Malé City Council will create seven hundred new jobs for locals through city cleaning and maintenance programmes within three years, Deputy Mayor Shifa Mohamed has said today.
Speaking about the council’s ‘Nala Fehi Male’ (Clean Green Malé) programme’s Malé City cleaning project – which was announced yesterday – Shifa said that that within four to five months one hundred locals will be recruited to sweep Malé City.
The inaugural ceremony for the programme was held yesterday outside Iskandar School, with the council reporting that permission to hold the event inside the school was suddenly withdrawn. According to Haveeru, no government invitees were present at the ceremony held by the opposition dominated city council.
Following the recent local council elections, the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party took eight out of the 11 seats on Malé City Council.
Speaking at the ceremony, Malé City Mayor Mohamed Shihab said that the council’s target was to create job opportunities for as many local Malé residents as possible through partnership with private businesses.
Shihab said that the council will very soon formulate a programme to resolve the housing crisis in Malé, and that such projects can be carried out with the help of investors by utilising uninhabited islands near the city.
At the ceremony, former President Mohamed Nasheed said that the council has to find ways to carry out their mandate underlined in the Decentralisation Act, which the government should allow.
Deputy Mayor Shifa said that the council wants to cooperate and work with the government, and is currently in the process of meeting with ministers and senior members of the administration.
The ‘Nala Fehi Male’ program was launched in 2012 under a contract made with local advertising and marketing company Business Image Group (BIG). Under the contract billboard slots have also been lent to the company to fund the project.
“This is a wide programme, it includes parks, cleaning, ferry terminals and many other things. What we announced yesterday was the cleaning component of this program. It is an existing contract and we are going forward with it,” Shifa said.
She noted that civil servants who are now tasked with cleaning Malé’ are unable to do it properly, mainly because there are very few people to do the work.
Shifa said that most of the cleaning staff are currently migrant workers, and the council aims to provide more opportunities for local male’ city residents. The council is also placing two hundred dustbins around the city as part of the programme.
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This is another one of President Nasheed's half baked political blips to keep alive a decentralisation act marked for annihilation by the sitting government.
Decentralisation contradicts this government's policy of consolidation and centralisation of all sources of power to rule undisputed and unchallenged.
This government will win majority of parliament by hook or crook using unprecedented powers of the SC to bend the constitution and force of the police to keep public at bay.
Soon after, the parliament will surgically dissect the powers of the councils by amending the decentralisation act, cutting all sources of revenue to the councils and rendering them totally dry to operate independently.
Land will be taken back to the ministries. contracts will be challenged in court and revoked. mandates will be removed from MCC and taken over by other agencies within the ministries. It will be a huge massacre. And all MDP can do is watch as the only link of governance they have being taken away from them.
it is back to the drawing board, back to the people, back to the streets and back to the roots. that is where MDP belongs and thrive, not in power or to rule.
This is a public stunt and Maldivian are too proud of themselves and they will not do road cleaning job .
Shihab might be living in a different world.
May be council can try to develop some skills and then possible to engaged them doing other jobs.
The solution to Mordis.s problems are, among others,
1: to consolidate population
2: to create jobs
3: to create better transport
4: to reestablish social harmony.
5: reform judicial framework, real fast.
6: to stem the drug inflow.
It's good to see govt addressing some of these.
@ Hassan Mahir
Even a half baked idea put into practice is better than just supporting with one's heart and intellect for instance women's empowerment. Even political parties in Maldives was a half baked idea but it has in its wake given a community the hope that they have a right to universal healthcare, housing, etc etc which subsequent governments will be obliged to provide unless they take the very brutal road. Then we'll again have to wait patiently and fearfully again for another Nasheed!