New Sabah government starts work with Cabinet meeting on Thursday (Oct 1)

KOTA KINABALU: The new Sabah government held its first cabinet meeting on Thursday (Oct 1) with just six state leaders present, including Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor.

Several issues including Covid-19 were discussed in the meeting chaired by Hajiji, which lasted for over two hours.

A press conference scheduled to be held after the cabinet meeting was cancelled at the last minutes. No reason were given.

In a statement after the meeting, Hajiji said the state has decided to allocate RM50mil to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic in Sabah and added that RM10mil of that will be used for food provisions for people in the four worst affected districts.

These districts are Tawau, Lahad Datu, Semporna and Kunak.

He said all issues related to Covid-19 will now be managed fully by a state Covid-19 disaster management committee.

Hajiji said this committee will be chaired by the state secretary while Sabah Health Department director Datuk Dr Christina Rundi will be deputy chairman.

He added the previous committee under the Sabah Covid-19 Command Center, during the previous Warisan-led state government, will be abolished.

Also present were the three Deputy Chief Ministers; Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin who is also Works Minister, Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan who is also the Agriculture and Food Industry Minister, and Datuk Dr Joachim Gunsalam who is also Trade and Industry Minister.

Local Government and Housing Minister and Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun and Rural Development Minister Datuk Jahid Jahim were also present.