More than 200 political appointees have been removed from their posts over the past three months as the government continues efforts to reduce expenditure and streamline the state workforce, Government Spokesperson Mohamed Hussain Shareef, commonly known as Mundhu, has said.
Speaking in an interview with PSM on Sunday, Mundhu said 205 political appointees have so far been dismissed under the administration’s fiscal consolidation measures.
The reductions have affected four levels of political appointments, including State Ministers, Deputy Ministers, Senior Political Directors and Political Directors.
“So far, 205 employees have been dismissed through these efforts. This includes staff who served as State Ministers, Deputy Ministers, Senior Political Directors, and Political Directors,” Mundhu said.
However, he stressed that the exercise has not yet concluded, indicating that the number of political posts being eliminated could increase further.
“This work is not yet finished, so these numbers may change moving forward,” he said.
The reductions form part of a broader government effort to contain recurrent expenditure and restructure the state sector, including a parallel right-sizing exercise involving state-owned enterprises.
Mundhu said the SOE restructuring process is also continuing and that, once completed, the overall reduction in personnel across state companies is expected to exceed the number of political appointees recruited by the current administration.
The government has been pursuing a series of changes to the SOE sector, including mergers, dissolutions and transfers of functions and employees between state entities.
Among the most significant changes has been the merger of Regional Airports Company Limited with Maldives Airports Company Limited. The government has said the consolidation alone is expected to reduce expenditure by around MVR 10 million per month.
Other restructuring measures have included the dissolution of Maldives Sports Corporation, with its employees transferred to the Ministry of Sports, Fitness and Recreation, as well as moves to liquidate Maldives Integrated Tourism Development Corporation.
The administration has maintained that its restructuring programme is intended to eliminate overlapping functions, reduce unnecessary expenditure and make state-owned companies more financially sustainable.
Political appointments have also been a recurring subject of public debate, particularly over their impact on the state wage bill. The latest figure disclosed by Mundhu indicates the administration is now extending its cost-cutting measures directly to senior political posts.
While 205 political appointees have already been removed, Mundhu did not provide a target for the total number of positions the government intends to eliminate or a timeframe for completing the exercise.
He said both the review of political appointments and the wider SOE right-sizing programme would continue, meaning further reductions are expected in the coming period.
