Retired army major Najah replaces Muaz as Fenaka’s managing director

Major (Retired) Mohamed Najah was appointed as the managing director of Fenaka Corporation on Monday, mere hours after the state utility company’s former head Mohamed Muaz Rasheed announced his resignation.

The Privatization and Corporatization Board (PCB) announced Najah’s appointment in a statement on Monday afternoon.

Following his retirement from the Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF), Najah worked as an assistant general manager at Happy Market – one of the largest wholesale distributors in the Maldives.

Najah takes charge of a company that is grappling with mounting financial woes.

His predecessor, Muaz, had announced his resignation earlier on Monday after one year of service, expressing frustration over what he described as an “impossible” situation, which he blamed on a staggering MVR 4.3 billion in debt at the time of his appointment, having to hire employees beyond the corporation’s capacity, lack of cooperation from relevant authorities to rightsize the corporation, a significant mismatch in cash flow, and the failure to clear years of backlog created due to lack of proper maintenance of utility services in multiple islands.

Muaz said that despite the dire situation, he had initiated multiple efforts to improve the efficiency of the corporation’s operations and cut costs, which he said had helped save over MVR 160 million in expenses by the end of October.

“But I want to bring to your attention that given the high debt the corporation has racked up, reducing operational costs alone is not enough to save the corporation from the situation it currently faces,” said Muaz, in his letter to President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu.

He also expressed frustration over lack of cooperation from relevant authorities.

“As such, I hereby resign from the position of managing director of Fenaka Corporation Limited effective immediately, as due to having to spend well beyond the revenue it generates, the corporation’s operational capacity has deteriorated to the level that it is unable to provide services in a sustainable manner, and I find no path for a resolution to this situation by remaining in this post,” he said.

Fenaka has seen the number of employees increase by thousands throughout different administrations, pushing it deeper and deeper into financial crisis.

The incumbent administration had initially planned to merge Fenaka into the State Trading Organization (STO), but later cancelled the plans.