DUBAI // Nine senior officials at Dubai Municipality have been ordered to retire by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai. 
 
 Those told to quit their jobs included the municipality’s legal counsel and executive director of legal affairs, its deputy director general and six assistant directors. 
 
 Sheikh Mohammed ordered the management changes on Monday, a day after he made a surprise, early-morning visit to government offices. 
 
 Video posted online showed him walking into a room with his portrait on a wall and standing by an empty desk. Sheikh Mohammed visited the municipality, land and economic development departments and Dubai International Airport. 
 
 محمد بن راشد يقوم بجولة ميدانية تفقدية على الدوائرالحكومية بدبي صباح اليوم #دبي pic.twitter.com/RR9pPqaE7g — Dubai Media Office (@DXBMediaOffice) August 28, 2016 
 
 "He certainly wanted to send a message," said Mona Al Marri, director general of the Dubai Media Office. 
 
 "Timeliness starts at the top and we won’t go after the employees when their bosses aren’t there." 
 
 The media office said yesterday’s high-level changes at the municipality were part of Sheikh Mohammed’s "keenness to give way to a new generation of young leaders capable of bearing responsibility for the next phase of development". 
 
 The municipality officials ordered to retire are: Abdelqader Al Jasmi, executive director of the Department of Legal Affairs and Legal Counsel; Essa Al Maidoor, deputy director general; Mohammed Julfar, assistant director general for corporate support; Khaled Al Falasi, assistant director general for communications and community; Abdullah Rafi, assistant director general for engineering and planning; Salah Amiri, assistant director general for environment and public health services; Salem bin Mismar, assistant director general for environment, health supervision and safety; Obaid Al Shamsi, assistant director for general support; and Khalid Al Mulla, director of facilities administration. 
 
 Sheikh Mohammed expressed his appreciation for their efforts during their tenure and wished them success for the future. 
 
 newsdesk@thenational.ae ||||| Dubai: Sunday probably wasn’t the best day for some Dubai government workers to be a tad late reporting for work. 
 
 His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, Sunday went on surprise visits to some local government departments. 
 
 Morning visits to government offices are part of a long tradition by Shaikh Mohammad who is well known for his early-morning excursions to see firsthand how these departments are doing and ensure government services are up to Dubai’s globally-admired standards. 
 
 In a video tweeted by Dubai Media Office, Shaikh Mohammad was the only person seen in offices of a workplace which had his framed portrait hanging on the wall behind a glass-topped desk. 
 
 In its tweet, Dubai Media Office said the inspections began at 7.30am. 
 
 Sources said Shaikh Mohammad visited the Dubai Economic Department (DED), Dubai Land Department, Dubai Municipality and Dubai Airport. 
 
 محمد بن راشد يقوم بجولة ميدانية ت�?قدية على الدوائرالحكومية بدبي صباح اليوم #دبي pic.twitter.com/RR9pPqaE7g— Dubai Media Office (@DXBMediaOffice) August 28, 2016 
 
 “He certainly wanted to send a message,’’ Mona Al Merri, director-general of Dubai Media Office, was quoted by Bloomberg as saying. “Timeliness starts at the top and we won’t go after employees when their bosses aren’t there.’’ 
 
 The footage of the Vice-President visiting those offices went instantly viral on social media. ||||| Dubai’s ruler has ordered the retirement of nine executive directors on Monday after he toured government offices the day before in a surprise spot check, local media reported. 
 
 In a statement, published by various local media, UAE Vice President and Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who is also the ruler of Dubai, “expressed his appreciation” to the nine executives over their past efforts, “wishing them success.” 
 
 The statement also described Sheikh Mohammed’s move as a way to reflect his “keenness to allow a new generation of young leaders to shoulder the responsibility of development in the next period.” 
 
 All the executive directors were former employees at Dubai Municipality. 
 
 Dubai Municipality was the first place Sheikh Mohammed visited during his morning surprise spot check. After the municipality, the sheikh visited Dubai international airport, the land department and the department of economic development. He found a number of managers absent. 
 
 It is not the first time that Sheikh Mohammed has surprised employees in Dubai in an attempt to keep work ethics on par with the best. His decision to sack these executives comes in line with his policy. 
 
 Last Update: Monday, 29 August 2016 KSA 21:15 - GMT 18:15
– Senior government officials in the United Arab Emirates chose a bad day to be late for work on Sunday. Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid paid a surprise visit to Dubai's municipality, land, and economic development departments starting at 7:30am Sunday—a regular working day in the UAE—and found several bosses not at their desks, per the National. A short video posted to Twitter shows the PM walking through one office without encountering a soul. And he wasn't in a forgiving mood. Sheikh Mohammed—who is actually well-known for his surprise inspections, reports the Gulf News—announced Monday that nine senior officials would be forced to retire, including the executive director of legal affairs. "He certainly wanted to send a message," says a rep for Dubai's Media Office. "Timeliness starts at the top and we won't go after the employees when their bosses aren't there." The office adds that the move reflects Sheikh Mohammed's "keenness to allow a new generation of young leaders to shoulder the responsibility of development in the next period," per Al Arabiya. (The UAE also wants to build a mountain—to control the weather.)