Open Letter To DiameriCENAPS

Below is a copy of an email Minivan News sent to Director of DiameriCENAPS, Dr. Shafiu on January 14.

DiameriCENAPS is the company chosen by the National Narcotics Control Board (NNCB), which is headed by Dr. Abdulla Waheed, to provide drug rehabilitation services in the Maldives. According to state newspaper Haveeru it will charge Rf. 15 000 per month for each client.

The company is run and owned by three directors – Mr. Terence T. Gorski, and American addiction guru and two Maldivians, Dr. Mohamed Shafiu and tourism mogul Mohamed Fahmi.

We wrote to Dr. Shafiu with questions from a concerned reader. After more than a week, we have not received a response, so we are making the email public in the hope DiameriCENAPS will respond. We also called Mohamed Fahmi to arrange a visit to the Himmafushi rehab centre, as Dr. Shafiu suggested. Fahmi refused to allow us to visit and told us: “There is nothing we want to share with the public at this moment.”

It is still not clear if 120 jobs at the Rehab Centre are secure, and what has happened to those government employees.

Letter below:

Dear Dr. Shafiu,

We have had an email from a reader asking some specific questions about your company.

I feel it is important that Minivan News put these questions to you, in order that your company may be as transparent and accountable as possible.

I hope you may be able to answer the questions for our readers. If not, please can you refer us to the appropriate government representative. Many thanks in advance.

The questions we have received are:

“What is the basis on which such an initiative is justified in operating for
profit in Maldives?

How many other companies were considered before this particular one got the contract?

What were the criteria for the choice? Who made these choices? How transparent were these processes?

What is it about this model that makes it the right one for Maldives? Who did this research?

How will the effectiveness of this program be monitored and when? Who is responsible for this monitoring and how are they related to the program?

Also, if government enforces some convicts to undergo the 90 day schedule, what is the basis on which people will be selected? Surely there must be some legal issues that need to be resolved for such a stance. Has this been done elsewhere?

I would also like to know how the religious aspect is included in a model based on science? In many ways the latter tends to be the basis on which the selection of this model is validated. In many ways, the basic tenets of science tend to negate any religious beliefs. Science is an enterprise that relies on a rationality that does not entertain any Creator. I am very interested to see how this is made possible within an already established, registered “model”. Does it allow for such flexibility? And if so how?”

Kind Regards,

Minivan News on behalf of a reader who wants to remain anonymous