Musthafa voices need for change

Former Health Minister Mohamed Musthafa Hussain has said that President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom has been in power for too long and that the younger generations now need a younger and more dynamic leadership. Musthafa Hussain made the statement in a special interview granted to Miadhu.

Musthafa said that it would be wrong to say the President Gayoom during his 30 years in office has not done any valuable service to the country. He said President Gayoom were instrumental in bringing a lot of changes which we now enjoy.

However, Musthafa noted that when a person stays in power for too long, it causes a lot of complications. In this regard he noted that such person tends to believe that they can do no wrong and that it was human nature for such people in power to believe that every wish of theirs has to be obeyed by the people. Musthafa also noted that when a person stays in power for long periods, they tend to get out of touch with the people’s feelings and their thoughts.

Musthafa noted that when people complain of President Gayoom’s long presidency, they should remind themselves that he was elected by them to be their President for that amount of time. In this regard he noted that it was up to the people to decide whether to elect him or not as the next President.

Answering a question from Miadhu, Musthafa said that he would not categorize President Gayoom as a failure. However, he said that he believes that the government has failed in many of its functions and is clearly indicate from the lack of its effectiveness. Musthafa highlighted the slackness of government employees in serving the needs of the public even in this technologically advanced times.

Mohamed Musthafa Hussain, served as the Minister of Health in the Cabinet of the Maldives Government from November 1978 - November 1983 until his nomination as the Maldives Permanent Representative to the United Nations, in the rank of a Cabinet Minister.

Prior to his appointment as Minister of Health, he served in the Maldives Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York from September 1976 until early 1978 as Councellor, Minister Councellor, Deputy Permanent Representative and Deputy Head of the Department of Foreign Affairs of Maldives and finally as the Permanent Representative. When he served as the Permanent Representative of Maldives to the United Nations he was concurrently accredited to India and Pakistan as Non-Resident Ambassador.

Musthafa represented Maldives at numerous meetings of International Organizations, namely: the Food and Agricultural Organization; the Colombo Plan; Organization of the Islamic Conference; World Health Organization; the South East Asia Regional Committee of WHO; the Commonwealth Health Ministers’ Meeting; Served on the WHO Executive Board.

He has served as the Chairman of the Regional Committee of WHO South East Asia Region, Vice President of the World Health Assembly and Chairman of the WHO Executive Board.