Four staff at Muraidhooge; MVR 99,678 per month in expenses

Parliament has revealed there are only four staff employed at Muraidhooge, the official residence of the Speaker, with MVR 99,678 incurred from the state budget for their salaries monthly.  

The state arranges official residences for the heads of all three branches.

In response to a request filed by Sun under the Right to Information Act, Parliament said the residence employees four staff with MVR 99,678 incurred each month to pay their salaries.

The details of the expenses:

Veteran journalist Adam Haleem (Mundoo) who was appointed chief of staff on July 27^th receives a salary of MVR 39,380

Football legend, former national team capital Ali Ashfag who was appointed director general on July 27^th receives a salary of MVR 25,612

Senior electric and maintenance officer appointed to oversee matters related to electricity and maintenance receives a salary of MVR 16,925

General service officer receives a salary of MVR 15,000

As per the Parliament, Adam Haleem is responsible for overseeing all official matters related to the residence while Ashfaq assists him in this trajectory.

The general service officer was appointed to the residence on July 31^st for the provision of day-to-day services.

Parliament detailed that all staff, with the exception of chief of staff, receive overtime allowances under the stipulated regulation. MVR 2,761 is incurred for the residence per month apart from the salary and allowances of the staff.

Speaker Abdul Raheem Abdulla moved into Muraidhooge on July 26^th.

Muriadhooge was declared the official residence of the parliament speaker in 2021 via an amendment to the law following an assassination attempt against then-speaker Mohamed Nasheed as he exited his personal residence where he had been residing at that time. 

Prior to this, official residences were only arranged for the president and the vice president. The amendment to the law also allocated an official residence to the chief justice.

The amendment mandates the state to arrange official residences for the two top officials and their families, along with an adequate number of staff and expenses for the residences. The residences must be suitable to implement necessary security measures, and security at both residences must be provided by Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF).