Bill which grants President authority over LGA’s Board sent to committee

People’s Majlis has accepted the bill to amend Decentralization Act so that councilors are excluded from the Board of Local Government Authority (LGA), sending it to National Security Committee for evaluation.

The bill was presented during this Tuesday’s Majlis sitting on behalf of the government by Ungoofaaru MP Jaufar Dawood.

Jaufar’s bill calls for Article 62 of the Decentralization Act to be amended.

61 parliamentarians participated in the voting; out of whom 44 parliamentarians voted to accept the bill for evaluation and 17 parliamentarians voted to reject the bill.

The law currently dictates that LGA’s Board be comprised of one Cabinet minister assigned by the President, one Male’ City councilor, four atoll councilors, a civil society member, one ordinary member and one city councilor.

The bill calls for the number of Board members to be cut down from nine to five, and for all five members to be nominated by the President and approved by People’s Majlis.

The five members in the Board will be; one Cabinet minister, a female expert in gender equality, member of a civil society, an expert in governance or public administration and a chief executive officer.

They will be appointed by the President but will need the approval of the People’s Majlis.

LGA is a governing body which oversees the work of councils and compliance with laws and regulations.