I did not stop aid distribution, says Pitas rep
KOTA KINABALU: Pitas assemblyman Datuk Seri Ruddy Awah has slammed Kudat member of parliament Datuk Verdon Bahanda for allegedly attempting to channel state government aid to recent disaster victims in Pitas without following proper procedures.
In a recent Facebook post, Verdon had issued a public apology to the people after claiming that his team’s efforts to present food contributions in Pitas was halted by a certain leader in the constituency.
The post had sparked speculations from concerned netizens and Sabahans alike that Ruddy had blocked Verdon’s attempt to provide much-needed aid to the victims in the former’s constituency.
On Saturday, Ruddy clarified that he had never stopped any non-governmental organisations (NGO) or MPs from utilizing parliamentary allocations to help people in his district, and he even welcomed them with open arms if they wished to do so.
However, he explained that Verdon was not attempting to present food contributions from parliamentary allocations but rather from the state government through the Welfare Department, which requires following a set of procedures.
Ruddy stressed that Verdon did not follow proper protocols when it came to this specific matter, causing the handing over of the contributions to be temporarily halted while his team works out the issue.
“If the contributions come from the parliamentary allocation, there are no problems. If there are any NGOs who want to come to Pitas to provide contributions, they can do that without having to go through me as that is their personal provision. No matter how many people or contributions, there is no issue.
“However, when it comes to aid from the state government, there are rules that must be followed. We have related agencies and officers that need to process the contributions. We have leaders at the village level who have to send reports to the district level for processing alongside the Welfare Department.
“They (Verdon) did not follow those protocols. He or his officers did not contact me. They did not even provide a list of recipients for the contributions. They just took bags of food from the Welfare Department and tried to send them to disaster victims in Liu, Pitas, which is under my jurisdiction.
“Work is work but you have to do your job in an orderly manner. Jangan main hantam saja (Do not just do things willy-nilly). I am giving a stern warning. Do not twist this matter into something it is not. As an elected representative, I have been working hard to take care of my people,” he said during the launch of The Gallery Industrial Estate at
Kolombong, here, Saturday.
Ruddy, who is also State Rural Development Assistant Minister, guaranteed that it would not take long for them to complete the re-examining process so that the pending aid can be properly channeled to the recipients.
He said his team is now gathering necessary data on the recipients and doing a re-check to prevent any of them from missing out on the aid due to Verdon’s actions, and he will resolve it quickly.
The aid is assumed to be for disaster victims in Pitas who were recently hit with flash floods which had caused 22 electricity substations in the district to be closed by Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB) for fear of public safety.