Kulhudhuffushi city Mayor Mohamed Athif and Male' city Mayor Adam Azim have said that the amendments to the Decentralization Act have stopped local councils ahead of polls.

At a joint press conference on Tuesday, four atoll councils expressed concern over the government's rushed changed to the Decentralization Act before the elections in April 2026.

"The President opened a shop to sell plants when he was the Mayor of Male' city. But today, the law has been changed to stop such activities by councils," Athif said.

He added that the Kulhudhuffushi council requested permission from the Local Government Authority (LGA) to hire six employees under the new rules, but the LGA refused to allow this because it was the last year of the council's term.

Athif said that if councils cannot hire employees in the last year of their term, the President should also not be able to hire any employees in the last year of his term.

Male' city Mayor Adam Azim said the changes have caused serious challenges in hiring employees, forcing the council to stop a lot of work.

"The challenge today is that even if an employee leaves a mosque, we can't hire a new one to maintain the mosque," he said.

Azim said the law was amended to halt council operations to hide the "inefficiency of an inefficient government."

“You will see in the islands that a lot of income is generated from land rent and councils are using those money to do many things," he said.