The cabinet for the president-elect Mohamed Nasheed was announced this afternoon. Following are some of the observations regarding the proposed cabinet. This isn’t the best Cabinet but 11 of the 14 appointments should be given some time to prove their critics wrong while the other three posts should be reviewed by the Parliament and the new government!
1. Whereas Gayyoom’s Cabinet had more than 20 ministries, Nasheed is proposing only 14. This is a positive change which will reduce bureaucracy and reduce government expenditure as well. Hence this change should be welcomed.
2. As far as the allocation of posts to various parties in the coalition is concerned, it is noted that MDP got five posts, and Gasim’s Jumhooree Gulhun got four posts while Dr. Hassan Saeed’s New Maldives Movement got two posts and Dr. Waheed’s Gaumee Iththihaadh got two posts. Finally Ibra’s Liberal party got one post. Considering the fact that Dr. Hassan Saeed got more votes in the first round than the whole of the Jumhooree Gulhun, it seems unfair that his movement got two seats while Gasim’s party got four seats. It could also be argued that Dr. Waheed’s Gaumee Iththihaadh in effect got three seats because Dr. Waheed himself will sit in the Cabinet – as Vice President.
3. To address this imbalance I would humbly suggest that Dr. Hassan Saeed be made a Special Advisor to the President.
4. Overall it’s not the most competent Cabinet that could be selected from the current crop of young and qualified Maldivians. A much better cabinet could have been selected. This selection smells of political string-pulling! Not every minister has to be educated and qualified in the field of his ministry but at least every minister has to be familiar with his portfolio. In this respect, to put it mildly, the appointment of Dr. Ibrahim Didi isn’t the most intelligent appointment as Fisheries Minister. The same could be said about Jameel’s appointment as Civil Aviations Minister. Dr. Didi is a dentist by profession, and one wonders how Dentist-Didi could address the serious demands in the Fisheries industry. A friend of mine jokingly suggested that Dr. Didi could perhaps setup a good dental service for the arcnut-chewing Maldivian fishermen. For grounds of incompetency I believe that the Parliament would veto this appointment.
5. The same could be said about Ahmed Ali Sawad. A graduate in Sharia and Law, one wonders how Sawad could be a good Tourism Minister. He was also the running mate for Gasim Ibrahim when Gasim ran for president in the first round of the election. Gasim is one of the biggest resort operators in the country and many say that Sawad could be Gasim’s proxy in the Tourism Ministry. This wouldn’t be good news for other major resort operators such as Champa, Universal, Sun land, etc. They may not want their direct competitor to be their boss at the Tourism Ministry! For both these reasons I would think that the Parliament would find enough conflict of interest to veto this appointment.
6. I do not believe that Dr. Musthafa Luthfee would be up to the task of managing the Education Ministry. Though he has a doctorate in the field of education, Dr. Musthafa is a slow and very bureaucratic person.
7. The appointment of Dhiyana Saeed as the Attorney General also is a bad choice given the fact that there are some high-profile issues pending at the Attorney General’s Office regarding her husband Abdullah Jabir. One such issue is the case of Vilivaru and Biyaadhoo resort. This leaves a lot of conflict of interest in this appointment. I would think that the Parliament would find enough conflict of interest to veto this appointment.
8. As I said before, it’s not the most competent Cabinet that could be selected from the current crop of young and qualified Maldivians. A much better cabinet could have been selected. I have reservations about some other appointments too but overall those appointments should be given time to prove their critics wrong. But I would suggest that the Parliament should veto the appointment of Dentist-Didi as Fisheries Minster and the appointment of Sawad as the Tourism Minister and the appointment of Dhiyana Saeed as the Attorney General. These there posts should be reviewed both by the Parliament and the new government! This isn’t the best Cabinet but 11 of the 14 appointments should be given some time to prove their critics wrong while the other three posts should be reviewed by the Parliament and the new government!
Duh bushri. The ministerial post is for implementing the policies of MDP.
ReplyDeleteLet me refresh your rusty mind. MDP stands for MALDIVIAN DEMOCRATIC PARTY. Its a political party, in fact the current ruling party.
Even if MDP appoints you as the minister of Tourism, you only objective will be to implement the policies of MDP. And not pouring your own ideas as polity or giving out resorts. Simply put its only the policies that matters, If appointee is a capable manager/administrator then he will do a fine job.
Bush, i think you have highlighted this earlier as well, when it was out in the media on 3rd Nov.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, for the three posts as well.
Your suggestion about special adviser for president as Dr Hassan, how about that. do you think, he might have offered it, but he refused. he is a bit sissy, you know does not like any post other than president's post.
"Duh bushri. The ministerial post is for implementing the policies of MDP.
ReplyDeleteLet me refresh your rusty mind. MDP stands for MALDIVIAN DEMOCRATIC PARTY. Its a political party, in fact the current ruling party. "
Why was Umar Zahir's post problematic for you guys
Anni failed miserably in his choice of cabinet! Shows an alarming lack of judgement. So much for high hopes of a star cabinet.
ReplyDeleteI agree with some comments from Bushry and would like to add mine.
1. Qasim as Home Minister - acceptable
2. Ali Hashim for Finance - Poor choice. we are facing huge challenges economically at the moment and need a more competent, dynamic financial Head.
3. Dr Shaheed - acceptable. experienced in the field.
4. Aminath Jameel for Health - good choice
5. Amin Faisal for Defence - Totally unacceptable. Someone who was dishonorably discharged from MNDF to head this institution is an insult to our forces. I would urge Majlis not to confirm this post.
6. Musthapha for Education - are you out of your mind? This is a joke!
7. Dhiyana for AG - Technically OK, but not the best choice.
8. Mohamed Rasheed for Economic Development - Too Big shoes for him. Let us wait n see!
9. Sawad for Tourism - definitely a puppet of Qasim and this smells! Totally unacceptable. Majlis should reject this nomination.
10. Hassan Latheef for Youth and Sports - Poor choice. How about Mohamed Kaleem instead?
11. Aslam for Housing - OK.
12. Dr Didi for Fisheries - Extremely bad choice.
13. Jameel for civil Aviation - should have offered Jameel a post in the legal area. Would be a huge asset.
14. Dr Majeed for Islamic Affairs - We have to be very careful of Adhaalath's policies! Dont need Thalibanisation of Maldives!
Overall, I must say that we had high hopes for Anni, but as the days go by we have to wonder whether we did the right thing by electing him ...even for a CHANGE! I am beginning to have regrets!
-shafiu-
ReplyDeletei wonder why some of our so called young, educated, and enthusiastic minds are so much against Adhaalath party. what ever you guys think, they are the creams in thsi society. if you do not believe just ask from the current political leaders.
what about all those efforts they did to get rid from Maumoon's regiem. as we know most of us have sent very warm greetings to ppl like sheikh Ilyas in their campaign against maumoon. but today we are showing another face. is not this called hypocrisy?
We strongly support people like Mr Illyas and Adalath Party, he was such an inspiration. Adalath will get the support if they keep their policies moderate through diplomacy without compromising on religious values and teachings. I guess a industrious man who is religious is more beneficial to our society than a useless religious fanatic. I guess we do not see any fanaticism in the policies of Adalath Party.
ReplyDeleteIn near future we will see a revival of our Islamic faith as our education curriculum is revised to stress more on our Islamic identity.
I guess most of the people are afraid of Thaliban style government which is not very good. And the idiots out their will shout out when ever they hear about religion. These people are at the extreme other end of religious fanaticism, yet both groups are measured with the same cup, they are the same.
A few comments:
ReplyDeleteThe bottom line is we must have a mechanism to get rid of people who do not deliver. The new government should ensure even cabinet ministers have responsibilities and should evaluate performance on a regualr basis. If minister fail to deliver they must not be kept in office.
how about Dr Abdul Majeed as Publiworks minister and Ba Naseem s a tourism minister.....
ReplyDeleteWe have to judge Adhaalath Party by their public statements. Some of their scholars are reasonable people, while some are quite fanatical in their views.
ReplyDeleteIt doesnt take a genius to realise that the biggest challenge Maldives will face in its march towards democracy and development, would be the religious extremists amongst our midst. And its a fact that most of them are in Adhaalath Party.
We are all for our religion, but we dont need Mullahs to convert us to Thalibans.
Appointing Ali Hashim as Minister of Finance & Treasury is very irresponsible. With a fiscal catastrophe at hand, Anni shoul have asked Jihad to stay on. Ali Hashim is a nice and intelligent guy but lacks the capacity to be our Finance Minister under present circumstances.
ReplyDeleteSimilarly, appointing Sawad as Tourism Minister is like offering the post to Ali Ibrahim of Villa Travels. Surely, Anni should know better.
Instead of Amin Faisal, Minister of Defence should have been Ibrahim Hussein Zaki.
What you say is true
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, it is obvious that cabinet posts have been distributed on the basis of the political entente between members of this coalition, and not based on the calibre or the capacity of those assigned, to competently discharge the responsibilities of their respective Ministries.
Dr.Didi, who happens to be my uncle, is the perfect example of this. And I will tell this to his face.
He is a very competent-although difficult, enterprising and ambitious man. He has much to offer, but not in this Portfolio.
The fact that JP has been 'awarded' the same number of posts as DGP, is once again an indication of the far reaching and self-aggrandizing influence of the oligarch within the MDP.
Of course we have long foretold all of this. The task of uprooting an ailing dictatorship aside, we must be forever vigilant of those who would seek to fill the ensuing vacuum. It is in the very nature of power that it attracts the worst of characters.
And It was only through the power of The Vote, that we could have circumvented the dilemma of handing over the reign of power to a more capable government while not risking a repeat of history.
This electorate has proven that they are not competent enough to elect a competent government into office.Thus this Cabinet. Had the people not given any support to JP it would have substantially reduced the very real threat of unchecked disproportionate power concentrating among a small elite few.
Now effectively, the incestuous relationship between Gasim-Sawad-Jabir-Dhiyana-Zaki and their liaisons within the Tourism Industry, ensures their dominance and monopoly over the Maldivian political & financial Institutions for many years to come. And between them they will continue to recycle the presidency under the guise of democracy. No wonder the Universal Group has started to relocate their assets ...
Ironic is it not, when Zaki states that cabinet posts are not allocated based on education or experience (referring to Gasim) because they are political positions. Hilarious ain't it?
And now we hear them pleading to International Lending Institutions (loan-sharks) for assistance in everything from tsunami relief to undoing the fiscally unsound policies of the last government. One cannot help but recall the allegations they had levied on Gayyoom's government on why foreign aid is needed for every government project, when we make "so much money" from the tourism Industry!
I doubt that any concrete steps would be taken on properly Regulating foreign investment or if Corporate taxation would be undertaken beyond the superficial lip-service given to the concept.
The fact that the balance of power has considerably shifted to Addu is perhaps a silver lining, in that it duly recognizes the indispensable role that the people of that atoll have played and continue to play in driving this little nation.
We wait and watch to see what becomes of us, the bourgeoisie middle class & the salaried workers...
nice article and good points of the three
ReplyDeleteThe Public has given a mandate to MDP and our hero Anni to lead us out of the mess we were in. Getting rid of Maumoon is just the beginning. People expect our leaders to deliver on their promise of a decent good government for the people.
ReplyDeleteIt makes us furious to see that we are now seeing a conspiracy of far greater magnitude than the unholy alliance between Maumoon and Yameen. Now we see the richest man in the Maldives who obtained several more resort islands while he was Finance Minister (through the corruption of former Tourism Minister Dr Shaugy) taking far greater control of not only the Tourism Industry, but also amass unlimited political muscle by his appointment as Home Minister (combining Police, Atolls etc.)
Do we now blame Qasim for being so clever? Or do we blame the man we trusted and elected as President of the Republic?
If this is the beginning of what's coming, where will we end up? This New Government has the signs of not just utter incompetence, but has all the characters of scary sinister corruption beyond our wildest imagination!
We now need a strong opposition party or parties to be elected to the Majlis to make these people accountable to the Public and keep them in check.
That now should be the duty of all Reformists!
cant judge even before they have started doing their jobs...if they all can do administration well...then i dont think we will have a problem....lets wait and see!!!
ReplyDeleteWhat principles or guidelines were used in selecting the cabinet? Obviously there are none.
ReplyDeleteAlso it has to be said that no cabinet can be less incompetent than Maumoon's cabinet. If Maumoons cabinet is the benchmark, then this cabinet (or any cabinet) for the matter, is ok.
But Anni's cabinet would not like to be less corrupt.
With Sawad, Diyana and Qasim and Zaki, its more like a bid evaluation team set up by by Yatch tours for Vilivaru and Biyaadhoo.
Oh my goodness! Is this how we begin "ANEH DHIVEHI RAJJE"??
ReplyDeleteA mix bag of the brilliant, the corrupt and the incompetent..thats what I think.
We will ofcourse wait and seee..It will not be long before the Honeymoon period is over and the people realise the truth.
The concept of an ANEH DHIVEHI RAJJE is very appealing. But for sure we will be heading towards a mirage.... Reality will be corruption and incompetence nor better than Gayyoom.
from the looks of it, the scales of the proposed cabinet are extremely imbalanced. the people of maldives stands less chance of seeing a better life but rather the minister's total wealth and other prospects will very likely rise to aausminthah. what can didi, musthafa luthfy or sawad do to help uplift the citizens hope for a better tomorrow? gasim has won hands down, presidency or not. anni, your cabinet sucks. the road to anneh divehirajje has forked into one long highway with shiny, speeding cars while the other is a dusty and overgrown path leading to nowhere. please don't do this to us.
ReplyDeleteWe all are disappointed. We the people elected Nasheed and Dr. Waheed, not the so called coalition. The Constitution does not provide any avenue to elect a coalition of parties, as in a parliamentary system. So, it’s a fallacy to consider that a coalition has won the election. This is a fabricated concept by these parties to grab cabinet seats for….
ReplyDeleteSo, distributing cabinet positions to parties, in effect, infringes on the powers provided in the Constitution to the President. It’s, therefore, ironic that our President-Elect is pressured politically by Hassan Saeed (who dreams of Presidency only) and Gasim Ibrahim (who dreams of money and power only). We expected President Nasheed to be stronger. Yet, he has become a puppet of Gasim and Hassan Saeed. Gayyoom had Yameen and Illyas.
In the previous Government, while holding the position of Finance Minister, forced Gayoom to charge 15% advance rent on resorts. In doing so, he was in a better position to grab resorts in open bids that considered the bidder with the highest bed rent to the Government. Gasim was in the Economic Committee of Ministers and influenced these decisions, together with Hilmy and Waheeuhdheen (all resort owners). Gayyoom made Gasim Finance Minister because that is the only position that he would accept. Gayyoom was desperate to please Gasim. Anni is doing the same thing, pleasing Gasim because he believes that otherwise Republican Party would block Government bills and resolutions in the parliament. Qasim, don’t you have enough. Why cannot you leave this country for us, ordinary people. Anni please don’t do this. You are now a “boy” of Qasim.
ReplyDeleteJameel is a poor appointment. He has no background in civil aviation or communication. Mr. Mahumud Razee would have been much better. Hassan forced Anni to create this Ministry of Jameel. This is what happened to the people who supported Anni with nor conditions. Hehehe.
ReplyDeleteQasim is the worst choice. It was a joke Zaki trying to defend Qasim appointment. Qasim has not experince in police, managing jails, or in civil affairs of a Home Ministry. What a joke, right. And, Sawad is his proxy in Tourism. Sawad would be asked to increase lease period of resorts to 99 years, give Biyadhoo or another island to Jabir, and not to terminate ADK Nashid's resort that is due for termination. Sawad is a fool with a doctorate in Islamic Law.
ReplyDeleteParliament should question Sawad's appointment. In fact, we are sure that would happen. It should not be approved. He is the running-mate of the biggest resort owner in this country who has a lot of resort deals to finish. As a lawyer Sawad should know better. Diyana too is in conflict situation since she has to make a decision on Biyadhoo case. Is Anni out of his mind. Anni you are not mature enough to govern this country. He would be perfect on street protests.
ReplyDeletePoor Sawaaad. You are well educated, decent, clean and so on. There is so much you can do here. You have a good future in Maldives politics. But, we see you walking behind the most wealthy man like a little boy asking for candies. Please dont do this to yourself and family. Save your reputation, dont become a slave of Ja-beer and Qasim.
ReplyDelete"If Maumoons cabinet is the benchmark, then this cabinet (or any cabinet) for the matter, is ok."
ReplyDeleteHow many are recycled elements from Maumoon's cabinet ?
Hey hey guys! Why blame all this on Hassan Saeed or Gasim? We didn't elect them. We elected Anni as the President of the country. Period! Anni was incapable of winning on his own merit and brought in other opposition candidates as a coalition. Remember? All the chantings about 'This vote is not for Anni...but a whole coalition!'
ReplyDeleteWhats all this about Hassan Saeed or Gasim pressuring Anni for the cabinet posts? Can't you see that Anni has appointed Dentist Dr Didi as Fisheries Minister? Who gave pressure for this post?
And Musthapha to Education? Who gave any pressure? Jameel to Civil Aviation....Anni's idea because he wanted Dr Hassan's team in the cabinet with 02 posts.
Ali Hashim for Finance! What's going on? Anni just doesnt have the capacity to make judgements let alone to govern.
We may not wish to accept it caus its humiliating. But Anni as President will mean ruin of the country.
All of them can claim that 'if it were not for me you wud not be the president'
ReplyDeleteSo now it is being claimed here that its unconstitutional to have a Coalition government or Ministers comprising of different political parties! Not true. Simply not true. Nothing prevents the President from appointing cabinet posts from members of different parties.
ReplyDeleteBut if indeed, we are objecting to that, who is to be blamed? Are you accusing our President Elect of committing the worst crime of doing something unconstitutional?
This talk of Gasim and Dr Hassan pressuring or grabbing posts from Anni is nonsense. Is our newly elected President a small boy from whom others are grabbing his toys?
Let us have the courage to face it. Anni is just not up to the task. He has to be responsible for the mistakes of the new government or its actions just like Maumoon had to take the rap for his mistakes.
We salute Anni for over throwing Maumoon but that doesnt mean we are gonna shut up and heap praise on him irregardless of whatever he does, just like the Maumoon cronies did. Never Again! Its now ANEH DHIVEHI RAAJJE!
Dr.Didi is a bad bad bad choice.Ignorrant,rude and unlawful person he is.Sucks money out of the poor patients.He is bad to his dental clinic staff.Have affairs with them .Fisheries ministry staff should boycot this guy before he fires professional staff from the ministry.
ReplyDeleteBushry you seems to be so called classic " roan edhuru". Your speculation and analysis to divert attention seems to me really stupid, on every major issue.
ReplyDeletePoor Anni! Like a Child King being coronated.
ReplyDeleteQasim, Hassan Saeed, Dr Waheed and Ibra all snatching cabinet posts from him by force!
No one to guide him or tell him that Dr Didi is a dentist best known in Male for fixing braces on teeth. Maybe the tuna need braces too!
dasdasdas
ReplyDeleteIm my opinion overall the new cabinet is bad.. I agree with some comments of Bushre and also strongly disagree some of his ideas.
ReplyDelete1. Qasim as Home Minister - not the best choice.. but its ok
2. Ali Hashim for Finance - not the best choice.. but its ok
3. Dr Shaheed - can accept. he has experience in this field
4. Aminath Jameel for Health - good choice.
5. Amin Faisal for Defence - good choice
6. Musthapha for Education - not the best choice.. but its ok
7. Dhiyana for AG - its ok.. I agree ther r some cases of jaabir. and conflict of intrest is there in this case. But conflict of intrest may rise for anyone anytime.
8. Mohamed Rasheed for Economic Development - bad choice
9. Sawad for Tourism - one of the worst case in this cabinet. This is a puppet of Gasim. He has no experience in this field and he has no educational background in this field. I hope parliment will reject him
10. Hassan Latheef for Youth and Sports - bad choice
11. Aslam for Housing - no idea of his experience.. definetly not the best choice
12. Dr Didi for Fisheries - Extremely bad choice. I hope the parliment will reject him.
13. Jameel for civil Aviation - bad bad choice. this is just to make hassan saeed happy.
14. Dr Majeed for Islamic Affairs - one of the best choice. I hope he wil change the islaamic text book that has so many flok stories.
So I sincerely ask the parliment to reject Dr.didi , sawaad . But I know they will give vote in favour.. Jumhuree party has many members in the parliment and also DRP and Yaamins party vill vote for them. DRP and Yaamins party will like to see the failure of the new goverment.
Parliament should reject
ReplyDelete1. Dr Shaheed
2. Dr. Sawad
3. Dr. Jameel
4. Qasim
5. Dental Dr. Didi
bring in current foreign minister Shahid or Solah Shihab (both are popular and well respected by their staff and very professional and effective in running foreign ministry.
Arif Hilmy (had a good record when he was in service).
Mahmood Raazy ( The best person with knowledge and experience about civil aviation.
Mauroof Jameel could do so much if he is given the chance.
Dr. Mohamed Ali is a hard working, organised man who has a nice personality. He would do a better job than dental Dr. Didi even if his area is environment.
in my opinion
ReplyDeleteMinister of Foreign Affairs: Dr. Ahmed Shaheed is a very bad choice. What did he do when he was there before? Ask ppl who is working in the ministry. He was so much into his "secrt affair" with Shazu...that a lot of work in the Ministry was compromised. He was very baised..and treated ppl that shazu liked better over others. It was like a hindi drama..And later Andhi was also trying her luck to get a relationship with him...maybe it did work to some level. IS THIS WHAT WE WANT AGAIN? Dr. Shaheed to get preoccupied with his LOVE life in ministry... Don''t we learn from the past?
Minister of Health and Family: Dr. Aminath Jameel
This is also not a good choice. She was head of different departments before..and she didn't do a good job. There are many other capable ppl in the health area who can do a much better job. And with the continous unhealthy fights of some nurses to prove they are the best, she being the minister will do a lot of harm.
Minister of Education: Dr. Mustafa Lutfi. He didn't do agood job before as a minister. Why cant we learn form the past?? there are many capable ppl who can run the education.
Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries: Dr. Ibrahim Didi
????
Minister of Civil Aviation and Communication: Dr. Mohamed Jameel Ahmed
????
Attorney-General: Diyana Saeed
????
Anni could obtain guidance from other parties, but he should not let them decide who should be appointed as ministers. In this case, Republican Party, National Unity Party and New Maldives had a free hand to decide those appointed as ministers to the cabinet positions allocated to respective parties. These parties also have the power to remove ministers appointed by respective parties. Nowhere in the world would exist such a presidential system. Such arrangement was, in fact this is true, kind of forced on Anni by the coalition. It appears that they would otherwise use their powers in the Majlis block Anni. Ture, Anni should be much more strong and ant the end it is Anni to be blamed.
ReplyDeleteSome people accuse me of trying to promote Addu people as ministers; but this blog-post should perhaps convince such people that I have no such agenda. The four appointments that I have criticised are all from Addu, i.e. Dhiyana (Addu Atoll), Dr. Didi (Addu Atoll); Dr. Musthafa (Addu Atoll) and Sawad (half Adduu).
ReplyDeleteSome people also accuse me of trying to bring only PhD holders to the cabinet. My criticism of appointing Dr. Musthafa Luthfee as Education Minister perhaps shows that having a PhD alone doesn't qualify someone to be minister!
One reader accused me of supporting Dr. Hassan Saeed. This isn't true. Actually I strongly argue against holding a mid-term election in 15 months (as proposed by Dr. Hassan). I think Anni should get minimum four years. Within this period he should amend the constitution to make the length of the presidential term as four years! The same should be done for the length of the Majlis, so that will hold presidential and parliamentary election every four years.
Most of the Adduans will only vote for Adduans. This is very shallow clam/ tribesmen mentally.
ReplyDeleteSome people who voted for Hassan Said in the first round voted for Maumoon in the runoff. These were the same reformists & people who wanted a change.
Firstly the long lists of people you are recomending are they MDP members??????
ReplyDeleteGive us a list of MDP members otherwise all your writing are of no use.
Bushry, please make some research before you write anything. From 11th November 2008 Maldives government run according the new constitution. Party will run the government. Any one who has the political ambitious should join any party if they wish to succeed their aim. The people so called intellectual are on the other side of the lake just to see what’s going on. Does not want to involve and service the nation .(Are these people you proposed belong to Ittihad, Mujutha, Arif Hilmy,shafeenaz Abdul Sattar, Abdulla Solih, Aaamaal,Dr.Riza, Dr.Mohamed Ali Muthasim Adnan, Dr.Abdul Sattar Yoosuf and Dr.Shiham) some core people in the Itthihad may have decided an alternative political post. eg. Ibrahim Ismail, Maria ,Hamid Abdul Gafoor Dr.Hassan Saeed etc. Ibra,Hamid Abdul Gafoor and Maria want to be MP. Dr.Hassan Saeed is looking for presidential seat, no other thing. The new government ministers will have full access and authority to full fill the presidential promises unlike the Maumoon government. Policies will be discussed and approved by cabinet and will forward the relevant ministry for implementation .Don’t underestimate Sawaad ,Musthafa Luthfee and others .There are independent institutions and media to make accountable the government. We don’t care even Nasheed appoint hawkers to cabinet portfolios as long as he deliver what he has promised.
ReplyDeletehaadha lha ey dho bush adhives. Saeed eh aa anni ge faragu engeytha? Special advisor ey? lol..
ReplyDeleteSaeed is a phony and Anni is a true hero. thats the difference between hassan and anni.
ReplyDeleteI do agree that the cabinet is a poor choice. But then, if Anni can head the country, I see no reason why Dr. Didi or others cannot head their respective portfolios.
ReplyDeleteThe fact of the matter is that in the the majority of people who voted the candidates they thought was most likely to defeat Gayyoom. Competency for the job wasn't simply on the card.
Despite their tainted past and dubious reformist credentials at best, Hassan Saeed and Gasim managed to with almost a third of the votes. Had they not endorsed Anni, Gayyoom could have easily won.
Aren't we to blame by electing Anni, who had many a time shown poor judgement? Now that he is elected, why not give him a chance and see how he and his cabinet performs?
The points you have raised in your article are very valid and I concur with your views. My concern regarding the new cabinet is that it does not reflect the core value of MDP; i.e. "heyoverikameh qaaimu kurun". While I fully appreciate the fact that it is a coalition, I thought that MDP should not in any way compromise its core value. It is not my intention to scrutinise the credentials of each and every member of the cabinet; but I thought I would only express my fervent belief that, if they were assesed on the basis of the core value of MDP, some of the members of the cabinet would not pass the test. I would also like to stress here that the change we are seeing is very positive and I hope that the new Government would deliver its pledges.
ReplyDeleteIf not for Maumoon's appointment of three doctors as ministers,is there anything to talk about them? Amazing that whoever is thrown out of Maumoon's cabinet is recycled into MDP..the so called first political party
ReplyDeleteWe voted these guys, knowing who they are, so stop complaining and give the guys some time to deliver. @X
ReplyDeletethe first person who has to be rejected by the parliament is dr shaheed. he was summoned to the majlis before and the members were in the process of passing a motion of no confidence against him when he resigned. he has to be rejected because when he was the foreign minister earlier he allowed thousands of dollars to be paid to the UK public relations company Hill & Knowlton from the government treasury; appointed ex-employees of H & K to diplomatic missions of Maldives at Brussels and elsewhere; conducted affairs with foreign ministry staff including Shazra; brought former H & K employee Jessica Kate Griffiths to work on foreign ministry assignments and later transferred her to the NGO Open Society Association that Dr Shaheed co-founded; brought his relatives and friends to foreign ministry and gave them unfair promotions (examples are Boh Mundhoodh's father Kothanmaage Hussain Shareef and Hoarafushi Ibrahim Khaleel who was at TVM before); established so many useless embassies in different countries and wasted public money; used his connections in the diplomatic community to gain unfair advantages for his NGO the OSA and thus increasing the popularity of himself and his friend Dr Hassan Saeed who would later bid for presidency. This is just a short list and I urge the Auditor General to start an investigation into how the public funds were used by foreign ministry when dr shaheed was the minister under gayoom. The Anti-Corruption Commissioner and the parliament should investigate this too. and the parliament should reject dr shaheed as the foreign minister under Anni.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous - 10/11 - 1618,
ReplyDelete"From 11th November 2008 Maldives government run according the new constitution. Party will run the government....."
This is one of the biggest misconceptions a lot us have. Our New Consitution is not based on a Parliamentary System. The President is an individual and Parties cannot take part in a Presidentail Election. A party, parties or organisation can back any individual. The purpose is to have an Executive President, free to choose a Cabinet for their capabilty and not party loyalty.
This should be a lesson to the majority of voters who are independents when they vote for Parliament. Do we back Members backed by parties or do we back individuals?