Male’ City Council’s Deputy Mayor Shamau Shareef says that the Local Government Authority (LGA) had only goal and that goal was to restrict the mandate of the Councils.

Speaking on RaajjeTV’s Fala Surukhee program on Tuesday night, the Deputy Mayor said the final target was to completely restrict and eliminate the Councils.

Shamau said the LGA had failed in its mandate. As such, he said it was a responsibility of the Authority to regulate Councils and conduct training programs for Councilors, which had not been carried out of late. Noting that this was the state of the LGA, Shamau said the LGA was now directly punishing the Councils. He said the Authority was complicit in all the actions the Government took to hinder the Councils.

The Deputy Mayor also noted that the LGA was under the direct influence of the Government, adding that Councils and Ministries do not meet. He said the Ministries had refused to meet Councilors and respond to the letters sent in regarding the situation of their Constituents.

Shamau expressed his concerns over the circular issued by the LGA.

In a circular released on Monday, LGA said since local councils are a layer of the government, the consequences of their actions affect the government as well.

LGA said that if local councils hold discussions with foreign organizations, it would disrupt the principles of the unitary state, harm the civil and foreign policies, and jeopardize the agreements that Maldives has made with foreign organizations.

Therefore, local councils should notify LGA of any meetings with foreign organizations via a written statement, which will be sent to the home ministry, said the authority.