Spokesperson for former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, Mohamed Hussein ‘Mundhu’ Shareef, has been quoted in the Asian Tribune as saying that the Maldives had a foreign reserve of US$250 million when the former President left office.
“When the IMF recommended cutting down on public servants, President Nasheed went ahead with slashing the number of civil servants. At the same time Nasheed continued appointing endless political appointees and state ministers. If Nasheed thinks it will be all hunky dory in three months time just because he implemented a managed float of the rufiyaa, he is mistaken. He does not understand the dynamics of economics,” Mundhu told journalist Poorna Rodrigoo.
He blamed the dollar shortage on “businessmen holding large amounts of money abroad”, and noted that the economic uncertainty had led to “many Sri Lankan businessmen having second thoughts over investing here and Lanka appears a better investment than the Maldives for foreign investors.”
Ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP Ilyas Labeeb, on parliament’s Public Accounts Committee, meanwhile recently contested that figures from the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) showed that US$104.6 million was transferred out of the Maldives in 2008, the year of the election, compared to US$30-40 million in 2005-2007.
“Most dollar transfers made overseas was done during the period between October-November 2008. It was between the time that [Gayoom] faced defeat in the presidential election and the time that President Nasheed took the oath of office,” Ilyas said at an MDP rally earlier this month, according to newspaper Haveeru.
Opposition split
Speaking on the internal split currently troubling the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP), Mundhu said that while leader Ahmed Thasmeen Ali retained “legal authority”, Gayoom, the party’s ‘Honorary Leader’, still retained the party’s “moral authority” and majority support.
“Of the DRP’s 32 member council, Thasmeen has the support of 18 members and he controls party’s disciplinary arm too. So there is no doubt that as the leader he has the party’s legal authority. But it is former Leader Gayoom who commands the moral authority of the party and the majority support of nearly 46,000 party membership. If one happen to see the number of supporters attending Thasmeen’s rallies and Gayoom’s rallies, it is easy to assess who has the greater support,” Mundhu was reported as saying.
“Above all, Thasmeen is presently in a financial crisis personally and that has made matters worse for him. As of now we will stay in the party and will do our best to change the leadership.”
The Gayoom faction is pinning much hope on the 2012 congress to change the party charter and hold primaries to elect a new presidential candidate.
On whether Gayoom’s faction in the DRP would create a new party, Mundhu said: “We worked hard and formed the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party. It has taken lot of our time and energy. We gave our lives to the party. We are the real DRP. We do not want to let go of it. Why should we leave the DRP. Also it is a administratively a nightmare to form a new party in the Maldives given the fact that it involves lot of traveling to each and every island. It is a landlocked country and we do not have resources to do that.”
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This man speaks from the frog mouth and only frogs could understand what he speaks. Gayyoom & yameen massed huge amount of this poor nation's reserve and yet they are free in this failed democracy.
Whats our foreign reserve now??
Mundhoo - go back to geography class! A landlocked country is a country entirely enclosed by land - Maldives is not that!
It was declared that the former President will leave politics for national unity and charity. It is sad that he could not afford to leave politics to the younger generation without his overarching mentorship. President Maumoon would have left a better legacy that way and would probably have been allowed to do that by the majority, had he taken that path.
Oh! Poorna Rodrigo seems a familiar name. Yeah , think she worked for DRP media along with Madam Faaidha Faruq!. Anyways cut the crap and tell us who took all money out of the country and the STO Oil scandal. You cannot justify the corruption allegations made against Supreme Leader Gayoom, by telling us the reserve was a billion dollars. The root cause of all this is the mismanagement from the previous regime.
$ 250 million is less than a third of $ 800 million.
Anni should find where the $ 800 million went.
"It is a landlocked country and we do not have resources to do that.”
Time to redraw the world geography maps. According to the esteemed spokesperson for The Zaeem, Maldives is now a landlocked country. Can't argue with that, it must be a Fatwa from The Zaeem! LMAO!!!
"He does not understand the dynamics of economics,” Mundhu told journalist Poorna Rodrigoo.
Hahaa! Well, we should believe every word from someone who has just reshaped the world geography! Mundhu should perhaps slow down to engage the brain, rather than getting his mouth ahead of it!
Every kid in the country knows why we have a critical dollar shortage. The international organisations including the IMF and the World Bank know that too. It was only last week that the Maldives Monetary Authority confirmed this as well. Fact: Gayyoom's rampant disregard to basic economics from 2004 has led to the problems we are having!
I am just shaking my head in disbelief as to how stupid this guy really is! It is so true, you can really tell when a stupid person opens their mouth!
Mundhu, there is no point in sticking to DRP if you do not accept the leadership, if you do not accept their council decisions, if you do not accept the collective decisions of their parliamentary committee, etc.
You cannot be a rebel and not a rebel. Its one or the other. But the people in your so-called faction seem to be wanting to be both. Now, thats funny.
Take my advice.
You guys can NEVER be a legitimate part of DRP unless you respect party constitution and the decisions made by its governing bodies.
You can NEVER be a DRP faction with any authority unless you obey the leadership.
If you cannot do this, then leave DRP. Otherwise you are wasting everybody's time and energy.
You can gather support. You can show it with numbers to a sympathetic audience. But in front of courts, your numbers will not be of any value.
What you are doing is, for me, trying to bring a coup within DRP. No sane person will support it. That is why the vast majority of the few supporters you have are people with less than A'level education. As Ali Waheed recently mentioned, there will be less than 10 people with A'level education even in your front line.
You are not forming a new party because you do not have that kind of support. Hard it may seem, but this is reality. And you know it too well. You tried to have an estimate of the support you have by asking sympathetic members to sign a petition against Mavota. But you did not get very many signatures. So you know where you stand. Don't you?
Despite all these, you will still continue your struggle, for you want Yameen to be the DRP presidential candidate. You cannot do this without a coup inside DRP. Still you want to do it, by hook or crook. So all you are doing is advocating for a coup inside DRP without saying so. If you will say this openly, you will loose any support you may have. So you are doing it covertly. Why are you shy to admit this?
If Thasmeen has the support of the majority of council members, it is because these members support Thasmeen's leadership. These are elected people. They were not hand-picked by Thasmeen for their post. And if they do not listent to you, it is because they know that what you are doing is not right. That is why they do not support your cause.
So please do not waste time. Form the new party that can be run the way you want or respect the decisions made by the DRP leadership and its committees and councils.
@Ahmed Bin Addu Bin Suvadheeb
"I am just shaking my head in disbelief as to how stupid this guy really is! It is so true, you can really tell when a stupid person opens their mouth!"
So do you mean western/UK education is stupid? Mundhu has MPhil in International Relations at the University of Warwick (UK), an MA in Environmental Politics at Keele University (UK) and a BA (Hons.) in Politics and Economics at the University of Warwick (UK).
Mundhu will be good for the nest foreign minister. 🙂
@ Retired. Before end of May we will know if DRP council members support Thasmeen because of his leadership quality or because of "I need some cash". Just wait to see.
“I am just shaking my head in disbelief as to how stupid this guy really is! It is so true, you can really tell when a stupid person opens their mouth!”
Completely agree with you on this.
The kind of crap Mundhu tries to convince others of tells me that being educated from UK does not neccessarily mean you are not stupid.
Dear Zeen....maumo0n stole only in your dreams...can u give me a single shred of evidence that maumoon amassed a single dollar in his 30 year rule...if they was a single bank account or any other evidence it would have been out for all of us to see, why ? bcs the current government and MDP worked hard to expose the dealings of former president maumoon but so far they have no evidence..its not there bcs he never stole anything...Zeen you are sick mentally..sadly its a common mental disorder in the maldives..its called "30 year syndrome"...
what a self made retard this froggy turned out to be, I wouldnt believe a word from his mouth, neither am i inclined to wholeheartedly accept what incumbent leadership says.
The current government is failing in terms of the economy, I say lets get rid of all the useless state ministers and others by force if neccessary, isnt it time something needed to be done, where is the dollars, we need dollars! at a reasonable rate of course!!!
Nasheed who famously said he can run the country with a secetary and two laptops!!Why do you need soo many state ministers??? Go figure!!!???
Mundhu talked crap when Gayyoom was in power and he is doing the same when Gayyoom lost power. Mundhu, Nasheed is the President now and Thasmeen is the Leader of DRP now and DRP belongs to all registered members, you idiot.
@yameen-
Correlation does not imply causation. A college degree usually is a sign of intelligence, but does not always have to be. This dolt is proof right here.
@yameen
"Mundhu will be good for the nest foreign minister. "
I totally agree with you on the above, although you didn't mention which hapless birds' nest he'd likely be FM of.
Has anyone else noticed the alarming similarity between Frog Mundhu and Gaddafi's spokesman Moosa Ibrahim? They look and sound alike and both talk in Orwellian double speak. striking.
can anyone explain which is more authoritative? moral or legal? what the heck is "moral authority" anyway?
oh, and yeah. i believe when Gayyoom left as the president, i was floating in a river of US dollars. true story-ish 😀
This man is another big lier like Maumoon.go to hell Mundhu. nobody will listen to u . r u still hoping to become the President of Maldives. someone said to me, that your mother said ," when my son Mundhu went to live in Palace, how could I survive ". hahah dont dream for such a big hope. you will never be the President of Maldives. Inshaa Allah.
I have sent my above comment to the original article on Asian Tribune. But Poorna Rodrigoo has refused to publish my comment.
May be the truth is too bitter.
Mundhu kairi adhi ahaalan beynun vey, Maumoon verikan kuri iru, maumoon athugai oiy 7 passport aa 7 credit cardun maumoon keeythoa kuree. mi ee sarukaaruge echchih seh noon hey... mi thakethi athulevunee varah fahun kamah khabaru thah buney.. ekamaku mathi hashi nagaa fai dhakkaanee kureege auditor general ge vaahaka.. mi ves maumoon koffaa huri aneh corruption .
Erm Mr. Mundhu....Monopoly money doesn't count...
President NAsheed is definitely the biggest lier the Maldives has ever seen...
the comments on minivannews seem to be losing quality day by day...is the population dumbing down or are the brighter ones leaving minivan opening the comments to the retarded...
@ed:
we, the retarted are commenting because one big retard just opened his mouth and talked.
btw, having education doesn't necessarily mean one is not retarded, and we can all see this from Mundhu's Landlocked Maldives!!
Thank U Mundu, becoz of this interview everybody now knows how capable U R. As for DRP crisis, both Gayoom & Thasmeen factions dont want to leave DRP knowing that whosoever leaves the party, that faction will have to start from scratch. But its time that new & young blood gets in control of DRP.
You know, I'd love an opportunity to interrogate Maumoon's family over the approximately 1 billion US$.
They'll break down - they all do, in the end.
what's the value of our current foreign reserve ???