Day: January 17, 2014

President Yameen reiterates campaign pledges ahead of local council elections

President Abdulla Yameen reiterated the Progressive Party of Maldives’ (PPM) pledges at a campaign rally in Addu City last night ahead of Saturday’s local council election, urging voters to choose candidates willing to work with the government.

Addressing supporters in Hithadhoo, President Yameen vowed to fulfil the PPM’s pledge to provide MVR10,000 a month to fishermen during lean months, and to raise old age benefits from MVR2,700 to MVR5,000 a month before the end of the year.

“But I said even then [during the presidential election], these things are not done out of the state budget. MVR2,700 a month is given to all persons over the age of 65 from the state’s budget. In addition to money given from the state budget, what I said was that there are large amounts of money in various state funds,” Yameen said.

“If this money is handed over to a fund manager to earn a better income, an adequate profit could be made from it. It is from this that the MVR5,000 I mentioned could be distributed,” he explained.

The old age pension could not have been increased in the state budget as parliament has not approved any of the government’s revenue raising measures, Yameen contended.

The Fisheries Ministry has meanwhile begun registering fishermen, Yameen continued, after which the scheme for providing MVR10,000 a month would be launched.

Fishermen would have to pay about MVR80 to MVR90 a month as a deposit to a fund, he explained, out of which MVR10,000 would be distributed during months when fishing is poor.

“But I should have the opportunity to do this, shouldn’t I? It is the public that gives me the opportunity. The public gives this opportunity through the councillors and members of parliament you elect,” he said, urging voters to choose PPM or government-aligned candidates in the upcoming elections.

Regardless of political affiliation or ideology, he added, the public should ensure that MPs “do not say no to projects that are beneficial to the people,” which was not the case at present with MPs of the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP).

Opposition MPs should vote for the budget and enable the executive to enact its economic policies, Yameen contended, as the government was elected by a majority of the public with implicit endorsement of its policies.

Refusing to approve ministerial appointees or pass legislation did not amount to “holding the government accountable,” he argued.

Addu City development

A number of infrastructure projects for the southernmost atoll was included in the 2014 budget, Yameen said, including establishing sewerage systems, providing clean water, and upgrading powerhouses.

Moreover, he added, the Addu International Airport at Gan would become “a seaplane hub” that transports tourists to nearby atolls.

As a foreign company has won the bid for the Herethera Resort, Yameen said further jobs would be created, whilst more tourism projects for Addu City were in the pipeline.

The government has also invited bids for the Equatorial Convention Center – which was at present an “eyesore” that was “not utilised for any purpose” – to be developed as “a city hotel complex,” Yameen said.

“We’re talking about thousands of jobs. We’re talking about economic development. We’re not talking about mariculture in a small lagoon here. We are talking about projects, a vision for economic progress,” he said.

Noting that MVR300 million (US$19 million) was allocated for the youth ministry, Yameen also pledged to establish a sports complex in each ward of Addu City this year.

High youth employment and sports facilities were necessary to reduce crime, he stressed.

If the government’s efforts were not obstructed, Yameen said, the country would undergo an “economic transformation” with GDP per capita doubled in the next five years and tourist arrivals reaching 5 million a year.

“Vote for the scale”

Former President Mohamed Nasheed has meanwhile been campaigning in Male’ for MDP candidates from the capital.

Speaking at a campaign event in Maafanu last week, Nasheed urged the public to “vote for the scale [MDP logo]” to preserve and consolidate democracy.

The choice was between the unjust and oppressive practices of former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s 30-year reign and the “rapid development” and social security of the MDP’s three years in government, Nasheed contended.

“Do you want equality or for the riches of the nation to be left to a wealthy few? Do you want to maintain individual liberty or lose your freedom of expression and freedom of assembly saying it is for the good of the society?” he asked.

“Do you want the path to development becoming clear through political parties and peaceful political activity or do you want an authoritarian family rule?”

Nasheed called on voters to choose MDP to “reform and improve the condition of this country.”

“It is not possible to do it in one election. Outmoded principles and traits entrenched through the ages can only be changed in this country by repeatedly voting for the scale,” he said.

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Comment: Corruption must not capsize a sinking state

This article first appeared on the Transparency International blog. Republished with permission.

In 2011 the then-president of the Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed, held a televised cabinet meeting underwater. Armed with oxygen tanks and waterproof pens, ministers signed a document calling on countries to slash their carbon emissions.

Nasheed also pledged to make the Maldives fossil fuel-free by 2020, and announced his intent to buy land in neighbouring India or Sri Lanka so that Maldivians could repatriate rather than become climate refugees.

Nasheed’s motives were clear. The Maldives’ archipelago looks like paradise defined – sand-laced islands sprinkle the Indian Ocean like a starry sky of azure blue. But its peace is precarious. Comprised of nearly 1,200 low-lying islands, it has no in-built life raft to the rising waters and fierce, frequent storms that global warming portends.

When the 2004 tsunami hit the Maldives its waves were barely a metre high. One hundred people died and 11,000 were displaced.

Maldivians have not been relocated. Instead they are left with the task of transforming their country into a fortress – building dykes, reinforcing coastlines and safeguarding natural coral reef defences, all the while forging the transition to a low-carbon lifestyle. This won’t come cheap. In 2010 government estimates suggested that that US$279.5 million would be needed for climate change adaptation by 2020.

Climate money is a dove of hope to those whose skies and seas are turning against them. The trouble is that in many cases it is entering countries and sectors characterised by risk.

The last time the Maldives featured on Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index – in 2011 – it scored 2.5 out of a possible 10, alongside Cameroon, and up one decimal place from Russia. Ninety-six per cent of Maldivians surveyed in our 2013 Global Corruption Barometer believed that their government was run by a few elites acting in their own interests.

These statistics are brought to life through tales of cronyism and back-door dealing. In 2011, the Maldives’ Anti-Corruption Commission began investigations into a US$21 million public infrastructure project aimed at developing a stretch of coastline.

A construction company had reportedly been hired to carry out the work without following the required procedures. The company in question was co-owned by Moosa Manik, chair of the country’s ruling party, meaning that, in the words of the Anti-Corruption Commission, the project would “illegally benefit a particular party”.

Rural communities left clueless

Against this backdrop, Transparency Maldives has been investigating possible entry points for corruption in the climate sector. Their new report, ‘An Assessment of Climate Finance Governance’, articulates a number of concerns.

For a start, government information on climate projects, their budgets and progress can be hard to come by in the Maldives. Accessibility is improving, but it will often involve official written requests, persistent phone calls and visits to ministries. This creates a situation of stark information asymmetry.

In the capital Malé, citizens with time, resources or friends in high places may acquire information. Further afield, communities whose water supply is being desalinated will likely be clueless about what to expect from the project or how much it’s worth.

Anyone tenacious or privileged enough to access government data will then face the unenviable task of making sense of it. Information made available was often out of date or inconsistent – the names of projects changed from year to year in the national budget, as had financial data.

Frustratingly, different ministries have their own systems for reporting and disclosure, resulting in very divergent accounts of how much climate money is being spent where.

As for where climate funds end up, some Maldivians have questioned why certain islands have been favoured over others. In the absence of clear criteria for project selection, it could be that a decision-maker is guided by personal or political concerns rather than factors such as population size or climate vulnerability.

Discretionary decision-making is a problem further downstream, too. Implementing agencies in the Maldives tend to appraise their own projects rather than reporting to a central monitoring body, meaning that they are effectively their own auditor, police and judge.

Transparency Maldives’ report isn’t entirely damning. In some respects the Maldives emerges as a standard-setter when compared to other countries – in its attempt to maintain a centralised database on all national development projects, for instance. Systems like this should be promoted, in the Maldives and elsewhere. Other mechanisms merit attention of a different kind – be that extra staff, increased information disclosure, third-party monitoring or more rigorous procedures for consulting the public on their needs and ideas for climate development.

The prospect of a stormy sea is significant when you live 1.5 metres above sea level, and the furthest from the coast you could possibly be is three kilometres. Both are true of Maldivians.

A country that is bracing itself for disaster needs to know that the dykes will hold when the storm surge bears down upon them. It cannot afford for bribery, nepotism or embezzlement that equates to shoddy workmanship, cheap materials or phantom projects. Our chapter’s research will, we hope, act as a prophylactic to such eventualities. Tackled now, systemic or institutional shortcomings might be shored up before the Maldivian cabinet has no choice but to meet underwater.

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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