“We will not follow unconstitutional orders, even if a new president is installed tomorrow”: Police Commissioner Riyaz
29 Jul 2013, 7:09 PM
Neil Merrett
Police Commissioner Abdulla Riyaz has said his institution will continue to refuse any orders it decides are “unconstitutional”, while expressing concerns over leaked proposals allegedly devised by the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) to reform the country’s security forces.
In an interview on the Maldives Police Service (MPS) website, Commissioner Riyaz expressed concern at a leaked policy paper that he alleged sought to dismantle and undermine law enforcement, calling for the opposition MDP to clarify if the policies were genuinely part of the party’s election policy.
“I don’t want to say anything specifically about something that has been prepared politically or for a political purpose, but we do have a constitution and the MPS is an institution formed by the constitution,” he said, speaking just over a month ahead of the 2013 presidential election.
Proposals in the paper – leaked on social media earlier this month – include transferring the police to the authority of city councils, similar to the system in the US, while providing salaries and allowances of officers through the Local Government Authority (LGA).
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