The fall of Mayor Azim’s bid committee

“The committee will ascertain the public interest value of bids and proposals and deliberate on them to determine the best value for money,” he declared, adding that “after the committee deliberates”, the official bid committee - mandated by the Public Finance Act and Regulation - may decide on them.

The members he chose for his committee were the People’s National Congress (PNC) Deputy Mayor Mohamed Areesh, Councillors Ibrahim Mohamed (Ibuty), Ali Aimon and Aishath Nazima, and Secretary General Abdul Muhaimin Naseer. When Councillor Mariyam Nazima Mohamed Faiz of The Democrats suggested more diverse representation, the mayor dismissed her, saying the list had already been proposed and seconded. The PNC-led majority passed the proposal without objection.

I was not present at this session. 

The arrangement immediately raised eyebrows. Why would a MDP mayor form a legally dubious evaluation committee dominated by his political rivals? Why would those rivals so readily endorse it?

The first project to land before the Mayor’s Bid Committee was the bid for a parking building beside Salman Mosque. Three bidders were in the running: Amin Construction, a China-based infrastructure firm, and RCC.

This is where the conflict of interest became clear. Mayor Azim owns shares in Abdul Rasheed and Family Pvt Ltd, which itself holds shares in RCC. Despite his public posture on transparency and anti-corruption, the very first bid handled by his special committee involved a company tied to his own financial interests.

By mid-September, eight of PNC’s 16 councillors privately expressed concerns to me about the legality of the mayor’s committee. At the 17 September 2025 council session, Councillor Ibrahim Abubakr tabled two corrective measures:

I supported this motion, reiterating that under the Public Finance Act and procurement regulations, elected officials and political appointees cannot conduct technical evaluations. That role belongs strictly to qualified civil servants trained in procurement and public finance. Only after those evaluations are completed can councillors and political appointees provide their input.

Councillors Nahula Ali (Independent, Villimale) and Ishan Adam (PNC, Machchangolhi Dhekunu) also spoke in agreement.

Throughout the debate, Mayor Azim insisted his committee would not conduct technical evaluations but merely “give opinions.” He pretended that the technical evaluation would be carried out by civil servants, and that only afterward would his committee deliberate.

This claim directly contradicted the official decision he himself had signed in June 2025, which explicitly empowered his committee to conduct technical evaluations. The decision read:

“A Committee is to be established under the name ‘Proposal (Bid) Evaluation Committee,’ the purpose of which is to review and evaluate bids in view of public interest and benefit, after which the Bid Committee will award the bids.”

What in this committee’s name or in this decision text suggests that the Mayor’s Bid Committee was only “opinion-giving”? Nothing. The wording clearly replaces the evaluation process reserved under law for procurement staff.

I also know for a fact that bids were opened on 7 September 2025. Deliberations began immediately, but the committee soon split internally over who should win.

When Councillor Nahula proposed forming a lawful new committee, seconded by two councillors, the mayor refused to call for a vote. He argued that only he had the right to appoint committees. This was false. As I reminded him, under council standing orders, any councillor may propose a committee, and once seconded, the chair must put it to a vote.

As pressure mounted, Deputy Mayor Mohamed Areesh abruptly left the chamber. He phoned former councillor Abdulla Nasir, now a Minister at the President’s Office and one of President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu’s closest aides. Not long after, President Muizzu himself intervened. Writing directly in the PNC councillors’ WhatsApp group, the President instructed them to defend Mayor Azim’s committee and follow the deputy mayor’s lead during the vote.

This intervention by the leader of the PNC, the supposed opposition party to the mayor, was extraordinary. Instead of holding the mayor from the rival MDP to account, the President sought to save him from losing his committee, even though it directly violated procurement law and was overseeing a bid involving his own business ties.

Despite this pressure from the top, the eight PNC councillors who had broken ranks refused to back down. When the matter finally went to vote, the deputy mayor’s proposal, backed by the mayor and reinforced by the President’s instructions, received only six votes. Councillor Abubakr’s corrective motion won eight votes and was passed, annulling the mayor’s committee.

Mayor Azim took the longest time in counting the votes, as if he were a kindergartener who had just learned how to count. The mayor, visibly shaken, was forced to concede. His attempt to institutionalise a handpicked committee, filled with his political rivals but designed to protect his own interests, had failed.

Why did the Mayor Azim persist with the new bid committee even after it clearly violated procurement law? Why did President Muizzu personally intervene to protect it?

Why has the MDP failed to hold its own mayor accountable despite clear conflicts of interest and evidence of attempted circumvention of procurement rules?

Mayor Azim claimed to the MDP National Council that his committee was merely an opinion-giving consultative body. How can this claim be credible when his own signed decision document explicitly authorised technical evaluations, and the committee was already assessing bids without involving procurement staff?

Is Mayor Azim collaborating with the PNC to influence bid outcomes? Why would the PNC leadership, including the President, go to such lengths to shield him? And why is the MDP tolerating falsehoods from its own mayor when the evidence is written in his own signature?

Could this episode indicate a broader pattern of political interference in procurement that undermines public accountability?

Meanwhile, members of the Mayor’s Bid Committee are now claiming the vote was counted wrong. Two days later, one PNC councillor (Nizlee Rasheed of Henveiru Uthuru) who joined online also claimed her vote was not counted. I have watched the recording of the entire session and the vote. Not one peep out of her for the entire session.

The Mayor’s silence, and the cooperation he received from PNC and President Muizzu himself, suggests one thing. When it comes to multimillion-dollar contracts, partisan lines blur and public accountability is the first casualty.

        

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.