Former Parliament Speaker and Central-Machchangolhi MP Mohamed Nasheed made attempts to interrupt the present Minister of Finance Ibrahim Ameer while he was submitting the budget bills.
Nasheed, who stepped down from the Speaker's role on Monday, November 13, said the minister had violated parliament's privileges and challenged the legislative's authority.
With Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) parliamentary group leader Mohamed Aslam being elected as the Speaker on Monday evening, he chaired Tuesday's sitting for the budget bills.
Both the 2024 state budget and the supplementary budget for 2023 were put on Tuesday sitting's agenda.
Ameer's presence was questioned by Central-Henveiru MP and parliament minority leader Ali Azim with a point of order, stating that the minister was required to submit the 2024 state budget before November 1 according to parliament regulations.
Azim further argued that the Supreme Court had held Ameer's decision not to attend the initial parliament sitting to submit the bill in October was a breach of the regulation, and as such the point of order regarding the matter should be sustained in the parliament.
Besides Azim, North-Maafannu MP Imthiyaz Fahmy and North-Galolhu MP Eva Abdulla took points of order stating that minister Ameer had violated parliament's privileges by choosing not to attend the initial sitting for the bills.
Aslam rejected the points of orders after which Nasheed took another point of order stating Ameer was visibly challenging the parliament's authority.
"The Finance Minister is here with a possible criminal allegation... the Public Finance Act clearly specifies the mandatory period for budget submission, but they have been playing politics for their own agenda," Nasheed, who was speaking as a general member for the first time, said.
"The [governance] of Maldives sovereignty should not be robbed. Sending the finance minister to trial is the top priority for now."
The new Speaker said the reasons for delays in submitting the bills have been specified clearly, and suggested to submit the issue according to the parliament regulations if the opposing side found discrepancies. Aslam then directed Ameer to submit the bills.
The Democrats' members made attempts to interrupt the minister while he was submitting the bill. When Azim attempted to come near Ameer, members of MDP obstructed the minority leader.
Though the minority party's members continued to interrupt the minister, Ameer submitted the budget to the parliament. Aslam then directed the Budget Committee to review the budget after it was submitted by the minister.
Next, he asked members to opine on the delays of the supplementary budget's submission.
Though the budget bills were first scheduled for October 31, they were interrupted owing to Nasheed's no-confidence motion submitted by the ruling party.
The ruling party, which also holds parliament majority, intervened in the proceedings of other matters demanding no other matter should be addressed in the parliament without attending the no-confidence motion first.
The parliament regulation in accordance with the Maldives Constitution cites the following year's state budget must be submitted for parliament approval before November of the current year.
Ameer however, did not attend the sitting in October as per the legal advice of the Attorney General.
While the Supreme Court in its verdict on the MDP-filed constitutional lawsuit held that the one out of the longest-serving five MPs may chair the parliament Speaker's no-confidence sitting, there was no legal interruption on submitting the budget bills as they are mandated by the Constitution.
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