Unlawful political hires in foreign service continues

Despite it coming to light that the appointment of political staff to the Foreign Ministry had been implemented in violation of the Foreign Service Act which came into effect in 2021, the ministry has appointed more employees without course correction.

In response to north Galolhu MP Mohamed Ibrahim's question, Foreign Minister Khaleel revealed that there were 132 political employees at the ministry by the end of January. The response, which was in writing, also detailed that there were 139 foreign service employees.

Foreign Minister Abdulla Khaleel stated that as of January, the ministry had 132 political employees. In comparison, the number of Foreign Service employees stood at 139, according to his letter.

Data obtained by Mihuaru under the Right to Information Act in November last year revealed that the Foreign Ministry had a total of 269 employees. At the time, there were 129 employees in political positions and 140 foreign service employees.

These figures indicate that the number of political employees in the ministry increased over the past two months.

According to Article 115 of the Constitution, the President has the authority to appoint individuals to necessary positions for the execution of official duties. While this is a broad power as a whole, the Foreign Service Act limits the number of political positions that can be appointed in the ministry.

Article 41 of the Foreign Service Act states that the number of employees mentioned in Article one and four should not be hired in a number that exceeds 20 percent of the total foreign service workforce. According to the law:

- Article one allows the appointment of individuals as "Minister of State," "Ambassador-at-Large," and "Deputy Minister" to assist the Minister in strengthening the ministry’s operations.

- Article four permits the temporary appointment of individuals from outside the foreign service for specific responsibilities in accordance with the Act’s Staff Regulations.

Both these provisions refer to political appointees and the extent to which they can be appointed to the ministry.

Based on the figures, 20 percent of the 140 foreign service employees would allow for a maximum of 28 political appointments, making any appointments beyond this threshold a violation of the Foreign Service Act. This also means that the current number of political employees, at 132, accounts for 48 percent of the total foreign service workforce.

One of the main reasons for such provisions in the Foreign Service Act is to prioritise career progression for foreign service employees and maintain the integrity of the field by preventing excessive political appointments.

However, a concern that has persisted through multiple previous governments is that political appointees exceeded the number of foreign service employees stationed in foreign missions.

By the end of the last government, there were 253 employees at the Foreign Ministry. Among them were 116 political appointees and 137 foreign service employees, according to the ministry.

Although the current government has a higher number of political employees than its predecessor, the previous administration also exceeded the limits set by the Foreign Service Act on political appointments.