The costly decision to hire more political appointees

The President’s Office appears to be in major headlines of local news and debates of the public lately - for several obvious reasons. 

In addition to the dismissal of the Managing Director and a President's Office Minister from their posts due to political reasons, the recent update of their political appointees has also caught the attention of many. While these dismissals themselves were not well received as dismissing anyone from their post for supporting a particular person seems like unfair reasoning;  the hiring of more political appointees during a time period when the Government is supposed to keep their spending in check, is extremely irresponsible. 

Following the COVID-19 pandemic and poor public finance management, by 2022 the Maldives was in a severe debt situation. In the first quarter of 2022, it was revealed that the Maldives' debt situation surpassed a shocking MVR 100 billion. When the panic finally set in, the Government decided to take some measures which were implemented in 2022 and at the start of 2023. One of these measures was to reduce the expenses of the state to manage the growing budget deficit, and as a result - the debt of the country. 

This meant that Government offices were no longer allowed to make unnecessary hires or spend on travel unless they were absolutely necessary. This panic and action only lasted a few months as the President Solih himself rewarded himself a trip to watch the world cup in Qatar, making many people question how strict these rules were when it came to its implementation. 

And now, these questions are being asked yet again, after the President’s Office updated their website, showing the recent addition to their political appointees. According to these updates one political appointee was assigned to the Ministry of Tourism, Planning Ministry, Youth Ministry and Gender Ministry. With political appointees getting a salary totaling to around MVR 30,000 a month, the appointment of additional politicians adds up to the growing expenses of the state. 

Why is this such an unnecessary expense

The hiring and dismissal process of political appointees fall completely onto the President himself. While political appointees are assigned and work in different Ministries, their job is to promote the policies and agenda of the President, therefore, all the powers relating to their job falls on the President himself.

And since the creation of political appointee posts, many people wondered what the actual job descriptions for political appointees were. One of the biggest reasons for these questions was based on the fact that, unlike any other Government jobs, political appointees are not hired based on their educational or work qualifications - they are hired based on their support for the Government and their political affiliation.

As some of the highest-paid people within a Ministry, most political appointees do not hold a job responsibility, or perform to match their pay-cheque. It has always been a discussion that Government employees do not get sufficient pay as a university graduate within a Government job gets a take-home pay of MVR 12,000 at most while a political appointee takes home more than double. 

With all this these factors combined, the appointment process of political appointees needs serious reforms and rethinking, considering the issue of equity and fairness, in addition to the burden on the national budget. While the citizens are already paying higher taxes since the start of 2023, it appears that any good being done by that is merely undone by the thoughtless actions of the Government.