KOTA KINABALU: Sabah has changed the names of two state ministries and aligned the jurisdiction of each state Cabinet member to Federal ministries.
The state ministries concerned are the Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Industry Ministry (formerly agriculture and fisheries ministry) and the Industrial Development and Entrepreneurship Ministry (formerly industrial development ministry).
Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor said the name change is so that the objectives, functions and roles of the ministries would be clearer while the alignment of Cabinet members was for better administration and more efficient delivery of services.
He said this decision was made by the state Cabinet in its weekly meeting.
"The Cabinet approved the name change so that the objective, function and role of the ministries would be clearer, particularly on food security and the importance of entrepreneurs including the small and medium entrepreneurs," said Hajiji in a statement on Wednesday (Feb 1).
"In line with the reshuffling of the state Cabinet and restructuring of the Federal Cabinet, we also decided to align the jurisdiction of each state Cabinet member to the respective Federal ministries in Sabah," he said.
Following the exercise, the Federal Agriculture and Food Security Ministry will be under the purview of Deputy Chief Minister I Datuk Seri Dr Jeffrey Kitingan and the Federal Local Government Development Ministry under Deputy Chief Minister II cum state Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Seri Dr Joachim Gunsalam.
The Federal Works Ministry will be under Deputy Chief Minister III and state Works Minister Datuk Shahelmey Yahya while the Finance Ministry will be under state Finance Minister Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun, said Hajiji.
He said the Federal Rural and Regional Development Ministry has been placed under the purview of state Rural Development Minister Datuk Jahid Jahim, the Federal Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry under state Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Christina Liew, the Federal International Trade and Industry Ministry and the Entrepreneur and Cooperatives Development Ministry will be under state Industrial Development and Entrepreneurship Minister Phoong Jin Zhe and the Federal Youth and Sports Ministry will be under the state Youth and Sports Minister, Datuk Ellron Angin.
He said looking after the Federal Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry, Communications and Digital Ministry, Higher Education Ministry and Education Ministry is under state Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Arifin Arif.
Hajiji said state Community Development and People's Wellbeing Minister Datuk James Ratib will be looking after the Federal Health Ministry, Women Development, Family and Community Ministry, Domestic Trade and Cost of Living and National Unity Ministry.
The Chief Minister said the state government had also appointed organising chairmen for the various state festive celebrations and events namely Datuk Arifin Arif for Maulidur Rasul, Tilawah Al-Quran, Maal Hijrah and Hari Raya Aidil Fitri, Jeffrey for Kaamatan, Masidi for National Day, Liew for Malaysia Day and Joachim for the Head of State's official birthday.
