Amendment proposed to cease councilors salary

Government has proposed an amendment bill to the Decentralization Act to replace the monthly salaries for local council members, excluding councils’ presidents and vice presidents, with an allowance granted per sitting.

The amendment, in addition to a few other amendments to the Decentralization Act, were proposed by Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) MP Abdul Azeez Jamaal Aboobakuru.

The bill seeks to amend Article 120 of the Decentralization Act, to state that regular council members will receive an allowance per each sitting they attend. It also states that the president and vice president will continue to receive a regular monthly salary and will not be entitled to an extra allowance per sitting.

Article 12 of the Decentralization Act currently states that the Parliament shall decide on the remuneration and allowances of the members of the councils.

As per the decentralization regulation, presidents of the councils receive a monthly salary of MVR 15,000, the vice presidents MVR 12,000 and members of the councils MVR 11,000.