Musa: Shafie is spewing blatant lies
TONGOD: A bitter personal feud between two political foes has boiled over in Sabah, with Chief Minister Tan Sri Musa Aman going for the jugular of opponent and Warisan president Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal.
The two arch rivals have been sparring publicly in a war of words as polling day draws near.
Hitting back at his political nemesis, Musa accused Shafie of spreading untruths and covering up his own failure to deliver on his promises to Sabah when he was the Rural and Regional Development Minister.
He also said it did not make sense to accuse him of stopping a federal minister from meeting local state officials as it would be of no benefit to anyone.
“This a big and blatant lie. Why should I do that? I want to see greater development in Sabah,” he said, adding that he wanted to work to provide better infrastructure and basic utilities, such as water and electricity as well as roads, especially in the rural areas.
Musa was speaking after attending the ground-breaking ceremony for the Tongod district sports complex in central Sabah district yesterday.
Shafie had claimed that during his time as a federal minister, he could not visit many districts in Sabah as Musa would ensure that he did not meet state officers. Shafie, who was dropped as federal minister, left Umno in 2016.
Musa said there was much to be done in Sabah in terms of socio-economic development. “We need all the help we can get. So why would I make it difficult?”
Musa said Shafie’s ministry was provided with RM7.5bil in allocations for Sabah alone.
“Now that Shafie is in the Opposition, he conveniently passes the buck and blame things on me,” Musa said.
Musa said it was also “ridiculous” for him as Chief Minister to stop federal projects from being implemented in the state.
During a campaign stop in Gum Gum, Sandakan on Friday, Shafie had claimed that Musa had effectively barred state officers from various government agencies to brief him on the development needs of the state when he was the federal minister.
He also accused Musa of neglecting his own stronghold of Libaran, claiming that despite being Chief Minister for 15 years, Musa had failed to bring adequate infrastructure to the people.