Solih: New administration has done nothing but boost political appointments

The new Maldivian administration has done nothing but appoint more and more political appointees to high-paying posts, says former Maldivian leader Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.

Solih, who is a nationwide tour of Maldives to rile up support for the main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) candidates in the upcoming parliamentary elections, made the remark in a visit to L. Gan on Sunday.

Addressing a rally in Gan, Solih said that President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu’s administration is not running any projects.

“Where are the development projects started in the last five months? But they halted 1,700 projects we initiated,” he said.

“There’s money allocated in this year’s budget for these projects. But after stopping these [projects], the only thing they are doing is appointing more people to political posts and paying them salaries. They are doing nothing else,” he said.

Solih, who now serves as an advisor at MDP, suggested that “either the incumbent administration does not know how to manage the budget or it is deliberately trying to keep the people enslaved.”

He accused the administration of intimidating voters, especially those employed in state-run companies.

“MDP will always rise up against this,” he said.

MDP has repeatedly expressed concern over the high number of apolitical appointments made by the PPM-PNC administration.

Addressing Sunday’s rally, Solih said the people now realize that they made a “mistake” during the 2023 presidential elections. He alleged that President Muizzu based his campaign on “lies and deceit.”

“I see MDP winning the seats by a landslide again, In Sha Allah,” he said, referring to the party’s historic win in the 2019 parliamentary elections.

The allegations of intimidation of government employees and increased hirings for political gain has been repeatedly denied by the government.

The parliamentary elections is scheduled for April 21.

Total 368 candidates are contesting for 93 parliamentary seats in this year’s elections. The highest number of candidates are from the MDP – which is contesting 90 seats.