Parties should consider minimising pressure in appointments to government posts: Dr Hassan

Special Advisor to the President Dr Hassan Saeed has said that parties in the coalition government should think about minimising the pressure on the government when proposing personnel to be appointed to government posts.

Dr Saeed said that compared with former President Mohamed Nasheed's administration, the political posts in President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik's government are much less, with more competent personnel holding these posts.

He added that it is the responsibility of the members of the coalition government to keep political posts to a minimum.

“I believe that the leaders of political parties in the coalition government have to take more responsibility in this issue. They have to consider minimising the pressure on the government and the President. That would encourage reducing the number of political posts in the government,” Dr Hassan Saeed said.

He said that the creation of more political posts is of concern, and the appointment of incompetent personnel to these posts is even more worrying:

“But as I say this, I am aware that earlier it was just one ruling party. Now the government is made up of seven political parties and a civil society coalition. So it's natural that more political posts exist in such a government. Compared with the previous government, the number of posts are still much less.”

As an example, Dr Saeed said that more than seventy board members of health corporations and utilities companies have been removed. The government has plans to dissolve more than forty government companies and remove their board members as well.

“There are ways to reduce the posts even further, and President Waheed's plan is the same,” Dr Saeed said.

He said that political parties are given a quota to propose personnel to political posts, and the President has requested them to propose competent people. However, few incompetent personnel have been appointed:

“The President's idea is to appoint competent personnel. The cabinet is also professional, and has been accepted by most. Most of the State Ministers are educated, competent people. But few have been appointed based on other criteria.”

Dr Hassan Saeed said that a coalition government representing seven parties would, in addition to educated and competent people, consist of people with emotional ties as well.

“People with emotional ties, and all kinds of people will be included; and sometimes the letters of appointment will be reported on social media before they're official. This is the biggest challenge in having a large coalition government,” he said, referring to the recent posts of letters of appointment before the appointments are officially announced.

The President's Spokesperson said in an interview with Sun Media Group two weeks ago that no new State Ministers or Deputy Ministers will be appointed. Fifteen State Ministers and fifteen Deputy Ministers had been appointed by then, and more have been appointed since. The two-month old government is facing criticism from opposition groups and the public, due to the excessive creation of political posts.