Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) MP Ahmed Nihan has called on the government to reopen the closed public water taps in Malé by the end of this week.
Deputy Head of Malé Municipality Mohamed Arif told Minivan News yesterday that all but four of the 19 taps closed because they were “mostly being used by expats [and] not Maldivians.”
The water taps cost the municipality Rf3.5 million (US$270,000) last year, he said.
Today, Nihan said many people were complaining that the municipality’s decision was causing them difficulty.
”Expat or locals, both are human,” he said. ”Water is a basic fundamental right for any human being.”
”We want the government to keep at least eight taps available,” Nihan said, ”so that two are available for each district.”
He said the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) standards would not allow a country to keep its public water taps closed.
Nihan said he did not want the water from the taps to be used for car washing or business purposes.
”We are ready to go out on the streets and protest on this issue,” he said. ”If they do not reopen the taps by this week we will come out to the streets and will even take the issue to parliament.”
Nihan said the party was waiting so as to give some time for the government to reverse the decision.
”This shows how incapable and unable the government is to run this country,” he said. “They cannot even manage the public water taps.”
Head of Male’ Municipality Adam Manik said the government “might or might not” reopen four more taps.
”We do not want to know what the DRP wants,” Adam said. ‘We understand what the people want, and so far nobody has complained [to us] that they are having difficulties.”
Adam said there would be enough water available from the four open taps, and that he did not wish to comment on the issue further.
MDP MP Alhan Fahmy also said he did not want to comment on the issue while spokesperson for the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) Parliamentary group, Ahmed Shifaz did not respond to Minivan News at time of press.
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What is happening to a country that was once an example to a lot of others? Surely this is democracy turned upside down. And then the country wants a seat on the UN Human Rights Council. Hello everybody.. we are talking about water.. a basic human right... and why are these so called expats there in the first place.. because of us only.. when it become too shameful for us throw our garbage and clean our windows and our houses so that we can live like kings. You got to be joking! Looks to me like the country is not run in any uniform manner. The foreign ministry toots one horn, the Islamic Ministry another and the President's Office another.. where is the common ground? Or is it just a gaping hole? I am disgusted to call myself a Maldivian.
hello adam manik sir. drp represents more than 30'000 maldivians. you could disagree with them or hate them personally but you cant say you "do not want to know what the DRP wants". if thats the case why then we even have political parties funded by the state? use that money to build a hospital or a school.
today they cut water tomorrow will be air?
The real problem is the lack of water at their places of accommodation! Why should they have to go and queue up at public toilets to do their "stuff" and public taps to get drinking water?
Address the lowly living arrangements being made for the expats, that should solve these issues.
Adam Manik, open up those taps before before we bring you down to your size. Yes...take it as a warning, we will tell the President, if he comes to know that you are deprieving us from a basic human right..he will be very very angry
This shows what kind of person adam manik is .what will happen to adam manik when his water supply is cut. expats or not wat kind of a thing is cutting water supply to anybody, even if it is for animals. MDP think they can run government when they redo everything upside down. We can never get a bright future like this. DRP failed for 30yrs and MDP already proved themselves failed.
Water is a basic human need. He can't totally ban it; he can impose a quota. What Adam Manik should understand is that he can't discriminate expatriates. What are these expatriates doing? They are playing a very important role in our economy. This is the problem with this government. Adam Manik is a man who could not even manage his own resort. Moreover, he has a record of replacing more than fifty managers of Machchafushi in less than ten years. So how can this type of inefficient people manage Municipalty?.Shame on you!
what you people need to do is find facts before dissing people. municipality did not cut all taps. there were and still are taps available. as for expats, its the employers duty to look after them. maumoon brought all these expats so the agencies can get a huge commission and what does the agencies do? bring them n leave them be without proper shelter/food. so its not the municipalty's fault.
and nihan knows for a fact that he is distorting the truth.
when was the last time any one of u went to get water from the public taps? yes, never! if the expats mean so much to you guys, why dont you work hand in hand with the govt and try and solve the problem instead of being cowards and dissing people.
shadey? really? were u one of the managers? hehehe
btw, adam manik still owns the resort and doing very well. so i guess, in the end he did manage the resort very well indeed.
and he is one of the person in this govt who does not use the govt money or is corrupted.
everything he owns, he worked for it. if you dont believe this, you are free to investigate. dont discredit ppl under wrong assumptions. its makes you a smaller person. i dont mean to offend anyone. just find facts before writing accusations about ppl.