Behind photo op: who actually built it, and who is just taking credit?

Within the governing sphere of President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu, public accountability runs on an amusingly predictable double standard where every triumph is monopolized by the head of state, and every breakdown is dumped onto someone else.

Whenever an initiative stalls, drags past its deadline, or runs into complications, the blame apparatus swings instantly toward the preceding regime, hired contractors, state bodies, or some convenient leftover dilemma from years gone by.

Now that President Muizzu’s leadership is nearing the end of its third year, this blame-shifting playbook remains identical. The exact same talking points are being rolled out across monumental building ventures, notably the fresh international passenger terminal at Velana International Airport, the upgraded Hanimaadhoo International Airport, and most recently, the Thilamalé Bridge.

Finish line photo opportunity

Elected terms last five years, whereas giant public works spanning aviation hubs, sea crossings, maritime ports, and residential neighborhoods naturally take much longer to materialize. Under normal, functioning governance, incoming administrations routinely finish the undertakings started by the leaders who came before them.

However, under President Muizzu, heavy civil engineering is treated like a track-and-field baton relay where the sole ambition is lingering right at the final tape just to smile for the camera flash.

Rewriting the terminal history

Look no further than the brand-new terminal building at VIA. Work on this massive facility kicked off long before President Muizzu assumed the presidency. However, going by the address he delivered at its formal unveiling, a casual listener could easily believe he individually guided every inch of its execution.

President Muizzu insists on packaging the airport complex as his private triumph. He has openly proclaimed that past administrations possessed neither the foresight nor the strategic blueprint required to finish the structure, dismissively reducing all their prior efforts to nothing more than rudimentary concrete pouring.

Hanimaadhoo U-turn

An identical script played out regarding the redevelopment of Hanimaadhoo International Airport. That specific project got rolling in January 2023 under the previous administration of President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, backed by financial support from the EXIM Bank of India.

Upon entering office, President Muizzu threw intense criticism at this inherited initiative. In February 2024, he went on record alleging that the venture had been contracted out at an artificially bloated cost and suffered from inferior build standards. Curiously, the second the facility was completed and cut open for business, that hostility evaporated and the official narrative flipped entirely.

Erasing groundwork at Thilamalé

Then comes the saga of the Thilamalé Bridge. President Muizzu has repeatedly maintained that his team essentially had to commence this entire ocean link starting from the absolute beginning, specifically phrasing it as starting from zero.

Official records completely dismantle that revisionist story. By the conclusion of the prior administration, steel casings were already anchored across multiple zones. On top of that, dedicated pre-casting yards were operational, and a substantial volume of pre-formed bridge segments had already rolled off production lines.

When official documentation confirms that critical structural parts were manufactured, casting centers were constructed, and vital foundational piling was already well underway before President Muizzu ever took his oath of office, depicting the project as a brand-new initiative started by his cabinet is a blatant bid to seize credit that belongs to others.

Endless appetite for borrowed triumphs

What this all reveals is a relentless compulsion to claim unearned prestige. The moment a complex development crosses the finish line, it is celebrated as an undeniable masterpiece of current leadership capability.

However, the instant a timeline slips, it is discarded as the pure ineptitude of the previous regime.

No matter how many strolls are staged across the tarmac or how many celebratory snapshots are snapped along the bridge, President Muizzu cannot turn this engineering feat into his own personal achievement.