MBC expresses concern over policies of the government

Maldives Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) has expressed its concern over government policies in trying to control the Corporation, and government’s withholding of its budget. Speaking at the Committee on Financial Matters at the People’s Majlis, Chairman Ibrahim Umar Manik of the Corporation Board said that such policies would undermine the independence of MBC.

Ministry of Finance had refused to hand over the Majlis-passed 95 million Rufiyaa budget of MBC to the corporation, which had been established by the Majlis as an independent corporation to run the hitherto government-administered media outlets, the Television Maldives and the Voice of Maldives. The government has refused to let these two media outlets into the hands of MBC, and has continued to operate them with changed names.

MBC Board filed a case at the Majlis Committee on Financial Matters in order to acquire its allocated budget, and the Committee summoned Board Members last night. Speaking to the Committee, Chairman Ibrahim Umar Manik said that all the details regarding the needs of MBC had already been sent to the Ministry of Finance, and that the only portion of its budget that had been released were the salaries of Board Members.

Manik said that they opened an account in the name of MBC sometime ago when the Ministry of Finance then agreed to release the budget. “We discussed with the Ministry, when it was run by State Minister As’ad. We met with him and the Financial Controller, and they assured that within 8 days of opening an MBC account, our budget would be deposited in it”, he said. However, the Ministry later refused to comply with its words.

Manik said that MBC had to bear costs for overhead expenditure, and that lack of funds to meet the expenditure meant the only choice was to secure loans and credit facilities. “We are not able to settle even bills that need to be managed on a daily basis, and this means fines are levied on us. This will increase our outstanding to various parties by at least 56,000”, he said.

“We are not requesting the Ministry to give the budget amount at once. We are requesting them to give us MRF 2.8 million every three months, as that would enable us to meet the necessary expenses as of now”, Manik said.

MBC has already filed a separate lawsuit to obtain the assets and control of the Television Maldives and Voice of Maldives, which are now run by the government as Maldives National Broadcasting Corporation.