SABAH’s finances are not in a mess as alleged by Sabah Chief Minister Shafie Apdal and he need not to hold the finance portfolio, said Kiulu assemblyman Joniston Bangkuai, a BN-PBS member.

According to him, Sabah was given the clean bill for 16 consecutive years until 2016 by the federal auditor-general, while RAM ratings gave the state administration the “AAA” rating for seven consecutive years until 2017.

“What financial mess is he (Shafie) talking about?

“The attempt by Parti Warisan Sabah president Shafie Apdal to justify his reason for holding two posts in the Sabah state cabinet by saying he needs to ‘clean up the mess’ is a lame excuse.

“Shafie is shifting the blame to the Sabah BN government because he is under fire from within the alliance of convenience he leads, where there are those from PKR and DAP who are not at ease with him for holding the finance portfolio and be the chief minister at the same time,” said Bangkuai in a statement issued tonight.

Bangkuai said the Warisan leader is also undermining the intelligence of Sabahans when he reasoned that he was going to “clean up the mess” as well as lopsided deals left by the BN administration led by former chief minister Musa Aman.

Local news website Borneo Today quoted a source from Warisan that Shafie plans to hold the portfolio only for a brief time until “all the mess” left by the previous administration led by Musa are cleared.

Sabah has tabled a surplus budget for four consecutive years from 2015, while the state financial reserves have grown from RM184 million in 2002 to RM3.74 billion last year. – May 18, 2018.