Former President Mohamed Nasheed has said that minimum wage will not be implemented if millionaires elected to Parliament. He said that this is because they have an interest in ensuring that the law is not implemented.

While President Nasheed is currently on a series of visits for the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) Parliamentary campaign, he said this while speaking at an event at Vaavu Felidhoo.

He reiterated that only MDP members at Parliament vote for  bills proposed by the government. President Nasheed said that the reason that other members do not vote for these Bills is due to their interests in seeing it not pass.

The former President added that there are currently members at Parliament who have an interest in seeing the Bill to empower Presidential Commissions not pass. The Presidential Commissions that would empower the Bill include the Commission on Investigating Deaths and Disappearances as well as the Commission on Corruption and Asset Recovery.

President Nasheed raised the question as to how millionaires would vote on Bills on the issues where they have an interest in seeing the Bill not pass.   

He reiterated that under MDP’s Parliamentary campaign policy Agenda ‘19, minimum wage will be determined for resort workers. President Nasheed said that while millionaires at Parliament are those that run these resorts, implementing measures to regulate wages and service charge is not in their best interest.

Additionally, he noted that the interest of MDP candidates lie in the benefit of the constituents. President Nasheed said that MDP candidates have come out this time in the interest of the development of this country.