Members of the parliament belonging to MDP disagree over abolishing the Transport Authority, which the government is keen to scrap over its overlap with the transport Ministry.
The MPs voiced their disagreement during the debate held in parliament today after MP for Vaikaradhoo Constituency Hussain Ziyad had submitted the bill on abolishing the transport authority on behalf of the government.
During the debate, MP for Vilufushi Constituency Hassan Afeef said that abolishing the authority would not solve the problems.
He said that the government must determine the root cause for the issues from the Ministry and that although the Ministry had said that there are certain hurdles to do its job, the core problem was the Ministry's employees.
MP Afeef said that if corrupt officials and employees who are implementing the government's policy are hindering the Ministry's work, then such employees should be terminated.
One of the MPs who had been most vocal against the bill was MP for Henveiru Hulhangu constituency Hassan Latheef.
During the debate, MP Latheef said that the most important reason to let go of the powers under the amendments brought to the Decentralization Act was to make the island council be responsible for transport, land, or island development-related matters.
The government had moved to abolish the Transport Authority after saying that its duties overlapped with those under the Transport Ministry and hence were slowing down its work.
