President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu's administration has to date created 81 posts at the state minister rank and 122 posts at the deputy minister rank, information from the President's Office website shows.
When appointments were made in the past, the names, address and ministry of political appointees were published on the President's Office website.
However, the President's Office has not disclosed any such information recently. No information about the number of political posts has been shared and when the question was raised at press conferences, journalists were told that it would be shared later.
But Adhadhu has gathered information from the President's Office website and made calculations.
The present government has 81 state ministers and 122 deputy ministers. Expenditure from the state budget on their salaries is included below.
81 state ministers
- Salary - MVR 47,000
- Monthly expenditure on salaries - MVR 3,760,000
- Annual expenditure on salaries - MVR 45,120,000
The state ministers include Maldives National University (MNU) Vice Chancellor Dr. Aishath Shehenaz Adam and Islamic University Vice Chancellor Dr. Ali Zahir. A chancellor was appointed to the national university at ministerial rank.
122 deputy ministers
- Salary - MVR 35,000
- Monthly expenditure on salaries - MVR 4,270,000
- Annual expenditure on salaries - MVR 51,240,000
The Local Government Ministry has the highest number of state ministers with seven state ministers.
The Homeland Security Ministry has the most deputy ministers with 13 appointees.
Information about some posts were not updated on the President's Office website when these calculations were made. The resumes of state minister and deputy minister appointees who have been reporting to work are absent from the President's Office website.
246 political appointees, MVR 128 million as remuneration
President Muizzu's cabinet has 22 ministers, in addition to whom he has so far appointed 21 officials at the ministerial rank.
Two of them were appointed without pay. They were appointed as Advisors to the President on trade and tourism.
Ministerial rank appointees earn MVR 66,000 as salary and allowances. Their wage bill is therefore MVR 1,254,000 a month.
Salary and allowances for the 43 individuals appointed at ministerial rank including cabinet members amount to MVR 2,706,000 a month and MVR 32,472,000 a year.
Therefore, paying salaries for the 246 political appointees in the President's Office website would cost MVR 128,832,000 a year from the state budget.
Paying salaries for the 246 officials would cost MVR 644,160,000 during President Muizzu's five-year term.
In addition to these posts, the government has also created posts called Senior Political Director and Political Director. However, the government has not disclosed the names of the appointees or details of their salaries and benefits. On social media, individual ministries have been congratulating people appointed to those posts.
President Muizzu assumed office with a pledge to limit the number of political posts - including posts at ministries, the President's Office, President's residence and Vice President's residence - to no more than 700. The figure would include administrative staff, it was said at the time.
