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By appointing 5 more State Ministers to govern the newly created provinces of the Maldives, President Nasheed on Friday revealed his full provincial team. This also marks the beginning of the race to develop the provinces.
Provincial administration is a landmark in the history of Maldives. Throughout the written history of the Maldives, the archipelago has been governed as atolls. Ancient records show that Maldivian kings styled themselves as ‘Sovereign of 13 atolls and 12,000 islands.’ According to the legend of Muhammad Thakurufaan, during Portuguese rule there were four atolls to the north of Male, all governed by a man called Viyazoru.
During 20th Century there was a trend to divide atolls and increase their numbers. This trend was started by Mohammed Amin who gave Dhivehi alphabet letters to most of the currently existing atolls. During the regime that followed, the original Haa atoll and Gaafu atoll were subdivided, and more recently Alifu atoll was similarly subdivided.
President Nasheed’s new initiative is a 180 degree reversal of this trend –merging individual atolls into provinces instead of dividing. His initiative also ends 20 years of failure by President Gayoom to implement (sic) population consolidation.
The newly appointed State Ministers have sweeping powers and are in the drivers’ seat to create history. They come from varied backgrounds. Some have experience in the construction and engineering sectors. Others are technocrats and yet others have majored in development studies. How will they perform? One thing is certain. In the next 6 to 12 months they will be judged and compared with their peers in other provinces. They will have to show results, not excuses.
18 comments:
You forgot to mention that some have no credible background too..With an existing civil service structure, you seem to be an ardent supporter of President Nasheed's pseudo-government structure which seems to attempt to surplant the whole civil service structure with a political one. And this especially when the law of the country does not specify how many 'provinces' there needs to be.
Ofcoure, Gayyoom can be blamed again.. for having an inverted pyramid structure for the civil service. Now President Nasheed seems to build another addition to this unstable form - that of an inflated political hierachy.
Anni is very much like Hitler, like Hilter believing the superiority of the Aryan race Anni believes and is trying to create a society where people of Male', in his words "Raithlaajehi Male' Meehun" are superior than those from the province.
Province is another name for "Raajetherey" just like "Hithhalaaku" was not welcome but Broken Heart was approved the raajetherey people are embracing this provincial bullshit.
Anni's agenda is to clean Male' so that it belongs to real Male' people and not like the present where it is poluted with people from different "provinces". Raajetrherey people should now return to their respective province and leave Male' for the ruling elite. Male' would become the shining capital of the Maldives. How dumb and foolish can a society become.
The go-getters in this group are Umar and Monaza Naeem. They will suceed. Other's have never done anything successful in thier life. They will simply fall flat.
How will we judge them? Number of new investments? Jobs created? Number of new services established such as international schools and speciality health care?
How can we take someone like Thilmeeza seriusly? This is not being sexist, but practical. What expereince has she got?
Is it not unfair to say "They will have to show results, not excuses."? Some provinces do not have enough manpower and resources. How can they perform?
To anonymous 7:03 pm,
Lack of men and money are things they should have evaluated before putting their necks on the line. If before accepting the assignment they have not developed a strategy to overcome those hurdles, then they deserve the consequences. “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.”
Why competition now? Earlier there were atoll chiefs. they culd also have had comptetition.
To anonymous 11:05 pm,
There is a difference between former atoll chiefs and current state ministers. The atoll chiefs who served during President Gayoom’s era were merely agents of a centralized system overseen by Abdulla Hameed. Their main role was to host Hameed and his cronies during their visits to the atolls. They had no power other than to carry out instructions from Male. In contrast, state ministers have been empowered to implement decentralized administration in their respective provinces. Essentially they have a blank check to implement what they think is best for their provinces.
Dear Abdulla Waheed,
When you say that Atoll Chiefs were agents of Hameed, How come these jokers who are appointed for provinces become angels. And how do you get people to govern a a population when they have no idea what province means. But unfortunately you won't see a deficit in this government. They are puppets installed to implement MDP or rather nasheed's directives. They aren't even capable of thinking a name change of themselves, so how do they change a province populace.
Riaz
Atoll chiefs were Gayoom's agents.State Ministers are Anni's agents.They will be more so.I understand all these state ministers will have rooms in Muleeaage. So, when they are in Male' Anni can direct affairs from the breakfast table.But I support you attacks on the former regime. I will do the same in your shoes.
On a lighter note, is Thilmee bit married? She was looking at Anni rather dotingly at the ceremony.
Dr. Waheed, I am utterly disgusted how strongly you came out defending or rather justifying Nasheed's shirt sighted vison of leading the nation. He has no regard to rule of law and yes we didn't like gayoom and his coronies policies and the way they ruined the country. But Is Nahseed better?? To me it seems like Nasheed has taken a master class from gayoom and he seems to be exactly what gayoom did. The only differenc is Gayoom toom nearly 30 years to build a authoritative government but Nasheed seems to be doing it in few months. Its a shame that people like yourself stop thinking freely and stop fighting for the good of the country. HAve you asked yourself once who are these people Nasheed appointing for state ministers day and night, what are their quilification and more importantly what are their managerial skills. Have you asked yourself why are prisoners escaping in broad day light????
i can't agree with dis word "province" to divide maldives or "councillors" gettin appointed. Anywayz, the whole province is under Westminster.
To anon 8:18 am,
I’m surprised that you thought this article came out ‘strongly defending’ the vision of provincial administration. The article does not say anywhere that the system is either good or bad. It merely says it is a ‘different’ system with ‘decentralized’ powers given to state ministers. Being ‘different’ and ‘decentralized’ does not automatically translate to good. The point made in the article is that since state ministers have more powers they are more accountable for their performance compared to atoll chiefs. The article does not claim or predict that the state ministers will all be successful.
it's not atall decentralising when a National Council for Planning is wat dey came up wid, precisely wat last gov did for three decades. we all do want to see decentralising and Hithadhoo Reef form a metropolitan but wen ppl got no 'knowhow' widis very diffikult task...see the fart unleashed returns back to the hole...
Thilmeeza (was living abroad till now) got the post (with no experience whatsoever) as a reward for her father's dedication to MDP at it's start.
thilmeeza has experience, is educated and drp thugs are jealous hahhah what to do golha days are gone..
by the way i heard she is hus now!
Dear Abdullah Waheed,
I don't mean to sound rude, but do you have any proper credentials when you talk about social issues? Please tell.
[Editor's note: I don't discuss personal matters here. If you are interested in a reply please write to my email address.]
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