President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has met with the newly inaugurated Executive Committee of the Maldives’ Bar Council this morning at the President’s Office.
The Bar Council and its Executive Committee are the result of the recently ratified Legal Professions Bill, a long-anticipated piece of legislation that will go a long way towards holding members of the legal profession accountable, whilst ensuring that lawyers perform their duties to the highest possible standard. This will be accomplished through the Legal Bar Council which will function as a self-regulatory institution that will oversee and make decisions pertinent to the legal community. The Executive Committee, which comprises of the Attorney General and six elected members headed by a President, will play a crucial role in carrying forward the Council’s agenda.
The Council is headed by its President, Maumoon Hameed, Vice President Abdullah Muizz, Attorney General Ibrahim Riffath and six elected members: former prosecutor-general Ahmed Muizz; former MP Anara Naeem; former judge Aisha Shujoon; Maldivian Democratic Party Secretary-General Anas Abdul Sattar; and lawyers Mohamed Faisal and Mohamed Aseel Hassan.
The President congratulated the inaugural members of the new Bar Council and noted that its existence is a veritable milestone for the country, whose work will help positively shape our legal community and judicial institutions, helping to win them the public’s trust and confidence.
The members, including the Council’s President Maumoon Hameed and Attorney General Ibrahim Riffath, thanked the President for his words and reciprocated the President’s sentiments. They expressed their optimism that a positive working relationship can be maintained during this administration.
The President acknowledged the members’ insistence that the Council can only fulfil its mandate if the State respects its independence and gives them the necessary resources and support to effectively function. He assured them that they would have the State’s full support in performing their duties and reaffirmed that upholding the rule of law without fear or favour is one of the highest duties of his Presidency and that the Bar Council’s role in holding the State accountable to this principle is critical. This government welcomes the prospect of working alongside the Bar Council and its Executive Committee in the coming months and years ahead.
