Public criticism has been directed at the newly appointed Minister of Climate Change, Environment, and Energy, Ali Shareef, regarding social media posts he made in the past.

Following the sudden resignation of several cabinet ministers, including Thoriq Ibrahim, who held the post of Minister of Climate Change, Environment, and Energy, the cabinet was reconstituted last Tuesday. In this reshuffle, the Environment and Energy mandate was separated from Tourism, and Ali Shareef was appointed as the Environment Minister.

As soon as Ali Shareef was appointed to the position, several "vulgar" posts he previously made on social media began circulating.

Among them is a post mocking the disability of Ibrahim Ismail (Ibra), a former Member of Parliament and one of the most experienced figures in the Maldivian education sector.

In a response to a post by former MP Eva Abdulla, he also heavily criticized Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In that post, made six years ago in 2020, he characterized Modi as a terrorist. Furthermore, he posted in a manner suggesting that the Indian military had done nothing of significance to save the Maldives during the terrorist attack on November 3, 1988.

In addition to launching verbal attacks on both the opposition MDP and PPM and calling for the abolition of the party system, he also directed verbal attacks at former President Mohamed Nasheed.

Following the circulation of these posts containing disrespectful language on social media over the past few days, Ali Shareef has deleted them. However, he has not made any specific statement regarding the matter so far.

Criticizing these posts, some individuals noted that mocking and ridiculing someone over something that is not within their personal control is a very low-level act.

Some critics argued that appointing such an individual as a minister was a mistake and a result of failing to conduct background checks when entrusting people with high-ranking positions.