President Mohamed Muizzu has said that more amendments to the Decentralization Act and amendments to the constitution to abolish atoll councils will be proposed during the last parliament session of the year.
The session is scheduled to begin in late September.
Speaking in Alif Alif Mathiveri island on Tuesday, Muizzu said "atolls councils are useless."
"Every island council will bear witness to this. It is useless. So we will amend the constitution. We can't do this without amending the constitution," he added.
Muizzu said there will not be a vote to elect atoll councilors in the polls early next year.
He believes that the abolition of the atoll councils will empower the people because the ministries and state-owned enterprises (SOEs) can deal directly with the island councils.
But the existence of atoll councils does not pose any obstacles to island councils to directly communicate with state agencies. The island councils currently do not seek permission from the atoll councils.
Muizzu claimed abolishing atoll councils would increase transparency and accountability.
The President wants to amend the Decentralization Act to decrease number of councilors to three in islands with a population less than 2000 and five councilors for islands with a population of more than 2000 people.
This change will also be reflected in the Women's Development Committees (WDC).
The abolishment of atoll councils would bring an abrupt change to the administrative structure of the state. The atolls councils have historically played an important role in the administrative function of the state.
