Malé City Mayor Dr. Muizzu accuses govt of obstructing employee bonus payment

Malé City Mayor Dr. Mohamed Muizzu said on Wednesday that the Ministry of Finance and the National Pay Commission have been obstructing the council's attempts to pay their employees an attendance bonus.

The council has decided to give every employee MVR 75 per day as an attendance bonus. In line with the Civil Service Employee Regulation, they have even sent the proposal to both the ministry and the Pay Commission to make sure that their employees will get this bonus.

At a city council meeting on Wednesday, Muizzu said that the delay in implementing the attendance bonus, a year after the decision was finalised, has led to a rise in employee concern over the matter. They have asked for permission to pay their employees an attendance bonus on three occasions, he said.

"This was money the council had decided to give to the employees of the Malé City Council. Funds for this are included in the council's budget. So we should be able to give the money to our employees. We want to give this money [to them]. So, the government should not put restrictions on it," said Muizzu, who is also the Vice President of the opposition coalition.

"There should not be any reason for the government to intervene. So the government should show us how we can move forward on this issue. They have to cooperate. This is a right of our employees."

The mayor said that if the government does not grant them permission, the council will discuss what needs to be done next.

Mujthaba Jaleel, Secretary General of the city council, said that in May last year, the city council requested permission from the Pay Commission to give bonuses to employees. However, Mujthaba said the commission's President and Finance Minister Ibrahim Ameer had signed and replied that this was not possible at the time as the pay structure of all government agencies was being revised.

"For a second time since then, we wrote a letter requesting that they give us permission as it was important for us to expedite the process. But the answer came in the same way again," he said.

Dr. Muizzu said the matter has been closed, and a decision will be made next week. He said he would seek a response from the government before that.