Deposed President Mohamed Nasheed last night criticised the government’s attempts to introduce fees for free health insurance scheme Aasandha, saying the government had squandered funds marked for development on the police and military.
President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan’s administration has claimed the Aasandha scheme is no longer financially tenable due to unsustainable demand. Dr Waheed succeeded Nasheed on February 7 after Nasheed resigned following a police and military mutiny. Nasheed claims he was forced to resign at “gun-point.”
Shortly after taking office, Waheed’s administration halted Public Private Partnership schemes and allowed extended resort leases to be paid in installments rather than upfront at the end of the lease. Nasheed’s Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) said the move will immediately take US$135 million of the country’s coffers.
Speaking to hundreds of MDP supporters at the party’s new protest camp following his return from his US tour promoting the Island President, Nasheed said the government’s claim of lack of funds for Aasandha was “unacceptable.”
“More than Rf 150 million (US$10 million) has been spent on police promotions. Another Rf 150 million (US$10 million) has been spent giving MNDF [Maldives National Defense Force] officers two years of allowances in a lump sum. Another Rf 50 million (US$3.3 million) has been spent repairing the damage to police headquarters. It was the police officers who staged the coup who vandalised the place and threw chairs and computers from the building’s windows. When this money has been wasted, we cannot accept it when they say there is no money for Aasandha,” Nasheed said.
More than 1000 police officers were given promotions on March 31 – a third of the country’s police force – while police have revealed plans to recruit 200 new officers to the force this year.
Nasheed said Waheed’s policies, along with alleged increased expenses on presidential trips, means “there will be no money in the treasury to provide services for citizens.”
“Aasandha services were provided based on taxing the rich,” he said. “First they told us they will not pay taxes, and then after staging a coup and bringing down tourist arrivals exponentially to the point it affects our income, we cannot obtain the development we seek and the services we seek to provide.”
New Tourism Minister Ahmed Adheeb had previously called on Maldivian businesses not to pay Goods and Services Tax (GST) to Nasheed’s government.
Nasheed said Waheed was obliged to implement the MDP’s manifesto, saying the coalition of parties that backed him to defeat Maumoon Abdul Gayoom in the country’s first multi-party elections in 2008 had agreed to carry forward the MDP’s manifesto.
“Even in 2008 they wanted positions,” Nasheed said. “They did not have a plan in their hearts or party manifestos to deliver services to the people. Instead, they asked for seats in the cabinet. They said, ‘If you give me a cabinet position I will tell the people I know to vote for you.’”
The coalition of parties that supported Nasheed in 2008 include Dr Waheed’s Gaumee Ithihaad (GI), the Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP) and Jumhoree Party (JP). The coalition dissolved months after Nasheed took office, and the three parties are now allied with Waheed.
“They tried to kill me”
Nasheed’s address was his first since a 10 day trip to the United States of America last week. Speaking to US media, Nasheed alleged former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom was behind his ousting, and insisted his life was under threat on February 7.
“I am certain investigations will reveal Maumoon was behind the coup,” Nasheed said. “Ask [the army] who was instructing the MNDF generals that day. Ask them on whose orders the generals decided to side with Nazim.”
Ahmed Nazim is the current Defense Minister, and acted as intermediary between mutinying police and military and Nasheed on February 7.
“God willing, I will submit these details to the relevant courts and investigation. Such an investigation must have international oversight and has to be independent and impartial. They tried to kill me. They tried to take my life in order to stage a coup. It is my duty to reveal what transpired on that day,” Nasheed said.
“We have to clarify this atrocity, this coup, for the generations to come. I will submit what I know, the extent to which I knew and experienced it, to a trusted investigation,” he said.
Following calls from the Commonwealth, European Union, India, America and UK for an independent investigation, Waheed instituted a three member Committee of National Inquiry (CNI) to look into the legitimacy and legality of the transfer of power. However, the CNI has come under fire from the MDP and local civil society groups for unilateralism and lack of independence. Further, the CNI has said it will not conduct a criminal investigation.
Nasheed promised supporters he would ensure an investigation through international processes if domestic bodies failed to conduct an independent and impartial inquiry.
“What we didn’t do was accumulate force”
Nasheed reiterated call for early presidential elections and highlighted the importance of an elected government. “You cannot sustain a government through force. The force behind any government is the people,” he said.
He could have stayed in power had he used force on February 7, Nasheed said, but choose not to: “The Maldivian Democratic Party has been working on development for the past three years and six months. We were not accumulating force.”
Nasheed said soldiers had asked him to open the armory to put down the police mutiny, but he had refused to let them.
“I came to power, and you voted for me, not to accumulate force. You wanted widespread transport networks, economic development, and to put an end to the drug plague and begging for healthcare, for. You voted for harbours, for sewerage systems, to build outer walls of football fields, to build roads, cemeteries and for holistic education,” Nasheed said, repeating the MDP’s election pledges in 2008.
“What we didn’t do was accumulate force. What we didn’t do was torture people,” he added.
“Be courageous,” he said. “We are only calling for an election, not for the sun, the stars and the moon.”
“We cannot leave the protest square”
The MDP must sustain its protests in order to press for early elections, Nasheed said. He called on all of his supporters to stay at the protest camp, dubbed Insaafuge Maidhan (‘Justice Square’) and to continue to raise their voices. The establishment of the camp follows the government’s removal of the MDP’s protest camp near the tsunami monument by the police and military last month.
“We will come out in large numbers for a massive protest. A long demonstration that will resolve our issues. A demonstration that will reveal to the world what Maldivians are fighting for,” he said.
Nasheed said he was “disappointed” with America and India’s prompt acceptance of Waheed’s administration.
But he appeared to accept the move as characteristic of international politics. “It will be very difficult for major powers not to accept whichever government is in place. Governments have to interact with each other. Hence, they have to, they must talk to whoever holds the key to the military headquarters.”
“But powerful democracies will also look into how this key can safely be handed over to the people. I trust the Indian government. I trust America, the Commonwealth and the EU.”
The Commonwealth, EU and foreign governments have supported Nasheed’s call for early elections despite their engagement with Waheed’s administration.
Nasheed also called on foreigners who wish Maldives well to join MDP’s protest. “Come to the Maldives to protest. Stay with us until we gain our government back. Citizens, humans are humans no matter where they are in the world. Whether you are English, French, American, Indian or Maldivian, we are all made of flesh, bones and blood. We all experience the same in life.”
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Nasheed must have smoked one of those things. He is right in that there must be an open and transparent inquiry but if he thinks Assandha is sustainable in the form he brought, he must be thinking of something else.
There is no way it can be sustained in its current form. Nowhere in the World is healthcare given like that.
Why should the government give money to a private hospital like that?
Upto now ADK has probably earned millions of dollars. Why should someone who gets 80,000 rufiyya a month get free medical from the government?
Only people who cannot afford it should be given assistance and even then it is not the way Nasheed planned it.
Why is he trying to introduce all these scams here in Maldives?
As for his call for foreigners to get involved in local politics, he has no clue about it. It would be extremely difficult for foreign governments to defend their citizens if they get involved in local politics or demonstrations.This shows that all what he wants in Maldives is Anarchy.
He should just shut up and concentrate in trying and wining the next election, instead of trying to destroy Maldives.
No wonder!! Any psychopath like Nasheed will gather some morons of their styles, especially when they are desperate. As he goes on pressuring the current GVT for an early election, supporters of GVT will go on pressuring it for taking legal action against Nashee for his wrong doings.
Nasheed's big brothers who are mainly Zionists will do what they can possibly do for him to become the President of Maldives. They are not interested to have an early election Maldives, but to put Nasheed in power as their programme executing agent. Nasheed should be locked somewhere, if we are to have free and fair election. What a disgrace he is to Maldives!!!
A trusted investigation committee for Nasheed should consist of US, EU and UK.
He and his supporters never speak of Arab Leeague, African Union, Muslim League, Asean SAARC, Pakistan Iran. When you have people from different parts of the world and of different cultures and religion, it is bound to be more fair than having only one ethnic and religious group.
Can someone please tell me how a country like Maldives can afford to pay 100 percent of the medical bills of everyone?
We are not that rich, for God's sake!
SAARC- nobody knows what this institution is.
ARAB LEAGUE- ? they don't no how to fix there own door.
AFRICAN UNION- drugs,AIDS..name it. they have more problems.
MUSLIM LEAGUE- never heard about.
PAKISTAN- more al-qaeda than any other place.
IRAN- clearing out WARHEADS.more sanctions are on the way.
ASEAN- they have a pain in there ASS which they called Myanmar.
The blame of smoking and the labeling someone psychopath can be done from each opposing side with their augments in the same fashion. There are People from all political spectrums with neurological disorder who cannot stand against their purview. Anni’s approach to win his fight is different than his opponents. He is trying to internationalize his fight with the hope that the support of international community would be a good proof that an early election is the way forward. Why would a person like Anni who holds the liberal view would ask Iran, Arab league, Afghanistan, or any third world country to oversee to find a solution for the current dispute in Maldives? Probably a hallucinated person with smoke is better than those who have neurological disorders. On other hand why these Anni haters are worrying about what Anni is doing if what he does is backfiring at home.
"the government has squandered funds marked for development on the police and military."
That is an admirable goal!
@A.Ahmed
So you wish tomoorow's Maldives to be like Pakistan, The Middle East and Africa? ...or we could be Europe, Singapore and like Malaysia? mmmm, tricky one, let me think...???
You want an environment where people can be controlled and repressed, we want freedom of choice and a modern society.
I do not like having to beg for my medicine at the expense of the Police and MDNF US$20 million pay offs and bribes!!
I live in Australia. We do not have 100% free Medicare here. I do not understand how a developing country like Maldives can provide free medicare. It's clear that this Asandhu scheme was introduced just to buy votes... Bribing legally eh!
For you all armchair economists and political pundits, my message is to listen to the words of the head of the IMF delegation that just visited the Maldives!
What was his advice? Or rather, his dire warnings for the future of the Maldivian economy? Did anyone take notice? These are the list of things he mentioned as a top priority (Aasandha or free healthcare was not mentioned as a problem):
(1) Reduce the expenditure of government staff.
(2) Increase Goods and Service Tax
(3) Increase tourism bed tax.
Now, the next thing to come out of the regime will be to blam the IMF for accepting bribes from MDP and trying to spread their manifesto!
Hello, where are your brains?
Sadly President Nasheed is fast becoming part of the problem facing Maldives rather than what hundreds if not thousands of Maldivians had hoped for from him. When a person who aspires to be the leader of a people forgets that in any organisation - be it the nuclear family, extended family, the village, town, city or the whole country the overriding concern is security, it bodes ill for the country.
President Nasheed has incited violence, civil disorder and arson on a scale that Maldives has never seen before. Unless the Police and MNDF meet the prevalent breech of public order anarchy and civil unrest isn’t far away, and Maldivians would be hostage to President Nasheed & his Cabal. His invitation of foreigners to take to the streets in Maldives is pregnant with dangers that is hard to calculate.
It’s obviously in President Nasheed and his Cabal of like thinker’s interest to incite violence and anarchy and THEY WILL STOP AT NOTHING - asking foreigners to get involved in our local affairs is little different in the final analysis to what Luthfee did by bringing Tamil terrorists here to impose his vision on Maldivians.
They have to be stopped at all costs if not Maldives would be held to ransom by President Nashid & his cabal. All Maldivians should be made aware of the dangers that lie ahead - to their values, their culture & their religion.
The only way to do this would be to educate the public and then to beef up the security.
President Nasheed and his Cabal are responsible for the extra need for security. President Nasheed knows by increasing violence on the streets the Govt would be forced to allocate scarce resources to meet the security breach and the opportunity cost would be huge in terms of lost development opportunities. Introducing foreigners to this equation further complicates the issues what this could mean to our real independence - Can anyone say?
President Nasheed’s advisors local & foreign advisors seem to be banking on rice bowl politics of the 1960’s seen in Lanka and India, to win votes. This did little in terms of development in those countries and bodes ill for the Maldives. Whilst this strategy might be to bribe the population for votes it can only lead to a dead end.
Our country is in need of a visionary leader that can lead the nation to increased productivity which can finance the country’s need for health, education and development.
We are in need of a leader whose vision goes beyond the elastic stretch of his ego. Then perhaps we can hope for transparent Government and the rule of law. Something President Nasheed PROMISED BUT FAILED TO DELIVER.
FAILED PROMISES, CORRUPTION, AUTOCRATIC STYLE OF GOVT & PRESIDENT NASHID’S PENCHANT TO SEE HIMSELF TO BE ABOVE THE LAW –has led to the present horrible security situation in the countrry.
Unfortunately for Maldivians, President Nasheed SEES the only means of sitting again at the President’s Office – as by violence and anarchy on the streets and bankrupting the country and Govt trying to deal with the street violence.
How Bankrupt of ideas can a person get!!
What is this talk about Asnadha will not be feasible!not sustainable! bloody crap! It will be sustainable if the government decides to do so. giving promotions and paying the police force in lummpsome the allowances of two years was sustainable was it? Making them happy was more important right? What did the majority of the Maldivians get out of it. A bloody beating! every single day we hear of some murder in the Male'. Are they doing a good job of protecting us civilians. No!!
Asandha provided Maldivians with hope for the future and that is being trampled and pushed aside. Do you realise that the majority of the country is in debts. Most of them live under 10,000 Rufiyaa a month. Most of them has parents who are elderly and in need of medical care. It is a constant worry every time they fall sick. Do you realsie what a relief that Asandha offered. Do you realise how much agony the average Maldivians go through when they fall sick. Yes, they have no choice but to go begging for money from the rich . Assnadha gave each one of us hope to live a dignified life and less scared of the future. That hope is being stampled now! Shame on the politicians!
If we can afford to pay bonuses, medical expenses and other allowances for the militia and the police we certainly can afford to provide health care for the citizens of this country. Healthcare is basic need, a fundamental right.
@ Ashanti,
All 27 country,s in Europe have free Medicare allowances. Do not say it is not possible. It is entirely possible especially if GST and taxes are allowed to function as planned. We have a tiny population so this is easily done.
Now we have to beg for medicine and our dignity, again. We need elections NOW. Corruption and greed has returned by guns with the likes od Ahmad and friends.
most of these progovernment supporters who comment are police i guess
sooner we will end up this coup government .... with or withot a bloodshed .
Aasandha or any sandha is crap if there is not adequate facilities to (human resource or other facilities) to provide the service with.. Where is the logic in this doggone non-relenting stubborn inclination to uphold systems with no actual value.. All blah and nothing in it.. Pitiful
Aaasandha is possible, it has become impossible because the political will is geared toward business owners rather than the common citizen.
I am willing to listen to excuses, if -
- More money was NOT spent on the armed forces
- More money was NOT given to resort owners in form of ease of payments (i.e. payments to begin 25 years into a 50 year lease) costing the treasury millions
It looks like everything is possible if it is in the interests of the powers that be.
This man is a liar of extreme proportion and we should not expect him to tell a truth. During his 3 years as president of this country he had squandered the wealth of this country and his goons are robbing the wealth of this country in broad daylight. In 2008 the deficit of this country is 8+ Billions and after the end of his 3 years the deficit had risen to 19+ Billions. This is his economics and aasandha is a political gimmick. Aasandha should be revised to provide the services in a sustainable manner.
100% subsidised medical is not an issue for a population of 300,000 people. I feel sorry for the underdeveloped people from this developing country commenting...Cant they do the maths..
oh dear, Ms. Maumoon, state minister of foreign affairs and former dictator Gayoom's daughter, has said there will be no elections any time soon. The Maldives is screwed. Anybody who thinks this present government is there by the will of the people is seriously delusional. If a government in the UK, or any other democracy said there was going to be no elections, then there would be uproar. But of course, any such 'uproar' in Maldives will be brutally suppressed. Any 'uproar' will be deemed by the pro-dictatorship camp as 'terrorism'. Maldives is screwed.
There was no coup, brothers, there was none! peace.
Waheed must know this is not North Korea or Burma. In those two Countries They are spending milions of dollars on Rocket testing and nuclear testing While ordinary people are starving. In Maldives Police , Military personals and Civil Service members get good salaries comapare to Private Sectors employees and They get free Medical care Since the time of Dictator Maumoon. Nasheed is the only President Who understand the feelings of common people , who gives us free Medical Care. 'Waheed' If you can't manage this Country just resign.
If maumoon could have spend 15 percent of the budget for his family for thirty years there is no reason why cant we spend for medical insuarance for all maldivians
the coup leaders say they dont have funds who will believe it they are giving allowances record breaking promotions housing and etc. to the police and MNDF corrupted coup officers
Anni, is big lier and this guy need to go rule Kenneryge and its members. Leave us alone .
You are the most corrupted man in this country and you have sold our airport to few dollars and pockets millions of dollars.
You have betrayed our nation and you have tried to allow other religion into this country.
You have brought worshiping idol to the country and said you never know how it had come and have claimed not seen it even after having posed and taken the photo with those budist idol.
You are one of those fu------------?
Asaandha is not going to work the way the previous administration was trying. There is no country where 100% of the medicare is being paid the way it was done in Maldives.
It will work if there is no charge for patients at Government owned hospitals for the service they get.
This does not mean that the prescriptions gets paid.
Only the poor have their prescription paid.
Do you know that it is the national insurance paid by all the working people that makes health care work? This is deducted from everyone's salary every month in other countries. The government does not give free healthcare.
Backwards and bigoted, all European countries have free health care because of this deduction from the salaries. In Maldives a man who earns 80,000 rufiyya a month also gets his healthcare paid. This is not right in this way.
Healthcare would only work if the correct system is there for it to work and not the way it was run before.
When you are doing a feasibility it must be based on real statistics or based on rational figures, In a population of 300000 the genuine medical cases would be about 20% which is 50000 people, it is US$ 270.00 per month. This is not something impossible to provide if you have better regulation on the uses of medical insurance, and better revenue generating methods and efficient cost cutting like stop paying police and MPS and unnecessary expenses.
Anni
There are many countries in the world who provide free healthcare and education for all its citizens, its just about your priorities. Cuba for example has a really good healthcare system, despite the economic shit they are in. Just because australia doesnt have it doesnt mean we cant
Aasanda budgeted money given to police
station and military station.its our money
illegally stablish for the new government to safe only one person.
instead of our 300000 people.just see sky and ground god blessing with us our nation will forward to with new generation catch peacefully our government soon as possible.we loose three hundred million by poor Maldivians
i will pray to god inherit our nation with us despite double head waheed
thanks dear brother (anni our national president)
Ahsan on Fri, 6th Apr 2012 5:39 AM,
Since u don't know your "Australia" well enough to comment about their medical care,
http://www.medicareaustralia.gov.au/public/register/index.jsp
keep quiet & don't meddle in our politics.
Anni’s initiative for free medical care was good thing, it needs fine tuning and health education rather than dumping it saying it is not workable. It is common trend in this banana republic to discard anything if it is not his plan and or policy. People need education on medical care. The medical care industry is business industry. Avoiding doctors are much better than seeking their advice. People need nutritional awareness and awareness on mental health. If you live a healthy life you don’t need doctors, if you are ignorant and don’t know how to take care of your own health, it is better to commit a suicide than visiting doctors, the doctor will make sure that you will visit him for the rest of your life and bombard you with chemicals that will reduce your life time to half. Banana Republic needs Anni to come out of the shell otherwise you guys will be in the shell for a long time to come.