Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Dr. Hassan has presidential quality – Dr. Shaheed

12 November 2007
Report: Soodh

Ex Foreign Minister Dr.Ahmed Shaheed has said that Ex Attorney General Dr. Hassan Saeed possess many of the qualities a president should have.

In an interview given to Dhi-FM 95.2 Dr. Shaheed said that Maldives need a young energetic Leader who can face many of the challenges faced with the country.

“Why I am saying this is because of the current economic and social status of the country, we can see the present government is in capable of solving these issues” said Dr. Shaheed.

Ex Foreign Minister and member of the Open Society Association Dr. Shaheed said the he believes Dr. Hassan Saeed possess all the qualities befitting a president and that Dr. Hassan is a capable of handling the top position of the country. Dr. Shaheed added that the country needed such capable, qualified and young leader.

Speaking to Dhi-FM Dr. Shaheed the hardest challenge he had to face during his tenure as Foreign Minister was the task of selling a 28 year old government to the outside world.

“When you say the current government of Maldives has been in power for 28 years, western countries find it difficult to accept it” said Dr. Shaheed. He further said government which has been in power for 30 years will not be able to introduce democracy; it can only be done by handing the government back to the people, establishing free and independent institutions and by holding free and fair elections.

Dr. Shaheed said that during his term as Foreign Minister he was very concerned at the status of the country’s economy and that full benefit of the country’s resources is not received. He further noted governments in ability to fight the corruption in the country.

Although Dr. Shaheed resigned from government last August, he has still not left the ruling DRP. When he was the government Dr. Shaheed was a very vocal critic of the main opposition party MDP. In addition Dr. Shaheed as Foreign Minister worked hard to sell President Gayoom’s Reform Agenda to the outside world.

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