President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu has submitted the mandate of ministries created under his authority to the Parliament for approval.
The ministries were created on November 17. However, the mandates of the ministries were not submitted to the Parliament for approval until now while the names of the appointed ministers were submitted for approval on November 20.
The names of the appointed ministers were evaluated by the government oversight committee and the report was sent to the Parliament floor for approval. The report was placed on the agenda and opened for debate at the sitting on December 18. During the debate, Parliamentarian Hisaan Hussain raised a point of order, stating that the government had not submitted the mandate of the ministries to the Parliament at the time. She said that the report should clarify what the responsibilities of each minister are before the Parliament can approve their appointment.
Speaker Mohamed Aslam accepted the point of order and sent the report back to the government oversight committee. He said that he has held discussions with majority leader Mohamed Rasheed Hussain and minority leader Ali Azim and concluded that the report has neglected to fulfill all the requirements under the parliamentary regulations. President Muizzu submitted the mandates of the ministries after the sitting concluded.
Regarding the issue, Attorney General Ahmed Usham said that submitting the mandate of the ministries to Parliament for approval under Article 116 of the Constitution and approving ministers under Article 129 of the Constitution are two separate issues. He said that the issues were approved separately in past Parliaments. As such, he noted that in 2018, the Cabinet ministers were approved on December 4 and the mandate of the ministries were approved on December 13.