The public have an insatiable curiosity to know everything. Except what is worth knowing. Journalism, conscious of this, and having tradesman-like habits, supplies their demands.
- "Oscar Wilde"
On 5th December 2009, My mobile phone made me woke up earlier than all the days a text message from a friend of mine. I was so eager to read the message as it came very early in the morning thought that it might be a good message. When I went through the message it really made me laugh because it was all about a message which has been passing phone to phone about 2010 budget. It took moment to think and understand what exactly trying to say in the message.
To me, with my limited knowledge, budget is something that should reflects things that can be done or possible within the financial year by not depending the loans but rather with the help of governement income. In this case, I am not at all surprised to see that there was nothing mentioned in the budget about our island.
In the past, budgets were prepared by mentioning many projects to be carried out in various isands with the mere hope of getting loans from financial organization and as a grant aid. Consequently these unsaid wirtten statement were considered as a promise. Often the case is that, at the end of the year, none but few project were materialized and while others were left with nothing. Further, the this practice was a cheap technique which have been using the old regime in order to gain the political advantages by manipulating the the right picture. For example, You go through the budgets of last 10 years from 2008, most definitely what you will see is simply written projects rather than materialized ones. Let's take the case of our island, For how many years has it been mentioned in the budget to be carried out the sewerage system with help of Kuwait Fund which originally started recently only. Let alone not this example, the case of reclamation project is one of the most evident example. So how many other islands were there simply neglected in a similar fashion by simply mentioning in the budget projects to be done.
I would not call these things anything other than false promises a cheap techinique to gain the political advantage from our people by making them day dream.
I would like call all thimarafushians that, never ever get carried away so easily, there is no harm even if nothing mentioned in the budget and mentioning something in the budget won't guerentee you anything. Consider the past examples, we brought this coalition led government not to repeat the same old mistakes that we were truely neglected. If not what is the difference between having an autocratic regime and a democratic one.
The annual net income of our country is around MRF 7 billion and out of that 5 billion are paid to to government employees and with the remaining 2 billion we had to manage all the other things including infrastructure projects. thus, what we can do is to increase our productivity rather than simply staying back at home and expecting governement will do everything. This is a free market economy and everything will depends on demand and supply. Take the example of Singapore and her condition in 1970's and now and have a vision in our mind and be faithful, Insha Allah, our faith will pay back the dividends we deserved.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
My friend Mr. Assad called me some days ago and asked me to come to his office for some important reasons. When I get into his office, he asked me to write some letter to the some of the government authorities about various issues about thimarafushee. To be honest, I was very reluctant to involve any of such things as I was not treated well and fairly, specially during election time. If you ask me thousand times, I would say, I was right and I never did any sin. But as it was purely about thimarafushi, I couldn't ask much I wrote all three letters and given to him instantly.
Again last week he called me and said that the NGO's are reluctant to sign on the paper and they don't want to pressure the government at any cost. What a ridiculous attitude is this? but on the way, Mr. Musthafaa does not want lose a single second without giving pressure to the governemt about the commitments. As an example he took Guraidhoo and their people's bravery when it comes to development of their beloved island.
What i see from our island is opposit. So better you guys to stop your mouth and do something practical and show it to our people.
I was called for a meeting with Mr. Mohamed Musthafa, one of the MP's and elected from our constituent. When I get into his office along with some of the close friends from island, I was not sure what was schedule and what was decided to talk in the meeting. Anyway it was interesting and a fruitfull meeting although we had to wait more than an hour out in the lobby waiting for him to call up our turn.
When sat in the meeting room, immediately he started talking about the island and various development activities and what was the motive of the motive of that meeting. I took my turn and waste no time questioning him about various issues like the promised mega pack development project which was signed back in May 2009. He has shown me the agreement signed between the so called investor and in every sense it look like a fake agreement. Initially, it was declared that the so called investor is an Italian based consortium or whatever, but in the agreement it was clearly mentioned that it was a UK registered one.
In my next turn, I asked him something related to legitimacy of his candidacy due to ongoing cases in the lower courts and supreme court. He grossly ruled out all the cases by saying all the cases are all about a company and not himself and hence he is not liable for it.
My next question was about his popularity and I told him that his popularity is going down due to his own cause, as he made as customary practice to talk about Gayyoom in the parliament even if the issue is not at all related to Gayyoom and his old powerhouses. At the end, he agreed to minimize it.
The six members who stand against the idea of abolishing the party have signed a letter to file a case against Umar Naseer at Maldives Police Service and Election Commission. A meeting was held last night and out of six, five members were attended took the decision.
The members also decided to contact Mr. Hussain Zaheen, one of the council members before registering the case, as he made a request by saying to grant him some more days to make a decision whether or not he should make a public plea on this issue.
The six members who stand against the idea of abolishing IDP have unanimously decided to take legal action against Mr. Umar Naseer for closing the party office last Friday. The members were angered about the contents in the interview given to Haveeru Daily by Mr. Umar Naseer on 1st of September 2009, Tuesday.
Further details will be published progressively.....
It has been weeks of speculation that there is conflicts between Islamic Democratic Party (IDP) council members and party’s President with regard to the future of the party. Since, the speculation began; there was a council meeting held with the purpose of getting approval from the council to abolish the party. After, a long discussion, the council decided to go for a vote and only three votes went for and six, as much as double went against.
However, the council unanimously agreed that the IDP, President can carry out the activities which he was involving in connection with the re-election of Thimarafushee Constituent.
Against the decision and will of majority of the council members, Mr. Umar Naseer has been continuously trying to grip with his decision and giving his views on different medias by saying he will take the issue into the next congress. We as council members, tried our best to convince that he is wrong and it won’t be ethical to go on with his decision to abolish the party, especially being as a President.But rather he can willingly go any political party he wishes after his resignation. However, one must know that, a party is not a single person and it is a collective entity, and he does not have any right to decide on his own.
What more interesting is that, the members who are supporting his decision are his staff members simultaneously IDP council members as well.So, one should not wonder why he is saying majority is not with the outcry of his resignation.
There are many reasons why some of the prominent figures of IDP council are resisting against the idea of abolishing the party.
1-IDP was established for the purpose of promoting certain democratic values in parallel to the Islam.
2-IDP has been playing a very effective role in making the government accountable.
3-IDP was not ready to contest last presidential election, and he Mr. Umar Naseer convinced to the council by saying, “If don’t contest this election, it would be a huge blow for the party and IDP should not be measured in line with other small parties, rather IDP is stronger than the rest and we council members must be responsible for such downfalls if not agreed.” For that reason, we the council members agreed. But one should not measure the strength of IDP by counting the number of votes what Mr. Umar Naseer acquired in last presidential election.
4-Unlike last presidential election, this parliamentary election does not show you anything other than a fight in between a democratically led government who was trying its best to succeed as much number of seats as they could, while a failed group of corrupted leaders who were trying their best to win most number of seat with the help their influence and huge sums of money. Therefore, comparing the effort and money put into the election, the results are not bad. Because, IDP spent just peanuts when compare to the rivals.
5-Independent members of the IDP council (who are not Mr. Umar Naseer’s Staffs) does not believe that the political arena in the Maldives is divided into two, and those members are confident that IDP does have even a bigger and better role to play in the current political grounds.
6-According to party regulation, party cannot be abolished without the will of 2/3 of total members registered and the decision could only be taken by an extra-ordinary congress that represents 2/3 of total party members. How on Earth, it could be done, without amending the party regulation and a call for a congress should be decided by the party council with clear majority.
Due to the reasons above, it is almost impossible to abolish IDP that easily even though Mr. Umar Naseer is determined to do it. I would say that again he is going to ended up with a great disappointment like in the past.
At last, as a fond lover IDP and a council member, I urged Mr. Umar Naseer to resign as soon as possible for the betterment of his political career and us as well. Military rules only follow dictators.....
My daughter was taken to the hospital on 12th August 2009, morning around 9.00am with fever, light cough and unusual fluid seen in genitalia. We got an appointment from one of the Paediatricians and consult with her about my daughter’s sickness. Though, there was an interpreter, I explained everything and replied to all the questions asked by the doctor. The doctor asked some very basic questions like, how often nappy changes, and the cleaning procedure when she passed motion and how long it takes to clean her. On behalf of my wife, I replied to the doctor that we used to change the nappy whenever she urinate or find it the nappy is wet. At the end of the consultation, she prescribed some medicines and asked us to go for a urine test in order to make sure that it was due to urine infection. We were back to home around 10:30am and my wife stayed back home and I went back to office.
Around 1215 at noon, I got a call from my wife saying, that my daughter fell down from a chair and suffered head injury. I was rushed back to home and found that her right side of forehead is badly swelled. We really got scared and took her hospital immediately. It was around 1230 at noon and we straight went to accident and emergency and there we had to wait for some 10 to 15 minutes as emergency room was too crowded and doctors and nurses seems too busy attending other patients. After a short while, a nurse came and tested her fever and it was recorded 105 degrees Fahrenheit. And later in the morning it was recorded 103 degree Fahrenheit that we came to know from the prescription given by the doctor. Later a doctor came and checked the swelled area and advised us to go for an x-ray of her skull. While a nurse was treating with icepack and I went to make a slip for x-ray and take appointment from x-ray room.
After a while, my wife came with my daughter and swelled area was very much healed and we went inside to take her skull x-ray. Once the x-ray was done, I asked my wife to go out and stay until we get the x-ray report. At the same time, we were expecting urine report and I went to collect it from the laboratory. I was just able to reach the counter, I got a call from my wife saying “dhiye (we called her at home)” got fits and she is in Emergency room. When I went there, my daughter was attended by a group of doctors and later one of them told me that, they are not sure, whether it was due to fever or her head injury but medically she is now out of danger and she would respond after a while. I was really concerned and confused. Later I brought x-ray report and urine report and given to the doctor and took me away from my wife and told me that he suspects the skull but since she is below 2 years of age, a surgical doctor’s consideration is required. By then, I was too nervous and I informed my brothers and my wife’s family and explained what had happened?
Around 30 minutes from the time of the incident, a group of surgical doctors came and checked x-ray and told me that there was nothing to worry but since she fell down while playing at home, and at her age, they need to go for a CT scan to rule out any further complications and they are going to admit my daughter at Paediatric ward for another 10 or more days for further investigation. At around, 1530, we were asked to go to ADK hospital for CT scan. We reached ADK around 1615 and along with a nurse from IGMH. We went to CT scan room and my daughter was given an injection which makes her sleep for a while. But it didn’t work really well and my daughter didn’t sleep and we couldn’t take a CT scan although they tried several times. Later we were back to IGMH and next day again we went to take CT scan and it was very successful.
Throughout the period of our stay at IGMH, we were quiet happy the way and how they are treating and in fact they explained us things nicely in all the doctor’s visits. Nurses were very caring and kind enough and my daughter was recovered so rapidly.
Why I am not happy though things above gone so nicely?
As a responsible father, I always make sure my kids are in good health.
1-The first thing that I was not happy was that, at first day on 12th August 2009, morning my daughter was having high fever and the doctor who attended her at paediatric department asked us to go back, knowing the children’s under the age of 5 years are likely to suffer seizure due to high fever. ( she could have at least explain us the scare, so that we could have given her extra care and attention)
2-The second thing is that, at the same day noon again I took my daughter IGMH emergency room as she was having swell on her forehead and they check her fever and it was recorded 105 degrees Fahrenheit still they didn’t do anything other than treating her swelled area.
3-During our stay at IGMH, my daughter has suffered loose motion and she had nappy rash and the area were somewhat reddish. We asked doctors to check and asked us to change nappy brand and change nappy regularly. We did that still as she had urine infection, we again asked doctors about it and later the doctor’s given a nappy rash cream and something to apply her genitalia. The funny part was that, when the day of discharge, they suspected for a possible sexual harassment and referred to Family Health Protection Unit (FHPU) at IGMH when there were no clear indications of such harassment as far as medical side is concerned. Because, when they first said my daughter is having a urine infection, I asked doctors to make sure about possible sexual harassment although there is even 0.0001% of possibility. They told me there was no such thing seen, so it’s simply due to urine infection and therefore nothing to worry. So at the last moment, without consulting us why should they referred to Family Health Protection Unit (FHPU)? Rather they could have asked from us.
4-On 10th day morning, I was told that my daughter would be discharged today and at around 11’ o’clock my wife called me said they have given the bill and I went there around 1330hrs and settled the payments and was waiting for my daughters documents. In the evening around 1600hrs, when I made an inquiry they said things were done and waiting for a doctor to come. Later, I asked my wife to go back home and I was waiting at 1635hrs, again I made an inquiry they said expecting for slip to collect urine report from Laboratory. Again at 1715hrs, when I made inquiry they came and asked me whether I know English or not? I said, yes I know English. After sometimes, nurses came and explained to me medicine and I found that one medicine was missing. It was some medicine which requires whenever my daughter gets fever and it is mandatory to give her that medicine to avoid another seizure. Later, I asked them to make things ready, I will be back later. Why such a delay should happen? When there was nothing emergency there?
5-Complaining is still considered as a sin at IGMH. Don’t I deserve to complain when there is a genuine concern? If not why should I got there?
