President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has appointed 7 members to the newly reconstituted board of the Local Government Authority (LGA).
The president appointed members to the reconstituted board of the LGA under the authority granted by Clause 7 of the special legislation to ensure the continued functioning of a decentralised government. Minister of Home Affairs Imran Abdulla was appointed as chairman of the board to fulfill the obligation under Article 140 of the Constitution, which mandates a cabinet member to be responsible for overseeing bodies established by the legislature or executive, with the exception of constitutionally-mandated independent state bodies.
Meanwhile, Fathimath Afshan Latheef was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of LGA, in charge of overseeing the day-to-day operations of the authority. Other members appointed to the board of the LGA include Special Advisor to the President Mohamed Shihab, Minister at the President's Office Ahmed Sameer, Minister of State for Home Affairs Mohamed Mahir Easa, Minister of State for Finance Ahmed Shareef and Deputy Minister of National Planning and Infrastructure Fathimath Niuma.
The special legislation to ensure the continued functioning of the decentralised government was passed along with the constitutional amendment to extend the current term of local councils until new councillors can be elected. The board of the LGA was reconstituted on June 2, and will remain in place until local council elections are held and new councillors take office. The local council elections in the Maldives have been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.