Speaker's residence, Muraidhoo, has a staff of four: Parliament

Parliament Secretariat has said that the Speaker's official residence, Muraidhoo, only employees four persons.

According to the information shared by the Parliament, the total salaries of these four staff, not including overtime, comes to less than MVR 100,000 per month. The total has been cited as MVR 96,917.

Mihaaru News submitted a query under the Right to Information seeking details of numbers of staff employed at Muraidhoo, and their pay.

The Parliament initially sought an extension for responding, and later said that the Parliament's Committee on Security Services (241 Committee) would decided whether the information can be disclosed as the Speaker is entitled to protection under parliamentary privileges.

In a meeting held on October 14, the committee ruled that the information will be held confidential, supporting a proposal by ruling People's National Congress (PNC) Parliamentary Group Leader Ibrahim Falah.

Following this, President Dr Mohamed Muizzu requested that the information be disclosed under the administration's policy of transparency. The same day, the committee held a second meeting where they revised their earlier decision.

Two weeks on, the parliament has today sent a response to Mihaaru News, where they said that the Speaker's Official Residence has a total staff of four. These are:

- Chief of Staff: former journalist 'Mundu' Adam Haleem

- Director General: popular footballer Ali Ashfaq

- Senior Electric and Maintenance Officer: Ali Sajid

- General Service Officer: Ismail Thoriq

All except Chief of Staff receive overtime pay.

Salary Details

Chief of Staff: MVR 21,000 as salary, MVR 1,470 as pension, MVR 9,450 as special allowance, MVR 5000 as living allowance, MVR 1,000 as phone allowance, MVR, 4,400 as service allowance. Total: MVR 39,380

Director General: MVR 12,400 as salary, MVR 868 as pension, MVR 5,580 as special allowance, MVR 3,500 as living allowance, MVR 600 as phone allowance, MVR 4,400 as service allowance. Total: MVR 25,612

Senior Electric and Maintenance Officer: MVR 6,260 as salary, MVR 437 as pension, MVR 2,812 as special allowance, MVR 3,500 as living allowance, MVR 400 as phone allowance, MVR 4,400 as service allowance. Total: MVR 16,925

General Service Officer: MVR 5,000 as salary, MVR 350 as pension, MVR 2,250 as special allowance, MVR 3,500 as living allowance, MVR 200 as phone allowance, MVR 4,400 as service allowance. Total: MVR 15,000