Can Gasim Deliver the promises or was it just empty promises?

Speaking at the official inauguration of the Republican Party’s presidential campaign Friday night, the party’s nominee, Gasim made some bold promises to the Maldivian people. If elected to the post of the president in the upcoming election, scheduled to be held before 10th October, Gasim said that he will bring about incredible changes to the country!

Reading through the list of promises, I felt that Gasim was deliberately pressing some hot buttons! It was as if Gasim was blindly promising things that the people wanted to hear. Oil exploration, international-level hospital, one thousand apartments in Hulhumale per year, and so on! Let’s look a bit more closely at some of Gasim’s promises.

Gasim said that, as president, one of his first acts will be to form a Ministry of Islamic Affairs. I felt that this was just a bogus attempt to touch a raw nerve of the people. The current entity, Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs does exactly the same thing. So why do we need a Ministry for Islamic Affairs? Maybe Gasim wants to create this Ministerial post to reward Adhaalth Party for their loyalty to him! At a time when we need to trim the number of Ministries and cut down bureaucracy and cut costs by reducing the number of Ministers, why do we have to form a phony Ministry for Islamic Affairs? We can promote our Islamic values much better that Gayyoom did, but we can do that even with the current setup. So, I feel, there’s no need to form such a Ministry. The President of the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs should be a qualified “Sheikh” and he should be independent from the government. If he’s a Minister than the president could easily influence the Supreme Council. So, dear Gasim, please dump this idea.

Gasim also said that a government headed by him, will create more cabinet-level posts for women. Believe me I’m not a sexist, but I do not support the setting of any quotas for women in cabinet and other senior government posts. If there are qualified women they will automatically come to such posts. Maldivian women have a very level playing field. It is a myth that our women need special help! So stop making political promises just to “buy” women’s votes!

Apart from these two ideas, Gasim’s other promises were praiseworthy. Those were excellent proposals, but the feasibility of such proposals in the given timeframes is perhaps questionable.

Take the example of developing five economic centers in the country within five years, with all those centers more developed than Male. While this is highly desirable, and while developing such centers is indeed feasible, it is doubtful if it could be done within five years. Personally, I’m all in favor of developing such economic centers.

Gasim also said that, in Hulhumale, he will build one thousand apartments per year. I don’t know what sort of feasibility studies Gasim have done before he made this promise, but I have a hard time believing that it is possible to build five thousand apartments in Hulhumale in five years and then develop five regions with greater development than Male, also in the same period of time. I wonder why Gasim didn’t deliver such lofty gifts to us when he was Finance Minister for three years. I just think that Gasim is randomly picking the figure of one thousand and just making a promise to build such and such an amount of apartments in Hulhumale without thinking about any feasibility.

Gasim also said that, if elected, his government would setup an “Economic Development Bank” in the country within two years of assuming office. Such a bank, said Gasim, would grant low-interest loans to businesses. This is an excellent proposal, but not exactly an original idea.

He also said that within the first year of his presidency he would setup a “Health Insurance Scheme” for all citizens (not just civil servants but “All citizens”). While this is also a commendable proposition, the time frame is doubtful.

Gasim also said that within two years of his presidency, he would setup an international-level hospital that can compete with hospitals in India, Sri Lanka and Thailand. He said that such a hospital in the Maldives would avoid the need for Maldivians to travel abroad to seek medical help. He also said that he will send 500 students per year to foreign universities to study for teaching degrees. Gasim also promised to increase the salaries of teachers – something that he couldn’t do when he was Finance Minister, despite some vocal demands from teachers.

Gasim also promised to close all entry points for drug traffickers within one month of assuming office, if he is elected. This is sweet music to many families with drugs-victims, but one wonders why Gasim didn’t advise Gayyoom on how to do that when Gasim was Finance Minister.

The three most striking proposals made by Gasim were regarding oil-exploration and taxes. He said that there are strong indications that there are oil wells under the seabed in the northern areas of the country and that he hopes to physically setup oil explorations rigs within three years of assuming office if he is elected.

Gasim also said that he will find the required finances for realizing his audacious proposals, through the introduction of a 15 percent corporate tax on the high-income businesses. He also spoke about the need to introduce a tax which he termed as “central sales tax” for the tourism industry. This is perhaps an alternative for the current “bed-rent” which taxes resorts regardless of whether the beds are occupied or not.

I have to give credit to Gasim for most of his proposals even though some of those proposals appear as if they are copied from the manifestos of other presidential candidates. Regardless of that, credit has to be given to Gasim for stating such things so clearly. I still have doubts if Gasim is talking about a realistic list or just some list that he picked from thin air! If he is elected and if he realizes these things, then I would be the first to acknowledge that Gasim is indeed a great magician. If that happens, I would definitely vote for Gasim if he runs for a second term!