Unhappy MDP MPs question re-election merit for President Solih

Not satisfied with the state budget for 2023, some lawmakers from the ruling MDP on Thursday questioned giving President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih a second term in next year's presidential election.

Thursday is the third day of parliamentary debate on the proposed budget for 2023. For the last two days, the budget debate has been attended by pro-government MPs. While the MPs described the budget as optimistic, they believe that if the budget is passed, the country's economy will grow further.

However, during Thursday’s sitting, lawmakers supporting party president and parliament speaker Mohamed Nasheed expressed dissatisfaction with the budget and criticised the government's fiscal policies. Some of the issues raised by the members are:

Finance minister Ibrahim Ameer has presented a supplementary budget to the parliament, which is expected to cost MVR 5.8 billion more than the budget approved by the parliament for the current fiscal year. Presenting a supplementary budget along with next year's budget, the minister said the government's total budget for the current fiscal year will be MVR 42.8 billion.

Noting that there are only two months left in the year, Nasheed, the former president had previously accused the government of spending the 5.8 billion without parliament's approval.  

In the case of Central Henveiru MP Ali Azim, he lashed out at the government:

"I would say that the accountability of the members is minimal. The constitution and laws, all unto themselves. They are spending money from the budget as they please, taking items from one clause to another at will," Azim said.

"MVR 6 billion more. Didn't even mention it to us. It was looted from public money."

He said that while President Solih had openly opposed spending outside the budget when he was an MP from Hinnavaru constituency, today his government is acting in complete contrast to what he had said at the time. He wondered how President Solih would be given a second term when things were going on like this.

"His actions and words do not meet. What he says does not make sense. Does not remember what he has said. There is no worth in the words he utters. Then how can we give him a second term?," Azam questioned.

Maafannu North MP Imthiyaz Fahmy, like Azim, questioned the possibility of allowing a second term to President Solih. He said while pro-government lawmakers had described next year's budget as "optimistic", the word was now a "cliche" and made no sense at all.

Imthiyaz said the budget is "far away" from reality and justified by saying that the government's wasteful expenditure is increasing by spending on things that are not covered in the budget. He said that while the government has said that the budget is being presented to ensure uninterrupted delivery of services to the people and to carry out projects, it has not yielded the desired results.

"People are getting poorer. The people we meet have always expressed concern that the situation is deteriorating. So, no matter how big the budget is, we don't see a place where people's condition is improving," Imthiyaz said.

"What is the solution that can be found in the budget? We don't see it."

In Hithadhoo Central MP Ahmed Rasheed’s speech, he expressed concern over expenses and debts increasing more than the state's revenue. He also expressed concern over the lack of comparison between the budget estimates and the state's revenue. In other words, he pointed out that the grants obtained were not even close to what was allocated in last year's budget.

Three quarters of the current financial year 2022 have passed and the finance ministry data also shows that the revenue has not even come close to the budgeted amount of grants obtained. 

According to statistics:

"I think while this is happening, the Budget Review Committee should also consider this and see if these figures are correct," he said.

Pointing out that the supplementary budget has already been passed to ensure uninterrupted implementation of projects, he said none of these projects, especially those promised to be implemented in Addu, are visible today.

"We also passed a supplementary budget, but we don't know what happened to the money," said Ahmed Rasheed.