The administration’s Chief Spokesperson, Heena Waleed, declined to disclose the number of President Mohamed Muzzu’s political appointees, saying she would provide clarification at a later time.
“There are a lot of people talking about political positions in a lot of ways, so hopefully we will soon bring you the exact figure of political positions,” she said.
While Waleed said she would share the information with journalists “soon,” five months have passed since the administration took office.
The Muizzu administration took office with the initial promise of not exceeding 700 political appointees; however, according to opposition claims, a record number of political positions have already been appointed. The President’s Office accepted a request for information on 17 December through the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICOM) portal but requested an additional 14 days to provide the information before the 21-day deadline expired.
ICOM attempted to schedule hearings on the filing on several occasions. However, the President’s Office did not participate in any of the hearings, leading to ICOM finally deciding on 30 March, in the absence of the President’s Office, that the information should be provided within three days.
The President’s Office, however, has not complied with ICOM’s deadline, which expired on 18 April.
