News Desk
MALE’, —In a culinary controversy that’s got Male’ buzzing louder than a beachside barbecue, the Presidential Palace is furiously waving off rumors that its Muliaage budget was blown on a cash-paid haul of premium beef and jumbo shrimp fit for a five-star chef. Minister Iqbal Adam, the palace’s wallet-watcher and President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu’s family sidekick, hit the airwaves to call the gossip tastier than the alleged feast itself.
The saga started when a crumpled receipt, supposedly for a top-shelf steaks and shrimp, started circulating on social media faster than a monsoon rumor. Local news tabloids, sniffing a juicy story, claimed the palace was throwing a surf-and-turf bash so extravagant it could’ve fed a VIP. “They thought we were grilling for Gordon Ramsay,” Adam groaned on PSM News, rolling his eyes hard enough to cause a sneeze.
Adam, tasked with keeping the palace’s piggy bank in check, insisted the Muliaage hasn’t spent a rufiyaa on anything fancier than instant noodles since Prez Muizzu took the oath! “The President told me to cut costs like we’re rationing coconuts,” he said, dismissing tales of past leaders who treated the budget like a buffet line. “This receipt? It’s got less truth than a tourist’s tan on a fake trip to Maldives.”
The minister swore any food expenses were handled by Prez himself. “We don’t buy unless it’s life-or-death, like running out of tea bags,” Adam quipped, vowing the palace’s finances are tighter than a clam at high tide. Sources hint the receipt might actually be from a staffer’s overzealous grocery run, mistaken for a state-sponsored feast.
Meanwhile, X is ablaze with memes of staff flipping steaks in a chef’s hat, captioned “Grillmaster-for-Chief.” One user tweeted, “Beef and shrimp? My budget’s on instant mami noodle!” As the palace begs for calm, locals are left wondering if the real crime is paying cash in a digital age—or if someone just really loves their seafood.
Disclaimer: This is satire, cooked up for laughs! No shrimp were grilled, and no real receipts were printed for this parody.
