KOTA KINABALU: The debate on where has all the food aids worth RM34.3665 million announced via the Bantuan Sabah Prihatin 3.0 Covid-19 Programme gone continues.
Chief Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Hajiji Noor had on June 10 announced the Bantuan Sabah Prihatin 3.0 Covid-19 Programme worth approximately RM154 million. From the total allocation, RM34.3665 million is to be distributed as food aid.
Kaven Lee Seng Vui, Chief Liaison Officer for the Kota Kinabalu Member of Parliament, explained that simple mathematics will show that since Sabah has 25 parliamentary constituencies, each constituency will get an average of RM1.375 million worth of food baskets.
With each food basket is to be worth RM100 each (inclusive of costs of manpower, logistics and printing of leaflets, stickers, etc), then there ought to be around 343,665 food baskets to be distributed all around Sabah.
With 25 parliamentary constituencies in Sabah, each would get at least 13,746 food baskets covering 13,746 families. Assuming each family has three registered voters, the coverage would be around 41,238 people, which is bigger than certain parliamentary constituencies, he said in a statement on Wednesday.
“The million-dollar question is then, where are these food baskets now?
“I find it weird that certain Perikatan Nasional or Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) politicians have questioned me where are the food baskets from the RM300,000 allocated to all Members of Parliament. I have been busy assisting in the procuring food supplies from various sources and the DAP Kota Kinabalu Member of Parliament’s service centre near Jalan Kijang, Luyang is starting to look like a food supply warehouse in the middle of a warzone. Rest assured that the food baskets are being packed and are on the way to assist the needy.
“Instead, why don’t these politicians follow up with their own Perikatan Nasional-controlled Sabah Government for the RM1.375 million worth of food aid, which is more than four times the amount allocated to each Member of Parliament, and which had been announced earlier around a month ago?
“Who can the poor and needy contact to apply for these Bantuan Sabah Prihatin 3.0 food baskets? Have these food baskets been properly distributed? How many of them in Kota Kinabalu area?” said Kaven who is Democratic Action Party Socialist Youth (DAPSY) Putatan Division Chief.
He challenged these Perikatan Nasional Sabah politicians to answer these questions so that the public can judge them whether they are properly doing their job as government or not.
“I do not wish to argue whether the sum of RM1.375 million worth of food baskets is paltry or generous as some would like to think the sum of RM0.3 million that the MP’s office has received is. In any event, it is important that the these food baskets reach the intended recipients,” he added.