No plans to cancel flat list, those who did wrong may be removed: President

Yesterday, President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu officially confirmed that the list of recipients under the ‘Gedhoruveriya’ scheme (allocation of housing flats) under the previous government, will not be subjected to cancellation.

During his first interview after taking office, President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu informed reporters of ‘Mihaaru’ that his inclination was to distribute flats to all the individuals on the list. However, he noted that the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) identified several issues in the list.

“We have created a committee and a further committee by Male’ City Council has been appointed to evaluate the work of the initial committee. I have entrusted these two committees to look into the list and expedite the process”, he said.

“Although the ACC has looked into it and said no, there is a possibility that it has also not been looked into properly. So, the process should be expedited and the list should be available for everyone at the earliest”.

According to him, he does not support the idea of canceling the list altogether. He believes that there are individuals who acquired flats fairly. However, President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu also said that those who obtained flats through illicit means will be removed from the list and the next individuals with the highest points will be added to list instead.

He expressed hope that the current process will be completed soon and that all 4,000 flats would be handed over under the ‘Gedhoruveriya’ scheme.

“We are doing our best to ensure this happens. However, if there is deliberate wrongdoing, the general rules will apply,” he said.

President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu stated that individuals who fraudulently obtained flats through deception and lies will not be given one. He further emphasized that this has always been the case and that those who cheated in the past have not received flats either.

“Then those individuals will also have to be allocated housing through another programme. My policy is that even these persons who have attempted to get flats through lies or deception or other illicit means, [they can also apply] to another scheme...within these five years, no citizen will be left without receiving a flat or land plot," he assured.

The ACC has halted the allocation of flats since the previous government, led by former President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, released a permanent list of flat allottees, two days before the end of their term. After an investigation that lasted nearly two months, the ACC discovered that sixty percent of the 4,000 individuals that were allocated flats did not meet the eligibility criteria.

Only 20.7 percent of the remaining applicants had no issues on their forms. Another 19.7 percent who were eligible had conflicting information on their forms.

President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu has set up a committee to examine the flat list. The committee will be headed by former minister, Aneesa Ahmed while Abdul Azeez Yusuf, an experienced diplomat, will serve as the vice-chair of the committee. A committee from the Male’ City Council has also been appointed to provide guidance and support to the main committee.