AN UMNO leader has slammed Kedah Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor for holding eight portfolios in the Kedah executive council.
Describing the move as “excessive”, UMNO Supreme Council member Datuk Dr Mohamad Puad Zarkashi said Sanusi should have entrusted more work to his executive councillor (exco) members, and that his duty should be to set the state’s course and policies.
“Sanusi should be focusing on two important portfolios, namely land resources and finance. These portfolios are important so he can control the state’s direction and policies,” the former Batu Pahat MP was reported as saying by FMT today (Aug 22).
“Can Sanusi focus on the numerous tasks at hand? Don’t forget that, because he was so occupied previously, he was unaware about the rare earth element (REE) theft in Kedah as the chairman of Menteri Besar Kedah Incorporated (MBI Kedah).”
Puad, who is also the Rengit assemblyman, further questioned Sanusi on whether his choice to take on eight portfolios was motivated by his desire not to offer Bersatu a position in the state government.
“This reflected Sanusi’s failure to delegate duties and could also restrict diversity of ideas in the executive council,” he added.
Sanusi, who is also the Jeneri assemblyman for a second term, heads the committees for state planning; mineral and geoscience; land resources; finance; state-linked companies; State Economic Action Council; development; and external relations.
There are nine others in the executive council he leads, with five from PAS, three from Bersatu and one from Gerakan.
A separate FMT report yesterday (Aug 21) revealed a party insider from Kedah Bersatu as saying that the party was unhappy that they were given only three exco positions in the new state government despite the party winning 10 of the 33 state assembly seats captured by Perikatan Nasional (PN) in the state election held on Aug 12.
The source said this seemed unfair when Bersatu had five excos under the previous administration, including the state assembly speaker.
“We do not want a repeat of what happened in Kelantan and Terengganu, where Bersatu was given one exco post in each state despite the fact that we worked together under PN in those states,” the source was quoted as saying by the news portal.
However, Kedah Bersatu chief Datuk Suhaimi Abdullah brushed off all allegations by saying that “all is well” and the matter has been resolved.
“All is well. All appointed excos have been sworn in, so this puts an end to the issue,” he was quoted as saying. – Aug 22, 2023
