Government fails to appoint members to CIC as two months pass since parliament approval

President’s Office has said today that the delay in appointing members to the newly approved Customs Integrity Commission (CIC) is due to the lack of enough finances in the government budget to pay the member’s salaries.

Media Secretary at the President’s Office Massood Imad said today that this year’s budget does not have finances allocated for the salaries for the commission’s members, even though the members were approved by the parliament last March.

“In relation to that, we have now requested the Finance Ministry to include their salaries in the supplementary budget. We have also notified the Parliament that they can only be appointed if the parliament approves the budget,” the Media Secretary said.

Massood Imad said that an annual sum of MVR 400,000 is required for the salary for the single member of CIC.

The monthly salary of a CIC member is MVR 32,500. They will also be allowed MVR 1000 as a monthly phone allowance, and MVR 10,000 as annual premium. The monthly salaries for President and Vice President of the Commission are higher, totalling MVR 37,500 and MVR35,500 respectively. The total annual pay for each member calculates to MVR 412,000 excluding the President and Vice President, who will receive an MVR 472,000 and MVR 448,000 respectively.

The Customs Act was passed by the Parliament on 11th May 2011 requires that a 5 member Customs Integrity Commission be established.

The President forwarded a total of 12 candidates for the commission, of which the parliament picked five. The five members are: Vizad Ali of H. Aazadevaadhee, Yousuf Maaniu Mohamed of G. Atha, Jihad Anees of Gaafu Alif Kanduhulhudhoo Bluerose, Fareesha Adam of Male’ Dhaftharu, and Fathimath Shamveela of G. Ali Aabaadh.

“The president has not appointed them because there is no way of paying their salaries. They will be appointed as soon the budget is approved,” Massood Imad said.

One of the newly approved members to CIC told Sun today that there has been no contact from any authority since the day the parliament announced the approval. The newly approved member also said that there has been no official notification that the parliament has approved them.

“We have resigned from out previous posts from the day that our approval was announced. We didn’t think then that the appointment would take that long. Having resigned from our posts, it is causing a number of difficulties.”

The newly approved member also said that the government should have guaranteed their appointment before sending their names to the parliament for approval.

“When our names are sent for approval, the government should know that we have to be paid. Why haven’t our salaries been included in this year’s budget? The delay of our appointment is deeply concerning,” the member said.