At a time of international fiscal turmoil and at a time when the Maldives is facing difficult economic times, it is surprising that Governor of our Central Bank (MMA) is missing. Fazeel Najeeb (a close ally of Yamin Gayyoom) was appointed as the Governor of MMA during the last few weeks of Maumoon Abdul Gayyoom’s presidency.
I believe that Fazeel, who lives and studies in the UK, has not come to the country since his appointment to the post. While a new budget is being debated and while such drastic changes are coming to our fiscal system, it is shocking that no one is talking about the Governor of MMA. Where is he? Is the new government planning to ask the Majlis to appoint a new governor? If so, why isn’t anyone talking about it?
There are so many things unspoken after we made the journey to the other maldives. Maybe in the history of the world this maybe the first time that a people had spoken so little after they gained democracy.
ReplyDeleteFazeel Najeeb was busy organising DRP campaign in UK. He was DRP man in UK who organsied payments to DRP observers during election. Looks like he is an independent governor?!!!!
ReplyDeleteDId not Mr President appoint a new governer?
ReplyDeleteNo he hasn't appointed a new one. he can't appoint a new one just by himslef. he has to ask the Majlis to approve a new name and if the Majlis gives its approval Nasheed can appoint a new governor for MMA. This si something that the new government needs to do soon. Fazeel is a Gayyoom-Yamin-Puppet. It is a risk to keep him there while MMA-Depity is Brigadier Adam Zahir's sister! (Can you belive the gullibleness of this government).
ReplyDeleteA reliable source tells me MMA did transfer US$900,000 to a UK account for Gasssan Maumoon to purchase his UK home. The was done a year ago!. May be Golha was hoping with Fazeel's help he can do more transfers like this. Lets see if the new government will investigate these fraudlant actions by Golha.
ReplyDeleteMr President, we call upon to see on this!
ReplyDeleteFazeel will try to sabotage in any possible way to prove that president Nasheed can not run the government with this current situation.
We are on the verge of a devaluation of rufiyaa.
ReplyDelete1. Our gross reserves are at just a little over 2 months of imports - almost a 15 year low. As far as I can see there’s no way reserves are going to increase to US$380.8 million or 3.2 months of imports by the end of the year, as has been predicted by MMA .
2. The strong dollar coupled with the recession in EU region will substantially reduce our inflow of hard currency. So far, we haven’t seen this happening because of the 2-3 quarters’ lag that’s involved in the cycle. Last year we were saved from a devaluation by the unprecedented advance lease rentals we collected from the resort leases which increased our reserves to USD300million.
3. We are in the midst of hajj season, school holidays and eid. Our people are traveling overseas in large numbers. Our hajj travelers, holiday makers and expat teachers are going to drain, within the next month or two, whatever little stock of hard currency we have within our banking system now.
4. With oil below USD50 now, the dollar isn’t going to fall anytime soon. Over the last five years, with greenback on the ventilator, we automatically offset any pressure on the Rufiyaa resulting from the expansionary policies of Gasim. We did the last devaluation under Mohamed Jaleel in July 2001. Ever since, the Euro has generally appreciated against the dollar thus making Maldives cheaper for our tourists from the EU region - but this is a thing of the past now.
So, it is only a matter of a month or two before we have to devalue rufiyaa.
Very informative and educational comment from "Anonymous 26/11/08 17:32".
ReplyDeleteScary to think of Rufiya devaluation just as we are begining to breath easy after Gayyoom's wastefulness. We hope that the new government can find a way to stick with the current dollar-to-Rufiya exchange rate for at least another two years.
-B
The job was given illegally.
ReplyDeleteMr. Najeeb was under a contract (scholarship) to finish his studies which he did not start at all. So where is the law.
Now all of a sudden he is given a big job.. What a joke.
Fazeel has expressed to some of his associates that he is close to current finance minister H.E Ali Hashim. So he is expecting to keep his job!. Lets wait and see what happens as he was voted in by DRP controlled parliment members when according to the committee he was not fit for the job
ReplyDeleteWhere is superman when people needs him most?
ReplyDeleteCan he continue running MMA from his flat in London by SMS.
He is actually running it via Skype and Wikipedia and not SMS. I thought i should correct ur comments
ReplyDeleteBollocks it is!
ReplyDeleteWe have an almost humanly impossible task in hand.dictators 30 years has produced hardcore thugs, criminals,
ReplyDeleteand extremely rich and corrupt few very unfluential guys. Anni may not want to see these guys in his team but he is helpless. these few guys practically controlling the current parliment , most of the businees community, druglords.Even the oppositon parties are financed by these guys.
We will see the full effect of this situation after these guys take full control of the next parliment seats.
You know who these guys are isnt it...
I hear Fazeel Najeeb is taking a short course on Economics and Banking in UK and that is the main reason why he is not able to travel. Looks like he is going to learn all he can about running MMA and come back to Maldives. So watch out guys, we will have a super governor in Maldivse soon.
ReplyDelete30 years of financial mess. Add the global finance crisis. Put in the chaos of a change of system and a new Government.
ReplyDeleteThen bring in a new Governer of MMA without skills or experience appointed by a party that is dead.
Even if you were that Governer, you would want to escape to South America.
If Fazeel Najeeb has already not done a plastic face surgery in London to disappear, we should bring him soon before he does it.
hehehe i feel pitty for fazeel najeed hehe what a waste lol
ReplyDeletethis is anonymous 17.32, again - yes, its time we replace Fazeel. I can think of a better person than Shafeenaz A Sattar for the job.
ReplyDeletehey Anonymous 17.32" can u make a good suggestion for MMA Governor and a good person to replace the Singaporean lady at the helm of Bank of Maldives!
ReplyDeletebushry are you a resort owner. and a 100 percent capitalist.
ReplyDeleteyou have been sstrangly silent on that.
the talks of decentralization is just a haox. the way they are gonana do all teh islands will do the work and wont have control over any resources. have to depend on central government and beg for money. how nice.
i propose ziyattey for Governor..tats the only solution..
ReplyDeleteI personally don't understand why some people are so obsessed with Ziyaateey. He isn't even a minsiter. He is some sort of personal-asiatnt to the presidnet. I think he is suitable for that sort of work for Nasheed. I think I would choose Ziyaattey over, say, Umar Zakir or Abdul Rasheed Hussain or such other useless bugger. Keep it up Ziyaatey.
ReplyDeleteReagrding "Anonymous 21.30"...
ReplyDeleteI have to say that I support the government's decentralisation policy. The division of the country into seven zones and appointing provincial minsiters to run those regions and assigning four depratments to run the work of 14 ministeris in those regions is a good start. These thinsg are new to the Maldives so it may be a bit rusty when we start...we will need to adjust and revise and correct mistakes as we go along...but this is a journey towards a desirable destiny. I fully support this. I would ask the sceptics to give the government a chance in this.
Are we talking about giving a chance to this missin governor.
ReplyDeleteno comments but is this governer paid full salary??
ReplyDeleteanonymous 17.32
ReplyDeleteShafeenaz A Sattar cant look after her own body.
..if she looks after her morals, that should be more than enough for us..
ReplyDeleteBTW why don't you post your photo and show your self to see how well u look after your self.. hehehe..
Bushry, when will you write something about the 50 year resort extension. This is the real issue today. Do you support it? The issue needs a public debate. Auditor General does not support it.
ReplyDeleteMMA Gavaru-Naru should be given a to a qualified foreigner from a country which actually conducts monetary policy.
ReplyDeleteWho knows. Even the retired Greenspan could be lured by our sunny climate.
Alternatively MMA can be given to a foreign firm to run like IMF runs it now.
Best man for the Job is Jihad. He should be brought back.
ReplyDeleteThis is what happens when resort owners control the current government. Today it is 50 years increase and tomorrow it would be 90 years increase. Watch this space
ReplyDeleteWHERE IS THE 300 MILLION DOLLARS ANNI PROMISED?
ReplyDeleteWHERE IS THE 80 MILLION DOLLAR GAYYOOM STOLE?
WHERE IS THE 32 MILLION DOLLARS DR SHAHEED STOLE, IN THE NAME OF OPENING UP NEW EMBASSYS ACROSS THE GLOBE WHEN HE WAS FM UNDER GAYYOOM?
WHERE IS THE 74 MILLION DOLLARS HASSAN SAEED TOOK FROM CABLE AND WIRELESS PROMISING THEM THE GOVT WILL GIVE THEM MANAGEMENT CONTROL OF DHIRAAGU (WHEN HE WAS AG UNDER GAYYOOM?
WHERE ARE THESE DOLLARS? NOW NOBODY IS INTERESTED IN LOOKING INTO THIS? JUST BECAUSE THE DEVILS JOINED THE COALITION AND SUDDENLY THEY BECAME ANGELS?
Anonymous 27/11/08 01:58
ReplyDeleteu said "Best man for the Job is Jihad. He should be brought back"
His forecast for his future was disastrous, made a wrong decision. hmm not a smart move.
anonymous 17.32, again. yes, we need to find a replacement to Serene Ho Oi Khuen for BML. She's been there for too long, employed a few singaporeans at BML and has amassed herself a fat bank account. The sad state of affairs of our banking is that in the 35 years of banking history in this country, we havent produced a single professional banker. The charlie's angels heading BML (Fathaanike, Aisth Noordeen, and Nadhiya) jsut below MD are not qualified even for a simple book keeping job at a bank. The other 'bankers' we have are graduates in economics, finance or accounting. they are qualified but the issue is that to be a banker you have to have a qualification in the field. You of course neet economists, lawyers, accountants etc in a bank. So to respond to the question, who could be the Maldivian to replace Serene, I think in the absence of a prefessional banker I would go for someone trained in a field like accounting or economics and above all, my deciding criteria will be INTEGRITY. thats whats lacking in most of our people. I was very happy when Ali Hashim was appointed as the finance minister. I know that there are people who has more degrees than him but I trust his integrity. I know some of you ridiculed me when i suggested Shafeenaz Sattar for the post of MMA governor. Of course she's no carbon copy of Eva Mendez but for this position ie MMA governor, believe me, there isnt a better person.
ReplyDeleteSo "Anonymous 17.32", who is your choice to replace (the Singaporean) Serene at the helm of Bank of Maldives?
ReplyDeleteJihad was a qualified person to be the MMA Governor
ReplyDeleteOR
Why don’t MDP invite him to Join MDP.... he will be a good asset in the midst of this brain drain in MDP hierarchy.
Jihad is unfit to make wise decisions. He proved that by shooting himslef in the foot during the dying days of dictator Gayyoom's regime.
ReplyDeleteJihad must have projected a clean image to public and got elected to top MMA post, but showed true colour, pure greed brought him to the ground.
ReplyDeletehe is coming back tomorow - 28.11.08
ReplyDeleteWell..Well.. So he is hiding not missing. Now our worries are over :D Thank God is coming back :p
ReplyDeleteanony mice, Jihad? a qualified person to be MMA governor? wtf? do you know this man? all that he did there as the governor at MMA was to raise the staff salary to ridiculously high levels - obvisouly this was a short cut to getting staff loyalty. A guard at MMA now gets more money than a director general's salary. how could u justify that? they say MMA is an autonomous body. ok, MMA is, but so what? the critical quesiton is whether MMA is able to generate its own income independently of the government. technically MMA is insolvent, my friend. MMA is making money from its 'ways and means' acccount by lending to govt to finance budget deficit. and this money is used to give staff bonuses and fat salaries. this man isnt even close to Arif Hilmy or mohamed jaleel. this is what jihad did during his short tenure at MMA. next time before you open your mouth take some time to look at MMA's balance sheet.
ReplyDeletelook at the wastage at MMA. There are instiutions that work harder than MMA not known ...see the number of graduates and the productivity
ReplyDeletebrother bush
ReplyDeleteYour blog is the best and most informative.. Can you write about the proposed 50 year resort lease without a tax system
tell me few things that Jihad has done at MMA to refresh my memeory
ReplyDeleteI don't understand what Bushry means by "drastic changes are coming to our FISCAL SYSTEM"! This is a new economic term that I have never heard before. Wonder if Bushry knows what he is talking about.
ReplyDeleteFazeel Najeeb is not qualified to be the Governor of MMA. He doesnt have the qualifications requird by the Law. On the contrary Jihad met the legal requirements. But he resigned the job to take over the Minister's job when it was offered to him by Maumoon. This was a mistake and a very irresponsible move by Jihad.
In small country like ours, the Finance Minister's conduct of Fiscal Policy would determine the health of the economy and the MMA would be able to play a very limite role. Hence, it is more important to have a qualified person to be the Finance Minister. In this regard, Ali Hashim is not the best qualified. Our Finance Minister has to take decisive action to cut government expenditure and to manage our resources more wisely and in a more productive manner instead of spending on fancy ideas.
But now that Ali Hashim has been appointed, he should bring a highly qualified economic expert from overseas to advise him, instead of trying to learn by trial error. We can't afford that. Our economic crisis left to the new government by Maumoon is too serious.
is there any poosibility that Jaleel will be interested in MMA Governor. He would be the best candidate. On the otherhand, if Jaleel did not want to be Governor, we can ask Mr. Naeem to be the Governor. I feel that Mr. Jaleel and Naeem should be consulted in making economic policy. We should make the best use of our resources
ReplyDeleteBro Bush
ReplyDeleteI look forward to reading more about the economy and the 50 year lease from your blog. so far you have gien the e best ideas give me some ideas about these resorts...Do you think what happened in Russia will be repeated in Mldives
Jaleel should be given a post in this government
ReplyDeletei am worried that what goes around will come around. It is easier said than done..the current government has neglected so many professionals in this country..it is a crime
ReplyDeleteIf MMA goes bankrupt who will be responsible? in that sense MMA is not financially independent of the state. MMA people should also get a pay that is commensurate with their responsibilty and fair and square compared to the other goverment employees. The big salary is the biggest legacy of Jihad who dont have a vision
ReplyDeleteWe are all Maldivians..we should be trated fair manner. a bankrupt country with the most posh centarl bank in the region built within 10 years of hard work
ReplyDeleteOnly Shafeenaaz can fix it
ReplyDeleteBush Please keep on writing. I am afraid that the journalists are not active any more . We need a good source with brillliant ideas
ReplyDeleteI think Jaleel will be a good choice as the Governor of MMA. Jihad shouldn't even be considered. His actions show that he is selfish and unprofessional. Even Arif Hilmy or Shafeenaz Abdul Sattar will be a good choice.
ReplyDeletebusry, i have great respect for both jaleel and arif. it is not secret that Arif isnt in the shape to run a central bank, or any institution for the matter. jaleel does have a very good understanding of our macroeconomic situaion and the experience of a governor. Some people have also suggested makun naeem. He is also a very resourceful man. But given the situation we are in, there is nobody in this country that comes even close to Shafeenaz sattar as a possible candidate for the post of governor of central bank. she has the academic qualifiactions and the expereience, and above all she is the only Maldivian I know who has the INTEGRITY to be trusted with our reserves. Jaleel and Makun naeem are also ok. But none of them would even come close to Tuppy in terms of the her integrity.
ReplyDeleteI dont agree with the last comment. Shafeenaz is not the only person with integrity. There are loads of people with integrity...may be we dont know these people as they dont have background like Shafeenaaz. what has Shafeenaaz done to make her so special in your view Bushry?
ReplyDeletewhat has Shafeenaaz done to make her so special. there are loads of people with INTEGRITY in Maldives. Is it her background?
ReplyDeleteTuppy in terms of the her integrity-what have she done to prove that.
ReplyDeletein Maldives everything goes on perceptions. one has to do something to prove it
ReplyDelete