The Parliament of the Maldives has sent back the committee report on the appointment of the new Cabinet ministers.
The report was placed on the agenda and opened for debate at the sitting on December 18. During the debate, Parliamentarian Hisaan Hussain raised a point of order, stating that the government had not submitted the mandate of the ministries to the Parliament. She said that the report should clarify what the responsibilities of each minister are before the Parliament can approve their appointment.
Speaker Mohamed Aslam accepted the point of order and sent the report back to the government oversight committee. He said that he has held discussions with majority leader Mohamed Rasheed Hussain and minority leader Ali Azim and concluded that the report has neglected to fulfill all the requirements under the parliamentary regulations.
In a post on X, Attorney General Ahmed Usham said that submitting the mandate of the ministries to Parliament for approval under Article 116 of the Constitution and approving ministers under Article 129 of the Constitution are two separate issues. He said that the two issues were made separately in past Parliaments. As such, he noted that in 2018, the Cabinet ministers were approved on December 4 and the mandate of the ministries were approved on December 13.