Conflicting statements between Chief Spox and Ministers leave future of 'Usgekolhu' in disarray
Conflicting government statements have caused confusion over the future of the Usgekolhu landmark in Sultan Park. While the Chief Spokesperson claims the Malé City Council is blocking the site's handover and allowing illegal activity, several ministers and the President insist an immersive museum project is already underway. This internal disconnect highlights a significant communication failure regarding the status of the historic property and its planned redevelopment.
The three-story building pictured is the structure known as "Usgekolhu." | Instagram
The incumbent government seems to have a severe case of internal communication failure and the general public, is left trying to piece together the mess.
A glaring disconnect between the state’s Chief Spokesperson and various Cabinet Ministers has thrown the actual condition and future of the Usgekolhu into absolute chaos, triggering immense public bewilderment.
On one hand, the Chief Spokesperson, Mohamed Hussain Shareef has boldly alleged that this legendary site in Sultan Park is currently a hub for illegal narcotics operations. He further claimed that the Malé City Council is stubbornly blocking the government by refusing to hand over the physical building to clear the path for a planned interactive museum. However, if you turn to the executive branch, multiple ministers are painting a completely contradictory picture, insisting that the development project is actively moving forward.
Blaming the keyholders
This official wave of finger-pointing crested on Saturday during the "Press with the Spox" media briefing. Taking the podium, the Chief Spokesperson made sure to emphasize how critically vital Usgekolhu remains to the monarchical legacy of the Maldives. However, his history lesson quickly devolved into a lecture aimed squarely at the Malé City Council, whom he essentially accused of gross negligence regarding the upkeep of the property.
According to Shareef, even though the administration formally laid out a plan to acquire the structure for an interactive museum, the local council has failed to deliver any kind of acceptable reply.
He took a direct jab at local authorities by pointing out that the municipal government holds total responsibility for managing Usgekolhu, right down to possessing the actual physical keys. While he admitted that multiple rounds of talks had occurred and that a preliminary deal to transfer ownership had been reached, he lamented that the physical handover remains stuck in administrative limbo.
The rewritten history and a blast from the past
The glaring issue here is that the spokesperson’s version of reality runs into a brick wall when compared to documented public records and the government’s own triumphant press releases.
To understand how bizarre this gridlock is, one has to look at the extensive paper trail surrounding this century-old landmark, which Sultan Muhammad Imaduddin VI originally commissioned for his Egyptian bride inside the historic Boduganduvaru grounds. The state has been playing hot potato with this building for a decade.
Cast your mind back to 4 August 2016, when the current head of state, Dr. Mohamed Muizzu, was serving as the Housing Minister. Back then, a formal event was staged to hand over the site's transformation into a children’s cultural center to an entity known as 'ARC'. During that event, Dr. Muizzu publicly promised that the state would execute the core structural engineering, while ARC would take care of running the cultural hub itself. The public was told it would all wrap up by the end of 2016, complete with dedicated exhibition rooms and dining spaces.
Usgekolhu in Sultan Park being handed over to ARC to be developed as a cultural learning center for children. | Housing Ministry
An immersive illusion of progress
Predictably, the dormant project got a fresh coat of political paint once Dr. Muizzu climbed into the presidency. The plot thickened significantly on the evening of 18 September 2025, when the Minister of Dhivehi Language, Culture, and Heritage formally penned a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Fahi Dhiriulhun Corporation (FDC) to convert Usgekolhu into an immersive museum space.
Ministry of Dhivehi Language, Culture and Heritage signs Memorandum of Understanding with Fahi Dhiriulhun Corporation Limited to develop Usgekolhu as an immersive museum. | Sarukaaru
Adding to the stack of contradictions, Heena Waleed, the next minister specifically picked by President Muizzu to manage cultural and heritage portfolios, stood before reporters at a President's Office press briefing to announce that physical construction on this very museum had already kicked off under FDC's management. To top it all off, President Muizzu himself used his grand 2026 Presidential Address to explicitly declare that Usgekolhu would be successfully repurposed into an immersive museum and launched before the current calendar year wraps up.
Despite a mountain of top-tier executive pledges and glowing progress metrics broadcast by his fellow ministers, the Chief Spokesperson’s weekend remarks make it sound as though the administration has not even managed to cross the threshold of the front door yet. It is an impressive display of bureaucratic whiplash, leaving citizens entirely in the dark about who actually controls this slice of national heritage.
