Govt dismisses 205 political appointees in 3 months

The government has dismissed 205 political appointees from 15 ministries over the past three months as part of its efforts to reduce the number of political staff, Chief Government Spokesperson Mohamed Hussain Shareef said on Saturday.

Shareef said the dismissals involved officials serving in four categories: state ministers, deputy ministers, senior political directors and political directors.

He said the process of reducing political appointments was continuing and that more officials would be removed in the coming days.

Shareef did not disclose the current number of political appointees in the government, saying the figures would be released once the process was completed.

The President’s Office said in July last year that there were 922 political appointees serving across the government.

Shareef said the 205 dismissals did not include employees of state-owned enterprises (SOEs), which are undergoing separate workforce reductions.

He said information on the number of employees removed from SOEs would be released once the rightsizing process at the companies was completed.

“I can assure you that once the rightsizing across all SOEs is complete, the total reduction will far exceed the initial number brought in,” Shareef said.

Several state-owned companies have reduced their workforces in recent months as part of the government’s rightsizing programme. Fenaka Corporation has dismissed employees from a number of its offices in the atolls as part of the process.

Shareef made the remarks during a meeting with journalists that was initially scheduled to be held as a televised press briefing at a Television Maldives (TVM) studio at 4pm on Saturday.

The planned live briefing was cancelled after Adhadhu journalist Leevan Ali Nasir, who had been asked to leave the studio, refused to do so. The President’s Office subsequently held an informal discussion over tea with the other journalists who had attended.

The President’s Office has said Adhadhu is not included in its media group because of an ongoing investigation related to a documentary published by the outlet containing allegations against President Mohamed Muizzu.