Help farmers by giving interestfree loan – Kapayan rep
KOTA KINABALU: Kapayan assemblyman Dr Edwin Bosi in welcoming Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak to Penampang, went on thank him for the RM8.5 million allocation for the improvement of the Donggongon tamu.
“I would like to recommend to the Prime Minister that the allocation should be given as interest-free loan to the farmers of Penampang so that they can improve, upgrade and increase their agricultural production. The money will come in handy if it is used to build and repair all the roads and bridges accessing the villages. With a good road network, agricultural products can be transported to the markets more efficiently. The tamu itself does not require so much money to improve, said Bosi.
The Parti Anak Negeri Penampang chief is hopeful that the Penampang district officer would have briefed the PM about the persistent floodings in Penampang, the poor drainage system, the bad conditions of the road both in the town and villages, the poor street lighting, the horrible smell from the drains in the township, the lack of clean toilets, the bad traffic jams, inadequate parking spaces, the crowded polyclinic, low supply of medicine, the promised hospital at Kampung Dambai, the secondary school in upper Moyog, the pollution of the streams and river from the hundreds of illegal squatters and the increasing number of illegals and also Pakistani-run grocery shops.
Bosi added that criminal activities must also be nipped in the bud.
“Just last year in August, my house at Kampung Kibabaig was ransacked while I was attending the Sabah Assembly session. They broke into my house in the daylight and until today I am still waiting for some investigative breakthrough.
“Penampang used to be a premier town but not anymore. As a former senior government officer, I would like to say that the well-being of a district is under the purview of the district officer. He or she is assisted by all the other government departments and agencies.
“The government on the other hand must provide enough financial allocations to the departments to implement their tasks and responsibilities, he said.
Bosi said there is no need for assemblymen/women to go down to the ground to pinpoint the clogged drains, potholes on the roads, stagnant waters and poor street lightings.
“These tasks lie with the district officer and the district council. The JKKK/JKKDB and village chiefs are institutions to provide feedback to the officers concerned. On security, for example, the police are there to handle, while farmers can look for the agriculture, fisheries and veterinary departments to assist them. The same with family with disabled child, old or sick parents, who are poor, and others who need welfare assistance, they can go to the welfare department.
“The government lawmakers and ministers are supposed to oversee the government departments and agencies, and to see to it that they implement their allotted tasks and responsibilities. As far as the opposition lawmakers are concerned, we will listen to the plight of the people and act accordingly so that their problems are resolved even to the extent of ‘naming’ the government officers concerned in the media or Sabah Assembly.
“To stress my point, my parents’ and sister’s houses at Kampung Sapou are now flooded because there is no drainage system in place. These houses are just adjacent or sharing a boundary with the district office and the Penampang Cultural Building. Nothing has been done despite many complaints made to the district officer. What made the situation worse is the presence of a long house nearby, presumably built on state land which is discharging dirty water into the environment. They even made a drain full of dirty smelly water across my parents’ property. I have no idea if the workers staying there are properly documented,” Bosi lamented.
He urged the district officer and the district council to check and act on Dr Winny Bosi ‘s complaint.
“I certainly would like to know how the longhouse was given an approval to be built on the site, housing so many workers. I am also urging the health office in Penampang to check on this stagnant water and dirty discharges from the longhouse. I believe there is no sewerage system in place in this longhouse. These are serious health hazards," he stressed.