Ruling PNC has once again broken quorum at the Male’ City Council meeting, which was scheduled to discuss how the Council has leased high-value land plots in Male’.
The majority of the land plots were leased during President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu’s mayorship.
The issue was tabled for discussion in the City Council meeting scheduled for Wednesday, as it had been in the previous two meetings. However, the matter could not move forward because the City Council, where the ruling PNC holds a majority, did not meet the required quorum. As a result, the issue has remained pending for over two weeks.
Wednesday’s City Council meeting started with 10 councilors, just enough to meet the quorum. The first agenda item was the approval of previous motions, followed by a decision on accepting complaints submitted to the land registry by December 20th and rejecting those received afterward.
The third item concerned how to handle agreements that have not been recorded in the land registry.
When the item came up, two PNC councilors exited the meeting: West Henveiru Councilor Fathimath Shaufa Saleem, attending online, and Central Galolhu Councilor Mariyam Reehan Nazim, attending in person.
Subsequently, the meeting’s quorum was lost, with the matter again unable to proceed.
Male’ Mayor Adam Azim, who was presiding over the meeting, attempted to restore quorum after taking two recesses. The efforts were unsuccessful, leading him to conclude the meeting after thanking all councilors in attendance.
Ruling PNC holds supermajority in Male’ City Council with 14 out of the 18 seats. The remaining four councilors includes three from main opposition MDP, and one independent councilor, Vilimale’ Councilor Nahula Ali.
According to the land registry publicized by Male’ City Council in November, 157 land plots have been leased from Male’ and Vilimale’. It also shows that 363 stalls have been leased from local markets and 424 slots have been leased to vessels for docking.
The registry prompted allegations of unlawful land contracts during President Muizzu’s mayorship.
In this regard, North Galolhu Councillor Mohamed Saif Fathih and West Galolhu Councillor Mariyam Nazima Mohamed Faiz has proposed to the cancellation of land lease contracts awarded during President Muizzu’s mayorship, citing irregularities, lack of transparency, and violations of council procedures.  
There have been previous cases where investigations of issues raised at the Male’ City Council were delayed due to quorum breaches. One example is the matter of missing documents related to the development of the Male’ fish market, which was later re-tendered at a higher price.
However, Mayor Azim, from opposition MDP, has back then said that the issue did not involve any PNC councilors.