FOUR hundred and seven heads of households in the interior district of Kota Marudu in Sabah received their native land titles after a two-year wait.

Caretaker chief minister Musa Aman handed over the deeds to a total 2727 hectares of land to their owners today, just before the country heads for the polls on May 9, next week.

“Only Sabah BN can deliver this to the people… please continue supporting BN, for continuous development,” he told about 1,000 of the Kota Marudu community at the local town hall.

BN-PBS Kota Marudu parliamentary candidate cum acting president Dr Maximus Ongkili was also present.

Musa in his brief address also hit out at opposition leader Shafie Apdal for failing to deliver the BN promises when he was the rural and regional development minister and Umno vice-president.

Kota Marudu is about 100km from Kota Kinabalu.

Its population largely comprises KadazanDusun, Murut and Rungus, with over 70% of the residents are non-Muslim.

“Shafie was a minister and billions of ringgit were allocated to him when he was the federal minister… He never went to the northern parts of Sabah.

“Only when he no longer holds any position does he visit the villagers and ask for votes… How can we trust this kind of leader?”

The deed recipients are villagers are from Kg Marak Parak, Kg Tangkol and Kg Sorinsim in the Tandek state constituency.

They applied for the land from the Sabah Native Land Services (Pantas) programme a little over a year ago.

The Umno Sibuga candidate also handed the communal grants for five villages in the district, and introduced the Barisan Nasional candidates Dr Maximus, PBS-BN Julita Mojungki (Matunggong) and PBS-BN Lasiah Baranting (Tandek).

Maximus faces three contenders in Kota Marudu held by PBS.

The three are Parti Cinta Sabah’s Dr Paul Porodong, Parti Harapan Rakyat Sabah’s Maijol Mahap and Parti Warisan Sabah’s Barlus Mangabis. – May 2, 2018.