The new cabinet will be rejected if employees of government-owned companies continue to be sacked, MPs of the main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) have warned.
During debate on a motion without notice submitted by Fuvahmulah Medhu MP Hussain Mohamed Didi over the sacking of Fenaka Corporation staff, MDP MPs said concerns over the dismissals have reached them and accused the new administration of setting course for a bleak future.
The concern was shared by the people of all inhabited islands, Henveiru Dhekunu MP Hussain Shaheem said, adding that MPs were representing citizens who have been unfairly dismissed and sent home.
Letters sent to Parliament by some ministers appointed to the cabinet showed that they were British citizens, Shaheem said. MPs would not sit aside and watch while foreign citizens were appointed as ministers and Maldivian citizens are fired from their jobs, he said.
The current government's National Security Advisor was also a foreign national, Shaheem said.
"The Maldives has changed to Adurey [President's Special Advisor Abdul Raheem Abdulla] Maldives. The public have to lose their jobs because everyone in Adurey's family has to be given posts. How can you govern after firing and sending home the hardworking employees of water, sewerage, electricity and ice plants? If you want us to approve ministers and people appointed to other posts, you're going to have to keep the public in their jobs," Shaheem said.
In his remarks, Bilehdhoo MP Ahmed Haleem also said MPs would find it hard to approve ministerial appointments if employees are being dismissed.
Sacking employees from Fenaka and other companies was a pledge of Progressive Party of Maldives-People's National Congress (PPM-PNC) campaign teams, which threatened to do so during the election if a new government was formed, he said.
Haleem accused the government of replacing dismissed staff with PPM-PNC campaign workers.
"What we're seeing now is the end of the warning made during the PPM-PNC campaign. I don't want to not vote for the cabinet. However, when such things occur and ordinary members suffer, when some MPs get emotional and don't approve the cabinet, the entire government will come to a halt," Haleem said.
The current Parliament has only four PPM-PNC MPs and the MDP retains control.
During the presidential election campaign, President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu said in Haa Alif Dhidhdhoo on August 15 that employees will not be dismissed even if they had been hired for political reasons.
