Switching from nepotism to spoil system...

Last weeks I got the chance to watch the program, Maadhdhaa 27(chapter 27)on TVM. I like the way they tried to compare the present president and former president and their regimes. For me, that was one of the few reports TVM was able to present without much bias to any side. However, government seemed to be upset with the way the report was sent. Surely they didn't like the part where the report stated that there are family members of president Mr. Nasheed in the present government. I think they were right partially as the members that TVM mentioned were not so close as the names mentioned about President Maumoon regime.

So I thought of the situation. For me neither is as good as we think. What I found was that both did the mistake to the same extent, yet the difference is how they did it.

Nepotism
It is very much true that there were many members of President Maumoon family in the high posts of government. I would not want to waste my time and your time writing all the names as it is well know. It is not very ethical to give jobs to family members leaving aside the capable people. If the family member is really capable there is no harm I guess.
"Nepotism is favoritism granted to relatives or friends, without regard to their merit. The word nepotism is from the Latin word nepos (meaning "nephew" or "grandchild")".1


Spoils system.


The press secretary just as he usually does, tried to translate what was told in Dhivehi to the Dhivehi speaking Maldivians. Let me be nice with him. Ok Mr. Zuhair, I agree that there are not much if not none in government who belong to President Nasheed's family. Yet, there are many who are his friends and party members who I doubt about credibility to the post. Having a friend or a party member will be OK as long as they fit to the job. Yet, I don't think that is what we see. Surely some got the post for the friendship or party membership than the credibility. "Spoils system is a practice where a political party, after winning an election, gives government jobs to its voters as a reward for working toward victory, and as an incentive to keep working for the party—as opposed to a system of awarding offices on the basis of some measure of merit independent of political activity".2

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So, I see a change in the way mistakes are done, not very necessarily a halt to those. Its more of a switch from nepotism to spoil system.




1 -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nepotism
2 -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoils_system