The incumbent administration of President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu still remains unsure of the total number of political appointees in the government.

A journalist sought from the government to disclose the exact number of total political appointees in the incumbent administration, during Sunday’s press conference.

As such, the journalist noted that when questioned at an earlier press conference, Minister of Finance Dr. Mohamed Shafeeq had claimed that the total number of political posts made by the Muizzu administration would be disclosed at a later date, as they did not have an exact figure at the time.

Responding to the question at Sunday’s presser, the minister beat around the bush and made statements that were not relevant to the question posed.

Minister Shafeeq stated that people are being sacked from political positions and that they still do not have an exact figure.

Shafeeq said that what is required of the government is the complete disclosure of information and he does not want to lose that trust.

It has been more than nine months since Muizzu assumed office and the appointments to political positions are far from over.

Although the president has claimed that the government would adopt a transparent policy, so far his administration has been failing to disclose the total number of political posts made so far.

The incumbent administration came to power with a promise that the number of political appointees would not exceed 700. The incumbent administration also criticized the former administration of now opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) for appointing “too many” political appointees.

However, the number of political appointees has increased manifold since the administration took over, with the government drawing public criticism as well, for refusing to disclose the figure.

Recently, the president announced several measures to reduce public expenditure and took to social media platform ‘X’ to shed light on a series of “strict” measures to be implemented in a bid to cut down public expenditure, especially recurring expenses.

Some of the measures to be implemented in this effort included reducing the number of political posts within his administration.