Minister of Defense Ustaz Mariya Ahmed Didi has said that Bills not passing in Parliament while majority of Parliament has MP’s of the government coalition making the people raise questions.

The Minister said this while speaking at a program on Rajje TV. She noted that while the first 100 days of the new President is coming to a close, majority of the 100 day campaign pledges have been fulfilled. She said that the remaining pledges have not reached fruition due to several institutions not cooperating with moving forward.

Minister Mariya noted that the Parliament has passed the Bill on allocations for pension for Hajj, as per pledges of President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.

She said while this Bill has been passed, there has been a stall in the activity of the Parliament these days. As such, she highlighted the stall in passing of the Bill to empower Presidential Commissions. The Presidential Commissions include the Commission on Investigating Deaths and Disappearances as well as the Commission on Corruption and Asset Recovery.

The Minister said that a lot of people had voted for President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih in the Presidential elections to be able to resolve the issues being addressed by the Commissions. As such, she said that the people voted to get to the bottom of colad cases of deaths and disappearance as well as to uncover corruption and recover State finances. The Minister reiterated that, as per what the people want, the government has done all that it can to ensure that these goals are met.

She noted however, that whatever the justification is, for stalling the passing of the Bill, the people are currently experiencing misery due to the delay.

The Minister of Defense said that many are saying that the matters will be investigated by already existing institutions like Maldives Police Service. She said however, that it should be taken into account that these institutions are already undertaking several tasks at any given time

She said that the Presidential Commissions would be taking on much bigger tasks and added that as such, the mandate of these Commissions should fit the task it is designated.

Minister Mariya said that while the current term of Parliament is coming to an end by 28 May, there is still hope that the significant Bills submitted by the government will pass.

She also said that President Solih has appealed with Ministers to lobby for the passing of these Bills. She added however, that she is not witnessing much headway with this.

Some of the Bills stuck at Parliament currently include the Bill to empower Presidential Commissions, Bill concerning the Bar Association and the Bill on witness protection for those that expose corruption.