Youth of Addu City have said they were backing the jobs drive initiated by MPL CEO Mohamed Junaid rather than a rehab proposed by MP for Hithadhoo Dhekunu Constituency Ali Nizar.
Responding to comments made by Nizar on RaajjeTV last night, some of the youth said that Nizar seems to have forgotten who had plunged the youth of the city to drugs to gain political tract.
They said that when MDP came to power in 2008 they had hoped this would have had translated to jobs. However, they said at the end of their three-year rule, the only youth who had gotten jobs were political appointees.
“They’re saying there’s no rehab in Addu. No treatment. Where’s the rehab that was created in MDP rule? What treatment was offered? Where is the rehab? Who was treated there?”
“Addu City youth are industrious, we need jobs. Drugs are distributed as an excuse not to give jobs. Then they get penalized, sent to jail,”
“Our hopes are tied to jobs. The jobs that will be created by MPL in Dhoogas, the jobs in the three-star hotel in Hithadhoo. Our hopes are tied with President Yameen. He had arranged MPL, Junaid to move it forward. So what is Nizar saying?”
The youth said that if they are given opportunities, jobs, they will go for it, whether they use drugs or not.
“We use drugs because we don’t have a job. Not because we want to. That’s why they will go for jobs,”
They said that Nizar seemed jealous of the progress and jobs created for youth by this Government.
“They’re saying youth was given drugs. Did Nizar bring the drugs over? We support the defamation bill because of this. Defaming people with baseless stories to make their party bigger, confuse youth and citizens,”
Based on Maldives average, Addu City has the highest number of educated youth but they have the least opportunities in their City, which had moved most of them towards drugs. The government had initiated many projects to increase jobs in the area.
Addu City now earns on average MVR 2 million a month as salaries just from transportation services.
MP Nizar wants a rehab, Junaid wants jobs, we want jobs
