The Noonu Atoll Office has issued a notice to all staff members banning from using social networking services such as Facebook during office hours.
Online newspaper Manadhoo Live, based in Noonu Atoll, reported that the issue was raised when a female staff member working in the office published a comment against a candidate running for Manadhoo Council in the upcoming Local Council Elections.
However head of the Noonu Atoll Office, Abdulla Abdul Wahid, told Minivan News that the restriction on social networks was not related to the issue.
”We just want our staffs to follow the Civil Servants’ code of conduct,” said Abdulla. ”We have noticed that many staff working in the office have been ignoring office work by getting involved in social networks.”
He said that staffs were using social networks during office hours rather than getting involved with their work.
”Maybe whoever said [the ban] was related to the issue of publishing a comment relating to the candidate thought we restricted access social network because it happened at the same time,” he said, ”but it’s not really because of that. Staff have been spending too much time on Facebook instead of doing their work.”
He said the notice was issued according to the Civil Servants’ regulations, which stated that the internet access in the workplace should only be used for office purposes.
Receptionists and officials at the Human Resources department of the Noonu Atoll office refused to comment on the issue.
Social media adoption in the Maldives is prodigious, particularly Facebook, with almost a third of the country’s population signed up to the service. According to statistics from Facebook, the Maldives has 89,460 registered users – two thirds of whom are male. Almost half Maldivian Facebook users are aged under 18.
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