Broken by design: Malé City Council has stopped functioning

A city council with a 14-member supermajority cannot muster 10 members for a weekly meeting.

Deputy Mayor Mohamed Areesh – the leader of the ruling People’s National Congress team at the council, which holds 14 out of 18 seats – claimed that Mayor Adam Azim ended last week's session despite a ten-member quorum being present. Anyone who watched the live broadcast would know that even by 9:47am, 17 minutes after the scheduled start, a quorum had not been achieved. The council refuted the deputy mayor in a press statement. 

One would think that contesting for re-election would be motivation enough for councillors to show up and do their jobs. Apparently, that is not the case, at least not for the PNC councillors.

This is the new normal. Malé City Council has now come to be marked by disorder and delays. Meetings are not being held, records and minutes are cluttered, administrative arrangements have collapsed, and institutional discipline has eroded. The council has reached a point of paralysis. This raises an obvious question: does the legal framework really offer no solution?

It does, very clearly.

The General Procedure Rules of Local Councils, last amended on February 12, 2024, provide a detailed and unambiguous framework for how councils must function in accordance with democratic principles and in ways that prevent corruption. Yet, two years into his tenure, Mayor Adam Azim is yet to show any indication as to his awareness regarding these rules or is thoroughly uninterested in enforcing them. Unfortunately, this pattern is not new; it mirrors what was seen during President Dr Mohamed Muizzu’s mayoralty.

As a result, Malé City Council is effectively at a standstill. Procedures are ignored, meetings are cancelled, and decision making has ground to a halt.

There are many failures, but two areas in particular require immediate action if transparency and basic governance are to be restored. Both relate to formal meetings and councillor attendance.

Rule 72 of the Rules of Procedure is explicit: the chair of the proceedings must participate in voting on council decisions. Yet the mayor has repeatedly failed to vote during regular council meetings.

This uncertainty is compounded by a failure of transparency. While some meetings were broadcast live, that alone does not meet legal requirements. Article 75 clearly states that all council resolutions, orders, decisions, and proceedings must be publicly disclosed. Any decision that is not disclosed in this manner is invalid, and such disclosures must be published on the council’s official website and social media platforms.

Further, Article 77 requires that:

These are not optional administrative habits; they are conditions for the legal validity of council decisions and sessions.

The rules go even further. Tables 2 and 3 specify exactly how minutes must be kept, including:

None of this has been followed. As things stand, there is no reliable public record showing how councillors voted or whether they voted at all. Citizens and councillors are left to request even the most basic information through Right to Information (RTI) applications.

The second major issue is councillor attendance.

Article 60 of the Rules of Procedure provides a straightforward enforcement mechanism:

These steps have not been taken.

For over a month, weekly mandatory meetings have been cancelled due to lack of quorum. Meanwhile, the agenda continues to grow, unresolved issues pile up, and councillors continue to draw their salaries.

The quorum for the weekly mandatory meeting is 10 members, including the mayor, out of a total council of 18 members. Of these, 14 belong to the ruling PNC. Persistent quorum failure under these circumstances is not accidental. It reflects a deliberate failure to attend to duties and responsibilities while rules are not enforced.

The rules also anticipate situations where the mayor and deputy mayor are absent. Article 61 requires the council to convene and formally appoint a member to oversee administration during such absences.

This has never been done.

Instead, when the mayor and deputy mayor travel abroad, the mayor personally selects a PNC councillor to act in his place, without discussion, without a council vote, and sometimes without even informing the appointed member. In some cases, councillors only learn that they are presiding on the very day of the general session.

This practice is unlawful and undermines the legitimacy of council proceedings.

These issues have been raised repeatedly with the mayor, in different forums, under different circumstances, and even in a detailed written letter dated  December 4, 2026. Yet no meaningful response has followed. At this point, public disclosure appears to be the only remaining option.

Institutions cannot function based on the goodwill of individuals alone. They require structures, systems, orders, and procedures that apply regardless of who holds office. That is precisely why the rules of procedure exist.

The so-called “minimum standard” for council governance is clearly defined in law. Ignoring it does not merely weaken governance. It strips decisions of legitimacy and legality.

The reality today is that the ruling party’s majority is being used to paralyse and effectively hijack Malé City Council. Procedural rules are mocked, quorum is allowed to fail, and the council is prevented from serving the public.

This must change.

The Local Government Authority (LGA) is quick to reprimand any MDP councillor whose actions even slightly raise questions of misconduct. However, when it comes to ruling party councillors, despite repeated and sustained no-shows, no prescribed punitive action has been imposed.

On the other hand, the mayor has both the authority and the obligation to enforce the rules, ensure attendance, restore transparency, and allow the council to function. Anything less is a betrayal of the democratic mandate entrusted to Malé City Council, especially following the overwhelming victory of MDP’s mayoral primaries by Adam Azim.

Enforce them. Take action.

Saif Fathih is a columnist at the Maldives Independent and a serving member of the Malé City Council for Galolhu North. With his educational background in communications, international studies and public policy, he previously worked as a journalist, editor and public policy advisor, with roles including senior policy director at the ministry of national planning and editor of Ocean Weekly Magazine. Saif began his career as a radio producer and presenter at Minivan Radio, writer for Minivan Daily, and translator for the British High Commission and the European Union Mission to Sri Lanka and the Maldives. He is also the host of Ithuru Vaahaka, the Maldives Independent podcast.