Leader of JP, and MP for Maamigili constituency Qasim Ibrahim have said that it will not be possible to attain democracy and justice without strengthening independent institutions of the state.
Speaking at today’s parliament session, Qasim said that the independent institutions should have an autonomous budget. He said that the independent institutions should have full autonomy in using the budget allocated for the institutions by the government, without further approval from the government.
“Money can be only given depending on the amount of the money the state has. The indtitutions also do not need all the money at once. They need only the money needed for each month. Unless the institutions can get this amount per month without ‘begging’ every time, the institutions will never progress” said Qasim.
Qasim said that ACC, judiciary, police and MNDF should be independent and they can be truly independent when government makes these institutions independent.
Qasim said that for 2015 the budget for DJA was 467 million Rufiyaa and this year also they will need the same amount. However, the proposed budget for next year is 367 million Rufiyaa and thus judiciary cannot complete some of the works that they are required to do.
He further said that even though the Maldivian governance system has three powers separated, it will fully be effective when the independent institutions are empowered. He said that the institutions can be empowered when their needs are met.
In addition, he said that deducting 100 million Rufiyaa from the budget of Judiciary will leave the judiciary facing with many difficulties and the government should resolve these problems.
Qasim said that in other countries, supreme court and high courts are considered as a huge national pride, but in Maldives these institutions do not even have their own buildings. He further said that the judges conduct hearings with great difficulties and the hearing rooms are very small.
“Supreme Court and High Court are in the former presidential palace. Even though the palace is magnificent, it was not designed to run courts. That’s why there are some difficulties. Even though talks has been going on about allocating land to build courts, till now that has not been done. This is sad” said Qasim.
Qasim said that he was a member of JSC and he talks about these things because he knows their problems. In addition, he talked about the problems with the budget allocated for Maamigili and Fenfushi.
He noted that there is no police station in Maamigili and in the past 5 years it was budgeted to build a police station and this year it was not even budgeted. He also talked about the poor condition of the health center and also mentioned about the condition of water and sewage system in the island.
Cannot attain democracy and justice without strengthening independent institutions: Qasim
