Proud to have served President, people of Maldives: Dunya Maumoon
Resigned as Foreign Minister over capital punishment
State Minister for Health Ministry Dunya Maumoon
State Minister for Health Ministry Dunya Maumoon says that she was proud to have served President Abdullah Yameen and the people of the Maldives.
Minister Dunya, who had served as Foreign Minister in this administration, said this in a tweet posted to mark four years to this administration. She said she was proud to have served as Foreign Minister and continued service at the Health Ministry.
Minister Dunya had resigned as Foreign Minister on July 5, 2016. Her resignation came at a time when relations had soured between incumbent President Yameen and his half-brother former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who is also Minister Dunya’s father. The same day, the Ethics Committee of ruling Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM) passed to remove her sibling Dhiggaru Constituency MP Ahmed Faris Maumoon from the Party.
Speaking about her resignation, Minister Dunya then said she had resigned due to differences rising over personal beliefs and Government’s stance on capital punishment. She said enacting the death penalty will impact the nation in the global arena.
Following her resignation, Minister Dunya had allied with her father’s attempts to restructure PPM. She was allied with her father when court passed to hand over Party leadership to President Yameen.
However, in a surprising turn of events, she accepted a significantly lesser position by accepting the position of State Minister at Health Ministry on January 5, 2017. By then her father had revoked the support he had given to the present administration.
Later on July 18th, brother MP Faris Maumoon was arrested on charges of attempted bribery and had been detained in Maafushi jail since then.
Following his arrest, Minister Dunya had tweeted sympathies to MP Faris’ family. The photo attached with the tweet showed Minister Dunya, Faris, Ghassan Maumoon and Yumna Maumoon during their childhood. The tweet, simply said that blood was thicker than water.
She had attended a hearing of the case against MP Faris and had visited him in jail as well.
While former President Maumoon had allied with the opposition, the Government had slashed much of the privileges granted to him as a former President, including slashing his security.
