I will not stop before courts are reformed as per the wishes of Maldivian citizens: President

President Mohamed Nasheed said today that the courts will be reformed as per the wishes of Maldivian citizens within one and a half years, and that he will not stop working in this regard before this is achieved.

Speaking at a ceremony held in Hulhumale’ to present land tenure agreements to designated recipients, the President said that MDP’s manifesto is the constitution of the Maldives and that this constitution says that Judges appointed to courts should have basic education. He said that justice has to be established in the courts in order for MDP to fulfill the most important promise it made to Maldivians.

“We will end our five years in power after establishing courts as per your wishes. I will not end it any other way,” the President said.

The President said that the issue of the courts is also connected to housing issues, and that several cases relating to the development of the country have been held up in the past three years due to inefficiency of the courts system.

“The courts tried to hinder the construction of the airport. Housing, development of Male’, the bridge between Male’ and Hulhumale’, all these projects are held up because of the courts,” the President said.

The President further said that 21,000 applications had been received for houses and that houses will be provided to 10,000 applicants in the next three years. He guaranteed housing for every Maldivian citizen, and said that Maldivians should have the possibility to live wherever they want in the country.

“I guarantee that housing will be provided to all Maldivians and residents of Male’. This is obvious in the current situation and definitely not impossible for this government to achieve. We will do this for everyone,” the President said.

15 land tenure agreements were handed over in today’s ceremony.