Muizzu accuses the Information Commissioner of taking opposition orders

President Muizzu has publicly accused Information Commissioner Ahmed Aahid Rasheed of taking orders from the opposition MDP, in remarks reported by the Maldives Independent — an extraordinary charge to level at an oversight official, and one the commissioner flatly denies.

The accusation follows a MVR 2,000 fine the Information Commissioner's Office levied on the President's Office for obstructing the commissioner's legal duties: five right-to-information requests went unanswered, first within the statutory timeframe and then within the additional time granted. A public hearing was held on 13 July, and the commissioner has warned that if non-response stretches past 45 days, charges will be pressed against the office's information officer.

Aahid said he has received no orders, threats or influence from anyone. His term ends in September — which means the president's accusation doubles as an opening argument about who holds the post next.

The office fining the presidency is the transparency regime working exactly as designed; the presidency answering with an accusation of partisanship is a measure of how the administration takes oversight. It sharpens a running argument under a government that curtailed the press with last year's media regulation act — and it is not the commissioner's office that ignored five requests from citizens.