The government has violated its pledge to limit political appointments to 700 as information disclosures have revealed that there were 799 political staff at 18 ministries by May.
Under the right to information (RTI) law, Adhadhu asked the President's Office and 22 ministries for the number of political staff between November 17, 2023 and May 1, 2024.
Nineteen ministries replied to the RTI requests. The Education Ministry at first refused to disclose the information on the grounds that it would obstruct policy formulation. But the ministry later agreed to provide the information at a hearing by the Information Commissioner's Office.
The remaining 18 ministries shared the number of political appointees.
Number of political appointees by May
- Defence Ministry - seven political staff
- Foreign Ministry - 16 political staff
- Homeland Ministry - 53 political staff
- Finance Ministry - 18 political staff
- Health Ministry - 26 political staff
- Economic Ministry - 34 political staff
- Fisheries Ministry - 39 political staff
- Tourism Ministry - 29 political staff
- Gender Ministry - 66 political staff
- Sports Ministry - 195 political staff
- Environment Ministry - 47 political staff
- Culture Ministry - 35 political staff
- Higher Education Ministry - 32 political staff
- Infrastructure Ministry - 40 political staff
- Agriculture Ministry - 31 political staff
- Youth Ministry - 71 political staff
- Transport Ministry - 58 political staff
- Attorney General's Office - two political staff
President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu's decision to limit political appointments to 700 was announced when he was the President-elect by his former spokesperson Mohamed Firuzul.
The number will include the President's Office and Muleeage in addition to ministries, he said at the time.
The President's Office's response to the RTI was to say that the information was available from its website. But it has been noted that the President's Office website is not up to date. Moreover, the figure provided by the Foreign Ministry did not include political staff at embassies.
Four ministries have yet to disclose the information. They are the Local Government Ministry, Housing Ministry, Islamic Ministry and Education Ministry.
