Public Mandate

Most democracies are built on the premise that all powers of the state emanate from, and reside in the people. Those charged with governance tasks are given a mandate directly or indirectly by the public to discharge certain functions o behalf of the state.

The most daunting aspect of obtaining a public mandate is to face an election and convince the voting public that one is trustworthy enough to be charged with disposing state functions. As per our Constitution, those who will be given these honourable tasks directly by the public are the President and the Vice President of the Country, Members of the Majlis, and those who will be elected to posts (yet to be defined by law) under the local governance/administration system.

No one outside these posts can claim a direct mandate from the people to carry out any public function.

The next class of state officials is those appointed to various commissions and other posts. This class of state officials are appointed to their positions through concurrence between the President (who is elected directly by the People) and a majority of the Majlis (who are also elected directly by the People).

Then there are those appointed by the President to the Cabinet, who are also confirmed by the Majlis. They are similar to the previous class of state officials in that these officials have functions and powers defined either by the Constitution or through some other law.

With the intro duction of an independent Civil Service has cropped up a new class of state officials under the auspicious label of “political appointees”, whatever kind of creatures this new class may comprise of. Both Qayyoom’s Administration and Nasheed’s Administration have “interpreted” the Constitution to assert the legality of these positions. The object of this Post is neither to affirm nor negate the legality of such positions.

It has come to my knowledge that many persons holding such “appointed political” posts of the State intend to contest the upcoming Parliamentary Elections. That they will invariably use state resources and influence of their posts to win the election is enough to nauseate any right thinking individual. That the Constitution clearly says that an MP should not hold any other State Post makes these intentions even worse. True, the Constitution does not explicitly bar any of these people from contesting the elections. But if one reads the relevant sections of the Constitution, it is abundantly clear that the intention of those who wrote the Constitution was to separate the Executive and the Legislature to the fullest level possible and to remove all influence of the Executive from Parliamentary (and other ) Elections. Yet they proceed without a single blush.

Those people holding these “appointed political” posts are not required to seek a public endorsement. Yet those going for elections have put themselves up to be a target for the public. The question is, will these people have the decency to resign from their political posts if they fail to get public support?

More importantly, will the President have the guts to sack them in such an event, and act according to the wishes of the people?

Ah! One could live and die in wishful thinking. One is reminded of Mark Twain’s comment on sanctimonious individuals.