The portfolio for the Former Ministry of Cities, Local Government and Public Works rests now on the restructured Ministry of Finance and Public Enterprises.
Questions have been raised by some parties regarding which government minister is responsible for matters concerning councils under the decentralisation system. These questions emerged following the abolition of the Ministry of Cities, Local Government and Public Works by President Dr Mohamed Muizzu.
The decentralisation system in the Maldives is inherently new. It has been in operation since 2010 under a specific law. Under this framework, the institution designated to oversee councils is the Local Government Authority (LGA).
In 2023, President Dr Mohamed Muizzu established a ministry responsible for cities, local government administration, and public works with the aim of strengthening council work and improving coordination between councils and the government. Many councils acknowledged that this brought positive results. However, with recent changes brought to the Cabinet, the mandates of several ministries have been reassigned. Among these changes, the ministry responsible for cities and councils was dissolved, and its mandate was transferred to the Ministry of Finance. The President stated that these changes were made after considering which ministries were most closely related to those responsibilities.
“In the decentralisation system, the minister accountable, including to Parliament has now been designated as the Finance Minister. Since the Finance Minister is the minister common to all matters, that responsibility lies there. The LGA is a statutory body tasked with administering the decentralisation system, and it will continue to carry out its responsibilities,” the President said.
Following these changes, the mandate of the Ministry of Finance and Public Enterprises has also been updated. According to this mandate, the ministry is responsible for developing administrative regions in the Maldives and implementing policies for governing them under decentralised principles. Therefore, matters that were previously submitted to the Ministry responsible for cities must now be directed to the Ministry of Finance and Public Enterprises.
Under the Decentralisation Act, the LGA is responsible for overseeing how councils operate and for regulating their work. Since the President has appointed Finance Minister Moosa Zameer as the President of the LGA, accountability to Parliament regarding council matters falls to the minister.
The LGA has also stated that the dissolution of the ministry responsible for cities does not create any legal gaps. With the 17th amendment to the Decentralisation Act, services previously provided by atoll councils are now to be delivered under the LGA. Additionally, the assets and resources of atoll councils are legally transferred to the LGA.
As such, the law grants the LGA the authority to establish its offices. Therefore, even without a separate ministry for cities, the LGA will continue to assume and carry out council responsibilities as before. In this arrangement, overall responsibility ultimately rests with the Finance Minister, Moosa Zameer.