Ruling party PNC Vice President and Baarah Constituency MP Ibrahim Shujau has said that the number of people appointed to political posts should be capped by law.

Shujau was speaking on behalf of the PNC at a meeting of the Independent Institutions Committee of Parliament yesterday to seek the views of political parties on his resolution to prevent the increase in the number of MPs.

The meeting was attended by PPM/PNC as well as opposition MDP. This was a meeting to seek the views of the parties on the reduction of the number of parliament members.

At the meeting, MDP MP Meekail Ahmed Naseem asked the PNC and MDP whether the financial burden was only due to the number of MPs and their expenditure.

In response to the question, Shujau said the three powers should work together to reduce the financial burden of the state. That can only be done by talking to all parties. He also added that the law should also restrict the number of political positions along with the number of MPs.

When Shujau said he supported the restriction on the number of political positions, Meekail welcomed it. He said he hoped to get the cooperation of PNC in submitting such amendments to parliament in the future.

The meeting was attended by MDP spokesperson Anas Abdul Sattar, who said there were measures that could be taken at the government level to reduce the financial burden on the state. Without these measures, the number of councilors and MPs should not be reduced, he said.

Anas said the government has the opportunity to appoint people to political positions “without any measure” to implement policy and achieve other objectives.