In today's parliamentary session, when the vote was taken to raise the Speaker's salary, Ministers' car allowances, and Councilors' salaries, 42 out of 54 members present voted in favor of passing the pay raise.
The People's Majlis today passed an increase in salaries and allowances for Cabinet Ministers (car allowance), the Speaker of the People's Majlis, and the Chief Justice.
In today's parliamentary session, when the vote was taken to raise the Speaker's salary, Ministers' car allowances, and Councilors' salaries, 42 out of 54 members present voted in favor of passing the pay raise.
12 members voted against it.
Additionally, regarding the proposal to raise the Chief Justice's salary, 42 out of 52 members present voted in favor, while 12 members voted against.
The Public Accounts Committee initially decided to increase the Speaker of Parliament's salary because it was lower than the Vice President's salary.
The committee decided to set an allowance of MVR 22,000 for the Speaker. With this addition, the Speaker will receive MVR 95,125.
Furthermore, it was decided to grant an MVR 5,000 service allowance to council presidents, vice presidents, and members increasing council presidents' salaries to MVR 30,500, vice presidents' to MVR 25,000, and members' to MVR 23,000.
Similarly, cabinet members currently receive MVR 59,500 as salary, so it was passed to increase their total compensation by raising the driver's allowance to MVR 17,000.
During yesterday's Public Accounts Committee meeting, the proposal to review the Chief Justice's pay and benefits was submitted by Funadhoo Constituency MP Mohamed Mamdooh.
He submitted the proposal because the Chief Justice's salary would otherwise be lower than the newly increased salary of the Speaker of Parliament.
The decision was to review the current benefits of the Chief Justice and add MVR 4,125 as a special allowance.
With this change, adding to the current salary of MVR 91,000, the Chief Justice will receive a total of MVR 95,125.
This change has divided the publics opinion and view on the matter.
According to some when the country is in need of finances, government officials who already earn huge salaries should not be given a salary bump, while the ordinary citizens live on a minimum wage of MVR 7,000-12,000.
However, those who support this change highlight that due to rising living costs, it is a fair change and despite their rank and status' they should not be treated indifferently.
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