Extend presidential term to fix dollar crisis: Uchchu

Prominent business man and owner of Champa Brothers Mohamed Moosa (Uchchu) said in an interview done by YouTube channel "Dheno" that in order to fix the Dollar crisis plaguing the country, the current Presidential term must be extended.

He is of the opinion that every President needs to have 10 to 15 years in office, and that five years simply isn't enough to tend to the issues of the public in a "panic-induced and hasty manner."

According to him, Maldives is one of the nations that has most amount of Dollars income.

“When I think about the dollar issue, the Maldives is one of those countries where dollars basically rain down,” said Uchchu.

Even though Maldives has a small population, Maldives is still a large nation with islands spread far and wide, said Uchchu. Around 200 islands are populated and having to account for the various needs of all these islands would surely be a costly endeavor, Uchchu said.

"[Everything needs to be done for all islands] And so, expenses will rise. These expenses aren't taken from the Presidents that take office. They come from the citizens," stated Uchchu.

Uchu said that if islands don't see the progress they were promised by the President in office, then criticism will fall on the President, with loans needing to be taken out in order to accomplish their objectives.

"So many things need to be done, with loans being taken out in Dollars to do so. One of the biggest reasons is because Maldives isn't a small place. The islands are spread so far apart. Five years is too short a time for an administration to make changes," said Uchchu.

Uchchu went on to say that the reason that five years is too short a time for Maldives is because in other countries, they have land to conduct transport work, with materials such as wood, gravel, stone and metal being available to those countries. Maldives has no such luxuries, Uchchu said.

Uchchu said he salutes the work that the Presidents put in when it comes to import and the logistics that goes in to transport goods to various islands. But due to them not having enough time to do everything in a slow and well-timed manner, work tends to be done hastily and in a panic, Uchchu said.

Uchchu, who has been in the tourism industry for the past 40 years, says that five years is not enough to bring the Dollar down to the rate that the citizens want it to be at. Dollar needs to be spent on building airports at islands and on various other things, he said.

Uchchu said that even though Maldives takes out loans, the Dollars it receives isn't strictly in cash. Neighboring countries send workers to Maldives for a project on loan, with the work paid in Dollars, he said. He went on to say that this is also one of the ways the Dollars that Maldives receives goes out.