Ex-president Yameen taunts ‘failed’ government

Former president Abdulla Yameen on Thursday night taunted the government over the escape of his former deputy, calling it a security failure that warranted the resignation of the incumbent.

Addressing supporters at a sparsely-attend rally at the capital’s eastern artificial beach, Yameen lambasted the current administration, which he accused of nepotism, incompetence and failure to maintain border security.

“If you can’t check how people who depart and leave from Malé were able to do it, shouldn’t you say ‘I can’t do this,’ give up and step aside,” he said, referring to his former vice president Ahmed Adeeb fleeing as a stowaway on a tugboat in defiance of a travel ban imposed by the Supreme Court.

The alleged safe refuge offered to fugitive Abdulla Luthfee by the Maldives embassy in Sri Lanka was meanwhile the “biggest atrocity” committed by the government, for which senior officials should take responsibility and resign, he said.

In only his second speech at an opposition rally since losing September’s presidential election, the 59-year-old opposition leader accused his successor of politicising the judiciary and independent institutions, a criticism that his administration faced over the jailing of opposition leaders.

“People raise questions over receiving justice or fairness outside of political influence. Is this the proper principle of democracy?” he asked.

President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has failed to raise incomes and carry out development projects, he continued, claiming that economic growth has slowed and that the foreign currency reserve has been depleted since he left office.

The situation was so dire that the government was unable to pay civil servants, he claimed.

Yameen went on to mock the recent name reversal of the Rasrani Bacheega to Sultan Park.

The government was covering up failure to launch infrastructure projects with lies and deception while trying to take credit for projects of his administration, Yameen contended.

“When we built flats, it has become too small for them. Now they’re trying to make changes to the flats and make it so that it would be done fully by this government. The other day they opened a park like this. They’ve opened a big park at Rasrani Bacheega. They’ve opened Sultan Park. What large projects they’re completing,” he said.