KOTA KINABALU: The new Sabah government held its first Cabinet meeting with just six state leaders, including Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor.
Several issues, including Covid-19, were discussed in the over two-hour meeting chaired by Hajiji yesterday. The six are out of an 11-member state Cabinet. Five posts are still vacant.
A press conference scheduled to be held after the Cabinet meeting was cancelled at the last minute due to unstated reasons.
“To tackle the Covid-19 pandemic in Sabah, the state government has decided to allocate RM50mil – and from that, RM10mil will be used for food provision – for people in the four worst-affected districts, ” Hajiji said in a statement after the meeting.
The districts are Tawau, Lahad Datu, Semporna and Kunak.
He said all issues related to Covid-19 would now be managed by a state Covid-19 disaster management committee.
Hajiji said the committee would be chaired by the state secretary while Sabah Health Department director Datuk Dr Christina Rundi would be the deputy chairman.
A previous committee – the Sabah Covid-19 Command Centre handled by the previous Warisan-led state government – will be abolished with immediate effect.
Also present were the three Deputy Chief Ministers – Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin, who is Works Minister, Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan, who is also Agriculture and Food Industry Minister and Datuk Dr Joachim Gunsalam, the Trade and Industry Minister.
Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun, the Local Government and Housing Minister cum Second Finance Minister and Rural Development Minister Datuk Jahid Jahim were also present.
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