President Muizzu ratified controversial amendments to the Decentralisation Act that prohibit councils collecting rent on public service properties, restrict their ability to run businesses and require approval for hiring staff, leasing land and starting development projects during their final year in office. Speaking in Baa Dharavandhoo, the president defended the changes as necessary reforms to protect small businesses and ensure good governance with checks and balances. The law will also be amended to collet taxes from income generated by councils, he said.
International human rights organisation expressed alarm about President Muizzu’s proposal to introduce the death penalty for drug trafficking. Nine groups including Amnesty International urged the government to "desist from pursuing these amendments and abolish this cruel punishment.” The Maldives has a de facto moratorium on capital punishment.
Appearing on a podcast, resort magnate 'Champa' Mohamed Moosa (Uchchu) suggested that fixing the perennial dollar shortage would require extending the presidential term from five to 10 years.
Speaking at a function with President Muizzu, the Baa Kihaadhoo island council president hit back at the president's criticism of councillors travelling overseas to gain experience and learn from counterparts in countries such as the UAE, Türkiye and Thailand. Such trips should not be the exclusive privilege of government staff based in Malé, he argued.
Parts of Malé and Hulhumalé experienced a second power outage this month. Electricity was restored after an hour.
President Muizzu pledged to transfer jurisdiction over a neighbouring uninhabited island to the Baa Hithaadhoo council. A 2015 lease agreement with Coastline to develop a resort on the 39-hectare island of Maamadduvari is to be terminated.
An inquiry is underway into US$ 30,000 missing from cash seized in a 2019 operation, police informed the media. Forensic teams launched an investigation after a bag of damaged currency notes was found stored in the same location.
The government has finalised legal changes to reinstate Atoll Chiefs, Adhahdhu reported, citing anonymous sources and a draft of the purported legislation. The planned amendments include provisions on dissolving councils and authorising the Local Government Authority to seek a court judgment to remove individual councillors.
MDP Chairman Fayyaz Ismail met former president Mohamed Nasheed in Ghana along with former leaders of the breakaway faction of Nasheed loyalists.
The government spent MVR 4 million (US$ 259,400) to establish the Maldives Development Bank, which has been largely inactive since it opened eight months ago, an RTI request revealed.
A road development project in Alif Dhaal Maamigili was halted after the Chinese contractor's workers failed to return following their holiday for Chinese New Year celebrations.
Customs arranged for local businesses to obtain certificates of origin for exports to China under the bilateral Free Trade Agreement implemented in January.
More than 1,400 people were listed in the national disabilities registry as of July, NSPA statistics showed.
Six coral stone mosques were included in UNESCO's World Heritage Tentative List.
The Maldives was included in the UN Tax Committee for the first time with MIRA's assistant commissioner general named among 25 international experts appointed by the UN secretary general. The committee will meet in October at UN Headquarters in Geneva.
The trial began in a kidnapping case from July last year where a man’s finger was cut off. The defendants include a soldier.
