PNC condemns MDP's misinformation efforts

The ruling People’s National Congress (PNC) has condemned opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) over its continued attempts at misconstruing the public while remaining an institution run through state-provided funds.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, the ruling party said MDP, as a political party, with its funds coming from the government, must not spread misinformation which PNC said cannot be acceptable.

The ruling party also highlighted some of the notable achievements of its government as it celebrates one year since ascending to presidency. PNC said it had run the government in the past year with complete transparency to the public and responsibly while being earnest with the public’s finances.

PNC in its statement further said that while the state’s expenditures saw an average of 15 percent increment over the last three years, in the past year expenditure saw just a 2.5 percent increase.

The ruling party further claimed that the government’s strong austerity measures had tightened the budget deficit to MVR 378 million.

The Ministry of Finance provides weekly updates of the state’s expenditure and revenue to the public, which had stalled earlier in 2024 owing to lack of maintaining records of projects run with foreign financial assistance that had been included in this year’s expenditure. The government said it had to consolidate these records and clear the backlog due to which it had paused publishing the Weekly Fiscal Development reports since June before it recently resumed.

PNC also said that statistics prove the current government was not negligent on right to information.

The party claimed that all the RTIs submitted to government offices, ministries and state-owned enterprises (SOEs) were responded to in a timely manner. The ruling party highlighted the former government failed in providing responses to RTIs submitted during its presidency.

Earlier, President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu noted that over the past year, the government held more than 70 press briefings while the ministers provided information to the media in over 700 different occasions. The ruling party further claimed its government did not restrain press freedom with any bans.

PNC further said that its government is the first to publicize cabinet meeting decisions, which have been posted for the public consumption since March 2024 onward.

While PNC’s government recently celebrated one year to its presidency, the political opposition’s primary criticism has been the current government was consistently infringing public rights.