Ministry: Decentralization Act tainted with political influence, needs systemic fixes

Moosa Fathuhy Adam, State Minister at the Local Government Ministry, said on Wednesday that the Decentralization Act is tainted with the influence from past administrations and political parties, and that the incumbent administration plans to provide systemic solutions to fix the issues with the decentralization system.

The Constitution stipulates that the administrative divisions of the Maldives must be decentralized. The Decentralization Act was created under this provision in 2010. In the 13 years since, the law was undergone 11 amendments.

In an appearance on SSTV’s ‘Baara Hathareh’ show, which aired on Wednesday night, Fathuhy said that the multiple amendments failed to facilitate the crucial outcomes needed through the system.

He said that instead of providing systemic solutions, past administrations and political parties had made whatever changes it wanted to further their agenda.

“What I am trying to say is, this law became something that furthered the political ideology of political parties and the political ideology of the ruling power, and the amendments were temporary fixes,” he said. “Rather than this, President Dr. [Mohamed] Muizzu plans to identify the systemic issues and provide a solution to these issues.”

After assuming office in November last year, President Muizzu embarked on a nationwide tour, during which he met with members of atoll, island and city councils, as well as women’s development committees.

Local Government Minister Adam Shareef Umar also embarked on a similar tour.

Fathuhy said that the most frequent complaints raised during these meetings was regarding lack of resources available to councils, as well as the rundown state of the office buildings that councils are run out of.

“The most frequent complaint raised during these meetings is about the poor state of council secretariats. The buildings and the resources. They complained that the infrastructure was in a very poor state.

Fathuhy said that an assessment by the Local Government Ministry found that over 100 council offices need immediate major renovations. He said that many of these structures need to be rebuilt.

The incumbent administration had launched a program to rebuild council secretariats. Fathuhy said that President Muizzu has decided to rebuild 50 council secretariats, in addition to those already budgeted.

He acknowledged that it will require major spending.

With such high spending required to repair and rebuild council secretariats, the government recently announced a string of fiscal consolidation measures to combat a flailing economy.

President Muizzu also recently announced plans to push legislative changes to cut down the number of members who sit at councils.