The government's initiative to reduce the number of political employees has transitioned from the evaluation phase to the stage of action, Chief Government Spokesperson Mohamed Hussain Shareef has said.
Speaking at the the latest episode of the press conference series "Presser with the Spox", Spokesperson Hussain Shareef emphasised that the government is taking decisive steps to reduce expenditure as part of its broader economic reform agenda—a policy designed to eliminate wasteful government spending and increase revenue.
Under this initiative, 248 political employees have already been reduced since October 2024.
According to the Spokesperson, the work of assessing the quality of political employees has come to an end and now it is in the action phase.
"We are evaluating with the intention of bringing in the really needed capacity. For example, if there are State-Owned Enterprises, there will be one third of the current number. We are trying to reduce political positions to a certain number,” he explained.
The Cabinet has also decided to establish a system to monitor the performance of government political employees, ensuring greater accountability and efficiency in the public sector.
President Dr Mohamed Muizzu, speaking on the second episode of PSM News' Nation Chat programme, elaborated on the reform efforts, stating that with this work, there will be fewer political employees in ministries and companies. He emphasised that the initiative aims to shape the country's governance in the best interest of the nation rather than responding to opposition criticism.
"They protested about the layoffs yesterday. They were earlier demanding layoffs. So I'm not paying much attention to the two-faced nonsense of the opposition," the President remarked.
The President further explained that when he took over the government, the largest number of employees were employed in Fenaka Corporation, with many staff members proving irresponsible as the government's operating expenditure remained high. He noted that although Fenaka has limited work to do in the atolls, the distribution of easily paid jobs has resulted in people in the fishing industry moving away from the sector.
During the previous MDP government, the staff of Fenaka Corporation had been increased dramatically, which brought fishing to almost a halt, the President added. The government is committed to improving employment practices across all companies and agencies while ensuring that only necessary positions are maintained.