The Education Ministry has decided to classify the number of political appointees at the ministry, claiming that disclosure would obstruct the formulation of government policies.

Under the right to information (RTI) law, Adhadhu requested the number of political staff appointed to the ministry from November 17, 2023 to May 1, 2024.

The ministry first replied to the request on May 9 saying that the information was available on the President’s Office website.

However, since information about political appointees is not up to date on the President’s Office website, which only lists officials above the rank of deputy minister, Adhadhu sought a review of the ministry’s response. A case was filed with the Information Commissioner’s Office of Maldives (ICOM) after the ministry failed to respond to the request.

After a hearing in the case was scheduled for July 18, the ministry gave a second response.

Citing Article 31(1) of the RTI law, the ministry said it could not disclose the requested information. The provision referred to by the ministry states that offices have the discretion of non-disclosure if revealing the information would “obstruct the result-based planning policy of government in a manner that achieves the goal.”

After reposting Adhadhu’s article on the Education Ministry’s non-disclosure on X, Hithadhoo Medhu MP Ahmed Azaan from the ruling People’s National Congress (PNC) called on the ministry to reconsider the decision.

The number of political staff cannot be kept confidential and the non-disclosure would lead to “loss of public confidence in the government,” Azaan wrote on X yesterday.

The Education Ministry’s decision to keep the number of political staff a secret came after 13 out of 22 ministries in the government shared their figures with Adhadhu. Aside from the Education Ministry, other ministries have not responded.

The current government came to power with a pledge to limit the number of political staff to 700. According to information gathered from various sources, the figure is close to 2,000.

But the government has repeatedly delayed or refused to disclose the number of political appointees. A motion without notice submitted to the Parliament by opposition MPs last week was thrown out by the PNC supermajority.