Thanks for removing the MNDF-Bodyguards provided to ex-dictator Gayyoom!

Thanks to President Nasheed for finally coming to his senses! Many Maldivians have noted that the constitution does not allow the government to give security (Bodyguards) to ex-dictator Gayyoom. A bill is currently being debated at the Majlis regarding what services the state has to provide to ex-presidents. Until this bill becomes law, the government cannot legally provide any facilities from the state to ex-president Gayyoom. It is this legality of the action that we have been questioning, not whether any facilities should be provided to Gayyoom.

Now that this MNDF-security has been officially removed, Gayyoom may not even return to the country until the pending bill is passed. I support the provision of some facilities and a pension and some sort of security to all ex-presidents (including Gayyoom). But such services should not go overboard as in the case of the bill submitted by Gayyoom-loyalist-Aneesa.

If (as Gayyoom says) he hasn’t done any harm to the Maldivian people and if (as he says) he hasn’t taken any money from the treasury through bribes or corruption, then he has nothing to fear from the ordinary people. He does not need bodyguards if that is the case. The facts that he still wants to hide behind s security fence shows that he has something to hide!

Once again I welcome the removal of the security services to the ex-dictator and I also welcome the protest that was held against the previous regime a few days ago. We have to make the ex-regime answerable to whatever crimes they may have done. Thousands of people (including senior MPs such as Reeko Moosa and senior government officials such as the State Minister for Home Affairs, Shafeeq) have in the past accuses Gayyoom and his government of crimes against humanity and corruption running into millions of dollars. The least that the government could do is to see if there is any truth to those accusations before we close this 30-year-long-chapter in the life of this nation.

I call upon Reeko Moosa to fulfill his election-promise and dig the skeletons of people from the jail that he accused Gayyoom of murdering. I call upon Special Envoy of the President Ibrahim Hussain Zaki to fulfill his election-promise and bring back the usd 80 million that he accused Gayyoom of plundering from our treasury. I also ask MDP to show us the proof that Gayyoom’s regime covered up the murder of Hussain Solah and Evan Naseem in police custody. Until these cases are properly investigated, we cannot lay the ghosts of a brutal dictatorship to rest.

But the recent protests calling for justice to all, and the removal of the illegal security provided to Gayyoom shows that the government is finally coming to its senses!