Islam is a costly affair. So is the army. And so are the other institutions. Everything in this country is costly. Expensive. Obscenely expensive, to say the least.
Under Gayoom we had a huge problem: almost one in every five adult was a civil servant; we never bothered to pay the real cost of our electricity, health care, water etc; five out every hundred Rufiyaa we earned went to support our military (I’ve tried but haven’t figured out why we continue to do so). And with no taxation the meagre Government revenue was far too inadequate to finance our expenses. So, we found the easy way. We borrowed. Every time we had a shortfall we simply borrowed our way out of it without ever attempting to find a permanent cure to our prolonged illness.
We lived beyond our means back then. And 15 months after Nasheed was sworn in amidst much euphoria of change, we are still living way beyond our means. Our government was and still is probably the biggest spender in the world in relation to the size of the economy.
Well, the cost of providing services and maintaining the bureaucracy of a government to 300 thousand people dispersed on 195 tiny islands not much bigger than football pitches is an innately costly affair. There’s absolutely no doubt about that.
But here’s a question we need to think about: can a country the size and nature of Maldives run a government with less money? Yes, indeed. If other microstates like Mauritius, Cape Verde and Aruba are able to run with government expenditures of only around a third of their GDP, there’s little reason to believe we can’t do the same.
Bringing the much-needed structural changes was and still is the key issue. But sadly, these changes were and still are simply delayed because they are too painful to the people at the helm of our affairs.
Disproportionately large public institutions were created and sustained, largely with borrowed money, for the political expediency of a few individuals. State and deputy ministers, political appointees, brigadier generals and so forth are created not based on any real need but simply to camouflage trickery.
It’s easy to blame it on the 300 thousand people and 195 tiny islands. But the fact of the matter is this: no other microstate maintains 77parliamentarians, 54 state ministers, 75 deputy ministers, a countless number of other political appointees, over 29 thousand civil servants and thousands of military personnel –all paid through the tax payer’s nose. The world’s richest country, a microstate, incidentally, is run by a prime minister, his deputy, 3 ministers and 5 alternate ministers!
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14 comments:
blog thah liyaa bayaku maa molhuvefa kiyaa nudhinakas aharumenah egey mi gaumuah dhimaavefa oiy massala. Mee hama mulhinves golhabo ge balaa.
anonymous 6.57
Was it 'Golhabo' who appointed 55 state ministers, 75 deputy ministers, a hundred councellors and political appointees to some non-functioning utility companies?
Is it 'golhaboa' who is trying to reduce civil service salaries so that more of his half-literate idiots can be appointed to political posts?
Next time think before you open your ugly fly trap.
Does anyone care still? we have developed a society that lives on a very short-term benefits. everything is based on quick bucks, quick solutions. very few shares the need for urgent reform as you Naimbe.
naimbe,
There is no reason why we cannot have the limited small government.
Lot of politicians talk of limited government, but fail to deliver it
Anni is doing exectly what maumoon did. He is creating a patronage system. He knows too well tht a patronage system is what will help him be in power until eternity. appointing party loyalists to high paying political jobs in utility companies, counsellors, state ministers and deputy minister etc is the perfect strategy to do this.
After all Anni has with him one of the most learned person in patronage system as his advisor - Ibrahim hussen zaki.
Reeko moosa
The guy who commented on your previous post about our army has explained this very niceley.
8 brigadier generals are needed in maldives to command a force of 3000 to 5000 men. In the rest of the civilized world the same task is done by only 1 brigadier general.
Here's the ratio - 1:8.
Its no surprise that when liechtenstein the worlds richest country has only 3 ministers and 5 deputies we have 55 state ministers and 75 deputy ministers.
good post.
there are 2 major problems.
1. we live only for the moment. instant gratification is what we want regardless of how much cost we have to pay in future for our actions today.
2. What ever little moral ethical standards we maldivians had is long gone. For most of us the means doesnt matter. Its the end that matters. So everyone is in a ruch to make a quick buck. Doesnt matter if its haram or halal.
regards,
muslim
the government has to learn that they ahve to pay a cost (that is the loss of public support and love to some extent) to bring about long-term solutions to the economic problems!
too bad, the current government although seemed like had much going for them, lacks the backbone to do it. like someone above said, instant gratification is what we want. they dont care about us, the young poeple who will be here to deal with the big pile of shit they leave for us. and then they will criticise us for saying, the previous government left us in this mess, just like they are being criticised for criticising maumoon!
the vicious cycle continues...
Gayyoom was an arab educated dictator and Anni is an english one. Gayyood was polite infront of the public, Anni is a naked fool; if you promise to give few million bucks he will dance for you.
The only thing we can do is wait til 2013. Then find an old religious man who fears death and give him the chair. Uneducated kind man is better than an educated fool. Cheers
@ Anon 6:57 – molhuvefa liyaneekee noon. You are probably more educated and qualified to write about the things I’m writing here. Why not start your own blog?
@ Shiham & meekaaku – I do. And I know a lot of others who do. If you are to ask a politician about his opinion on any of these issues he would definitely agree with you. But the problem is when it comes to effectuating the changes they find the changes to be too painful.
Gayoom’s policy makers didn’t bring the changes not because they didn’t know what was wrong or what was needed to be done to put this country on the right track. People who benefit from the status quo would never want to change anything. This is probably what happened to the policy makers of this government as well. Once in power they would have discovered that maintaining the status quo only benefits them.
@Anon 7:48 – Old religious man like Indonesia’s Gus Dur? Hmmm…let me think…how about BA Naseem?:-)
Trickery cannot be camouflaged anymore. Its good that guys like you are writing impartially about these stuff the way it is. But I think instead of writing on blogs you should consider writing this on mainstream media. And in Dhivehi of course.
I used to read you blog often before you stopped blogging last year. Good to see you back.
Rauf
i want DJ Majeed to become president in 2013
So good to see that more and more are thinking of future. I believe that these blogs and other similar writings will increase the awareness of the people and will start thinking about issues of the country. There won't be any quick fixes - i presume - but the thought process will eventually prevail and hopefully help to make the right decisions. Keep it up.
Interesting...
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