Elections commission decide no fingerprints on political party membership forms

Political party membership forms will not include fingerprints, the elections commission has decided.

A decision was made by the independent bodies committee of parliament earlier this month due to concerns from political parties over the rejection of membership forms citing invalid or unclear fingerprints, a statement read.

The concern from political parties is that there is no system to verify the authenticity of the fingerprints on membership forms.

Elections commission stressed that since they enforced to include finger prints, the number of false registrations had reduced.

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Right to silence bill accepted by parliament

The bill on right to silence has been accepted by parliament and sent to the national security committee for review.

Parliament accepted the bill after a three-day debate concluded with 46 votes in favour and 27 votes against.

Opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) parliament members debated against accepting the bill, whilst pro-government members spoke out in its defence.

Pro-government members argued that the bill does not undermine any rights ensured by the constitution and that the bill states how and when the constitutional right to silence can and cannot be exercised.

Opposition argued that the bill constricts a right ensured by the constitution.

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“No animosity” toward JP after voting in favour of secret votes: President’s Office

The government has no animosity towards Jumhoree Party (JP) despite its members voting in favour of taking secret votes, President’s Office Spokesperson Abbas Adil Riza has said.

Although JP members voted in line with the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), the government perceived it as JP’s policy, Abbas said.

Both MDP and JP party members voted in favour of taking secret votes on the no confidence motion against President Mohamed Waheed Hassan and cabinet members in parliament.

“As you know during the time of special parliament Gasim supported to take a secret ballot to elect a parliament speaker. That was in 2004. That is his view on the matter.

“The president says that the government has no animosity toward the way the leader of JP voted or MP’s voted,” Abbas said.

Abbas stressed that the transport minister’s portfolio is still reserved for JP, as the party is still part of the coalition government.

JP Vice President Ameen Ibrahim has been nominated for the post after Dr Ahmed Shamheed was dismissed from his transport minister position.

Human Rights Minister Dhiyana Saeed was also dismissed from her post yesterday.

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Parliament votes out CSC President Fahmy over sexual harassment allegations

Parliament on Tuesday voted out President of the Civil Service Commission (CSC) Mohamed Fahmy on charges of sexual harassment against an employee.

The 70 members who partook in the vote were split 38 for removing Fahmy, 32 against and 2 abstentions.

The parliament debated on the report on the case submitted by the Committee on Independent Institutions prior to the vote.

Chair of the Committee, Independent MP Mohamed Nasheed, said that in addition Fahmy himself and the employee who had submitted the complaint Aminath Shahma, other members of the CSC and staff members had been questioned by the committee.

Nasheed said that other staff members, including Fahmy’s personal secretary, had made statements which backed Shahma’s allegations, while Fahmy’s defense had nothing to support it. He added that the committee had asked both Fahmy and Shahma if they were willing to repeat their statements under oath, to which Shahma had agreed while Fahmy refused to respond.

After much debate by MPs with opposing views on the parliament floor, Nasheed responded saying the the Committee on Independent Institutions had oversight mandate over the CSC, and that it did not need to conduct a criminal investigation to remove Fahmy from his post.

“What we applied are widely accepted civil standards. Based on our findings, 7 out of the 10 committee members decided that it was more likely that Fahmy had committed this act than that he did not. And that is enough to remove him from his post,” Nasheed said.

He added that this had no relation to Fahmy’s role in the Judicial Services Commission (JSC) – of which the CSC president is by default a member. He also clarified that unlike the claims of some MPs who had spoken in Fahmy’s defense, the Prosecutor General’s office had not sent the case back to the police but rather had asked for additional clarifications.

Workplace harassment: a common problem for women

Many MPs, including independent, Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) and Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) MPs, spoke in favour of removing Fahmy from his post.

DRP MP Rozaina Adam, MDP MPs Eva Abdulla and Mariya Ahmed Didi spoke of workplace harassment being a common issue faced by Maldivian women.

Although MP Visam Ali stated that the matter needed further investigation and submitted an amendment asking for parliament to postpone Fahmy’s dismissal until the authorities looked into the matter more deeply, Rozaina stated that the parliament was not mandated to run a criminal investigation and that it should remove Fahmy as he was believed to have committed an act unacceptable from a man in his position.

“Honour is not something we get just by addressing each other as ‘Honourable MP’, as stipulated by the regulations. We need to prove to our constituents that we work in their interest,” Eva Abdulla said.

“Even the former Auditor General was removed because this parliament through its findings believed him unfit for his post. It was not done after a police investigation.”

“In the JSC, Fahmy actually voted in a way that benefited [the MDP], by voting that the Hulhumale’ Magistrate Court is illegal. The MDP will work with principles and not a political mindset,” Ali Waheed said.

“Shahuma stood up and shared this issue with a lot of courage. We cannot turn our backs on this,” he went on, “And this HRCM report – They say they can neither prove whether he has or has not done anything. What have they found? What’s the point of releasing this one day before the vote?”

Removing Fahmy may lead to more allegations

Members of the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) mainly spoke in defense of Fahmy, alleging that this could “possibly be a politically-motivated allegation”.

Most of them stated that since a criminal investigation was involved it was better to let the police and courts come to a decision on the matter before the parliament voted on removing him.

PPM MP Shifaq Mufeed said, “Let’s not turn this parliament into an investigative body”, adding that the police were more qualified to run a professional investigation.

“We might be faced with an unrecoverable loss if we remove Fahmy, as he is a member of both the CSC and the JSC. If we remove Fahmy, there may come planned false allegations against other members of independent commission,” he said.

“To Shahuma, I have to say: ‘be patient, madam’. Let the police investigate. We are not going to incriminate Fahmy and take Shahuma’s side, nor are we going to incriminate Shahuma and take Fahmy’s side.”

Adhaalath party member and MP Ibrahim Muthalib also spoke against removing Fahmy in parliament today.

“If we are to make our women nude and exposed, and then send them out to mingle with men, then why speak of protecting them? Honourable Speaker, this cannot be done in this manner. If a man and a woman are in a room alone, Satan will be there as the third person and will encourage sinful activities,” Muthalib said.

“Their place is in their houses, to serve their husbands and look after children. If we give them the opportunity to go out and mingle then we can no longer talk about their dignity and protection. It is people who harass women who are now speaking in their defense here today,” he further added.

Cannot confirm whether or not the harassment happened: HRCM

Meanwhile on Monday, a day ahead of the vote against Fahmy in parliament, the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM) released a report on the case.

HRCM claimed that they had not received enough evidence to prove whether or not Fahmy had harassed the employee.

The report further said that although Fahmy had sent a text to Shahuma with an apology, it was unclear what the apology had been meant for.

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President’s Office “not convincing” on abuse of workers’ rights: ITF

A letter from the President’s Office claiming to address the alleged rights abuses made by Maldives Ports Limited (MPL) management has been labelled “interesting, but not convincing” by the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF).

The ITF previously raised concern over a lack of correspondence from the President’s Office, announcing earlier this month that it was calling on the government to intervene over “union intimidation”, or “face embarrassment wrought by widespread international solidarity action”.

The ITF sent two letters addressed to the President’s Office, the last of which was sent on October 29.

On Monday (November 19) the ITF received a letter from the President’s Office stating that the president had met with representatives from both the Maldives Ports Workers Union (MPWU) and the newly proposed Maldives Trade Union Congress, following the alleged labour rights violations.

Dated November 14, the letter further states: “The Maldives parliament has recently approved the eight conventions of the International Labour Organisation (ILO). The president is fully committed in promoting and protecting the rights of workers in the Maldives. The government will take the necessary steps to address the legitimate grievance of the Maldives Ports Workers Union (MPWU) and support the efforts of its members.”

In response to the letter, an ITF spokesperson told Minivan News: “We find it interesting, but not convincing. The MPWU informs us that the problems remain, and need to be addressed.”

President of MPWU Ibrahim Khaleel said that a meeting did take place with President Mohamed Waheed Hassan on November 7 to discuss matters relating to the allegations.

“The president said that he would address the issue, however two weeks have passed and there has been no sign of negotiation and I have had no contact with the President’s Office,” said Khaleel.

Minivan tried to contact President’s Office Spokesman Masood Imad, but could not get through at time of press.

MPL have previously denied all accusations of rights abuse, claiming that staff members in question were disciplined on the basis of “disobedience” and “punctuality”.

MPL CEO Mahdi Imad told Minivan News earlier this month that the company had responded to the ITF, which it said later “apologised” having raised the issue without checking facts.

However, the ITF has rubbished the claims, maintaining that it had so far had no reply from the MPL regarding the concerns. The global trade union dismissed the state-owned company’s assumption that it had “won us over”.

Whilst ITF received no response to the letters sent by the organisation’s general secretary, David Cockroft, it has since been learned that MPL did reply to an earlier letter sent from ITF’s Asia Pacific Office in India.

According to an ITF spokesperson, the Asia Pacific office did not consider MPL’s reply honest or useful, and instead referred the matter to London for further action.

In a letter obtained by Minivan News, originally addressed to ITF, MPL state that they were “extremely surprised” by the rights abuse claims stated in the ITF’s letter.

“We did inquire with the Maldives National Port Workers Union (MNPWU) which is a legally recognised union of any such complaints and they have categorically denied of any complaints they have made to any international body,” the letter read.

The MPWU accused MPL of forming the Maldives National Port Workers Union to shove aside the alleged violation of employee rights by the corporation.

The MNPWU was formed just five days after the MPL received a letter from the Asia Pacific Regional Office of ITF.

The letter concludes with a warning to ITF, stating: “Given the present political situation in Maldives, many such unfounded, unauthoured illegal so called associations and unions could be sending you more such letters, for [the purposes of] defaming the present government internationally.”

MPL CEO Mahdi told Minivan News earlier this month that the workers behind the allegations still had the options of taking their cases to the country’s employment tribunal to resolve any grievances that the company would then have to abide by.

Mahdi claimed that workers dismissed under previous MPL management in 2009 and 2010 had under similar circumstances been reinstated under his stewardship, as well as receiving compensation.

“These people who have been disciplined, they know a tribunal would not come out in their favour,” he said.

Mahdi also denied accusations that he operated MPL in a politically motivated manner, adding that the company was run in a “very technical” way.

“I will challenge anybody who says we are politically motivated, I believe no one has a bigger right than anyone else,” he added.

Mahdi alleged that one of the dismissed workers who had gone onto make accusations about political motivation had come into his own office and shouted at him, adding that billions of companies around the world would discipline such actions by staff of a senior representative.

“This is work disruption, no one is allowed to break work regulations like this. Belittling and scolding me when I’m on the street in public is OK. But here in the work place they must show me respect,” he said.

Earlier this year, sacked MPL employee and President of the MPWU, Ibrahim Khaleel, alleged that the MPL was trying to “fabricate the truth” about the violations of worker rights.

In a letter on July 12 to MPL CEO Mahdi Imad, Chairperson of the MPWU Ibrahim Khaleel said: “Although the constitution guarantees freedom of expression and freedom of assembly, it is now common within MPL to stop employees from expressing certain political views, and violate the Employment Act by unfairly dismissing employees and transferring employees to different departments without prior warning or explanation of any offence committed.”

Speaking to Minivan News earlier this month, Khaleel said the company mainly targeted employees who supported the ousted Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP).

“They send people with cameras to MDP protests to check which MPL employees take part in the protests,” Khaleel said.

In addition to the four employees who have been dismissed at the time, 30 had initially been suspended and 10 have been transferred from their position at the Malé port to Thilafushi Island port, Khaleel claimed.

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Case alleging corruption in parliament’s chamber automation project forwarded to ACC

A case submitted by the Auditor General alleging corruption in the Parliament Chamber Automation Project has been forwarded to the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC).

The audit report of the parliament for 2010 highlighted issues with the MVR 2.1 million (US$136,000) project to install touch screens on every desk inside the parliament chamber.

The case was forwarded to the ACC by parliament after Speaker Abdulla Shahid had informed the parliament secretariat to comply with the request of the Auditor General, a statement by parliament revealed.

The audit report alleges that sufficient assessment was not carried out for the project, despite it being required to have gone through the tender evaluation board.

This resulted in the company awarded the contract to allegedly reap excessive profits due to the oversight.

The project was installed to facilitate viewing documents and to create an almost ‘paperless environment’.

The audit report noted that the project was awarded to a Maldivian company for MVR 1.3 million (US$84,300) on March 25 2010.

Despite being given 37 days to complete the project, the company took a total of 81 days, costing an additional MVR 720,425 (US$46,720) to complete the work.

The report added that additional funds had to be spent on the project because the software requested by the Parliament Secretariat turned out to be incompatible with the hardware used in parliament.

The software, called Thin Client, also turned out to be incompatible with the touch screens and touch keyboards used in the project.

Despite MVR 24,000 (US$1550) being spent on obtaining expert advice, the consultant was not held responsible for the additional money spend on the project.

The mistake led to the 100 Thin Client touch pads being removed and replaced by Nettops.

A company was awarded MVR 830,000 (US$53,617) to provide Nettops after winning a bid to supply the hardware.

MVR 1.3 million (US$84,300) was then paid to the new company for the installation of six servers, eight server switches and 100 touch screens.

The audit report noted that the parliament secretariat had conferred undue advantage to the contractor.

The secretariat did not deduct liquidated damages following the contractor failing to complete the project before the agreed deadline, as required by the Finance Act.

It was instead stated in the contract that the secretariat can decide whether to deduct liquidated damages or not.

Several opinions were included in the report indicating that the project was undertaken without proper studies, and in a manner that was not beneficial to the parliament.

Despite one aim of the project being to create a ‘paperless environment’, the report noted that parliament expenditure on photocopying and toner cartridges had not gone down.

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PG appeals Kulhudhuffushi Magistrate Court decision to release arrestees in Hodaidhoo raid

The Prosecutor General (PG) has appealed the decision made by the Kulhudhuffushi Magistrate Court to release those arrested during the raid of the uninhabited island of Hodaidhoo in Haa Dhaal Atoll .

According to local media reports, the PG filed the appeal with the High Court on Monday, but it remains unconfirmed as to whether the court has accepted the case.

Speaking to Minivan News, an official from the PG confirmed the appeal was filed but declined to provide any details as the case was pending in court.

Spokesperson for the Department of Judicial Administration (DJA) Latheefa Gasim was not responding to calls at time of press.

The Maldives Police Services (MPS) on last Thursday night arrested two MPs and senior figures in the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), for the alleged possession of drugs and alcohol. Police in a statement released following the arrests claimed that 10 people were arrested during a ‘special operation’ on the island.

Among the arrestees wre ruling coalition Jumhoree Party (JP) MP Abdulla Jabir and MDP MP Hamid Abdul Ghafoor – also the party’s international spokesperson – along with former SAARC Secretary General and Special Envoy to the former President, Ibrahim Hussain Zaki, former Press Secretary Mohamed Zuhair and his wife Mariyam Faiz.

The others arrested were Jadhulla Jaleel, Hamdan Zaki, two Sri Lankan nationals named Raj Mohan and Anoor Bandaranayk as well as a Bangladeshi named Suhail Rana.

The island of Hodaidhoo was leased to Yacht Tours for resort development in January 2003. According to Haveeru, it was previously inhabited but the population was relocated to Haa Dhaal Hanimadhoo in 1997. Kaashidhoo MP Jabir is Chairman of Yacht Tours.

Police claimed they found large amounts of “suspected” drugs and alcohol upon searching the island with a court warrant.

The arrests were made “based on information received by police intelligence,” police said. Sub-Inspector Hassan Haneef told Haveeru that the suspects were arrested with alcohol and “hash oil”.

Following the arrests around midnight, the suspects were taken to Kulhudhufushi in Haa Dhaal Atoll, and Zaki was hospitalised.

Despite a police attempt to extend the detention periods all suspects including the two MPs were released by the Kulhudhufushi Magistrate Court, with the exception of Hamdan Zaki.

The arrests were met with severe condemnation by the opposition MDP and the former Human Rights who both claimed that the arrests were politically motivated ahead of the parliamentary vote to make impeachment votes a secret ballot.

MDP claiming the arrests were a politically-motivated stated that it was an attempt to disrupt parliament ahead of a no confidence motion against President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik, and an amendment to voting procedure to make such votes secret. A second no-confidence motion against Home Minister Dr Mohamed Jameel was withdrawn this week pending the outcome of the secret vote amendment.

“It is such a coincidence that whenever the Waheed government wants to frame those critical of their government, they come up with trumped up charges and very often it is something to do with alcohol,” said former MDP Chairperson Mariya Ahmed Didi, in a statement.

Wife of Jabir and former Human Rights Minister Dhiyana Saeed, who was sacked from her ministerial position following the outburst, claimed that the arrest was politically motivated to threaten MPs ahead of the parliamentary vote.

Saeed along with her husband gave a press conference following the release where she demonstrated through role play, the exact manner in which the police had brutalised her husband, acting out how and where the police had hit him.

“In my career, I have always had to take the side of the police and defend their actions, although I have never found it easy to accept their brutality towards citizens. But this time, I have seen too close the violence they dealt out. No one should be beaten up, regardless of what the charges for arrest are.” She said.

Meanwhile the Jabir claimed that the arrest seemed more like a “terrorist killing operation” that was intended to finish off the MPs who opposed the views of the government.

“We had gone there to have dinner and spend the night on the island, but at about 4:00am, when most of the group were asleep, we were confronted by hundreds of police. They said we were drinking alcohol, so I asked them to show a warrant and they didn’t have one. They then started hitting and beating us, they wanted to kill us,”

“This did not feel like a police operation, it felt like a terrorist killing operation and it should not be acceptable anywhere in the world,” Jabir told Minivan News at the time.

However, police maintained that they handled the operation very “professionally” and had not brutalised anyone while making the arrests. Police also released a video of the operation to the media.

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Contraception use in the Maldives still too low: UN Representative Andrew Cox

Contraception prevalence rates in the Maldives are still “too low”, United Nations Population Fund’s (UNFPA) Representative Andrew Cox has claimed.

Speaking at the launch of UNFPA’s State of World Population 2012 (SWOP) report, Cox said that while many aspects of family planning have greatly improved in the Maldives, contraceptive prevalence rates are lower in comparison to other countries of similar development rate and culture.

Figures revealed by Cox show that infant mortality in the Maldives has dropped from 63 deaths per 1000 births in 1986 to 11 per 1000 in 2009, and that a baby born in the Maldives today can expect to live for 74 years – more than 20 years older than a child born in 1980.

However, according to Cox contraceptive prevalence in the Maldives is considerably low in comparison to other comparable countries.

“The prevalence rate of contraception is too low, especially for a country like the Maldives. It is definitely something we need to work with the government on,” Cox told Minivan News.

Further figures revealed by Vice President Mohamed Waheed Deen – who attended the launch to release the SWOP report – show that one in every four pregnancies in the Maldives were unplanned, while 16 percent were unwanted and a further ten percent mistimed.

Deen further stated that the family production unit at Indhira Gandhi Memorial Hospital’s (IGMH) records show 33 percent of women aged 23 had ‘out of wedlock’ pregnancies.

Deen gave his assurance that the government will be part of the development of family planning, adding that “[family planning] is a must”.

“Very often this type of information is easier for non-government organisations (NGOs) to pass on. We support the gender ministry and the health ministry, and if it comes to financial support we would help them.

“Family planning affects the whole economy in a positive way, so we would definitely be willing to help out,” Deen said.

The SWOP report, entitled ‘By Choice, Not by Chance: Family Planning, Human Rights and Development’, focuses on the need for family planning both globally and in the Maldives.

UNFPA’s role in Maldives began in the early 1980s with the launch of national programmes on family planning and population. Since then, four country programmes have been launched addressing issues around family planning.

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President Waheed’s hand “almost impossible to play”: Mike Mason

Former Energy Advisor to President Nasheed Mike Mason has published an open reply to President Mohamed Waheed, following a letter Waheed sent to key international supporters of Nasheed seeking to justify his decisions and establish the legitimacy of his leadership. Mason, a former mining engineer and expert on renewable energy, carbon finance and offsetting, was the architect of a US$3 billion renewable energy investment scheme cut short by the events of February 7. Mason subsequently resigned. This letter first appeared on his blog.

Dear President Waheed,

Thank you for your letter setting out the position as you see it. Let me in turn set out my stall, before replying to the substance of what you say.

As you know, you and I have always had a cordial, even friendly relationship. I have always thought you a reputable and straightforward person and continue to believe in your personal integrity.

It is also the case that I am not Nasheed’s man. I have tremendous respect for him as a democrat, and a man of high principle and great vision, but I have disagreed with him very strongly on issues in the past, and believe he made many mistakes in his Presidency. That said, I suspect my assessment is fairly unreliable as I am sure he had pressures on him, as I am sure you have on you, which were invisible to the outside world.

I hope therefore what I say can be taken as offering you a helpful perspective from an outsider who came to like the Maldives and its people very much, and who made many friends there in the short time I was involved. The information I have about events in the Maldives, therefore, comes not only from the ‘Nasheed camp’ but from a range of sources with quite different perspectives.

Now to the substance of this response.

I have no reason to question that part of your letter which sets out the extent to which you personally were, and continue, to be committed to the Maldives, and democracy – or to the extent to which you put yourself and family at risk to support Nasheed. However I fear that your personal views and beliefs are not the driving issues here. It is the perception, not the reality, which matters more.

The key issues, I believe, are:

  1. The Commission of National Inquiry (CoNI) was set up in the hope of setting the record surrounding your accession to power straight, and dismissing the smell of coup and corruption. Unfortunately it failed to do this.Two reasons come to mind: firstly the choice of Judge Selvam does not seem to have been designed to allay concerns about bias. The Burma/Singapore/Maldives/Oil/Heroin rumours and the Judge’s close connections to the ruling elite in Singapore make anything he does look suspect – especially when the former chairman of the STO is quoted in ‘The Week’ as allegedly saying he has friends in Singapore who would have told him if the police were investigating. Whatever the truth, and I cannot judge that, choosing Judge Selvam was guaranteed to create more dissent than agreement. Secondly, the rumours I have heard about the pressures that led to Saeed resigning from the CoNI will not make it easy to see the report as unbiased and complete – even if the substance of the content is correct and the rumours are false.
  2. The second issue is the perception that the courts and judiciary in the Maldives are corrupt and incompetent, and politically tied to their old masters. Judge Abdullah is, I fear, widely seen as a travesty of a chief justice, and if he represents the rest it is not surprising many have lost faith in the system.

Thus the circumstances of the transfer of power as seen on numerous videos, coupled with the handling of the CoNI and the actions of the judiciary, means that I fear there is no way you will ever remove the taint of corruption and coup from this government – however clean, honest and transparent you personally may be. Unfortunately that’s life – perception counts more than reality – whatever the reality is. There is, I believe, almost nothing that you can do as President to heal the country’s ills however hard you try, or however good you are.

Note though that I said “Almost Nothing”. There is, in my humble opinion, one way out of this which would set you up as a President to be remembered – whether or not you win the next election, and it is this.

It is quite clear that, in any future election, the MDP have to be free to campaign as they wish. It is also clear that Nasheed MUST be free to campaign also. Only if he loses a genuine, free and fair, election in which he was openly given every facility to campaign, will the world (and I dare say many Maldivians) put the doubts about the 7th Feb behind them. Indicting him in a court whose authority is being challenged will simply make things worse.

It is also clear that a real leader must recognise publicly the issues surrounding the judiciary, and I suspect some fundamental issues of a faulty constitution and legal system.

A secondary, related issue, is the wide perception that drugs and gross corruption are in some way related to politics in dark corners. Is it coincidence that Burma is a major heroin producer? It will take a brave man to sweep out the taint of past corruption which runs a real risk of becoming a current problem, and even fatally tainting the next election.

Now to something I do really know about – money, oil and energy. The Maldives runs the risk of becoming bankrupted by its oil use – at the very least its economic development will be curtailed and people will eventually become poorer. The solutions are there and both affordable and financeable – or rather they were. You will never attract the level of finance needed to wean your society off expensive oil unless you have an environment where contract law is sacrosanct, the threat of nationalisation is removed, and you have transparent and predictable government and structures. Even the talk of nationalising the airport will set the country’s investment plans back decades.

In summary – I think you have an almost impossible hand to play. There are some cards you can play – but I fear that your advisors and political colleagues may hold you back from the rather brave decisions needed to play them. Play them, though, and the world will sit up and notice.

I wish you all the best,

Your friend,

Mike Mason

All comment pieces are the sole view of the author and do not reflect the editorial policy of Minivan News. If you would like to write an opinion piece, please send proposals to [email protected]

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