The Civil Service Act came into effect on May 1, with 27,089 civil servants transferred from the President's Office to the new, independent Civil Service Commission (CSC).
While much of the world celebrated the May Day or the International Workers Day, the Maldives with a 100 percent Muslim population compelled 1,714 civil servants aged 65 and above to take mandatory retirement. Maldives does not have a labour movement nor labour unions to protect workers rights and so the compensation for the retirees was determined by the Civil Service Commission with no representation by the affected people.
According to the CSC calculations, the 1,714 retirees will be awarded a lump sum and a monthly allowance, based on their salary and length of service.
262 of the retirees will receive Rf 500 (US $39) monthly, 169 retirees will be paid their full salary for 40 or more years of service, and 1,282 retirees will be receive a sum between Rf 500 and their full salary till death.
The sun has now set for the public servants aged 65 and above, many of whom had believed that they had a lifelong job in serving the Maldivian government who preached the virtues of an Islamic society. Now the Maldivian government has deftly manipulated the public trust and kicked out the pillars of the public service without giving them any opportunity or training for alternative employment.
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3 comments:
I believe this is one of the best things that happened to Maldives in a long time. Only time will tell.
The introduction of Civil Service is an important step in the right direction. But, perhaps there are certain apsects of how it is being introduced, that need to be questions about. PErhaps some of the aspects were not quite the way it should be implmented. (But at the same time, I must say that the attempts that were carried oiut by some DRP factions to hinder the introduction of the Civil Service are abhorred. It were not borne out of sicnereity to the people, but to the leader of DRP!)
maldiveshealth/muiz
Thanks for the comments. I too agree that the Civil Service Act is a step in the right direction.
But I believe there are some questions this government must answer. If so many people can be retired in one go, then why was the government keeping them for so long? Why did the government not provide training to those of them who are interested to take up alternative employment, many of such jobs are held be expatriate workers in Maldives? Workers at the lower end of the scale are paid Rs500 monthly by the Civil Service Commission. That will send many of these workers to go begging after a lifetime of serice to the Maldive government. This is not acceptable. Their compensation should have been determined by independent representation of the workers with the civil service commission.
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