Umar: Political parties only burdened people with deep debt these past 20 years

Former Home Minister Umar Naseer has remarked that political parties, if anything, have only burdened Maldivian citizens with massive debts over the past 20 years.

While speaking during SSTV’s ‘Baaru Hathareh’ program, Umar emphasized that the public has spent the last two decades putting political parties to the test, only to find that every one of them is focused on emptying the state’s safes.

According to Umar, the multi-party system has failed in the Maldives. Rather, he described political parties as an obstruction to the development of the nation. In this regard, he stressed that none of the political parties have stood by the pledges they have made for the citizens and the country would have regressed by the time each party leaves office. Umar said political parties distribute state resources among their people upon assuming power; the result of which is the nation being in deep debt.

“Political parties come and distribute state (resources) among their people; the jobs, land, uninhabited islands, safes. The result of this is the nation being exhausted. We are completely in debt,” he said.

Taking example from other nations, Umar said the day Maldivians say no to political parties is very near. He said Maldives was in need of a strong leader who can guide the nation towards recovery from the damages incurred due to negligence of political parties. as such, when the public vote, they should consider the competency of the individual rather than the political party.

Umar has unsuccessfully contested in the 2008 and 2023 presidential elections, failing to qualify for the runoff both times with insufficient votes. 

In 2013, Umar Naseer contested in the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM)'s presidential primary but was defeated by former President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom, who secured the party’s nomination and later won the presidential election that year. Following Yameen's victory, Umar was appointed as the Home Minister, a position he later resigned from.