Pres won't hesitate to take out loan to settle fishermen's debt
He said things will be arranged in the future, after the debt to fishermen is cleared, so that they don't have to spend a lot of time waiting to get paid.
By
Ahmed Mizyal
President Dr Mohammed Muizzu said on Thursday that the fishermen will be paid their dues even if Maldives Industrial Fisheries Company (MIFCO) has to take a loan for it.
President Muizzu declared this while speaking at the 'Raees-ge Javaabu’ series launched by the President's Office so that Muizzu can directly answer questions from the public on social media.
Replying to a question by Abdul Ghanee (Hijra/H.Dh. Nolhivaranfaru) regarding the pending payment of fish caught by fishermen, the President said that when this government came to power, MIFCO owed over MVR 250 million to fishermen.
The President said that MVR 200 million has been disbursed on two occasions since he came to power. However, that is not enough either, he said.
"There's almost more money that needs to be paid now, even whilst we're buying fish. We still have MVR 270 million to be paid," he said.
"We are trying our best to settle payments even if we have to take a loan from MIFCO. We are confident that we will be able to resolve it soon. We are trying to hand over all the funds we owe to all the fishermen soon."
He said things will be arranged after the payment is made to the fishermen so that they don't have to spend a lot of time waiting to get paid, accruing more debt in the process.
The President's Office said the President will answer questions from the public in the 'Raees-ge Javaabu’ program every day from Thursday onwards, as much as he can afford time. The President will answer questions from the public via video. His responses will be posted daily on the official social media accounts of the President's Office.
This government aims to pay fishermen within two weeks of selling their catch. However, some fishermen are still complaining that this is yet to happen.
