MDP says 90% of dismissed SOE employees belong to opposition
PCB has directed state-owned enterprises and the Ministry of Finance in April to reduce their workforce by 33 per cent.
The opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has alleged that 90 per cent of employees dismissed so far under the government's state-owned enterprise (SOE) workforce reduction programme are members or supporters of the party.
The Privatisation and Corporatisation Board (PCB) directed state-owned enterprises and the Ministry of Finance in April to reduce their workforce by 33 per cent. The affected organisations were recently given three months to complete the exercise.
Speaking at an MDP press conference on Tuesday, former party chairperson Fayyaz Ismail said the planned reduction could result in approximately 14,733 job losses across SOEs.
Fayyaz said the dismissals were being carried out without publicly disclosed procedures or selection criteria, making it difficult to assess whether the process was being implemented fairly.
He also alleged that a similar exercise undertaken in 2024, which was presented as a reduction in political appointments, had instead resulted in the removal of individuals aligned with former President Abdulla Yameen.
Fayyaz claimed the current workforce reduction was also being used to dismiss employees based on their political affiliation.
"We are seeing employees being terminated from Fenaka, HDC, and various regional SOE branches," Fayyaz said. "When we look into it, 90% of the employees being fired belong to MDP families."
Hassan Latheef, Director General of the MDP's Bodu Badhalu Office, said the PCB should disclose the criteria used to determine which employees would be dismissed and explain the staffing levels required for each enterprise.
He added that 65 dismissed employees had sought legal assistance from the MDP, with 37 of their cases already filed before the Employment Tribunal.
