Nasheed: Government buying Dhiraagu shares is a misuse of public funds

Former President Mohamed Nasheed said Monday that Dhiraagu operates without government influence because it is a privatized company, and that increasing the state’s shareholding now would be an unnecessary and wasteful use of public funds.

Nasheed’s remarks came after President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu told a press conference that Dhiraagu remains a major strategic asset for the government and that regaining majority control would be in the public interest.

Dhiraagu was initially established with a 55 percent stake held by the Government of Maldives and a 45 percent stake held by UK-based Cable & Wireless. In 2009, the government sold seven percent of its shares to Cable & Wireless for USD 40 million, reducing the state’s stake to 48 percent. In 2011, the government sold an additional 6.2 percent to the public, converting Dhiraagu into a public limited company.

In a post on social media, Nasheed said Dhiraagu is one of the few major companies in the Maldives that operates free from political influence, precisely because the government does not hold a majority stake. He argued that Dhiraagu’s current ownership structure, with private-sector leadership and the state as a minority shareholder, is the correct model for an efficient telecom operator.

Dhiraagu akee siyaasee nufoozaai baaruverikan nufoaraa rayyithunge hama ekani kunfuni. Sabakee e kunfuni privatise kohfaa vumaai sarukaaruge majority nethumun. Raajjeygai hingaa Sarukaaru hihsaavaa kunfuni thakun faidhaave adhi siyaasee beynumah oiy vaseelatheh ge gothugai nethee…

— Mohamed Nasheed (@MohamedNasheed) September 7, 2026

Nasheed also noted that Dhiraagu is not among the state-owned enterprises that are routinely used for political hiring or patronage. He said increasing the government’s stake now would be a misallocation of public funds, especially at a time when many SOEs are already struggling to generate profits.

He added that SOEs often become vehicles for overstaffing, political appointments, and inefficient or corrupt transactions, and that expanding state ownership in Dhiraagu would risk pulling a successful private-sector company into the same cycle.

From an economic standpoint, Nasheed’s position reflects a broader argument: reversing privatisation and expanding state equity in a profitable telecom operator reduces market efficiency, increases fiscal burden, and exposes the company to political interference, all of which contradict the principles of modern SOE reform.