such matter he highlighted in this regard is to grant approval for cabinet ministers who were rejected by the incumbent parliamentary assembly.

They held withheld approval for four ministers of the current administration;

• Ahmed Usham, Attorney General
• Mohamed Saeed, Economic Minister
• Dr. Ali Haidar, Housing Minister
• Dr. Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed, Islamic Minister

However, the four ministers were reappointed to their respective posts by President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu following the parliament’s rejection. The parliament, despite probing the legality of the President’s decision, has yet to make a decision regarding the matter.

The law mandates parliamentary approval for ministers appointed by the President.