Yameen Back In Cabinet

By Olivia Lang in Malé
September 29, 2008

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The president’s half-brother Abdullah Yameen has been made tourism minister just ten days ahead of the country’s first multi-party presidential elections.

Previous tourism minister Abdullah Mausoom, in the post for just over two months, will move to the Ministry of Environment to accommodate Yameen’s return to the cabinet.

The move means Yameen, who left government in 2007, has returned to one of the most powerful cabinet portfolios and will head the country’s multi-million-dollar tourism industry.

It comes a week after Yameen’s political party, the People’s Alliance, formed a “coalition” with the government’s Dhivehi Raiyyithunge Party (DRP) to support President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s bid for re-election on 8 October.

PA Support

Yameen resigned as employment minister and from the DRP in April last year, before establishing his own political group, backed by defections from the DRP.

Rumours of Yameen’s re-entry into cabinet have been circulating for some months, with some speculation he would move to the Ministry of Trade, a position he had held prior to the Employment Ministry.

Last week the People’s Alliance (PA) agreed to back President Gayoom’s campaign for re-election, despite previous vocal criticism of the Gayoom administration.

They did so after the DRP agreed to merge some of the PA’s economic policies into its manifesto, PA parliamentarian Ahmed Nazim said.

And positions in the cabinet were arranged only in order to implement the policies, Nazim told Minivan News last week.

It appears likely other PA leaders will join Yameen in the cabinet. The ministries of fisheries and trade remain vacant.

Shuffle

Former tourism minister Abdullah Mausoom said he was looking forward to his role as environment minister after being awarded his new portfolio on Monday afternoon.

“I am very excited…I think it’s a very related field that I’m moving into…From an environment perspective I am really looking forward to the dimensions of the new role,” Mausoom told Minivan News.

He was made tourism minister in July after Mahmoud Shaugee left the post, citing policy disagreements.

The previous environment minister, Ahmed Abdullah, resigned in August, saying government policies in the area were unsustainable.

In June, Abdullah had been attacked by angry islanders on Haa Dhaal atoll Kulhudhuffushi, who said they had waited seven years for a promised sewerage system.

Asked about Yameen, Mausoom was complimentary, saying: “I’m sure he’s very capable”.

He added that tourism is the biggest commercial industry in the Maldives, so the role would not differ significantly from the trade role previously held by Yameen.

The move comes only ten days ahead of elections, and Mausoom said, “I’m sure there is a reason [for placing Yameen in the position ahead of elections]... But a change for the better is always good.”

After presidential elections, appointments to the cabinet must be approved by parliament. Even if Gayoom is re-elected, he will have to secure parliamentary approval for all cabinet members.

Swing

The PA group appeared to have been bargaining for power over the past year.

In April, they swung a crucial vote against the government on amendments proposed by government to the Civil Service Act, which aimed to place a third of the civil service back under direct presidential control.

Speaking to Minivan News in August, Nazim was highly critical of the president, describing him as “a master in the game…[of] manipulation”.

“We have ruled out joining the DRP. DRP has no future…DRP is a one man show,” he said. “The other option will be for him [Gayoom] to…swallow his pride and agree to all the terms of Yameen.”

But the PA have also appeared to leave room to back Gayoom, with the group supporting the President over the issue of whether he could run for another term in office.

Some opposition figures claim Gayoom, who has been in power for six terms, cannot stand again under the two-term limit in the constitution.

But the PA in January said the constitution was “new” rather than “amended”, implying Gayoom is free to run.

They have also clashed with former finance minister Gasim Ibrahim, repeatedly criticising his decisions on the state budget. Gasim left government in July, and is now a presidential candidate.

Resignation

Yameen quit government in 2007 along with colleagues Nazim and Abdullah Jabir, who has now joined the Republican Party.

The departures followed clashes with the New Maldives faction of ministers.

Former foreign minister Dr Ahmed Shaheed, of the New Maldives group, describes any closeness between the government and Yameen as “always sinister”. “He is very hardline so we have a lot of disquiet about that,” he said.

In December 2007, an article by Minivan News said testimonials by a number of young people had suggested a connection between Yameen and street gangs. But Yameen fiercely denied the statement.