Because fishing families make up a significant proportion of the Maldives' population, the fishermen's vote is highly important to anyone or any party seeking to come to power. Therefore, everyone works very hard to appease fishermen in order to come to power. This is a norm. With the intention of keeping fishermen or fishing families in their grasp, they make grand promises, announce strategies, and fall at the feet of fishermen pleading to sell them. Once the government comes in, they give the "green signal" that all the hardships of fishermen will be brought to an end, trapping the fishermen in their net.
President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu trapped the fishermen in his net by making many promises to them from Muizzu's government and giving a guarantee that those promises would be fulfilled. One of the biggest reasons fishermen sided with Dr. Muizzu was his promise to pay for the weighed fish in dollars within a minimum of 48 hours, and his promise not to lower the price of a kilo of fish below MVR 20. However, even after 1 year of governance, those promises have not been fulfilled. Because this government did not pay the money, fishermen were forced to hold three protests this year alone out of necessity.
Whenever fishermen express dissatisfaction and raise their voices over unpaid money for the fish they sold, this government presents the MVR 250 million inherited from the previous MDP government as an excuse or a justification. They talk about how President Muizzu and Fisheries Minister Ahmed Shiyam have had to bear a great burden because the government could not catch its breath and pay the fishermen regularly due to that 250 million. Even at the ceremony held to mark one year in office, President Dr. Muizzu spoke about the inherited MVR 250 million while displaying large slides. Fisheries Minister Shiyam also spoke about the 250 million on an "Aslu TV" program on the day the government marked one year. Since this 250 million is still being presented as a justification and an excuse even after 1 year of the government, this newspaper looked into what this 250 million is about.
Neither mifco nor the government has disclosed the details of this MVR 250 million. However, looking at the official information mifco has shared with the media so far, when the MDP government ended, the unpaid money was for the fish weighed to mifco from October 16 to the end of November 16. Therefore, it is not clear exactly how much this 1-month "backlog" amounts to.
According to mifco's statistics, from October 16 to the end of November 10, mifco bought 7,131 metric tonnes of fish (MVR 149 million). And, from November 11 to the end of November 30, mifco bought 4,951 metric tonnes of fish (MVR 100 million). While mifco bought a total of 12,082 metric tonnes of fish from October 16 to November 30, mifco has paid a total of MVR 249,837,423 (two hundred and forty-nine million, eight hundred and thirty-seven thousand, four hundred and twenty-three) for this fish. The price of the fish stated is the amount of money released to the fishermen after deducting the fuel and ice the fishermen took on credit from mifco.
The leaders of this government get on podiums and loudly claim 250 million, including the money this government has to pay. Out of the 4,951 metric tonnes of fish weighed from November 11-30, they do not dare to say how much money is owed for the fish weighed from November 17-30. Therefore, with the intention of deceiving the public, every time money has to be paid, the leaders of this government lie by saying "the 250 million inherited from the previous government".
The next question that arises is whether the MDP government did not hand over the fish bought over 1 month to this government. Recently, when a journalist raised a question regarding this at a meeting held by the Fisheries Minister at the President's Office, he said that mifco does not have the storage to store MVR 250 million worth of fish, and that saying the MDP government handed over that much fish is an unbelievable story. Although the Minister said that, when this government took over, that fish was stored in mifco's facilities, mifco's vessels, rented carriers, and the carrier that had gone to Bangkok with fish at the time. This government paid the fishermen from the revenue generated by exporting and processing that fish and selling it in the Maldivian market and the global market. The fishermen said the delay in payment was because this government did not know how to do things and because the "Muizzu speed" was slow.
How this government cleared the 250 million they claim to the fishermen:
Looking at the details of how the money was paid, the MVR 250 million said to be inherited from the previous government was paid and cleared by the end of January 10. However, this government is still saying that it is struggling to pay money due to the amount inherited from the MDP government. Using this excuse, they have also lowered the price at which they buy fish from fishermen. On the day the price of fish was lowered, the Fisheries Minister said that from that day onwards, mifco would be able to release money every two weeks. However, up to now, that has not been the case. Currently, the money for the fish bought from fishermen is being paid at the end of the month, similar to the policy of paying salaries to civil service employees.
Fishermen are saying that they will not accept this excuse presented by the government. Fishermen said they now feel "foolish" for voting for this government. And, fishermen also said that from the time of President Maumoon until now, they have not seen a government that has lied to fishermen this much, and that they will not give room to be deceived by this government's illusions and trapped in their net again. Fishermen are currently criticizing and expressing dissatisfaction with this government in this manner on various platforms. And, the fishermen now take the talk presented by this government about paying in dollars within 48 hours and not lowering the price of a kilo of fish below MVR 20 as a joke.
