Hoarafushi constituency MP Mohamed Ismail was seen having a hard time saying President Abdulla Yameen’s name on live TV.

While this is said to have happened on government aligned Channel 13 two days ago, the clip has since gone viral.

In the video, the lawmaker can be seen struggling to say the President’s full name, ultimately giving up on the matter, and moving ahead saying “we can see that President Yameen is upholding the rule of law”. The presenter can be heard laughing and trying to helping him as well.

Back in November 2017, a video of then South African President Jacob Zuma struggling to say ‘in the beginning’ had gone viral.

MP Ismail used to be a close associate of now jailed former Vice President Ahmed Adeeb.

During a debate on a parliamentary inquiry into the theft of some USD 80 million from tourism leases in March 2016, the Hoarafushi representative had admitted to distributing corrupt money to other parliamentarians.

He had said that he had ‘carried a sack of money’ to parliamentarians of the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP). He said that he had ‘carried and distributed the money,’ alleging that the MDP representatives had no issues with taking the money. While the matter was filed at the Maldives Police Service, rejected the case, saying that the matter was being investigated by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC). The ACC has yet to release details after concluding the investigation into the matter.