Parliament again rejects opposition's emergency motion
According to MP Mauroof, the ‘violations’ made in the name of government spending cuts only targets ordinary or low-level employees.
By
Aishath Maha
An emergency motion filed by the opposition Maldives Democratic Party (MDP) in parliament on Tuesday calling on the government to stop dismissing low level employees in government-owned companies in order to add more political employees without limit.
The matter was moved by MDP MP Mauroof Zakir.
The Parliament rejected the motion by a vote of 57 out of 69 MPs present. 12 members voted in favour.
In the motion, Mauroof said:
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President Mohammed Muizzu had said that the number of political employees will be kept below 700 to reduce the government's recurrent expenditure
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The President has violated his promise and hired a large number of political employees under his powers
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The Finance Committee asked the Finance Ministry to find out the number of people recruited for political posts
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Although the exact number of people appointed to political positions is unknown, it is known that people are still being appointed to political positions
Mauroof said former Feydhoo MP Mohammed Nihad was appointed as the State Minister of Tourism last Saturday.
“In the 100 percent government-owned Road Development Corporation, memos were sent to several employees on July 4. On the same day, two consultants were hired for MVR 35,000 to ‘experience’ the company's human resource work and repair and maintenance work,” Mauroof said.
In addition Mauroof noted:
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The ‘violations’ made in the name of government spending cuts is only targeting ordinary employees
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Many ordinary employees working in government-run companies in different parts of the country have been laid off
Parliament also rejected an emergency motion moved by MDP MP Meekail Naseem last week, calling for the government to be held accountable for its denial of disclosure of the number of political posts and salary expenditure at state-owned companies.
