Parliament Speaker Mohamed Nasheed has accused Fisheries Minister Dr. Hussain Rasheed Hassan of impeding Parliament work.
Nasheed made the statement in response to a written reply provided by the minister in answer to an inquiry made by Maafannu Central MP Ibrahim' Bondey Rasheed regarding the fish exports managed by MIFCO.
In his question, MP Ibrahim sought information on the rejection level of frozen skipjack tuna and yellowfin tuna exported in the last three years. He requested details on the measures taken for exports rejected at Thailand port or after reaching the buyers' cold storage and information on any discounts provided or products given for free due to rejection. He also asked for details of these figures for the period between 2016 and 2018.
In his reply, Minister Hussain said the information is not fully collected by the Fisheries Ministry. He said the information is expected to be maintained by MIFCO, which is not under the control of the Fisheries Ministry.
With the minister's reply, Speaker Nasheed noted that it is the responsibility of the Fisheries Ministry to maintain all such statistics.
"Maintaining statistics on rejected fish exports is something the ministry should definitely be doing. It's not just merely business information," he remarked
Nasheed further asserted that the minister's actions were obstructing the work of the Parliament and highlighted the Parliament's prior recognition of the role rejected fish exports play in facilitating corruption.
