No confidence case: Parliament approves 1 hour for Minister Ihusan to respond

The Parliament's general committee voted to grant one hour for Homeland Security and Technology Minister Ali Ihusan to respond in the no confidence case against him.

The motion to dismiss Ihusan was submitted with signatures from 12 members claiming that within one year and two months in the ministerial capacity, Ihusan violated the law multiple times and engaged in conduct that did not befit a minister.

The main allegation levelled against him was the use of the Department of National Registration (DNR)'s database to increase the ruling party People's National Congress (PNC)'s membership.

The total duration granted for no confidence cases is two hours. Members voted yesterday that out of the two hours, Ihusan would be granted one hour to respond while reserving the second hour for MPs' questions and debate.

Although Kanditheemu MP Ameen Faisal raised concern over the limited time allocated for MPs' questions, PNC members said Ihusan needed more time to answer given the amount of allegations against him.

Main points in Ihusan's no confidence motion

- Stopping the locally made expat system used by Immigration to monitor the affairs of work visa holders to award the project to Malaysia's black listed company Bestinet. Under this agreement, MVR 460 million has to be paid.

- Political influence on police investigations and obstructing investigations into criminal acts committed by government officials and repeated obstruction of police responsibilities.

- Using the DNR's database to extract personal information of the general public and enter use the information to increase PNC's membership

- While the information entered into the invalid forms submitted to the Election Commission was only accessible by someone who had authorisation to the system, Homeland Security Minister Ihusan is in charge of the DNR database's management.

Although the MDP moved to remove Ihusan from office, there are not enough MDP MPs in parliament to remove a minister from office by a no-confidence vote. The ruling PNC has the parliament's super majority.