President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has dismissed Tourism Minister Ali Waheed amid allegations of sexual harassment against the former Minister.
The President’s Office said in a statement that was dismissed after his failure to comply with the President’s request to submit a letter of resignation.
The President has appointed the Minister of Economic Development Fayyaz Ismail, as the acting Minister of Tourism, on a provisional basis.
This is the first time a Minister has been dismissed during President Solih’s term.
The out of the blue dismissal comes after several female employees at the Tourism Ministry reported allegations of sexual harassment and counts of misappropriate behavior from the Minister at the workplace.
Reports have said that the Minister had allegedly harassed around 12 staff from the Ministry and a group of staff from the Minister had a meeting with the President yesterday to personally lodge their complaint against the Minister.
Earlier this year, Transport Minister Aishath Nahula also reported Ali Waheed to President Solih after audio was leaked in which the former Minister used inappropriate language while talking about Minister Nahula.
On that occasion, the government failed to take action against Ali Waheed.
