Maldives is a country where you would not find a single correlation between fat salaries to public officials and improvement of the sorry situation we are in, even if you spend 100 lifetimes to search for it. Take a look at how money and blood is squeezed from our systems (literately and figuratively) for the past decade. In this decade we have lost count of how many times the salaries, perks, benefits to public officials are raised.
For instance, number of tourists coming to Maldives is at an all time high reaching nearly a million. Yet, Maldivian businesses are begging for dollars. The banks do not have funds to give loans for ordinary citizens. Where is all the money? Maldivian businesses (especially tourism) using every available resource in the country to make profits, are happy to keep a paltry amount for salaries in our banks and stash the rest in foreign banks, leaving our economy, ordinary businesses and citizens dry.
MMA and the police (government) are like sleeping beauties, while the great Maldivian robbery is taking place in broad daylight. And the good old parliament neatly stacked with tycoons by us- thanks to selling of the vote, would not lift a finger, even if our blood is squeezed alive. Anyways, it is squeezed everyday, by the jobless, aim less youth addicted to drugs and a world of crime. Still the big boys irrespective of colour and office are happy counting their fat salaries instead of passing necessary bills (and sentences) such as criminal procedure code and evidence act, currency regulation act etc. Practically, we are paying the price for selling the vote with blood and money.
In this scenario you might ask which party to vote in the upcoming council election? The best you can do is be colour blind and focus on the task of finding who has the capacity, integrity, ethics to do a decent job for your island and you will be lucky if you find one. The least we can do is not to sell the vote and demand for right resource allocation instead of wasting it on pleasing and pampering the mighty and the powerful.
Comments
And to what you said about local council elections, we need to see beyond the yellows and the blues and elect competent, experienced and educated people to the positions, regardless of which party he may belong to. Being in a political party never obligates a member to vote the party candidate. For god's sake look at the candidates MDP Fielded for male city council ?? Despite being an MDP member, i would definitely not vote the MDP Candidate, more or less i would abstain from voting because neither of them passes my criteria !
Anyways well written article. Keep up !