Embattled Drafting Panel Members Ask Gasim: Take A Stand

Three members of the constitutional drafting panel have written to Speaker of the Special Majlis (constitutional assembly) Gasim Ibrahim to ask him to combat attacks on them by the ruling Dhivehi Raiyyithunge Party (DRP).

The DRP has held two press conferences in two days to criticise the panel and material it has produced dealing with transitional arrangements to implement the constitution. The panel is at the mercy of a “political agenda,” they say – an agenda led by drafting committee chair Ibrahim Ismail (Ibra).

Over the past two years, the drafting panel, made up of three lawyers and two linguists working with Canadian consultant Professor Douglas Schmeiser, has originated all material for the constitution in progress.

But the drafting committee and Special Majlis have both had power to amend the drafts, with the Special Majlis holding the final power of veto.

The Request

The panel is made up of three lawyers and two linguists, all civil servants on secondment from permanent positions.

Following attacks by the DRP over alleged political bias and producing an “unacceptable” draft, three unnamed members of the panel have asked Gasim – himself a DRP member and government minister – to clarify the process by which they were selected, and defend their professional reputations.

If they are not defended, say the three panel members, they will be “unable to work under current circumstances”.

The Draft

The criticisms arose over draft material covering the crucial issue of transitional arrangements to implement the constitution.

Covering political touchstones such as the ongoing role of the present government, the interim arrangements had been the subject of heated debate long before any draft emerged.

After an initial version was leaked to local media, DRP members including Ibrahim Shareef MP (Mavota) at their press conferences described it as “illegal”, “unethical” and a “drastic shift” from previous work.

The material appears to meet opposition rather than DRP preferences. It stipulates the interim head of state may not stand for the presidency, though the DRP maintain incumbent president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom should both preside over the interim and be eligible for re-election.

The draft also specifies presidential appointees must be removed from parliament. There was “no alternative” to this, argues Ibra, since already passed constitutional material says all MPs must be elected.

Finally, the draft suggests local elections be held first, with parliamentary and presidential polls then held simultaneously.

This was a “compromise” by the panel, Ibra contends, between the DRP preference – electing the president first – and the opposition’s favoured “bottom up” order.

But the material, as with any chapter, is subject to change. Significant changes have been made to previous chapters, says panel member Dina Hussein.

The Panel

The panel comprises lawyers Dina Hussein, Hassan Latheef and Ahmed Abdullah Afeef, and linguists Mohamed Amir and Mohamed Waheed.

They have worked with Canadian consultant Professor Douglas Schmeiser, based here for extended periods since 2006. The group mainly work on a “consensus basis”, says Latheef.

Panel members were selected in 2006 by the drafting committee. Their names were submitted to then Special Majlis Speaker Abbas Ibrahim, and resubmitted to the committee for formal approval.

Minutes of the meeting show the committee – including Shareef – was unanimous in approving the names, says Ibra.

But Shareef has now condemned them as a “household panel” assembled by Ibra for his own interests. As evidence he offers the fact that three of the panel belong to Ibra’s new Social Liberal Party (SLP).

Of the remaining panel members, one belongs to the DRP and the other to no party. But all who spoke to Minivan News wish to be judged as professionals, not politicians.

At least one, Dina Hussein, says she is determined to “see [the process] through to the end – though the end is getting further and further away by the day.”

“I don’t regret undertaking this work,” she adds. “I knew I would never get the chance again to work on drafting a constitution.”