Majlis War On Civil Service Amendments

We call upon all fair-minded Maldivians to wakeup from their sleep and realize the evilness of this government. We should standup for our rights and not allow Gayyoom and his parasitic government to amend our own constitution to fit his personal requirements. It is widely agreed that the much-criticised amendments to the Civil Service Act 2007 are a politically motivated attempt by Gayyoom’s corrupt government to retain presidential control over a large and influential section of Maldives’ public servants. The government proposes groups, including the police, elections commission staff, island chiefs and the anti-corruption board should remain under the control of the President’s Office pending new legislation to deal with them separately.But opposition parliamentarians justifiably argue that if the amendments pass, President Maumoon Abdul Gayyoom could retain direct power over twelve to fifteen thousand of the Maldives’ 40,000 government employees in the run-up to the country’s first multi-party elections.If the proposed a amendments are passed, it would reduce the number of employees falling under the independent Civil Service Commission (CSC) by around a third. The CSC’s head, Dr. Latheef has said that his office was not consulted about the amendments. It is believed that Dr. Latheef is with the reformists in this matter. Latheef probably realizes that this is a dying regime. The CSC had previously announced it would use from May its power to compel civil servants over 65 to retire on a government pension.The proposed amendments also include a two-year delay before compulsory retirement for 65 year olds, to allow retirees to “mentally or physically prepare”, according to DRP’s Aneesa. With the Maldives’ first ever multi-party elections due later this year, the MDP has argued the President’s power to appoint atoll and island chiefs and their assistants – a total of 473 individuals – is a threat to electoral fairness. The amendments would see the chiefs continuing to report to the President’s office until local elections, which the DRP propose should take place after presidential and parliamentary polls.High-ranking civil servants including “staff at the level of ministers”, state ministers, special advisors, and ministers’ assistants, would remain under the President’s office permanently, a situation the CSC has said could cause “difficulties with lines of authority”.
A number of NGOs and reform-minded organizations and individuals have started a campaign to pressure the government to withdraw the proposed amendments. We call upon all fair-minded Maldivians to wakeup from their sleep and realize the evilness of this government. We should standup for our rights and not allow Gayyoom and his parasitic government to amend our own constitution to fit his personal requirements.(A Face-Book group formed by some of these NGOs can be accessed at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=9779137865)