President: Revision to Decentralization Act is the foundation of Jazeera Maldives

President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih says the legislative amendments proposed by his administration to the Decentralization Act will lay the foundation of the Jazeera Maldives envisioned by his administration.

President Solih, in a tweet this Wednesday, said that his administration’s vision for development was to facilitate a Jazeera lifestyle – loosely translated to mean island-nation lifestyle – through greater decentralization of administrative divisions.

“This administration has presented legislative amendments to the Decentralization Act to enable this. This is the foundation of the development we envision,” he added.

He accompanied his statement with a seven-second video clip which shows the words “Decentralized Maldives – The Foundation of Jazeera Development”.

President Solih, in previous statements, explained his Jazeera Development concept to be achievement of developmental goals without compromising the cultural values, traditions, principles and sovereignty of Maldives.

Several of his Cabinet ministers have also tweeted the video clip along with their aspirations for a decentralized Maldives.

END OF ‘ONE SIZE FITS ALL’ APPROACH

Education Minister Dr. Aishath Ali said the legislative amendments would put an end to councils being run on a “one size fits all” approach. She said that it would also enable the administration to ensure each and every island is developed based on the needs and wants of local residents.

200 ISLANDS CANNOT BE RUN FROM ONE AIR CONDITIONED ROOM IN MALE’

Communications Minister Mohamed Maleeh Jamaal said the near 200 residential islands in Maldives cannot be developed out of a single air conditioned room in the capital, Male’.

He said that real decentralization, coupled with an effective mechanism to hold local councils accountable, was necessary to develop islands with respect to the needs of local residents.

“[Choose] the administration’s amendments for this path,” he added.

The Maldivian administration has presented two bills which it says will improve the management of administrative divisions of the government in accordance with a decentralized system of governance, and empower local councils.

One bill is legislative amendments to the Decentralization Act, and the other is amendments to the Maldivian Constitution.