Ruling party leaders question ex-pres Yameen's political future

Senior ruling party leaders held a special meeting on Sunday to inform the public about the upcoming parliamentary elections. However, the statements of the seven senior members of the party leadership were entirely directed at former president Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom, and their former leader.

While the PNF formation meeting, the new party formed by Yameen, is scheduled to be held on Tuesday evening, the ruling party leadership heavily criticised him at the meeting. They questioned if Yameen would have a political future on the path he has now chosen.

There was nothing the leadership would not do for Yameen, said Ibrahim Shujau, a member of the Male City Council. In his words, there was no one in the PPM/PNC leadership who had not called the then President Ibrahim Mohammed Solih and asked him to send Yameen home for Ramadan.

"We pleaded and pleaded. That forced the government to move Yameen home for the first time," he said.

He said Yameen is at home today because of the sincere efforts of the PPM/PNC leaders. They were adamant that no matter what anybody says now, it was a fact that can't be changed.

"What did we do? We were taking the injured in the protests to the hospital. If people got arrested and sentenced, we took care of their families. When they were released from jail, someone from the leadership went to welcome them," he said.

He said 'the country was saved' with the change of government because of the strength of the leadership. He said it was because of those efforts that Yameen was moved from jail and is at home today.

Local Government Minister Adam Shareef also echoed Shuja's remarks. He said they took to the streets every night for Yameen, filed emergency cases in parliament and ran against the courts.

He pointed out that the 300-400 page reports submitted by lawyers closest to Yameen during his trial were useless.

"If Yameen got concessions, he got it from what he said in court. There was not much the lawyers did," Adam Shareef said, referring to Yameen's lead counsel and former vice president Dr. Mohammed Jameel.

He said there were two ways in which he, who was in jail at the time, would have known the work done by the PPM/PNC leaders for Yameen. They were the stories relayed by lawyers and by family members. One of the reasons why the leadership is accused of not doing anything is that Yameen’s lawyers and family members have not told him about our efforts, Shareef said.

“The other reason would be that Yameen is deliberately denying it [that the leadership had not helped] for political advantage,” he said.

The forum was attended by Shujau and Adam Shareef, PNC Chairman Abdul Raheem Abdullah, Fisheries Minister Ahmed Shiyam and others. They all made the same complaints: that Yameen did not appreciate the sacrifices they made for him and Yameen is now keeping others too close.

They also criticised Yameen's lawyer Dr Jameel, and former Technology Minister Maleeh Jamal and former Police Commissioner Hussain Waheed. They also raised concerns about the direction Yameen was headed with them.

"We have great respect for President Yameen. We still believe he is a very strong visionary leader," Shareef said.

"But Yameen should think about whether he will have a political future the way he is moving forward now”.