Sabah to set up panel on transfer of federal power

Committee will be chaired by state secretary and made up of top government officials in state departments and agencies, says chief minister.

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman said today the state cabinet will set up a committee to study areas of the federal government’s administration that should be transferred to the state government.

He said this was on top of what he announced recently on giving the state government greater control over rural development projects to expedite their planning and implementation.

“This is also in line with the recent announcement by Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak on the devolution of power from the federal government to the state government,” he said after chairing the state cabinet meeting, here, today.

Musa said the committee would be chaired by state secretary Sukarti Wakiman and made up of top government officials heading key state departments and agencies.

He said those in the committee would work closely with their federal counterparts to identify areas that needed to be decentralised to allow more decision-making powers at the state level.

“This needs to be done because there were many instances of delay in the planning, channelling of funds and project implementation because of too many agencies involved at the federal level, bureaucracy and politicking,” he said.

Musa said with the committee set up, he hoped key areas of the government’s delivery system would be identified, studied and a system set up to empower the state to exercise control over planning, funding and implementation of government projects and programmes.

“The BN government at the federal and state levels have a common objective, which is to bring more development to Sabah and the nation as a whole.

“We believe the devolution of power will enable us to achieve this objective in a timely and more efficient manner,” he said.

BERNAMA

Source: Free Malaysia Today