The parliamentary Committee on Independent Institutions has approved an amendment to the Public Service Media Act, to accord the power of electing and dismissing members of PSM's governing board solely to the president.
According to the current Public Service Media Act, members of the governing board must be appointed by the parliament based on recommendations of the president. The Act also dictates that the state media must be run independently and justly, free of all influence.
The amendment proposed to the Act by Hoarafushi MP Mohamed Ismail, seeks to transfer that authority from the parliament to the Privatization Board, which is convened by the president. This includes the power to appoint the chairman, managing director and deputy managing director of PSM's governing board.
The bill also dictates a change to the number of members on PSM's board from seven to five members, while decreasing the members' terms from seven to four years. However the bill states that individual members can be appointed to the board for two terms.
The independent institutions committee had passed the bill, without further amendments, last Wednesday and forwarded it to the parliament floor for debate. The parliament is yet to announce a date to take a vote.
Explaining the reason for the amendment, MP Mohamed Ismail had stated that while the Public Service Media Act stipulates PSM to be run as an independent institution, the Act lacked important clauses pertaining to the convening and operating of the institution, compared to the Companies Act and Privatization Act.
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