Council trips abroad are not wasteful: Kihaadhoo Council President

President of Baa Kihaadhoo island council has defended overseas visits by local councils, after President Mohamed Muizzu criticized “experiential trips” as a misuse of public funds.

Hussain Shafiu, speaking last night during a meeting to thank Muizzu for visiting the island, said some ministers and MPs had wrongly portrayed such trips as wasteful.

Councils need to visit other islands and countries to learn from their services and governance models, he said.

He praised councils that had come to Kihaadhoo in recent years to study its waste management system and said that experiential trips are not only reserved for those in ministries.

“The view that these [trips] can only be undertaken by people in ministries based in the capital should change today,” he said.

Citing Auditor General’s Office figures, Shafiu claimed that corruption in councils over the past four years totaled less than MVR 5 million which amounts to just 0.001 percent of the losses from corruption in other state agencies.

“Councils are the most transparent, most accountable, least corrupt and most inclusive and participatory body in the country,” he said.

He urged President Muizzu to strengthen decentralization rather than changing the number of councilors in each government term.

President Muizzu, currently touring Baa atoll, has criticized the use of block grants for non-essential travel. In Kendhoo on Monday, he said some councils were “irresponsibly” spending grants and revenue on trips that brought no benefit to residents.

President Muizzu said that block grants are allocated to to invest in revenue generation for the island and provide municipal services for the people.

The president said MVR 2.2 billion in block grants was allocated to councils last year, of which MVR 1.4bn went unspent. He said that a similar underspend was happening this year, with a large share of the 2024 allocation still not used by August.

MVR 1.4 bn unspent from last year's council Block Grant