Allocation for MPs not enough — Bung
KOTA KINABALU: It is timely for the government to review and increase the allocation to each government Member of Parliament (MP) to fund development programs in the constituency they represent, said Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Bung Moktar Radin.
In making this suggestion, the Kinabatangan MP said the existing allocation of around RM3.5 million a year was not enough to fund development, let alone a large area such as the Kinabatangan parliamentary constituency.
“For example, the Kinabatangan parliamentary constituency that I represent is the same size as the state of Pahang, with the allocation given is certainly not enough to fund development projects needed by the people,” he said when debating the 2022 Budget recently.
According to Bung, with the relatively limited allocation for a government MP, it is difficult to meet the development needed by the people, and it will also hamper the government’s efforts to transform rural areas, especially in Sabah.
Bung said based on this inadequacy, the state government hoped that the federal government would add 10 per cent from the 2022 Budget to implement development projects in the state, thus bringing them out of the poverty.
“With an allocation of about RM5 billion annually, it is not enough to prosper the state of Sabah which has a larger area compared to the states in the peninsular,” he said.
In the meantime, Bung reprimanded the Ministry of Rural Development for still not providing bank data on allocations and projects that are ongoing and will be implemented in each parliamentary constituency.
He said data banks are needed to see and know the effectiveness of certain developments.
“If there is no data bank, how do we know the effectiveness of the development approach revealed by the federal and state governments?” he asked.