After initially refusing to disclose the number of political appointees, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has now revealed that there are 129 political appointees employed there.
After initially refusing to disclose the number of political appointees, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has now revealed that there are 129 political appointees employed there.
Information disclosed by the Foreign Ministry in response to a Right to Information (RTI) request by Mihaaru News states that by the end of October, the ministry had a total of 269 employees, which includes those stationed in embassies abroad.
Of these, 129 are political appointees, and 140 are foreign service employees.
The statistics indicate that the number of political employees at the Foreign Ministry in this first year of the current administration is higher than there was in the past administration.
At the end of the previous administration, Foreign Ministry had a total of 253 employees, of which 116 were political employees, and 137 were foreign service employees.
The details were released after a long period of withholding the information. Mihaaru submitted a complaint to the Information Commissioner's Office when the Foreign Ministry refused to comply with an RTI request submitted by the media.
Information Commissioner's Office determined that this information could not be withheld, and ordered the ministry to provide the details within five days. However, the Ministry failed to respond even when this deadline passed.
Mihaaru once again submitted an RTI request, which was also ignored. This was again lodged at the Information Commissioner's Office.
While the case has been lodged, the Ministry responded on Friday, providing the requested information.
Mihaaru News reports that the ministry had ultimately complied after President Dr Mohamed Muizzu instructed them to provide the information following a report on Mihaaru News on Thursday about the ministry's refusal to comply.
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