Aid commitments following the recent Maldives Donor Conference have reached US$487 million, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Foreign Minister Dr Ahmed Shaheed and State Minister Ahmed Naseem took to the stage this morning to dismiss claims made by the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) that the donor conference had raised less US$20 million in pledges.
“That is their own number,” Dr Shaheed said.
“If you add up the money from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, the UN system, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) it’s almost US$200 million. That is 80 per cent of pledges coming from these big donors.”
Shaheed spoke about monitoring and implementation mechanisms, which would ensure the funds are used according to the donor’s wishes and the government’s pledges.
Coordinator for the UN in the Maldives Mansoor Ali said the donor conference had been very successful and it was “not the time to be negative” about the results.
Dr Shaheed also spoke of the recent climate change meeting held this week by the Progressive Group in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, where delegates from 23 countries met to advance negotiations before the next international climate change summit scheduled to take place in Cancun, Mexico in November this year.
The Progressive Group brings together the countries with a “forward-looking and constructive attitude to international climate change negotiations,” and played a key role in last year’s international climate change summit in Copenhagen.
Delegates from over twenty countries came together in Colombia to “exchange opinions and promote active participation towards the next climate change summit.”
The meeting focused mostly on creating ministerial-level communication between countries, in hopes to ease dialogue between nations and to advance on key issues such as fast-start financing, adaptation, low-carbon development and verification of emission cuts.
Maldives proposed a second ministerial-level meeting to take place in Malé in July this year.
Dr Shaheed also spoke of President Mohamed Nasheed’s recent visit to Europe, and confirmed that German Police officers will be arriving in Malé “very soon” to begin training Maldives Police Service (MPS) officers to work in a democracy.
“They are the ones who retrained the Stasi in East Germany after German reunification, as well as the police force in Kosovo,” Shaheed said. “They are the best in the world at what they do.”
He said the German team will stay in the Maldives from one year to eighteen months, depending on when they believe the MPS is ready, “all at the German government’s expense.”
Dr Shaheed added that Icelandic President, Ólafur Grímsson, will be visiting the Maldives soon to promote sustainable green energy alongside President Nasheed.
“There needs to be a study on where we have most carbon emissions,” Dr Shaheed said, adding that “they will also try to carbon-proof our current systems.”
The Rothschild group will secure international financing to fund a carbon audit of the Maldives. Dr Shaheed said the surveying will take approximately nine months.
Dr Shaheed ended the press conference with news of the UN Human Rights Council’s decision to draft a new international human rights treaty as an additional optional protocol to the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC), which was proposed by the Maldives.
Maldives was chosen to chair the core group discussing the CRC in Geneva, joined by Slovenia, Slovakia, Egypt, Kenya, France, Finland, Thailand, Uruguay and Chile.
The CRC, which is the most ratified treaty in the world, was lacking in allowing cases regarding abuse of the rights of children to be submitted to international UN mechanisms.
The new treaty proposes to allow cases to be sent to international protection mechanisms to intervene when domestic institutions fail to offer protection.
Correction: In an earlier version of this story Dr Shaheed was quoted as saying the visiting German police trainers were responsible for retraining the Gestapo after the Second World War. This has been clarified as the Stasi, the East German secret police, who were retrained after the reunification of Germany post-1990.
President Mohamed Nasheed met with World Bank Country Director, Naoko Ishii, at the President’s Office yesterday morning.
Ishii congratulated the president on behalf of World Bank’s Vice President for the South Asia Region, Isabel Guerrero, on the Donor Conference held this week.
President Nasheed sought the advice of the World Bank on what course of action to take following the Donor Conference and to follow up on the pledges made during the conference.
The meeting focused on ways of strengthening the management and monitoring of development projects in Maldives.
World Bank Country Director for Sri Lanka and the Maldives, Naoko Ishii, said details of the pledges made at the Donor Conference would only be released with consent from the donors.
Speaking at a press conference after the closing session of the conference yesterday, Ishii said some countries did not want to publicly announce the exact figures of their pledges.
She added that many of them had internal procedures which prevented them from announcing the figures at this time, and they needed to discuss and approve the pledges in their home countries before announcements were made.
Senior government officials said many countries’ fiscal years did not begin in January, like Australia and Japan, for example, which meant their pledges would not come into force until the beginning of their new fiscal year.
President Mohamed Nasheed said this year’s pledges surmounted the amounts of previous years because the international donor community did not have faith in the previous government.
He added that donors are confident of the democratic system of the Maldives and the support from the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF), making this year the most successful Donor Conference to date.
Speaking at the close of the 2010 Maldives Donor Conference, Vice President Dr Mohammed Waheed Hassan announced that the government has received pledges of support totalling US$313 million for a period of three years.
The crowded hall of donors at Bandos Island Resort and Spa included delegations from countries as diverse as Saudi Arabia, Australia, Japan and Norway, as well as international financial groups such as the International Monetary Fund, Islamic Development Bank and the sovereign wealth Abu Dhabi Fund. A breakdown of the pledges is not currently available, Minivan News was told, as several donor countries had requested time to consult their home agencies before solidifying the figure.
In the run-up to the donor conference the government identified key priority areas for investment, alongside budgetary support: macro economic reform, public sector reform, good governance, social development and climate change.
“I am grateful for the confidence you have shown in our country,” Dr Hassan told the donors. “This conference has been an opportunity for us to listen to donors’ views, and we have identified ways to up our coordination and cooperation with the donor community,” he said.
The government had been aiming for US$450 million, he said, although several senior government officials later told Minivan News that they considered “60-80 per cent of that target” a major success. Furthermore, they claimed, a great deal of ‘behind-the-scenes’ negotiations over the two day event would likely lead to further commitments.
There was, Dr Hassan said in his address, “an abundance of goodwill and more assistance will be forthcoming with more follow up from our side.”
He promised donors the government would “work with you to strengthen our management system”, and said the participation of donors was “a vote of confidence in this government and our strong democratic mandate.”
“You have heard about many of the challenges over the past two days. The fact that drug addiction is the biggest problem among our young. The fact that clean water is still a challenge on many islands. The fact that reducing the soaring budget deficit has been painful in an economy over-dependent on government expenditure,” Dr Hassan said.
Furthermore, he said, “democracy remains fragile in the Maldives. We must work to guard the civil society and protect the freedom of the press. We must work hard to consolidate our hard earned freedom. Much progress has been made. But more work needs to be carried out, and we cannot deliver this vital thing on our own.”
In his closing comments, Dr Hassan acknowledged that the Maldives was known around the world less for its social and economic challenges, “and more for our commitment to confronting the issue of climate change – our commitment to carbon neutrality is the strongest in the world.”
“Although we are a very vulnerable country to sea level rise I should make clear that we are not going anywhere. Not yet.”
The British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka and the Maldives, Dr Peter Hayes said he commended the Maldives “on the significant progress it has achieved as a young democracy working in a challenging economic climate.”
“In an era where international partnerships are vital, I welcome the proactive approach to international engagement the Maldives has taken,” Dr Hayes said.
President Mohamed Nasheed implored delegates at the Maldives Partnership Forum, also known as the 2010 Donor Conference, to give the Maldives “your spoonful of sugar to help the medicine go down.”
“We’re not out of the woods yet,” Nasheed told the 60 representatives of foreign countries and financial institutions participating in this year’s conference, which aims to attract foreign investment to help the government’s decentralisation plan and aid in the economic recovery of the country.
Foreign and local delegates, government officials and media crowded the meeting room for the opening ceremony which began at 10am with a recitation from the Holy Qur’an.
A video was then played for the audience which showcased the Maldives’ transition to democracy and the hope to develop the country in a sustainable manner. Five Maldivians spoke in the video and told their stories.
They included a farmer who hopes that sustainable practices will improve his crops; a woman who wants to run her own business; a man who moved his family to Malé to provide his children with better education and is having difficulty in adjusting to the problem of adequate housing; a girl who moved to Malé for her education and fell into heroin addiction; a boy who notices how the beach on his island gets smaller and how the water comes closer to his house each year.
Speakers
Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr Ahmed Shaheed was the first to address the audience. He thanked the guests for participating in the conference, adding that “you have come to the Maldives at a crucial time” in the country’s history.
“There is a lot of work to be done to build a better future together,” Shaheed said, noting the Maldives has “transformed from a repressive society to an open society.”
“It is tempting to think that the hard work is done,” he said, “but truly, it is just beginning.”
Dr Shaheed spoke of the importance of implementing human rights and democracy in the daily lives of every Maldivian, as well as in government practices.
He also hoped that democracy would not be linked to hardship and want in the country’s memory, as he acknowledged it has been a difficult transition.
Dr Shaheed wished to “bequeath our successors a country that is…. free.” He also hoped the conference would help the government in consolidating democracy through the five key areas being addressed as part of the economic reform of the country: macro-economic stability, public reform, governance and democratisation, climate change adaptation and social development.
World Bank Country Director for Sri Lanka and the Maldives, Naoko Ishii, was second to speak. She said she felt “privileged to have witnessed your journey, your very tough journey, into democracy” and made special reference to the importance of donor cooperation.
Ishii noted that many challenges still remain for the government and the people, but assured that the conference was a positive step in finding the right international partners to “shape the future of the Maldives.”
She mentioned waste disposal as an especially worrying issue, but said “there are numerous actions being taken by the government and the donors. [They] are making every effort.”
Ishii added the “Maldives can continue to take many positive steps” and mentioned that she would have liked to sign a contract under water on behalf of the World Bank.
Next to speak was Coordinator for the UN in the Maldives, Mansoor Ali. He said “we stand at a very historic juncture. Maldives is a success story of political transition.”
He wanted to present a different side of development, saying “the other side of this island paradise remains unknown for many.”
Ali focused on human rights, violence against girls and women, and the challenges being faced by Maldivian people: food shortages, rising fuel prices, the financial downturn and rising unemployment, which he said was up to 14.4%, with youth unemployment being a high concern.
He said the conference was “an unprecedented opportunity” to address these issues and to find solutions.
“The UN system is proud to have worked with [the government] in the Strategic Action Plan…which becomes a good vehicle for the sustainable development of the Maldives.”
Ali said the Maldives needs to be assisted through a comprehensive plan and thanked the donors for their vast support to the UN and the Maldivian government.
President Nasheed speaking to media
Democratic progress
President Mohamed Nasheed delivered the closing speech for the ceremony, saying Maldivians “are a diverse collection of people” who are “brought together by a common goal: we all want to see a peaceful and prosperous Maldives.”
President Nasheed said despite the “considerable progress” the country has made in the last 18 months, “there is so much work to do” since the country is still in “the infancy of democracy.”
He spoke of the transition to democracy and the issues that still need to be addressed to assure equal rights to every Maldivian.
“I don’t make a secret of my concern over the capacity of the judiciary to expend justice. Nevertheless, we respect their independence and hope that…it will grow to be a respected institution.”
He spoke of freedom of the press, noting that although the press could now “report and comment as they see fit,” he urged “certain sections of the media to be more responsible.”
He said journalists should be mindful of the consequences of their actions, and asked journalists “to try to the best of their ability to report the truth.”
He noted that the Maldives had climbed 53 places in the Reporters Without Borders’ Press Freedom Index, and warned that the government would take action against anyone who tried to undermine press freedom.
President Nasheed said “Maldivians enjoy more freedom today than at any other point in history,” and added that the government believes “people need liberty to progress.”
The president spoke of civil servants and the need to cut down on government expenditure, saying he is working with the international community “to assure we don’t spend more than we can afford.”
Politics
President Nasheed said according to the World Bank, the Maldives was facing the worst economic situation of all countries going through a democratic transition, attributing this to the fact that “we inherited an economy in crisis. We inherited a huge national debt and millions of dollars of unpaid bills.”
He said the way it worked in the past was “when international diplomats and observers come to this country, we try to patch everything up and try our best to show a clear, clean picture. But I think otherwise.”
The president said he wanted to show the donors “the worst of what we have” to give them a clear view of the situation the country is in.
“There are a lot of people who do not like the things that we are doing. But most members of the opposition are sensible and respectable politicians.”
But he criticised some members of the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) who this weekend were “doing their best to get arrested” and disrupt the donor conference, saying that in his mind, “violence only creates violence.”
He said he did not believe arresting DRP leaders was the solution to the recent political unrest, or to past violations of rights, adding “if we took everyone implicated in corruption and torture, we would end up arresting most of the opposition.”
“It’s time that certain politicians left the nursery and learn to grow up.”
Leader of the opposition DRP Ahmed Thasmeen Ali meanwhile wrote an open letter to delegates of the donor conference claiming that under Nasheed’s leadership, the Maldives was “sliding into political chaos and instability”.
“It is my humble request that you may please exercise the powers of your good offices to address the issues of democratic deficit in the current administration,” Thasmeen wrote. “Counsel against the efforts of the government to consolidate absolute power in their hands, and advocate for the discontinuation of their endeavors to eliminate an effective political opposition.
Climate change
As a major platform of his campaign and presidency, President Nasheed spoke to the participants of the conference on the reality of climate change and the need to take action.
“Climate change is real,” he said, “and time is of the essence and it seems we are falling behind. The world needs to go carbon neutral by mid century.”
President Nasheed said his government wants “to break the link between carbon and development,” noting that “carbon neutral development is not just possible but profitable.”
The president said donors were investing in the Maldives, despite the challenges of climate change and highly-publicised threat of submersion, “because they want to maintain, adapt, protect and uplift the country. If you want to protect something… then of course you will come and donate and you will help.”
“This is a crucial period in time. We can actually introduce adaptation and litigation measures quickly enough to save the Maldives, so I think that’s why the donors are investing,” Nasheed said.
Participants at the Donor Conference
Donor Conference
President Nasheed thanked the donors for their participation, saying it is “so important and deeply appreciated.”
He said that thanks to the transition to democracy, “I believe the Maldives is becoming a better and fairer place,” and added that “with your assistance, we can help ensure the long term survival of this country and this land.”
World Bank aid
After the opening ceremony, Minister of Finance Ali Hashim and Naoko Ishii signed an agreement, on behalf of the Maldivian government and the World bank respectively, for an additional US$13.7 million in aid.
The ministry of finance has asked parliament and the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) to arbitrate a dispute between the ministry and the Civil Service Commission (CSC) over the restoration of civil servants’ salaries.
Parliament has been asked to act as a mediator as the ministry “does not believe a satisfactory solution can be found through discussions with the commission”.
Until the dispute is resolved, “employees will receive the salary that was reduced due to the economic circumstances,” the finance ministry’s statement said.
The CSC meanwhile criticised the ministry for a lack of communication and unwillingness to meet for discussions.
“They could ask us to sit down and discuss this tomorrow morning and we would be there,” said CSC member Mohamed Fahmy Hassan.
“We’ve sent many letters and made many requests for them to submit information but they have not submitted it to us,” he said.
The CSC was not opposed to the involvement of third parties such as the MMA, he said, but having another government institution like the MMA acting as a go-between “sounds a bit odd.”
“We can discuss the issue with MMA or the People’s Majlis, but there’s going to be no decision made without the involvement of the finance ministry.”
Parliament broke for recess in December and will begin its first session of the year in March.
Waiting game
On 30 December, the CSC issued a circular announcing that civil servants’ salaries and allowances had been restored to their former levels.
Since it was agreed that the pay cuts will be rescinded once government revenue exceeds Rf7 billion, the CSC argued, the salaries would have been “automatically reversed” when parliament approved this year’s budget with a revenue of over Rf7 billion.
However the finance ministry’s statement criticised the commission for the announcement as it came after the ministry had declared that the economic circumstances had not changed.
“And while it did not consult with the ministry, the fact that the Civil Service Commission did not seek the advice and counsel of the Maldives Monetary Authority, the most appropriate independent institution to approach before making such a decision, is regrettable,” it said.
No deal
The pay cuts of up to 20 per cent for civil servants were made necessary due to a fall in government income and an increase in expenditure, the ministry claimed.
In August, the government introduced a raft of austerity measures – including cutting back on travel, controlling capital items purchases, halting renovation and repairs unless necessary and pay cuts of 20 per cent for political appointees ranked higher than deputy minister to alleviate the inherited budget deficit.
Recurrent expenditure on salaries and allowances for government employees was 34 per cent of total expenditure in 2008, a 62 per cent increase from the previous year.
The International Monetary Fund [IMF] has noted that this puts the Maldives in first place among small island nations for the highest expenditure on government employees as a percentage of GDP.
Pay cuts for civil servants were enforced in October following protracted negotiations with the CSC.
The commission exercised clause 43[c] of its Act, which authorise it to alter salaries based on “special economic circumstances” subject to a review in three months.
“The measure proposed by this ministry to determine the special circumstances was the state’s income and expenditure,” the ministry’s statement read. “It was therefore agreed that the economic circumstances would be considered to have passed once the state’s annual income exceeds Rf7 billion, while it was also agreed that the state’s total income does not include foreign aid once-off revenue.”
It further added that the pay cuts were not made for a three-month period, but would be subject to a review to determine if the economic circumstances had changed.
The inclusion of foreign aid in the government’s budget is a particular point of contention, as it pushes the total revenue over Rf7 billion. Actual government revenue excluding foreign aid and once-off revenue was projected to be Rf6.8 billion in the budget.
“We understood it was the total revenue of the government. The ministry’s press release on 25 September said they were not going to exclude anything. This issue needs to be resolved,” said Fahmy.
Special circumstances would be considered to have improved when the state’s “recurring income” reaches Rf7 billion, the ministry said, and “not when it is estimated that Rf7 billion will be received in income.”
Scaring off donors
The opposition-dominated committee selected to review the budget made a recommendation to inject Rf617 million to restore civil servants’ salaries as the proposed budget had Rf7.05 billion in revenue.
While the original budget submitted to parliament had a deficit of 14.8 per cent and was acceptable to the IMF, the alternations made by parliament increased it to 18.8 per cent.
The ministry now estimates the deficit by the end of the year will exceed 18.8 per cent as the government will lose Rf150 million in revenue due to parliament’s failure to pass taxation legislation.
Increasing expenditure at the beginning of the year based on projected revenue was “not sensible at all”, the ministry insisted.
There were four ways the government could plug the deficit – printing money, financial assistance from international monetary organizations, obtaining commercial loans and devaluing the rufiyaa – all of which would have adverse effects of the economy.
Printing money would lead to inflation and a dollar shortage, taking commercial loans would make it harder for the private sector to secure loans and devaluing the currency would increase inflation and the price of imports.
Instead, the ministry reached agreements with the IMF, World Bank and the Asian Development Bank to obtain loans to plug the deficit.
However hiking salaries for government employees without increasing the revenue base was not “a sustainable fiscal or monetary policy”, and these international organisations have since informed the government that they are reconsidering the loans, the ministry’s statement said.
If the Maldives does not have an economic framework that is acceptable to the IMF, it continues, it would not be possible to obtain assistance or loans from other financial institutions.
Apart from potentially losing Rf755 million in assistance from the World Bank and ADB, the donor forum organised by the World Bank and scheduled for March could be canceled.
“Therefore, the ministry believes reducing expenditure is the wisest and most economically sensible way,” it said, adding that expenditure on wages had to be kept low until the economy rebounds.
Fahmy said the CSC was willing to negotiate and wished to meet the finance ministry “to hear their views on the economic circumstances.”
“We have always said that if there is a national crisis we will put the national interest above the interest of civil servants,” he said.
“But it is difficult to justify that to 29,000 civil servants if the government is spending on all the other items in the budget.”
The Maldives has been crowned ‘the easiest country in which to pay tax’ for the second year running by the World Bank’s Doing Business in 2010 report, ahead of Qatar and Hong Kong.
The report measures the regulatory environment of most of the world’s economies, scoring them on factors such as the ease of starting a business, obtain construction permits, get credit and enforce contracts.
Overall the Maldives was ranked 87th out of 183 countries in the survey, a fall of 16 places on last year largely attributable to the increased difficulty of starting a new business (37th to 49th in 2010) and employ workers (6th to 41st in 2010).
Gaining credit within the country, trading across borders and closing a business continued to be major impediments to private economic development, the report indicated.
“The regulatory environment for businesses can influence how well firms cope with the economic crisis and are able to seize opportunities when recovery begins,” the report said.
Where business regulation is transparent and efficient, it is easier for firms to reorient themselves and for new firms to start up. Efficient court and bankruptcy procedures help ensure that assets can be reallocated quickly. And strong property rights and investor protections can help establish the basis for trust when investors start investing again.”
The World Bank report also revealed that despite possessing a multi-billion dollar tourist industry, the economically-troubled Maldives has the world’s third-lowest total commercial tax rate of 9.1 per cent behind Timor-Leste and Vanuatu.
Two bills on taxation have passed committee stage and are to be put before parliament for a vote, including one on corporate taxation and another on administrative framework structures. Next year’s budget relies heavily on taxation, although the legislation has not yet been passed.
Ibrahim Hussein Zaki, special envoy to the president, has renewed allegations that former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom has US$80 million hidden in foreign bank accounts, including US$40 million in tsunami aid from the Emir of Qatar.
The last time the allegation was made, by Hassan Afeef, a former MP and now political advisor to the president, Gayoom successfully sued for defamation and Afeef was fined US$350.
Zaki insisted he “was only quoting what was said in newspapers in the UK in an interview with the Global Protection Committee (GPC),” describing it only as “an international NGO.”
The GPC’s leader, Michael Lord-Castle, told Minivan News during an interview in November 2006 “that we have been advised that between US$60-80 million has been transferred from Maldives’ governmental funds directly to various private bank accounts in favour of President Gayoom. Some of those funds we understand derive from donations made in respect to the tsunami disaster.”
When Minivan News asked ‘Commander’ Lord-Castle to disclose the countries and banks the money had been transferred to, he replied that “investigations are continuing and at this stage it is necessary to withhold certain information.”
Members of the controversial GPC, of which little record exists for an organisation “first formed in 1943 towards the end of the Second World War” and boasting “over 2,400 members ranging from ex-presidents, prime ministers and ministers of different countries”, travelled to the Maldives to observe the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP)’s planned assembly for constitutional change on 10 November 2006.
Lord-Castle said the group had been commissioned to produce a report to the European Parliament on the political situation in Maldives, a claim denied by the European Parliament. He was deported from the Maldives together with four associates.
The GPC’s website has since disappeared from the web, while Lord-Castle’s current wikipedia entry describes him as a ‘well-known English businessman’ with varied involvement in an insolvency advisory service, a failed business-class airline, a vigilante ambulance service, and the supplier of a cleaning chemical called Vizexon promising to “kill all pathogens, including swine flu, H5N1, bird flu, SARS, influenza virus and HIV.”
Zaki said that he did not believe the accusation was defamatory “and if Gayoom feels he is getting defamed then he should file a suit against the GPC.”
“If [the accusation] proves true it will be fairly significant because first of all it was money from the National Treasury, secondly the money was for tsunami victims, and thirdly there would be reason to anticipate more [hidden money],” he said.
World Bank enlisted
Zaki pictured with members of the GPC in November 2006
Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed announced in September he was seeking the help of the World Bank’s Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative (StAR) to recover a suspected US$2 billion in embezzled funds, stating that the money was needed to plug a budget deficit of 34 per cent of GDP.
“Many people have been in one way or another connected to this huge web of corruption,” Nasheed said, adding that international help was needed because of a lack of forensic accountancy skills in the country.
Gayoom’s assistant and former chief government spokesperson Mohamed Hussain Shareef (Mundhu) responded to the allegations by demanding Zaki “show us the evidence. If you have the details make them public, instead of repeating allegations. Maumoon has said, ‘go ahead and take a look, and if you find anything make it public.'”
“There is no evidence to link Gayoom to corruption,” he insisted. “What Afeef said was very slanderous. We threw the book at him, and showed in court that he had no evidence to back up his claim at all, not a single piece of evidence.”
He described the renewal of the allegations as “immature, especially dragging the Qatari government into this. We called them and they were as surprised as us – senior officals in their government had no clue about [the alleged theft of US$40 million in tsunami aid]. Anyone of intelligence knows that aid money is not passed across a table by leaders. Gayoom could obviously not just take off with donor or tsunami aid.”
Mundhu expressed confidence that the World Bank’s investigation “would find nothing untoward. I know for a fact that our tsunami aid accounting mechanism was far superior to that of many other countries. All the aid money went through one oversight body headed by the then UN representative and the auditor general.”
The source of the allegations, the GPC, were one of many “voodoo NGOs” around at the time, he said. “We tried to find out what they were about, and basically drew a blank. Nobody in the UK knew anything about them.”
The allegations were intended “to wipe Gayoom off the political map,” Mundhu claimed. “The MDP is a minority government. Nasheed himself as an individual has no more than 25 per cent support in the country. Gayoom is the most popular individual with 45 per cent and over 100,000 die-hard supporters – clearly people thought he did a good job. Nasheed could not beat him one-to-one, and that reality is very hard [for the MDP] to stomach.”
The accusations of embezzlement, he suggested, were the activities of “certain unpleasant elements in the MDP. I don’t branch Nasheed in this, but [the party] was so intent on bringing in people with grievances towards the [former] government that they brought in unsavoury elements that now even Nasheed cannot control.”
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