Male’ City Council passed a resolution today to seize the official residence of former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, Ma Kibigasdhoshuge, for the state with compensation.
At an impromptu meeting held outside parliament this morning amidst public protests, nine councillors of the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) sat cross-legged on a red carpet decked out on the road and unanimously endorsed the resolution. The two opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) councillors did not attend the ‘meeting’.
Former Mayor “Sarangu” Adam Manik confirmed the council’s decision and defended the legality of the move.
“The meeting was a lawful meeting and all decisions made during the meeting will be lawful and shall be implemented,” insisted Manik, who also chaired the meeting.
However the former municipality head refused to comment any further on the matter.
Article 41(n) of the Decentralisation Act empowers the city council to seize private property “if necessary” after providing “fair compensation”.
Ahmed Nihan, spokesperson of the Z-DRP faction formed behind the party’s ‘Honorary Leader’ Gayoom, told Minivan News today that he did not believe the council’s decision was legal.
“How can they claim land owned by someone? Even the constitution states that everyone must respect others private life and house,” Nihan said. “The current government is helpless to rule the country.”
Nihan said that the Male’ City Council had violated the rights of the former President, adding that the council did not have the legal authority to seize land.
“The ultimate outcome of such decisions will be other island councils will start making such decisions in council meeting and will start claiming others’ properties,” he suggested. “Now also Kaafu Atoll Guraidhoo Council is claiming that the resort (Kandooma Island Resort) right next to the island is a part of the island.”
The DRP MP for Vili-Maafanu strongly condemned the decision made by Male’ City Council.
“It is another desperate action of the government,” he said. “Mad people like Adam Manik will do such things like sitting on the road and holding council meetings.”
Nihan argued that the Male’ City Council could not take the land without Gayoom’s consent.
“Although the council has decided to pay compensation in return for the land, still it cannot be taken without the consent of former president,” he insisted.
Nihan said that he was not aware if Gayoom had officially decided to take any action concerning the decision.
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very good decision. the 'seized property' is neither the residence of the former president, nor a 'house'. Its a godown earning him 130000rf per month. So the city council did the right thing. If they can build some more flats on this place then congestion problem will be a little bit eased. Besides why shall the former president complain if his 'house' is going to be used for the common good of the ppl? Does not his Excellency has much in the way of patriotism? Or altruism or whatever...
Adam manik he is drunk seak Man. He has to look after he people, meaning cleaning roads, another big rain and then you will see what is happing in Male roads. What he has done untill now? talknign talking but just yesterday I was talking to good healthy Maldivina man, they don't know what is Democraty, ye money makes them blind and selfish.!
Do the council has rights for it.Im sure they do not.The decission comes through courts.
the dicissions shows how incapable, uneducated and uncivilized those counselors.If they have the rights they will remove all the families agaist their will.Its a funny and unacceptable for anyone.
Please make solid decissions through law,rules and regulations.
This is a mockery played on Maldives constitution and its institutions by President Nasheed and his cronies nothing else, the whole world knows whats going on in Maldives. Majority of Maldivians are not that stupid
Why is Thasmeen giving interviews now? Where were you when all this happened? No wonder Maumoon has made a Z factions. You just don't have any leadership. Just shut up and stay home now like you did all these days.
oh so this is what mdp brand of democracy is.....fortunately for us, the constitution of this country protects our personal property from lunatics such as these.what an embarrassment to this nation
The point is this. Maumoon cannot stay in hiding and play these games using his thugs to disrupt the Majlis etc.
So, the answer to this is whenever the Z-DRP faction goes insane (like they have done so in the Majlis recently), MDP must retaliate at the source of this evil ie: The Eternal "Zaeem" Maumoon.
While action must be taken against the Z-DRP maniacs in the Majlis, it is more important to take decisive and swift retaliatory action against the dear OLD Leader till he realizes that the price he will have to pay will be intolerable.
Forward The Maldivian Nation!
Very good decision, it's really depressing to witness big lands without any use, in worlds most populated city, but please carry on this special operation as a national duty, please add to the list karankaa Rasheed unlawfull properties also mr ilyas ibrahims .. Thank you I love male city council
So MDP has the right to remove Antibes property and make there owns just like that? Where are the courts, justice system and rights of the people in this country then? You can't own kibigasdhoshuge just like that, whether maumoon lives in there or not. Its his own property and the government has got no right to own it just like that. This is not democracy, this is Nasizm or Fascism.
There is no doubt that many lost their estates during Maumoon's and Nasir's presidencies. Nasir use to subdivide plots in Male without the consent of the owners of these plots and redistribute them to others.
One case in which Maumoon confiscated land was the area north of Bandaara Miskiiy in order to reconstruct and extend Theemuge. Many including some of my relatives lost highly priced properties here. There were other cases in which properties which had been sold and new owners had started living there had their sales cancelled and these properties were unjustly returned to their prvious owners. These injustices occured during Maumoon's as well as Nasir's time.
However, one injustice cannot be redressed by another. There is no justice to be served by confiscating Maumoon's private estate. The fact that his property is rented as a storage facility cannot provide legal grounds for confiscation. As some have pointed out in the article, if the council decision here is implemented, this case will become a precedent to many similar cases. What about those who own multi-estates? One such case is that of a former Home Minister who when in office, it is said to point out how much land he acquired 'took one plot for himself for each plot allocated to someone' and thus became the second or third top landowner in Male and whose properties are rented out for various business purposes?
Thus no justice is to be served by confiscating Maumoon's personal property. The real motivation for this decision seems to be revenge and not in the service of justice. These council members seem to have personal vendettas against the expresident. They must find a proper outlet to release their anger and hatred towards Maumoon and which have already hardened into revenge. They have to get out of their village mentality if they want to serve the nation!
All the elements for a dictatorial leadership is eminent.
abolish private property n make the state own all property n use it on behalf of common good.
hmm where have i heard that before?
Male' City Council should be doing the job they were elected for instead of acting in Political comedy shows. Council meetings should be convened in their chambers/office!
They should be doing their work and if they wish to take part in demonstrations do so by applying for leave and forfeiting their pay.
They cannot arbitrary resolve to confiscate property, specially if it belongs to a Maldivian Citizen, as and when they like. Tomorrow they might decide to confiscate LeCute or Agora! Ridiculous!
Agree with Ziyan and Nute. This is scary of the Councils can get away with such an abuse of power.
Sure Nasir did many things wrong.
Sure Maumoon did many things wrong.
Sure to hold an impromptu meeting of Male Council on the side walk is wrong.
Next the Majlis will hold an impromptu meeting on the water front and abolish the Constitution!
Moosa Jaleel will be next President and Mohamed Nasheed will have to seek asylum in UK!
its a good descision made in a wrong location..
They are not serious about taking the land. They are going after his son too on a non-issue. The idea here is to keep Zee occupied with other things and make his heart a bit weaker.
Oh. Sidewalk-meeting is it? Now we have to invent names for such tomfoolery.
What childish idiots. When they conspired with Falah's brother to reveal the names of private account holders at BML, the MDP had no idea of the domino effect it would have on BML's business.
What they fail to grasp is the horrible message they are sending out to landowners in Male' - that if we disapprove of you, we can take away your lands at whim.
Tsk tsk....truly President Nasheed, is one of the most incapable Presidents this country has ever seen.
Dont blame MDP for the powers that the decentralization act gives to the councils. It was DRP that changed the decenrlization bill to something even they must now regret.
@ mohammed
" they are going after his son too on a non-issue".
For your information the authorities are trying to bring The Eternal "Zaeem" Maumoon to justice.
Amongst his crime includes sending USD 2 million dollars from the State Coffers to save his son who was jailed in the UK for murder. His son was drunk and got into a brawl in a bar and a man died from his hands.
The then Finance Minister Arif Hilmy refused to make the telegraphic transfer from MMA for this payment and Maumoon himself went to MMA and signed the TT for this payment.
The main reason for Arif Hilmy to resign his post was this incident.
THAT is what the People of this country want to be investigated and hold Maumoon accountable for theft of public funds for personal use. The son involved was Faris Maumoon and not Gassan as being reported in the media.
Do you now understand?
If Male council can confiscate property at will is legal means there isn't any protection of private property or basic human rights. Whoever control the Male council can become the biggest landlord in Male.
Male council can do a great service to this country by confiscating the land of houses from where major drug busts are being made. eg: Red Wave Saleem's house.
In fact the law allows confiscation of property from where such drugs are found. Owners must be held accountable for drugs found in their property.
I suggest that Male Council confiscates Red Wave Saleem's property on these grounds. It will be a clear wake up call to the drug importers and dealers.
@Ilyas Ahmed: I clearly understand what you are saying. What I don't understand however is why no one has ever been able to provide any proof of what you claim to be true.
If Farish was jailed for killing a man, the story would have been published in a tabloid at least.
No one bothered to report when the son of a president (from a commonwealth country, mind you) kills a man in a pub brawl and ends up in jail?
Say the USD 2M saved his ass, but I am sure they couldn't' have gagged the police and media too with that.
I am sure the British authorities keep a record of people who end up in their jails, well especially murderers. Where are these records? No one asked for them?
This is why I called it a non-issue. It's a smelly fart alright - still a non-issue.
Agree with @mohammed about the so called murder issue of Zee's kid, whichever one that might be. Two million dollars isn't enough to even provide for bail money. Refer to the case of Strauss Khan if you want to get an idea about the sort of bail money high profile flight risk foreigners get when they are accused of felonies in western countries. And two million dollars would have been about half that much in pounds, meaning that wouldn't even come close to paying off the British tabloids, who are notorious for their coverage of people even remotely famous. And Ghassan or Farish would have definitely been classified as celebrity status being the sons of a president of a commonwealth nation with a murder charge on their heads. And seriously, why hasn't anyone ever brought out facts about this? I mean, shouldn't there be some record of all this?
As for what the city council has done, there are few words to describe it. Stupid, and scary.
It sets out the wrong precedense for other councils in the nation, as pointed out in the article. And it sends the wrong message to all land owners across the nation. It becomes a "either you're with us, or you're homeless" issue for almost everyone. And it has the potential to tie up the court system with manic lawsuits by and against the state, and creates more smoke and mirrors for people to abuse the system.
The Male' city council has been very irresponsible with their decision and should be reprimanded by the people with the strongest of language.
It's a sad day for the nation. And it looks like it's gonna be a long day.
maybe the bodu manzaru is to take away all land from maldivians and sell it off to "foreign buddies" to build luxury holiday homes... i wouldnt be surprised if that was the deal cut.....the general tone of minivan and the current government policies all least towards this possibility
All a game. You need diversions like these. We forget easily.
Where were we?