More than 1200 political appointees, gov to dismiss some to cut costs

As of the end of July, there are over 1200 political appointees in various State institutions, according to their records.

President Dr Mohamed Muizzu announced yesterday that 228 political appointees will be dismissed in a bid to bring down expenditure.

These 228 political appointees include 7 State Ministers, 43 Deputy Ministers, 109 Senior Political Directors and 69 Political Directors.

The President announced that the dismissal of these appointees would result in monthly savings of MVR 5.7 million for the State.

The President has instructed that these appointees be dismissed within fifteen days.

Under the Right to Information Act, Mihaaru News applied to institutions to seek the details of appointees to political posts until the end of July.

All except four ministries responded to the query.

The information received from 16 institutions, including the President's Office show that by the end of July, they had a total of 1249 political appointees. The number of political appointees at each institution are as follows:

- Ministry of Finance: 14

- Ministry of Social and Family Development: 67

- Ministry of Tourism: 32

- Ministry of Education: 34

- Ministry of Climate Change, Environment and Energy: 51

- Ministry of Higher Education, Labour and Skills Development: 30

- Ministry of Fisheries and Ocean Resources: 43

- Ministry of Economic Development and Trade: 37

- Ministry of Health: 218

- Ministry of Sports, Fitness and Recreation: 205

- Ministry of Islamic Affairs: 37

- Ministry of Homeland Security and Technology: 54

- Ministry of Defence: 4

- Ministry of Construction and Infrastructure: 43

- Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Welfare: 35

- President's Office: 345

The ministries that did not respond to the query are Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Information and Art, Ministry of Housing, Land and Urban Development, Ministry of Transport and Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The President's Office has previously said that the total number of political appointees in this administration would not rise above 700.