Ruling Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) has slammed opposition MPs for not attending the parliamentary sittings.

At a news conference held by PPM on Thursday night, the ruling party’s Parliamentary Group leader Ahmed Nihan Hussain Manik said that since money is spent on holding parliament sittings and for paying parliamentarians, the lack of involvement of opposition MPs negatively impacts the citizens.

While acknowledging that the opposition parties have boycotted the sittings, Nihan claimed that the opposition has also been trying to undermine the workings of the parliament.

Nihan noted that while opposition MPs have refused to attend any sitting overseen by Speaker Abdulla Maseeh, they have been attending committee meetings in order to ‘get the committee allowance’.

He claimed that the opposition only works for their personal gain and not for the good of the citizens and that while they attend committee meetings for the allowance, they refuse to represent the citizens at the sittings.

He added that the opposition would attend the sittings if they are ‘courageous’ enough to represent the people.