Former Environment Minister Shauna Aminath has once again taken to social media to criticise government policy — this time targeting the restructuring of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) into the Environmental Regulatory Authority. But Maldivians have not forgotten her own track record, which was defined by unilateral decisions and sweeping restrictions imposed without genuine public consultation.
As a senior figure in the former MDP government, Shauna enjoyed the political comfort of a super majority in Parliament, enabling her party to pass the Waste Management Act with little opposition. That law created the Single-Use Plastics (SUPs) list — the very mechanism through which her ministry banned plastic bottles under 500ml, Styrofoam food containers, plastic plates, spoons, knives, forks, and even drink stirrers. It also enabled the deeply unpopular MVR 2 plastic bag fee.
Our decisions unlike President Muizzu’s were subject to transparency and debate and were not made on a Presidential whim.
You may claim that both governments are exactly the same, is that why you keep jumping between the two whenever it suits your advantage?
— Shauna Aminath 🎈❓ (@anuahsa) August 12, 2025
These measures, while branded as environmental reform, blindsided small businesses, disrupted livelihoods, and burdened households. Yet there were no nationwide public forums, no referendums, and no meaningful stakeholder engagement. Shauna’s ministry dictated the rules, and the public was expected to simply comply.
Now, in opposition, Shauna portrays herself as a champion of debate and transparency — attacking others for not consulting the people, while conveniently forgetting that her own policies were rolled out without the very process she now claims to value.
For many, this is not principled leadership but political theatre. Shauna’s record shows she had no issue with centralised, top-down decision-making when she was in power — she only discovered her love for “public consultation” the moment she lost it.
