Bushry Column - Bushry Column - Another Cabinet Reshuffle in Maldives :: Dhivehi Observer

Bushry Column

Here comes another cabinet reshuffle!

Mohamed Bushry , 29 June 2005 - Bushry Column Archive

The air is thick with gossip. There’s going to be a cabinet reshuffle by the ruling regime. It is an open secret that Gayyoom’s brother, Abdullah Hameed, is on an extended leave of absence in Singapore. According to my gossipy source, Hameed will soon resign from his post of Atolls Minister. It is high time he did that. The people of the atolls deserve a more capable minister.

My sources say that Home Minister, Umar Zahir, will also resign along with Hameed. After his recent illnesses Umar Zahir is very frail and the country needs a more energetic Home Minister. Not an ex-headmaster who thinks that he is still in charge of a bunch of students.

In my lifetime I have seen many cabinet reshuffles by the current regime. Most of the time it’s a game of musical chair where the same group of people are rearranged. Nothing changes except for a few names. After the introduction of party politics to the country, we deserve a government that is more in tune with the aspirations of the general public. We need a meaningful reshuffle of the cabinet that includes youthful leaders from MDP ranks as well. Let me compile a list of some current ministers who should be reshuffled out of the cabinet.

I believe that we would do better with a new Defense Minister. The same goes for the Education Ministry. Notwithstanding Dr. Shauqee’s PhD, I believe that the current state of the education sector is not good enough. Only recently we heard that the parents of a certain island school refused to send their children to the school because of unacceptably low standards. Where’s the first Maldivian university that we have been promised?

Abdul Rasheed Hussain has been a regular at Gayyoom’s musical-chairs for many years. I sincerely do not understand why he has filled important portfolios as Planning, Fisheries and now Labor. It’s high time that he steps aside and give way to capable young blood. In the last parliamentary elections the people of Male said “No” to Abdullah Kamaluddeen. There was a time when Kamaluddeen was an efficient minister. That was before he became AK. He too should be sacked from the cabinet on the basis of incompetence.

Our Foreign Minister will soon achieve the world record of the longest serving foreign minister. That record doesn’t interest me. I would rather see the international profile of this country raised higher. I believe that former SAARC Secretary General, Ibrahim Hussain Zaki would be a much better and effective Foreign Minister than Fathullah Jameel.

Zahiya Zareeer and Aneesa Ahmed should also be sacked during a cabinet reshuffle. We also need an information minister who doesn’t have to wait for months before he can register a daily newspaper. Ahmed Abdullah recently told the Peoples Majlis that his Ministry has a long backlog of unregistered newspapers because he is busy revising the media regulations.

Planning Minister Hamdhoon Hameed, Speaker of the Majlis Ahmed Zahir, Trade Minister Abdullah Yamin, Transport Minister Ilyas Ibrahim and President of the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs Sheikh Rasheed too should be sacked.

Youth Minister Ibrahim Manik too should be sacked. The reasons are abundantly clear. Last but certainly not the least; we have to change our tourism Minister. In my opinion he shouldn’t have been in that post in the first place. Now that he is here, we should hastily change him. The country’s tourism industry is in crisis and we have to have a capable leader at the ministry to take us out of this mess.

Following is a list of suggested names for a new cabinet.

Vice President Ibrahim Ismail (Ibra)

Foreign Minister Ibrahim Hussain Zaki

Defense Minister Mohamed Shihab

Atolls Minister Nasheed (Anni)

Chief Justice Mohamed Munawwar

Home Minister Dr. Hussain Rasheed

Speaker Nasheed (Kutti)

Attorney General Maria

Education Ministry Dr. Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik

Human resource and Labour Abdullah Rasheed (Seedhibe)

Finance Minister Rilwan Shareef

Governor of MMA Ali Shiyam

Health Minister Dr. Abdul Sattar Yousuf

Fisheries Minister Dr. Shiham

Gender Minister Maana Rafiu

Information Minister Shafeeq (Kuda Sappe)

Justice Minister Husnu Soodh

Technology Minister Dr. Hassan Hameed

Planning Minister Rafeeq (rainbow)

Construction Minister Mauroof Jameel

Tourism Minister Waheedu Deen

Trade Minister Bandhu Saleem

Transport Minister Mahmood Raazee

Youth Minister Aishath Shiyam

President of the Islamic Council Faarooq