Cabinet reshuffle: Parliament unanimously approves Zameer, Khaleel and Nazim

Parliament has granted approval to individuals appointed as Foreign Minister, Health Minister and Finance Minister during a cabinet reshuffle on September 30th.

In this regard, President Muizzu decided to make then-Foreign Minister Moosa Zameer the new Finance Minister replacing Dr. Mohamed Shafeeg, then-Health Minister Dr. Abdulla Khaleel the new Foreign Minister, and Abdulla Nazim Ibrahim, then-Principal Secretary to the President on Public Policy, as the new Health Minister.

Zameer was appointed as the new Finance Minister after Shafeeq resigned from the post. 

At Tuesday’s parliamentary sitting, Zameer, Khaleel and Nazim received approval for their appointments with the unanimous votes of 86 lawmakers in attendance. There was no vote against the appointments.

Parliamentary approval was sought for the new ministerial appointments on the same day of the reshuffle. However, the Parliament had been in recess at that time.

The matter was slated on the agenda of the first sitting held after recess on October 14th and was ultimately forwarded to the Parliament’s Government Oversight Committee for review. The Committee later decided to grant approval for all three ministers.

Notably, the reshuffle marks the first such change made by President Muizzu since assuming office last November.

The changes came after international financial agencies urged he Maldives to take urgent measures to mitigate a rising risk of default on its external debt obligations.