STO Managing Director Amr's dismissal requested, amidst allegations of political bias

The President's Office has requested that the Privatization and Corporatization Board (PCB) remove the Managing Director of the State Trading Organization (STO), Hussain Amr, from his post.

The Spokesperson at the President's Office, Mohamed Miuwan, confirmed on Sunday that his dismissal has been requested.

Without divulging too many details, the Spokesperson said that the government makes changes from time to time to enhance the operations of companies. He is being dismissed as part of this shuffle, he said.

While Amr's removal was confirmed today, on Saturday, the state broadcaster, Public Service Media (PSM), had rescheduled a program that he was due to appear on to speak about STO's ongoing initiatives. Amr's appearance on PSM was rescheduled after the broadcaster was criticized for having him as a guest on a show.

The administration has received a lot of backlash for keeping Amr in his position after he defied President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and backed Speaker of the Parliament Mohamed Nasheed in the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) primary election held in January.

Since then, he has been openly seen in activities and campaigns led by MDP's Nasheed faction, called "Fikkurege Dhirun" (meaning "Reviving an Ideology" in Dhivehi).

Just last Wednesday, Amr was seen meeting with the Jumhoree Party (JP) leaders along with West-Henveiru MP Hassan Latheef on behalf of Nasheed at the party's main hub, "Kunooz," in Malé.

The JP is part of the ruling coalition government; however, the party has announced that it will contest in the election separately with its own candidate. While the JP has not announced a candidate yet, there has been speculation that the party will nominate someone from Nasheed's "Fikkurege Dhirun" faction to be the running mate.

Amr is yet to make an official comment regarding his dismissal. There are already allegations that he is being dismissed solely because of his political views.

Amr has been STO's Managing Director since late 2018 when the administration came to power. He was a key player in MDP's campaign leading up to the presidential election held that year.