Government responds to Gayoom

A senior official of the government has responded to the remarks made by President of the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM), former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, whereby he expressed discontent regarding the manner in which the government terminated its agreement with Indian company GMR for the operation of Ibrahim Nasir International Airport.

The official referred to Gayoom’s remark that PPM had asked to hold discussions with GMR prior to the termination of the agreement, and said that PPM never made this request.

The official said that President Mohamed Waheed met with the leaders of the political parties included in the government coalition on two occasions prior to the termination of the agreement, and during both these meetings, PPM advised the government to terminate the agreement with GMR.

He further said that when former Attorney General Aishath Azima, at a meeting held at the President’s Office, started a presentation on ways in which the government can proceed without terminating the agreement, Presidential Candidate of PPM Abdullah Yameen had said that he did not wish to participate in a meeting to discuss any option other than terminating the agreement with GMR.

He said that PPM never asked to hold discussions before the agreement was terminated and moreover, PPM even requested that the agreement be terminated in writing in a document detailing the steps to be taken in relation to this agreement.

In an interview to The Hindu during this visit to India, Gayoom said that former president Mohamed Nasheed had not sought proper approval from the parliament before making the deal with GMR.

“This was a mistake. Had he consulted all political parties, the public would not have formed the impression that corruption had taken place. Then we told the next President Mr. Waheed that he should hold discussions with the GMR Group and the Indian government to arrive at an acceptable solution, after which the government was free to act on its own. Unfortunately, this was not done and suddenly there was this unhappy ending,” Gayoom said.