The President has said he will take necessary steps to resolve the issue of administrative staff of councils not being awarded pay increments based on educational advancements while on the job.
President Dr Mohamed Muizzu has assured that he will make efforts to change the policies surrounding the awarding of pay raises and allowances to council administrative staff after they complete further studies.
A council administrative staff from Noonu Atoll Manadhoo, Azzaa Abdul Ghafoor, posed a question to the President under the 'President's Response' series where she enquires why, unlike other staff overseen by the Civil Service Commission, council administrative staff are excluded from salary increments following completion of further studies.
Responding to her, President Dr Muizzu said that this difference is a result of the Parliament having listed councils in the lowest tier when categorizing offices under the civil service. However, he said that he wishes to bring a change to this policy when the pay structure is being revised in future.
He accepted that council staff, unlike those in other offices, often engage in work even during off days and weekends. He pointed out that in his earlier capacity, he had been able to closely observe how employees in a council worked, and hence deeply understood their concerns.
He noted that the obstacles to finding a solution to this issue were legal in nature, but said that he had even previously tried to address this even when he served as Mayor of Male' City.
"We will work through the Parliament to better facilitate advancements for councils' civil service staff to be issued based on educational advancements and other factors that need to be considered," the President said.
"So we will work on that. Along with bringing the necessary changes to laws and regulations through the parliament."
'President's Response' is a social media programme run by the government where members of the public pose questions directly to the President, to which he personally responds via a video message. Both the question and answer are posted in videos for the general public and can be found on official the account @governmentmv on the platform X.
Sign In