Ruling PNC Parliamentary Group Leader and Inguraidhoo constituency member Ibrahim Falah has stated that the decision to increase the Speaker of Parliament's salary was made to establish equality and fairness among the branches of state administration.

Speaking at today's parliament sitting, Falah stated that the decision to increase the Speaker's salary needs to be clearly explained to the public.

"In reality, the Speaker of Parliament's salary is smaller—it is smaller than the Deputy Speaker's salary. The reason is that the Speaker's position only receives a basic salary; the Speaker does not receive a committee allowance. Because of not receiving this, the Speaker's salary is smaller than the Deputy Speaker's," Falah said.

Falah stated that another purpose of doing this was to equalize the salaries of the heads of state branches. Falah noted that the Speaker of Parliament is the head of the legislative branch among the three branches of state. Therefore, he stated he does not see any reason why the salary of the head of the judiciary should differ from the salary of the head of the legislature.

Falah stated that the Speaker's salary was not increased upon the Speaker's request. However, he also noted that this was done because members of Parliament saw fit to handle matters with as much equality and fairness as possible.

Last week, the Parliament's Public Accounts Committee passed a decision to provide an additional allowance of MVR 22,000 to increase the Speaker of Parliament's salary.

During that day's committee meeting, the administrative desk stated that the Speaker currently receives MVR 73,125, the Deputy Speaker receives MVR 91,000, and members receive MVR 82,500 inclusive of committee allowances.

However, it was also noted that allocating a MVR 22,000 allowance to the Speaker will result in the Speaker receiving MVR 95,125, while the Deputy Speaker receives MVR 91,000 and members receive MVR 82,500, thereby shifting the salary differences among them.

Opposing this change during that day's committee meeting was MDP member and Hanimaadhoo constituency representative Abdul Ghafoor Moosa, who sits on the committee. Ghafoor stated that given the current global situation, this was not the right thing to do and that he could not agree with it.

However, following debates on the issue, a proposal submitted by Funadhoo constituency member Mohamed Mamdhooh and seconded by Fuvahmulah North constituency member Hamad Abdulla to increase the Speaker's salary was passed using PNC's majority.