Muizzu says appointments conditional on respecting his word

President-elect Dr Mohammed Muizzu has said that those who respect his word will be appointed to the posts of the new government and if the appointees do not comply with his instructions, he would not hesitate in removing them.

Muizzu said he would not appoint anyone who does not respect his word at the closing rally held last Friday evening. After the election results, Muizzu repeated that in an interview with Channel 13 on Monday.

"I cannot appoint anyone who does not follow what I say... I will not hesitate, I will fire anyone who does not do what I say [or] if they do not correct their mistakes," he said.

In his first interview as president-elect, Muizzu said he has not yet started the process of forming the cabinet, but he already has in mind who he will appoint to some positions.

"The person I will appoint to any position will be those who want to fulfil what I instruct them with [or] those who can fulfill the promises I made to the people. I will appoint those who put weight to my instructions and take my word as final”, Muizzu said, repeating his remarks at the closing ceremony held before Saturday's vote.

Muizzu had earlier said that in his government, only those who are educationally competent and experienced in a particular field will be appointed to the cabinet. This was repeated on Monday as well.

"Hopefully, the cabinet I will form will be competent in terms of academics, experience and management. I want to include as many people as possible from the PPM-PNC coalition and from the various political parties affiliated with us," he said.

Noting that government-owned companies are currently in a very poor state, Muizzu said he would appoint people who can run the companies in management positions.

"Major changes need to be made because of the size of these companies. Therefore, we will hopefully appoint people with educationally competent and good experience to run the companies and the cabinet," Muizzu said.