Reference: 23/02/2012

29 February 2012

Chief Advisor Admits Dr. Waheed Regime has no Democratic Mandate and is only a “Transitional Government”

Senior Advisor to Dr. Mohamed Waheed, Dr. Hassan Saeed, has admitted that the Dr. Waheed regime does not have a mandate to govern and is thus no more than a transitional government with the sole responsibility of preparing the ground for fresh elections. He has also cast doubt on the independence and impartiality of the announced National Inquiry Commission (NIC) by highlighting that such an investigation should have international participation and should be composed of individuals acceptable to all parties – neither of which is true of the NIC.


In further excerpts from his speech to students in London last week, Dr. Saeed notes that Dr. Waheed “is politically the weakest person in the Maldives” and does not command “a single seat in parliament”. He also asserts that because of its lack of any kind of democratic mandate, the Dr. Waheed regime is nothing more than a “transitional government” and its “biggest mandate, the obligation of this government is to have free and fair elections”.


Dr. Saeed also underlined the importance of a credible independent investigation into the events of 7th February, and identified the two necessary elements to ensure that independence – international involvement and an inquiry team acceptable to all – neither of which has been fulfilled by Dr. Waheed. “As a citizen I want to know what really happened on that day [the 7th February]. I want to know because I was in involved in the reform process. I voted President Nasheed for a five-year term. So I am interested as a citizen to know why someone I voted for a five-year term has to go within 3 years…That is why even if [inaudible] the EU wants it or not, we will do that…The people [conducting the inquiry] must be acceptable to all. Personally my thinking is, what I want most is for a foreign team to come and do that. That is what I want”.


Dr. Saeed makes clear in his talk that only a credible impartial inquiry can resolve the controversies around the resignation of President Nasheed and thus the legitimacy of the current government. “If the government does it [investigate what happened on the 8th?] there’ll be no credibility, right? The other alternative is to go for a judicial inquiry. But the issue we face is that there is no confidence in judges, right? So the same issue arises”.


Turning to the events of 7th February, Dr. Saeed confirmed that after elements of the police mutinied and confronted officers in the army still loyal to President Nasheed, the President was faced with a choice – either to use live firearms to restore order or not, and he chose not to. “The only choice left to President Nasheed was to use live firearms. I really don’t know anything regarding whether he ordered to do that. I don’t think he did. My belief is [he] never gave instructions at any time to use live firearms. After failing to in the first confrontation of police with the MNDF using rubber bullets, the only choice left was to order to use live ammunition”.

ENDS

Hamid Abdul Ghafoor
Spokesperson, International Affairs

Mobile: +9607778285
Tel: +9603340044