President’s speech on the resignation of cabinet

The following is a literal Dhivehi-English translation of the President Mohamed Nasheed’s speech to the media at the President’s Office on Tuesday afternoon, announcing the resignation of his cabinet members.

Today I meet the Maldivian media because the ministers of the government have noted that they are unable to fulfill their responsibilities according to their oath.

All the members of the cabinet are saying that they do not receive any cooperation from the Majlis, that many members of the Majlis are not acting in line with the spirit of the constitution and that they are also violating the articles of the constitution.

Believing a huge majority is with them, and through this majority members of the parliament are violating the very spirit of the constitution we are trying to implement and enforce.

The ministers have said that they are finding it extremely difficult to carry on with their responsibilities, and that therefore they wish to resign until the Majlis acts in a different manner.

All the members of the cabinet are requesting this, so today in accordance with the constitution which reads that after I receive the resignation of all cabinet ministers, myself and vice president Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik will only remain in the cabinet.

I assure the citizens that this government’s one and only aim and goal is to serve the people. This government was formed to establish a system which listens to the voice of the people, and to establish a system which fulfills the needs of the people according to their pulse and also to follow up with that system of governance.

So I request the honorable members of the Majlis to not cloud the atmosphere of governance in the country and to lend me their cooperation while continuing with their work.

I am obliged to look into the complaints made by the members of the cabinet about the Majlis members, therefore today I will start looking into them and I shall do everything possible, in the boundaries of the law, to look into these complaints and issues.

I am the head of state of this country. I am also the head of the police and defense forces. I have put myself up to the task of leading this country to serve the people. We did not come to power with the intent to do whatever we would like to the extent we are able to do. So I am obliged to look into the complaints of the cabinet members and I assure the citizens that I will look into these complaints.

I intend to accept the letters from the ministers in front of all of you. I have not yet received their letters but the cabinet secretary had informed me that he had received the letters. So I ask the cabinet secretary to hand the letters over to me and afterwards I will answer your questions. A bit of time would be required for this (handing over the letters) but I cannot spend too much time on this today.

When the letters of the cabinet ministers are kept on this table, they have been accepted by me by default.

<President accepts letters of resignation>

Among all the letters I just have looked into, only the letter missing is that of Home Minister Mohamed Shihab, as he has mailed it since he is currently not in (Male’).

I sincerely and from the bottom of my heart, thank the cabinet ministers. The strength they have shown, the discipline and integrity they have maintained and their loyalty and readiness to serve this nation and to uphold the features and the spirit of the constitution, I believe never will be doubted by the citizens of this country.

In the history of this country, rarely does a minister resign. If cabinet ministers cannot fulfill their legal duties and responsibilities due to any reason, I do believe that they would have to think about it.

Today my responsibility is to look into the complaints right away. I will look into the complaints of the ministers and I will take necessary action afterwards. I assure this to all citizens of this country.

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