The agenda of today's meeting was to discuss and take a decision on the letters received by the committee.

In this regard, the first item on the agenda was to take a decision on the letter sent by the Maldives Media Council. As the Maldives Media Council Act amendment bill has not yet been introduced to the Parliament, the committee decided that the committee will meet with the relevant parties regarding such an amendment bill once the committee starts the process of reviewing the bill. Hence, Thulusdhoo Constituency Member Ibrahim Naseem proposed to inform the Maldives Medial Council, that the council shall discuss with the Attorney General's Office the inclusion of amendments to the Maldives Media Council Act amendment bill during the drafting process of the bill, and to ask the council to share the amendments with the Attorney General’s Office in this regard. This proposal was seconded by Henveiru West Constituency Member Ali Ibrahim.

The voting details are as follows.

Vote: To inform the Maldives Medial Council, that the council shall discuss with the Attorney General's Office the inclusion of amendments to Maldives Media Council Act amendment bill during the drafting process of the bill, and to ask the council to share the amendments with the Attorney General’s Office in this regard.

Total number of members: 11

Number of members present: 6

Voted Yes: 5

Voted against: 0

Abstain: 0

Total voted: 5

Required to Pass: 4

Result: Approved unanimously by the members present in the meeting.

Hence, the members present in the committee unanimously voted to inform the Maldives Medial Council, that the council shall discuss with the Attorney General's Office the inclusion of amendments to Maldives Media Council Act amendment bill during the drafting process of the bill, and to ask the council to share the amendments with the Attorney General’s Office in this regard.

Then the committee moved on to take a decision based on the letter sent by the National Integrity Commission. In view of the current economic situation in the Maldives, the Committee is of the view that it is not appropriate to appoint new staff to the posts mentioned in the letter, at a time when the President's Office Number: 9/2024/57/(PRA)POL-1 (3 July 2024) has directed all state institutions to reduce public expenditure. It was decided to inform the National Integrity Commission that the committee would take note of the budget concerns of the institution, while the budget for the year 2025 is being presented in the Parliament and the process is underway.

Next, the committee made a decision on the letter sent by the Anti-Corruption Commission. Since the letter was sent in secrecy, the work on the letter was carried out by the committee in secrecy. It was decided that the committee would take note of the budgetary concerns of the commission, while the State Budget for the year 2025 is being present to the Parliament.

Lastly, in response to an earlier letter submitted to the committee, the task of examining the attendance of the members appointed to the commissions which are under the committee's mandate was carried out. Since the committee does not find that the manner in which the attendance have been sent now is the most appropriate, the committee decided on seeking the details of the commission's members attendance between January 1, 2024 to April 30, 2024 (time to attend the commission, sign-in and sign-out time, and the details of individual members should be known separately). Additionally, if a decision has been taken in regard to how and when the commission members should be present to the commission, the committee decided to write to the commissions under the committee’s mandate, to share the policy or decision with the committee.