Malé, Maldives – Spokesperson of the President’s Office Mabrook Azeez has stated that the government’s stance on selecting Secretary Generals (SG) for Local Councils is to consult the corresponding councils.
Mabrook tweeted this earlier today after an amendment was proposed to the Civil Service Act and the Decentralization Act that if passed, Civil Service would not consult councils before selecting SGs. After Gemanafushi MP Ahmed Saeed submitted this to parliament, numerous members of the public have shown their discontent.
“The government plans to consult councils” said Mabrook in a tweet regarding the matter, adding that the currently submitted amendment was not put forward by the administration.
Article 126 (a) of the 8th Amendment to the Decentralization Act states that, with a council’s consultation, the council’s highest ranking administrative employee – the SG, will be appointed by the Civil Service Commission.
However, MP Saeed’s amendment to this act states that the council’s highest ranking administrative employee – the SG, will be appointed by the Civil Service Commission. The same amendment was submitted to the Civil Service Act.
His reasoning being that, the civil service act states that a system must be established to allow civil service jobs to be accessible to all members of the community, and that it should be distanced from political aspects, and should not be influenced by a specific party, nor work to please a specific party and that civil servants must provide services through professional methods.
