MP Mohamed Ghassan Maumoon (Guraidhoo) stated that former President Yameen Abdul Gayyoom had done all that he had wished to accomplish during his term.
MP Ghassan made this statement at a session of the Parliament Committee on National Security Services regarding the agreements made with India to conduct a hydrography survey and station a Dornier aircraft in the Maldives. MP Ghassan’s statement came as a response to claims made by the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) that these agreements had been made by the Yameen administration.
Although the Yameen administration had signed an action plan with India regarding joint defence and security projects in 2016, many of the items on the action plan had; after further inquiry; been later been removed by the Yameen administration.
The Solih administration has repeatedly responded to any criticism regarding its agreements with India by stating that these projects had been included in the 2016 action plan.
The action plan is not legally-binding.
“Yameen is no longer President. President Yameen had accomplished the things he wanted to accomplish during his time in office. The items in the action plan that had not been signed off on have been altered by the current government”, said MP Ghassan.
MP Ghassan stated that the MNDF’s presentation of the matter was very “politically-charged”, and he expressed his displeasure at the fact.
Defence Minister Mariya Didi, in response to MP Ghassan, said that they had found those items in the action plan to be “good things to do” and therefore decided to go ahead with them.