Will our president and his ministers do justice with the people who brought them there?

The current dispute between Maldives Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) and J Resorts Handhufushi (Herathera) is intensifying, while staffs, local suppliers and non-governmental organizations are consistently fighting over the mismanagement of the hotel and its subsequent failure to establish corporate social responsibility among Addu community.

Since MTDC cancelled its contract with J Resorts last week, hundreds of Hulhumeedhoo people started gathering near the hotel every day. They are demanding for the immediate surrender of the hotel. In addition, they carry banners boycotting Handhufushi management. They include “Pay Addu Suppliers”, “We cannot accept our islands submerge into bottles of alcohol” and “Protect the rights of tourists; they are out of proper food and water, and they don’t get access to internet and cable TV”. Protesters say that they are determined to raise their concern over the deteriorating situation in the hotel. However, few people criticize the ongoing protest, as they believe the strike is politically motivated.

Indeed, current dispute in Handhufushi has hit the faces of MDP led coalition government severely. MDP’s focal point, Mr. Ibrahim Zubair, based at Hulhumeedhoo informed, “The president Mr. Mohamed Nasheed (Anni) called upon me to request the organizers to stop the protest”. Ibrahim Zubair who is also a member of Hulhudhoo Island Development Committee also stated that the president had confirmed to him that he would solve the dispute in such a way that rights of neither party gets violated. This clearly indicates that the president is taking the side of Mr. Jabir who is one of his close associates even after party system came into effect. However, our current president made our souls stronger to confront unjust and corruption though.

On the other hand, the minister of tourism Dr. Ali Sawad is working nonstop to dissuade the MTDC board members and major shareholders to come to a compromise to settle the matter in favour of Yacht Tours. Now it is very important to know that the Attorney General, Tourism Minister and Yacht Tours Chairman are from Jumhooree Party and that they all are tied up by one rope, Mr. Gasim Ibrahim who unethically controls a large proportion of shares in MTDC. Read. At this stage, could justice be made to all stakeholders of MTDC and the people of Addu by the current administration? If not people of Addu says, “They will start campaigning to oust the president Mr. Mohamed Nasheed, the way they fled the dictator from Hulhumeedhoo”.

Posted by Hulhudhoo Today on 9:08 PM. Filed under . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Feel free to leave a response