President: 2020 will be a new chapter in prosperity and progress

President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih said on Wednesday that with the landmark revision to the Decentralization Act, the year 2020 would mark a new chapter in decentralized administration and renewed efforts towards achieving the prosperity and progress desired by the Maldivian people.

The amendments to the Decentralization Act - ratified by President Solih on December 15 – will award local councils unprecedented fiscal and legal autonomy.

In his address to the Maldivian people on occasion of the New Year 2020, President Solih said that Maldives faced the New Year with significant changes to its system of governance, which paved the path for a whole new phase in empowerment of the Maldivian people.

“We now face a whole new chapter in nation-wide development, exactly as the people want. The Maldivian people will witness far happier days; with women empowered and in their rightful place in society,” said President Solih.

The amendments to Decentralization Act makes it compulsory for all local councils to have at least five councilors, and for islands with populations exceeding 3,000 people to have seven-member councils. Furthermore, 33 percent of the composition of each local council need to be women.

“Once this law takes effect, Maldives will become truly decentralized. The Maldivian people, who asked for Maldives to be developed as ‘Jazeera Raajje’, now have the full authority and choice over this, and local councils have now been allowed full fiscal and legal autonomy,” said President Solih.

He said he had high hopes the changes would quicken the pace of development and progress in Maldives.

“And in this new year which has just begun, all State institutions and all State officials, must resolve to put public interest first, uphold the rule of law, and carry Maldives towards a new chapter in development, surrounded by peace and stability,” said President Solih.

He said that the biggest priority of his administration continued to be establishing social justice and providing dignified lives, financial stability and equitable prosperity for the Maldivian people.

Towards this end, this administration will continue in its path of combating injustice, protecting human dignity, advocating for human rights, upholding the rule of law, ensuring Constitutional rights and alleviating disparities, said President Solih.

He said that his administration had been successful in establishing peace and harmony in Maldives in 2019, by “moderating political discord, revitalizing efforts to mend individual and brotherly bonds, fostering international relations and welcoming unity, economic progress and stability.”

“It was a year in which Maldives received respect and prestige from the international community. And the Maldives spent days of economic productivity and progress,” said Solih.

President Solih is currently in neighboring Sri Lanka on an unofficial visit. It marks his first visit to Sri Lanka since Gotabaya Rajapaksa was elected its President. He is scheduled to conclude his visit and return to Maldives on December 4.