MDP do more explaining of its policies and less bashing of Gayyoom
It was with high hopes and expectations that I went to the meeting of MDP on Monday night. It was the first general meeting after the formal registration of the party. It was at times exhilarating and hilarious; but it was at times disappointing as well. I don't think anyone went there expecting it to be a circus where the clowns performed and the kids clapped. We want our political figures and organizations to be more mature and organized. We may of course ridicule the regime when the need arises, but the opposition politicians should rise from the level of continuously ridiculing the regime. We need to hear some concrete political talk as well.
In his brief address to the members, party chairman, Nasheed promised to bring down the current regime. He said that Gayyoom has to step down and that MDP will bring down Gayyoom and that Gayyoom has no choice but to step down and that Gayyoom can't stay in power for too long! Well, that was basically a summary of all that Nasheed said. He mentioned the name of Gayyoom's party about ten times while MDPs name was mentioned only once. It was largely a negative speech; whereas I expected it to be a positive one that showed us how MDP will lead the country out of abject poverty and oppression.
In Shareef's speech, he spoke about some important points but made some ill-timed jokes about a ?Ministry of UKG and LKG!? MDP leadership should concentrate on laying out their policies and how they will lead this country if and when they come to power. Munawwar's speech was generally fine, but he failed to mention the name of Gayyoom or Shuaib Shah or Gayyoom's daughters which he referred to, without naming them specifically. His speech would have had a better impact, had he referred to those people by name.
There was some reading of ill-timed poetry and some sarcasm too. I would say that it would be better for MDP to leave the ridiculing and sarcasms to the media and concentrate on the serious business of leading the people. Before I went to the meeting Monday night, a friend told me that it would be a well organized meeting with each delegate talking about a specified subject and I was disappointed, to say the least.
I had hoped to hear the delegates talk about the FPID scandal, the Air Maldives bankruptcy scandal, the mysterious fire at FPID, the exorbitantly high budget of the Presidential Palace and the unnecessary expenditures for the Presidential retreat at Aarah as well as his office.
I had also hoped to hear MDP delegates talk about the alleged corruptions at the Atolls Ministry, the lack of economic prudence in the millions invested at Hulhumale, the unjust awarding of free plots of land to ministers, and also about any rationale behind the extremely high budgets of NSS and the Police forces. I had also hoped to hear the delegates talk about the way the former Education Minister Shaugee messed the Education sector and also question the new appointment of Zahiya Zareer to such an important sector. I had also hoped to hear the delegates talk about the continued increase in the number of expatriate labor in the country and its impact on the country's work force.
Ordinary members also expected to hear delegates talk about the government's plans to introduce new taxes and about any existing taxes that can be abolished. MDP has promised free health and education services. Can they deliver on those promises without introducing new taxes? We needed to hear someone talking about these critical issues and explain the rationale behind these policies and how they would add-up. We also wanted to hear someone talking about the current regime's mismanagement of the fisheries and agricultural sector.
We wanted to hear MDP delegates address the issue of our relative sluggishness at the diplomatic front over the past quarter of a century. We also needed MDP to talk about Gayyoom's failures in controlling the ballooning evils of narcotic drugs and the increases in divorce rates and the lack of proper and affordable housing especially in the capital Male'. Having a gender and family ministry is just an excuse and a front to hide the tremendous social problems and evils prevalent in our small society, we needed to hear some debate on that as well.
We also needed MDP delegates to talk about our mysterious dependence on India for providing doctors and medicine. How will MDP reverse that dependence and make Maldives self-reliant and provide excellent health services? We also needed MDP delegates to talk about combining the Atolls Ministry and the Home Ministry as one Ministry. How about having a department of Atolls development under the Home Ministry? It seems discriminatory towards the islanders and even wasteful to have a separate ministry for the Atolls.
I had also hoped that the delegates would talk about the failure of Gayyoom's regime in bringing meaningful recovery to the tourism sector after the setbacks of the tsunami. We also wanted the delegates to talk about the destruction of our national museum and the failure of the current regime to provide an adequate building and facilities for a proper museum. The regime has failed to make the tourism industry more dynamic. They have been too busy counting the golden eggs laid by the sector. Can MDP do better? We needed to know.
It is not my intention to belittle MDP or its leaders who have made great sacrifices and played a huge role in bringing the current reforms and freedoms to this country. But if MDP is ambitious enough to lead this country out of the current quagmire, then it has to show more seriousness and substantially more leadership.
Of course I want to see Gayyoom's regime replaced by a more capable and sincere government. Hopefully MDP will fill that position in the coming days. But we, the ordinary members of the party, are still wondering who will lead the party in the future. Will it be the current chairman, Nasheed or will it be Ibrahim Hussain Zaki? Will Munawwar and Ibrahim Ismail come forward to lead us? Does Dr. Waheed deserve the reign of the party when he did not participate in the recent political struggles wherein people such as Nasheed and Ibra made great sacrifices?
I believe that it was a mistake to postpone the election of a fresh leadership of the party. Party chairman Nasheed promised us that MDP will announce a shadow cabinet by July 26. This promise was not delivered by the Independence Day. No one is talking about that now. If MDP fails to deliver on its first formal promise to the members, then they would have put their first step forward on a wrong foot. Are we already seeing signs of similarity with the current regime that have made numerous unrealised promises?