BACK TO BASICS

'minivan' media- on paper only!

2011-01-28T16:34:00.007+05:00

I bumped into this bright young kid friend working in a private radio/tv station. She aspires to be a journalist after completing her a ‘levels.

‘You know, you guys are ***ing on our head in the name of independent journalism. We want facts and only facts and no opinions. ..’ I blurted out and went on and on about expressing our frustration with the media. In her defense she told me this

‘You know, we can’t show certain colours, people, pictures and read particular news’. Some of you may not be surprised to hear that but I was shocked.

What?!! Did they specifically instruct to do so?’ I asked her

No, it’s done very subtly and I want to get out from this circus and i’m not gonna do journalism. Changed my mind you know’. She said

Listening to factual, objective, well analyzed news and reports are a dream; we thought we realized with the new constitution. Truth is far from it and the whole media is guilty of playing partisan politics in the name of national interest and independent media. Each and every news channel is like a mouthpiece of a certain party. I guess its time we demand for a law on independent media.

The Perfect Honest to the Core and Willing to die for National interest MPs, will need a little push to pass such a law, before we lose our sanity.

Fat salaries, blood, money and the vote!

2011-01-22T16:22:00.001+05:00

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 (literarily 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.

Taming the citizens in charge of Artificial Citizens

2010-10-20T11:44:00.009+05:00

A friend of mine told me nowadays the fisherman does not bring the whole catch at once to the fish market- to control the price of fish and by the end of the day sometimes he has to throw the excess into the sea! That’s from the primary level.

When you look at the tertiary level the topic that appears in most headlines is 'shortage' of dollars and the resulting black market. (A little bit of research here and there (wiki, tourism ministry, stats) gave some figures. Basically, on average a tourist stays for 8 days and spends about 755 dollars (or foreign currencies). From July- September 2009 tourist arrival is 44332, 52388, 50396 respectively. A rough calculation on how much dollars (or foreign currencies) should be entering into the country from July- September gave a staggering 1.2 billion; 1.2 billion in foreign currencies should be circulating for various transactions within the tourism industry alone in the Maldives!)

You might say we are corrupt from top to the bottom. Of course we are and we will be fools if we expect power brokers in high places to address such issues in a society that flourishes on nepotism, greed and all the vices you can name.

Anyway, that got me to thinking and I stumble upon this e-book on power and accountability while googling..... It is based on United States, but it’s worth a read if you are interested in taming the wild corporate tigers and businesses. A quick skim through the book gave the insights below

A company or registered business (Artificial citizens) accepts the benefits, rights and protection of the system to pursue profits.
In return it is an obligation and a responsibility of the entity and its owners to conduct their business in a manner that is consistent with public welfare.

If we want a vibrant society that is based on justice, fairness and equity, it is the business of the public to see that the above ideals are a reality. Sadly, civil society action on corporate accountability, business ethics, and corporate social responsibility is almost nil and we need to change that.

References

Power and Accountablity by Rober A.G Monks and Nell Menow

United and on top

2010-10-15T21:04:00.001+05:00

It pays to be united. Who would miss the opportunity to be in the top of the lists of any feasibility study on investments, projects, plans, schemes? For an answer check the results of last referendum on administrative islands. Anyhow, now on, Addu will be referred as the largest island in the Maldives in terms of size and most probably with regard to trade, commerce and industrialization as well -in the near future. Congratulations!

Atoll Facts: before and after Presidential Decree (2010/15) on inhabited islands of the Maldives

Atoll	Total inhabited islands before decree	Total inhabited islands after decree	Atoll population (census) 2006	Largest natural island/district(s) in the atoll (area in hectares)
Male	1	1	46,647	Male'	197
Ha	16	14	19500	Baarah	248.8
Hdh	16	13	22,186	Hanimaadhoo	259.5
Sh	16	14	14679	Milandhoo	125.5
N	13	13	14,042	Kedhikolhudhoo	218.7
R	15	15	19138	Fainu	50.1
B	13	13	11,993	Goidhoo	113.5
Lh	5	5	11205	felivaru	42.5
K	9	9	10,009	Kaashidhoo	276.5
AA	8	8	6246	Thoddoo	142.2
Adh	10	10	8,679	Dhigurah	42.8
V	5	5	2162	Felidhoo *	11.8
M	9	8	6,499	Kolhufushi	75.6
F	5	5	4713	Nilandhoo	49
Dh	8	7	6,740	Kudahuvadhoo	67
Th	13	13	13938	Kadoodhoo	78.2
L	12	11	14,464	Gan	516.6
Ga	10	9	12188	Kodey	104.4
Gdh	10	9	18,485	Vaadhoo	167.3
Gn	1	1	10193	Fuvahmulah	420
S	6	1	29,020	Addu (hithadhoo, feydhoo, maradhoo, maradhoo feydhoo district)	622.8
Total	201	184	302726
Source: Presidents Office, DNP

Lessons from Worlds’ most expensive ‘concrete junkyard’!

2010-10-10T15:03:00.002+05:00

These days, the talks of creating other cities like Male’ is the buzz word. Nobody knows how the Majlis will decide on the issue of granting, another island(s), except Male’, city status by law. The purpose of this post is not to marvel, at the sincerity and commitment of those Mps (especially from the atolls) to meaningful regional development. The million dollar question is do we really want to repeat the Male’ experience?

Male’ is the health capital, educational capital, infrastructure capital, industry and commerce capital, political capital ...etc of the Maldives. The residents and non-residents alike are paying the price of someone putting all eggs in one basket by squeezing everything under the sun in this tiny place. There seems to be no end to the rat race for using each and every square meter of land in Male’ for housing shops, offices, Godowns, workshops.....The trees, sun and fresh air have no place here and the ‘ sunny side of life ’ belongs to tourists only, in this part of the Maldives.

To make it worse, the generations who started families before 30-35 years have to worry about housing for their children, grand children, and even great -great children. The children have nowhere to go except -the sea maybe? Thus each and every person who has even a tiny bit of land wants a 10 storey building that may not be even fit for chickens and pigeons, no matter how shiny and velvety, the inside is! It is sad to say, but Male’ could be, one of the most expensive concrete junkyard in the world! Previous governments (even current power brokers in the parliament - except one member maybe) gave a blind eye to the situation. For instance, we inherited countless regulations on food safety, cleanliness and selling expired items but no such thing to regulate housing for dwelling purposes.

The previous government initially did try to ease the burden on the City of Male’ and its permanent residents by committing to development of regions and reclaiming land in Male’ itself, followed by villingil and Hulhumale’. Again the objective of this post is not to talk about what went wrong with meaningful regional development or how much of the reclaimed land for Male’ were used fairly and equitably, to provide housing for the residents of Male’.

I guess when you really think about it, none would want to repeat the Male’ experience because progress of any kind at the cost of trees, sun, fresh air, open spaces, quite residential areas separate from commercial hubs is not worth the price.

There are so many lessons to be learned by developing regions and cities in the story of Male’. Future councils and planners need to think before making another million dollar mistake by concentrating each and every service in one island. Even the people in bigger islands need to embrace the idea of moving for specialized services; They can go to India for medical purposes and Malaysia for education -right! There is no reason why similar movement within the Maldives cannot be generated. After all sea is part of our life. Perhaps that’s what people are saying in this referendum. We do not want to repeat the Male’ experience!

Everybody hates 'bed tax'!

2010-10-07T09:00:00.009+05:00

It’s strange! It is not this governments’ idea that Maldives should be divided into regions and developed by creating 4 or 5 urban areas where quality services are available. The creator of the policy and ‘champions of decentralization’ (aka previous government on the advise of countless local and international experts) disowning their own creation is a bit of a mystery. Look into each and every plan developed by previous government and you will find the same thing emphasized, magnified again and again in bold letters.

Everybody hates bed tax! That’s why honourable mps in the majlis got rid of it from the balance sheet of their companies by law! Who would entertain the idea of indefinitely paying 80 percent of their income as 'bed tax' to live like refugees in a match box size flat with no air or natural light just to get a decent education, health services and jobs?

So have a heart! We too want live in our own home and where decent education, health services and jobs are plenty. We are giving up one for the other and that should change for democracy in the Maldives to work.

Note: Really wonder who gives policy advice to some mps. Anyone with presidential aspirations can say bye bye to their hopes if they angered the citizens of most populated and largest islands in the country.

The whole thing might backfire!

2010-10-02T14:23:00.003+05:00

So far the noise regarding the referendum on islands proposed as one administrative unit is rather minimal with comments like there should be a law on referendum, and some groupings do not make sense etc. Lack of proper laws is one aspect that stands between us and economic progress; but who is interested in passing such laws. Sometimes it seems that the problem with us is we have too many lawyers and criminals and ‘capitalism without ethics loving politicians’ rather than economists, engineers, doctors, entrepreneurs etc. (I know it’s a contradictory statement-we need honest lawyers and politicians. Don’t laugh.)

Living in a tiny island with a population barely reaching 500 is expensive and risky. You may have to hire a boat for couple of thousand Rufiyaa, even to buy a Panadol or staple food items like rice, floor.., If you can’t wait for a day or two, to get it. Cost to maintain such an island to government is quadruple or even more because the basic services have to be provided in spite of it being available from a nearby island within a 10 minute boat ride. We have solved none of these extraordinary problems requiring ordinary solutions. The end result of this neglect is few people being transferred to the first world while half of the majority is in the third world and the other half is in the prehistoric era.

Nevertheless, the government is not doing enough to educate the people on resulting benefits or loses of the move. Some talk on the ‘ if and possibilities’ is not enough. The people have the right to know the Hows and the Whats! Perhaps the government itself is not clear at the moment about what hardships will be eased up; except that, all will be able to reap the benefits of economics of scale and low transaction costs. In theory, to ensure success of any major change, it’s a must to provide some benefits (cheap ferry services within the administrative unit?) at the initial stage. Otherwise the whole thing might backfire!

Related link: Islands proposed as one administrative Unit (island) for the upcoming referendum: Population before and after merger

For more go to Resource Page

Estimated Government Budget 2010 (For the Islands)

2010-10-02T14:22:00.001+05:00

	Province/Atoll	%	Budget
1	Upper North	22	511,934,507
1.1	Upper North Province Office Budget	2	12,497,325
1.2	Ha	30	155,088,010
1.3	Hdh	45	229,990,985
1.4	Sh	22	114,358,187
2	North	21	487,733,638
2.1	North	2	11,974,214
2.2	N	20	95,900,264
2.3	R	41	197,910,458
2.4	B	19	90,469,797
2.5	Lh	19	91,478,905
3	North Central	13	286,797,663
3.1	North Cenrtral Province Office Budget	4	11,772,247
3.2	K	28	81,603,152
3.3	AA	21	59,561,929
3.4	Adh	37	105,574,356
3.5	V	10	28,285,980
4	Central	9	206,246,519
4.1	Cenral Province Office Budget	5	10,627,493
4.2	M	28	57,179,623
4.3	F	30	62,516,900
4.4	Dh	37	75,922,503
5	Upper South	12	270,775,295
5.1	Upper South Province Office Budget	5	12,612,636
5.2	Th	38	101,780,713
5.3	L	58	156,381,946
6	South Central	11	253,655,791
6.1	South Central Province Office Budget	5	13,552,243
6.2	Ga	38	96,644,926
6.3	Gdh	57	143,458,622
7	South	12	266,492,310
7.1	South Province Office Budget	5	12,667,269
7.2	Gn	31	81,499,827
7.3	S	65	172,325,215
	Total	100	2,283,635,724
	Source: Ministry of Finance and Treasury

Largest and most populated islands

2010-10-02T14:22:00.000+05:00

Largest Islands in the Maldivess
		Area 1_/	Population
		( in hectares )	(census 2006)
HA	Filladhoo	225.6	936
HA	Baarah	248.8	1,684
HDh	Hanimaadhoo (Airport)	259.5	1,354
HDh	Nolhivaramu	221.1	2,045
N	Kedhikolhudhoo	218.7	1,507
K	Kaashidhoo	276.5	1,946
L	Isdhoo	293.7	2,069
L	Gan	516.6	2,537
Gn	Fuvahmulah *	420.0	10,193
S	Hithadhoo *	467.3	13,769

Most populated Islands in the Maldives
		Area 1_/	Population
		( in hectares )	(census 2006)
HA	Dhidhdhoo *	50.6	3,496
HDh	Kulhudhuffushi *	172.2	7,777
R	Kadholhudhoo	11.2	3,679
Lh	Hinnavaru	12.6	4,367
Lh	Naifaru *	14.3	4,512
Ga	Viligili *	55.0	2963
Gdh	Thinadhoo *	104.4	6376
Gn	Fuvahmulah *	420.0	10193
S	Hithadhoo *	467.3	13769
S	Meedhoo	166.0	4631
Source	DPND

Hypocrites!

2010-09-19T09:08:00.005+05:00

Here comes the stink bomb and political heavy weights are going to be busy with series of protests and court cases, radio tv programs regarding each and every issue under the sun except this one. Even the media seems to be uninterested in the issue (article below). My question is it a fair deal for the investors as a whole, the people, and the country or for a select few?

Note-You will find link to more laws related to the issue in the Laws page.

Uncle the Developer and the Hypocrites

2010-09-16T15:56:00.002+05:00

A headline in Haveeru screams that a certain tourism tycoon has sold his resort for 81 million dollars for 18 years; This 81 million dollar resort has 269 beds; That is 4.4 million dollar per year and 16,728.62 dollar per bed, per year. For that money he bought another resort for 40 million dollars. This 40 million dollar resort has 50 beds; That is 1.25 million dollar per year and 25000 dollar per bed, per year. He must be a really happy man after these deals.

In an another event, the Majlis decided that in future, resorts will be charged 8 dollars per square meter as lease rent and 3.5 percent tax from goods and services sold to tourists- in return for extending resort lease period for 50 years. While this movie was being unveiled I thought the political leaders (except from the government) would cry foul as they did for Guantanamo Bay fiasco , firing of Army personal, municipality land selling, airport deal, electricity hike, No province protest etc... since the bill was submitted by the government. At least we got to see the two sides of the coin in each of these incidents. I was looking forward to the debates, the court cases, the protests and so on. However the only thing I heard is silence and more silence regarding the issue. Hypocrites! It must be the most perfect bill the government has ever submitted and passed by the Majlis. Is it a fair deal for the people?

For instance, you give your land for 10 years to develop and within those 10 years the developer (say your uncle) recovers his cost of developing and earns a decent profit. After 10 years you and your children are supposed to get it back and elevate your living standards to another level. However at the end of the lease period ‘Uncle the Developer’ says he wants to make some more profits and pass a Lease Extension Law that mandates to give him an extension of lease period for a nominal fee. Who appointed ‘Uncle the Developer’ to pass the Lease Extension Law? The Children of the Landowner, thinking Uncle knows best. ‘Uncle the Developer’ continues revising The Lease Extension Law whenever lease period expires and the current lease period is 50 years. You do not have any hope that, you, your children or even your grand children would get the land. You remain where you were (economically) for a foreseeable future (4 generations?). Would you still say it is a fair deal? Lets do a simple arithmetic.

Total bed capacity of resorts, as of 2008 is 19860. If the citizens of this country have recovered those Islands at the end of original lease period, and were to sell them for 20000 USD per bed (total resort beds are 19860 as of 2008) per year , we would get about 397,200,000.00 million dollars or 9,076,020,000.00 billion Rufiyaa per year alone from renting those islands. Total government revenue is 7 billion in 2009.

One thing is clear. The head of state (past and current) and this country is controlled by ‘Uncle the Developer’. Who are to blame for this? The People. I mean the Children who sell their vote and vote based on immediate personal favours without thinking long term. The children do not realize that high concentration of ‘Uncle the Developers’ from any one industry in Law making business is bad for the economic health of The Family.

One step forward and three steps backward

2010-09-09T17:32:00.001+05:00

The amendment to decentralization bill to have as many councils as you want has been ratified. According to this amendment each administrative unit (mistakenly) called an island is also to have their separate councils.I checked the meaning of island from the dictionary and it says

“A land mass (smaller than a continent) that is surrounded by water”

Hence I do not understand how anyone can call a part or ward of an island such as kulhduhoo, fares, maathoda, hulhudhoo meedhoo, feydhoo, maradhoo, etc separately an island. Two schools, two island offices, two health centres in an island where it only takes maximum 15 minutes to cover by walk- with a combined population barely reaching a thousand or two is really ridiculous. With that comes ‘artificial ‘job creation in the civil and other services where public money is wasted for zero productivity (5 or 6 billion out of 7 billion revenue as salaries) and the result is fat and expensive administration.

We gave up the choice to have a lean administration with minimal costs and save the money to use for productive work that would contribute to better quality of life.

Its a win for the politicians a great loss for the people!

Divide and rule!

2010-09-07T16:59:00.003+05:00

We are an unfortunate lot. I mean we are already divided geographically to insignificant proportions making it unsustainable, unfeasible and not viable to do and sustain anything valuable. (On top of that some bigger islands want to stay divided administratively to get two or more councils!!). In this state the perks available to any ruler is ignorance of his subjects, them being busy with their quarrels, arguments, and differences to notice the sorry state they are in.
This makes The Maldives a heaven to get power, to stay in power and sustain that power without doing much, for centuries to come!

Let me get to the point.

According to last census, 75 islands have a population of less than 500, 58 islands have a pop. between 500-1000, and only 65 islands have more than 1000 pop.

If I have my way, an inhabited island should have at least 1000 pop (which is not much). If it does not fit the criteria, the people should be offered the option to move to bigger islands.

Any island with 1000 plus pop. and up to 3000 should be made to a Satellite Island (like vilingilli and hulhumale’) linked to a city (island)

I guess everybody knows this, but somehow most politicians are determined to keep us divided so that they will have an easy way out- to stay in power without doing much. When will the people realize to prosper they need to unite and unite?

End of isolation

2009-01-31T19:36:00.003+05:00

I’ve been away from blogging for quite a while. It’s not because of lack of issues that I care about and want my voice to be heard of. I have been meaning to write this article for sometime.

My first blog post on December 2007, was about lack of access to bigger markets, and mobiltiy of labour and resources in the absence of a nation wide transport system.

On November 2008, I was delighted to hear about launching of a Nation wide transport Network by the new government. We have voiced, screamed, and have written about many things that can be done to make this nation a better place. However state bodies responsive to public sentiments are a rarity in Maldives. Hence the announcement came as a pleasant surprise and ever since than I have been meaning to write about it.

The plan if implemented can provide solutions to most acute problems (Lack of easy access to bigger markets, no easy way to mobilize labor and resources and Isolation) facing the island communities. Registered population as at 2005 shows that 32 islands have a population of less than 500, 110 islands have less than 1000, 169 islands have less than 2000 and only 27 islands have a population of more than 2000 people. In such a scenario how can one expect any investor to invest or even locals to generate a decent income by staying in the islands?

Hence a nation wide transport network could provide access to bigger markets, enable mobility of labor and resources and most importantly end the isolation of many island communities- giving population consolidation a new meaning.

However, the island communities will need tools, resources and other assistance to engage in income generating activities within the atoll or island level. One such tool is introduction of Business Incubation facilities at island, atoll, and national levels to complement the transport system that is to be implemented. The idea is to provide a platform for budding entrepreneurs and start-up firms to get established.

If you want to know more about Dhathuru or comment on it , click here.

A Nation Sold Out!

2008-07-30T19:10:00.006+05:00

We often talk about how corrupt are the politicians and those who are in high offices. I would say all of us are bonded through the chain corruption.

First we sell our vote to the highest bidder, digging our own grave.
The members than sell his/her vote to the Ultimate Buyer for money, position, power and so on
The Ultimate Buyer, instead of meeting our demands, controls the members through the chain of corruption; we become helpless and our hopes for a decent life and a prosperous future gone.
We cry, and whine saying how corrupt is the Majlis, the government and each and everyone who are in positions of power.
After 21 days* we forget about everything and go about our lives and in between if some need arise, we beg the member or the Ultimate Buyer
the member or the Ultimate buyer fulfills the need, on the promise of selling our vote again.

It’s a vicious circle

My request

to Mps - to include vote buying/selling undue inducement as a criminal offence under electoral Law with sever punishments for the seller and the buyer
to NGOs- A campaign on “Selling your vote is selling your (or islands') future or Don’t sell your vote” is perhaps more important than Go Vote campaign.
To religious scholars and Adhalath Party- campaign to educate voters on bribery and punishment for that
Anybody (Maldives Election watch, SLP,? ) interested in doing a study on the topic. the results could be an eye opener to plan for future.

and please target the island NGOs, ‘cause normally vote buyers first buy the island NGOs, which often are the most powerful group in island politics. The next is the individual power brokers and lastly the ordinary people.

*A theory reportedly came from the house of Ultimate Buyer, which says attention span of Maldivians lasts for only 21 days and if you can sustain till than, you can get away with anything.

For those interested in reading laws on vote buying and voting offences here are some links.

Election offences- local electorate act 2001 NZ
http://216.239.59.104/search?q=cache:p1Xme6_8uHMJ:www.northshorecity.govt.nz/PDFs/Elections/Booklet/Election-offences.pdf+voting+offences&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=4&gl=mv

Electoral act 2002 aus, victoria
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/vic/consol_act/ea2002103/s151.html

Ghana criminal code makes vote buying an offence http://business.africanpath.com/article.cfm?articleID=48279

Joke: Understanding Maldivian political system

2008-04-01T09:05:00.006+05:00

A joke I recived from a friend. Modifed to add Maldivian flavor. Read and N-joy!

Son: "Dad, I have to do a special report for school.Can I ask you a question?"

Father:"Sure son. What is the question?"

Son: "What is Maldivian Political system?"

Father:"Well. let's take our home for example. I'm the head of the family, so let's call me Government. Your mother makes the most decisions in the house ,so let's call her Majlis. We take care of your needs, so let's call you The People.We'll call the maid The Working class and your baby brother we can call The Future. Do you understand son?

Son: "I'm not really sure,dad. I'll have to think about it."

That night awakened by his brother crying,the boy went to see what was wrong. Discovering that the baby had seriously soiled his diaper,the boy went to his parents room and found his mother sound asleep. He went to the maids's room,where,peeking through the keyhole,he saw his father in bed with the maid.The boy's knocking went totally unheeded by his father and the maid, so the boy returned to his room and went back to sleep.

The next morning he reported to his father.

Son: "Dad,now I think I understand Maldivian political system."

Father:"Good son! Can you explain it to me in your own words?"

Son: "Well dad,while Government is screwing The Working Class, Majlis is sound asleep, The People are being completely ignored and The Future is full of shit.

Missing from interim arrangement: State enterprise commission

2008-01-26T10:27:00.000+05:00

ISSUE

Both Majilses are busy proposing independant commissions that they think will benefit democracy and protecting rights of the people. There is one area they have ignored or have forgotten;

Safeguarding the assets of the people owned by state enterprises
Protecting state enterprises from bad management and politics.

CORE PROBLEM

State owned companies are often used as a political tool to reward people who show certain affiliations or punish people who refuse to show loyalty towards the establishment. Hence top management team and the Board are often cluttered with people who would not know how to read a financial statement even if it hit them on the head. When it comes to appointment of people to the top jobs in these companies, competencies required to take state enterprises, to a competitive level locally and internationally, often takes a back seat.

The consequence is-

At one time or another most of state enterprises have gone bankrupt or have faced serious financial problems because of corruption and also because of bad management.
Assets of state enterprises (wholly or partially owned) are often used during political campaigns. These assets include the staff, funds or cash and other assets such as vessels (sea and land).

Hence saving only civil servants (dhaulathuge muvazafun, they are not government servants) is not enough to hold free and fair elections now and beyond. Politicians on all sides need to prevent state enterprises (wholly or partially owned) being misused by any party for political gain.

REMEDY

Introducing totally independant State Enterprise Commission with the mandate of

Appointing board of directors to state owned enterprises.
nominating people for board of directors in companies that is partially owed by the state
regulating state enterprises
regulating prices of utilities (electricity, water, basic telephony)

Formula to Appointing members to the commission could be similar to other Commissions already formed.

One may say that all such problems will be solved if we privatized state owned companies. State owned companies that can be privatized should be privatized. The question is do we have time for that during the interim period. Anyhow state ownership of companies will continue since some goods cannot be left to govern based on free market principals. Even if all including utilities are privatized, prices of such companies are regulated in most countries by a commission. In such a mechanism utility prices cannot be used to score political points during election. Till we see such a day, a State enterprise Commission is a must to safeguard assets owned by the people and to protect state enterprises from bad management and politics.

The price of isolation

2008-01-04T20:44:00.001+05:00

THE SITUATION

"Emerging trend shows that the Northern atolls are becoming poorer compared to the southern atolls." 7th National Development Plan.

A survey on Vulnerability and poverty was conducted in 1998 and 2004.

According to 2004 survey report, 'Households living in the South had the best chance of escaping poverty and the lowest probability of falling back. Households in the North region faced the highest probability of remaining in, or falling into, poverty'.

For Development purposes the country is divided into five regions; North, North Central, Central, South Central and South. Thus developmental projects are aimed at covering major regions rather than a single atoll. The above report also states that“Income poverty is evidently greatest in the North (Ha, Hdh. Sh) and Central North, and apart from Male’, it is lowest in South and Central South”

WHY

There is no single reason for poverty. However one very important reason could be isolation: The existence of many numbers of islands with small populations, without easy acceccsiblity to anywhere, limiting access to economic opportunities and demand for goods and services.

What is also obvious is that in this region (ha, Hdh, Sh), collective effort and action from the grass root level, to lift ourselves from poverty is lacking. At the same time we are very inactive in, effectively lobbying and pressuring the relevant parties to help us achieve our desired goals.

It is crucial that the region (ha, Hdh, Sh) as a whole should come together and join hands with all stake holders in order to make a difference and lift ourselves from poverty.

RAISING OUR VOICE

We can raise our voice on many issues. However, to get results, initially it is wise to concentrate on few, which are CRUCIAL to make a difference. That is

1. Population consolidation
2. Population consolidation
3. Population consolidation
4. Education and awareness

5. Economic opportunities (esspecially access to markets)

Atolls and islands should start biding for investments

2007-12-29T08:08:00.000+05:00

Maldivian work force has two main concerns. That is:-

-They have to leave their family and come to Male’ in search of jobs, thereby creating lot of social and other problems
-Tourism industry benefits a few people and not the majority of the population.

In order to address the above problems, islands were leased to build resorts in number of atolls and MTDC was formed to provide an opportunity for majority of the population, a way to take ownership of resorts and provide a direct income source. The question is, is MTDC the right formula to address the above complaints?

People started to have doubts after firing of two experienced staff from Herethere Resort.

Imagine a different scenario. What if some of the islands to build resorts (or even other investments like fisheries and agriculture) were given to the atoll itself? (It is a known fact that many people from Addu work in tourism industry at various levels. Consequently, Addu atoll has a pool of experienced and skilled people who are capable of undertaking a project like Herethere and Villingli.)

In such a setup, the atolls can pay the s rent to the state and the profit from the resort or the investments can be used to develop the region.

Often, capacities are shown as a reason for not decentralizing economic and other opportunities. The ideal situation will be giving the ownership of investments to the atoll and assist them in areas they lack capacities. Ministries like Atolls Development can play such a role rather than acting as a controller of power (COP).

In terms of economic growth we are crawling compared to countries like India. If such a decentralized formula is used, I’m sure that we will start to run and it will be difficult for any country to catch up with us. Atoll and island development committees, should start biding for investments. If the rules are restricting it, change the rules.

A better approach would be the state assigning some uninhabited islands to communities for industrial purposes and aiding them to make it a success.

1000 islands, 1000 opportunities

2007-12-27T08:35:00.000+05:00

Often we are bombarded with messages stating, we do not have any natural resources and therefore we are poor. Just because we do not have oil does not mean we lack natural resources to move our economy forward. When you think of it, the 1000 more islands are the natural resources we have. We are using less than 150 islands for industrial purposes. The rest is untouched and unused.

Tourism has shown that each island can be turned into multi million dollar cash generating investments. However, the problem is policy makers seems unable to think beyond tourism. Policies in assigning islands for industrial purposes need to be reviewed and prevent over concentration on tourism in a single atoll.

Within the atolls (including Kaafu and other atolls that has high concentration of tourism), islands can be leased to fisheries, agriculture, education, health, and many more other industries and make them easily accessible for people to go for jobs or to acquire goods and services. Building the best hospital, best college, best school, best hotel, best shoping complex, just in one tiny over crowded island does not make any sense. If the reason is concentration of all skilled labour in Male’, at least a nearby islands with boarding facilities could have been chosen to setup the best of the best to ease up the situation.

Just because all the islands that are nearby Male’, are resorts, there is no reason to cram everything into this tiny place. Resorts can be taken and used for other purposes just like k. villingli has been used. Even better option is to spread such services across the country in selected uninhabited islands and provide easy accessibility.

It should have come before the Muthaqadhim Party!

2007-12-26T10:33:00.000+05:00

We may be more than 1000 year old country but, we do not have the backbone needed for any economic growth; that is a Nationwide Affordable Transport system. We do not have such a system, in spite of having a government Ministry named after transport. Being a small island state, we need two things.

-Access to bigger markets
-Mobility of labor and resources.

We cannot have those without, a nation wide affordable transport mechanism and port (air or sea) facilities. Absence of such a mechanism connecting islands that have hospitals or schools in an atoll, is one of the main reason that lead to congestion in Male’ area. It is cheaper to travel to Male’ than to the nearest island in your atoll.

Furthermore, it also makes traveling by air doubly expensive. Setting up airports without a ferry system does not make good economic sense. Within the atolls they do not travel, they do not talk and they do not exchange goods and services. Consequently, cash is generated in Male’ and ends up in Male’. It dose not stay long in any part of the country. Hence, in comparison, productivity is nil in 199 islands of the Maldives except Male’.

Actually this should have come before or at the same time as the Muthaqadhim party and the countless campaigns (literacy campaign, rebuilding island offices etc) afterwards. It is sad that none of our leaders realized the importance of such a mechanism or even if realized, did not do anything to change it.

One may think that such a mechanism will be very expensive for the state to implement. I disagree. For instance, the state is able to provide each and every atoll chief, with an expensive vessel for travelling. It lay idle most of the time. What if, the money is used to buy a vessel that can be used to give minimum ferry services within the atoll. The atoll chief could use the same vessel for traveling.

State money should first be used to ease hardships of the citizens and perks to top officials should come later if only we can afford it, after providing all the basic services.