Dr. Munavvar says he will not let Gayoom victimize nation

Dr. Mohamed Munavvar President of the Maldivian Democratic Party competing in the party presidential primaries has said that he will not let the country be a victim of President Gayoom’s personal agenda. Speaking at the ceremony held in Dhihdhoo of Ha Atoll to kick start his campaign Dr. Munavvar said that he is working hard to prevent President Gayoom from victimizing the country.

“The objective of President Gayoom’s reform agenda is to prolong his hold on power. When he launched his reform agenda he talked about constitutional reform, he mentioned a lot of the other things, one of them is that no body should remain in office of the president for more than two terms. Finally when all the amendments are completed we are hearing from President Gayoom’s own mouth that he can still stand re election under the revised constitution.

Considering the way amendments are introduced and the spirit of reform, no person shall hold the office of the president for more than 2 terms, there is no provision in the constitution that gives an exemption to Maumoon Abdul Gayoom” said Dr. Munavvar. In addition Dr. Munavvar said if President Gayoom stand election in violation of the constitution, MDP would do everything in their power to prevent him from contesting and if necessary MDP would take up the matter with the Supreme Court. “After he assumed office on 11 November 2003, people of this country have had no peace, there is no security or harmony among us any more, the capital of the country is not safe any more, we are not sure of returning to our home without being attacked by a knife or a sword, hardened criminals are being released for political purposes.

One of the things that can be seen right through out President Gayoom’s term is the handing out of sentences to suit him which has resulted in the lack of respect for the law, no body obeys or respect the law any more, this is the current status quo of our nation, if we elect him again we will be faced with far worse conditions than this. We cannot do that, we can’t tolerate this any longer” said Dr. Munavvar. Dr. Munavvar also said that President Gayoom should not use the powers of his office to prolong his hold on power.

“Our constitution says all powers of the state originate from the people, if we believe in the philosophy then the actual power is with the people, this campaign is not about ruling, our aim here is not to rule, we had rulers in this country in the past, in the days of kings and kingdoms, but those days are gone now, now whoever we elect is going to be a servant of the people, your servant is what the person who is elected should say and not the other way about” said Dr. Munavvar whose campaign theme is “Your Servant”.