Housing Minister Dr. Ali Haidar Ahmed excused himself from appearing in Parliament today due to an emergency family matter but had reported to work.

Haidar was asked to appear before the Parliament today to answer a question by Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP Mohamed Ibrahim. The Galolhu Uthuru MP had wanted to get updates on the Gedhoruveriyaa and Binveriyaa housing schemes initiated in the Male' region by the former government.

However, Parliament Speaker Abdul Raheem Abdulla announced that Haidar had informed the Parliament that he would be unable to attend due to an "emergency family matter."

When asked whether Haidar reported to work today, the information officer at the Housing Ministry confirmed that he did report to work. The Parliament session began at 9:00 am. The Housing Ministry confirmed that the minister was present at work at 9:15 am.

Article 98 (a) of the Constitution states that the Parliament has the power to summon members of the Cabinet.

"The People's Majlis may require the presence of any member of the Cabinet or member of the Government to attend proceedings of the People's Majlis, and to respond under oath truthfully to questions put to them and to produce documents, required by the People's Majlis relating to the due performance of the obligations and responsibilities of such person," the Article reads.

The procedure in Parliament under that Article is to send a notice of 14 days to the Minister to prepare for the question raised by the MP. The matter will be put on the agenda after 14 days.

The questions aimed at Haidar include a date for the handover of land plots under the Binveriyaa scheme and the updates on handing over 4000 flats under the Gedhoriveriyaa scheme.

Responding to questions from MPs after he was summoned to the Parliament’s Petition Committee last week, Haidar said that the Housing Ministry is trying to compile a final list of recipients before construction of flats under the Gedhoruveriyaa scheme is completed.

“We will announce all the chosen people and gazette the final list before the construction is done, okay. As I’ve learned, the first six towers out of 32 towers will be finished by the end of October. We will publish the final list by then,” Haidar said.

The Male’ city council advised the Housing Ministry two weeks ago to hand over flats as soon as possible to recipients with no issues in their applications for the flats announced by the previous government under the Gedhoruveriyaa scheme.

The previous government decided that 15,046 applicants to the Gedhoruveriyaa scheme were eligible for housing. The MDP government decided to hand over flats to all eligible applicants. But only 4,000 flats had been contracted and under construction when the MDP administration ended.