Shaain dismissed for absenteeism, not political party activities: HDC

Housing Development Corporation (HDC) has rejected claims that their Operations Officer Ahmed Shaain was fired for attending a rally of the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP).

Shaain was seen reciting Quran to begin Thursday's MDP rally at their party hub.

In a letter of dismissal sent to Shaain yesterday, HDC said that the decision had been taken as Shaain had failed to report to work for three consecutive days.

HDC stated today that Shaain had not been dismissed for participating in the activities of a political party, but rather due to his negligence at work and repeated absenteeism. An official from HDC said that if an employee fails to report to work then they can be dismissed without prior warning.

"This is not a targeted action. We made this decision due to attendance issues. He was dismissed from his position for signing in using his card and then being absent, and for failing to report to work at all, and other such issues," the official said.

They said that a number of other employees had also been recently dismissed for similar reasons, and asserted that the same action will be taken against all employees including Shaain.

Many government institutions have been dismissing employees recently. Road Development Corporation, Fenaka, as well as Maldives Industrial Fisheries Company has dismissed a number of staff in the past few days. They also stated that the dismissals had been due to underperformance and negligence on the part of the employees.