Jeffrey Slams Shafie S Proposal For 2 New Ministries

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Jeffrey Kitingan claims setting up two new ministries may end up being a waste of money. (Bernama pic)KOTA KINABALU: STAR president Jeffrey Kitingan has slammed caretaker chief minister Shafie Apdal over the latter’s plan to establish two new ministries if the Warisan Plus state coalition returns to power after the Sabah polls
Jeffrey, who is Keningau MP, said what Sabah needed was a competent government instead of two fresh ministries
He questioned the need for the new portfolios, claiming that the Warisan president had failed to restructure and refocus his administration despite having 26 months to do so
Jeffrey pointed out that the Warisan-led government had already restructured and renamed three ministries since coming into power in May 2018. He was referring to the education and innovation ministry, the health and people’s wellbeing ministry, and the law and native affairs ministry
“How did these new ministries perform? What have they been doing? What led Shafie to suddenly realise that he needs another two new ministries?” Jeffrey asked in a statement today
“Why should ordinary Sabahans believe him (Shafie) on the proposed new ministries?”
He also questioned if the two ministries proposed may end up being a waste of money
Last week, Shafie revealed his plans of setting up two new ministries if his coalition remains in power after the upcoming polls. He, however, did not specify what these new ministries were
Jeffrey went on to say that such a move will incur substantial expenditure, administrative costs and emoluments
According to him, this grand plan seemed ridiculous, contending that the Sabah government had failed to administer well the state and its financial affairs
“His government has been unable to even formulate and implement policies that are supportive of the investment climate,” he said, adding that Shafie who was also the state finance minister had failed to provide the much needed economic leadership
Jeffrey further claimed that Shafie had pursued with vengeance the replacement of CEOs and heads of departments at agencies who were deemed supportive of the previous Barisan Nasional government with his own people
An example was the appointment of the water department director which was later ruled to have been a breach of Sabah laws, he said
“This move had left the state government with less experienced officers. Many officers had no previous experience, for example, in development planning and project implementation.” - FMT

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