President Dr. Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik has said that a vice president must have broader responsibilities within the administration and must not be kept aside as a “spare part” to replace the president, in case he resigns or passes away.

President Waheed made his statement while speaking on the state broadcaster Television Maldives’ (TVM) Siyaasath program last night, a series of exclusive, one-on-one question and answer shows with the presidential candidates.

President Waheed said that a vice president must not be treated as a contingency and must have broader responsibilities within the administration.

“I believe that changes are needed. A vice president should not be a spare part that replaces the president if he resigns or passes away. The people choose a vice president after careful consideration. They vote for two people, the president and the vice president, on the same ticket. So the people expect the vice president to be capable,” President Waheed said.

President Waheed said that, elected by the people, a vice president needs to be assigned important duties and that in countries such as the United States, the vice president has immense responsibilities. He said that the Maldives needs to change how they treat their vice president.

When he ran for office as the running mate of former president Mohamed Nasheed in 2008, Waheed said that he had an agreement with the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) where the vice president shall be responsible for all foreign affairs of the State. He said that Mohamed Nasheed dishonoured the agreement, reason being that the former president had a policy of discriminating amongst party loyalists and other members of his coalition government.

Speaking of the February 2012 controversial change in government, President Waheed adamantly stated that Mohamed Nasheed had neither contacted him, nor had he any discussion with the former president, prior to the president's resignation.

“President Nasheed did not call me. If he wanted to talk to me, he could have asked the SPG (Special Protection Group), the same group that protects us both. He could have handed me the phone through them, could he not?” President Waheed said during the show.

President Waheed said that Nasheed had held a cabinet meeting prior to his resignation and that he, being the vice president and a constitutional member of the cabinet, was not invited to the meeting.

President Waheed said that opposition leaders had asked for a meeting with him not long before the change of power, and that he had informer the president, via SMS, that the meeting was taking place. He said that Nasheed had neglected to acknowledge the SMS and that he met with the opposition leaders as per normal procedure. President Waheed said that he had duly conveyed the details of the meeting to Nasheed.