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Daily Express
23-07-2025
- Politics
- Daily Express
Development plans must reflect actual needs
Published on: Wednesday, July 23, 2025 Published on: Wed, Jul 23, 2025 By: Sisca Humphrey Text Size: Anis, who is also a member of the National Planning Council and Head of the Governance Cluster for RMK13, said solutions must be driven by data, not assumptions. Kota Kinabalu: Sabah's development plans must be built from the ground up and reflect the actual needs of its people, said Datuk Dr Anis Yusal Yusoff, Executive Director of the International Institute for Public Policy and Management (Inpuma), Universiti Malaya. Anis, who is also a member of the National Planning Council and Head of the Governance Cluster for RMK13, said solutions must be driven by data, not assumptions. 'I want the planners to see what is really needed by the people. Not what we think they need,' he said after moderating a Focus Group Discussion (FGD) on inputs for the 13th Malaysia Plan (RMK13) at Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS). He described the role of the RMK13 technical team as both a 'translator and aggregator' of ground-level inputs, especially from rural communities. Thirty-three core issues surfaced during the discussion, attended by researchers, civil society organisations, academics and local development players. Also present were former Director of Insan, Datuk Dr Sa抋dilah Abdillah, and Social and Youth Policy Expert Associate Professor Janice Nga Lay Hui. Most of which, he said, were still about basic needs such as clean water, electricity, roads, internet and education. He cautioned that if these needs are not prioritised, RMK13 would risk being disconnected from reality. Anis noted that many community aspirations today echo the same issues brought up during the Vision 2020 era. 'That means the problems were not solved. That抯 why people repeat them. We cannot blame them. It is because the needs are still unfulfilled,' he said. He also pointed out that despite various government development blueprints, there remains an implementation gap. 'We can talk about big plans. But if the execution is not right, we will always go back to the drawing board every five years,' Anis said. He reminded participants that true development is not just about infrastructure but also integrity and inclusive governance. He praised local efforts by UMS and other Sabah-based academics and NGOs who consistently push to bridge the gap between policy and practice. 'Sabah is rich in social capital. What we need is to connect it with political will and effective delivery,' he said. He expressed hope that the RMK13 process would genuinely capture the diversity of voices from all across Sabah and empower more local leaders to take ownership of solutions. 'Let us not write a plan for the sake of planning. Let us write one that truly works,' he said. * Follow us on our official WhatsApp channel and Telegram for breaking news alerts and key updates! * Do you have access to the Daily Express e-paper and online exclusive news? Check out subscription plans available. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express's Telegram channel. Daily Express Malaysia
The Citizen
04-06-2025
- Business
- The Citizen
More than R140 million in salaries paid to suspended government employees
National departments paid nearly R51 million to suspended government employees, while provincial departments spent more than R90 million in the 2024/25 financial year. Government has paid more than R140 million in salaries to employees who have been placed on precautionary suspension during the 2024/25 financial year. This is according to public Service and Administration Minister Mzamo Buthelezi, who was accounting to the National Assembly during the Governance Cluster question and answer session on Wednesday. Buthelezi said as of the end of the fourth quarter of the 2024/25 financial year, national departments paid R50 945 064 to the suspended employees while provincial departments spent R90 469 562. The minister was responding to Al Jama-ah member of parliament (MP) Shameemah Salie, who had asked what the current estimated total cost of ghost employees and suspended employees on the payroll of government was. Ghost employee audit still incomplete Salie also asked what work had been done prior to the Budget Speech to recover funds lost from paying fraudulent salaries. Buthelezi said the total cost associated with ghost workers had not yet been determined. 'This cost will only become known once a comprehensive employee verification process across public service has been completed and the financial implications accurately calculated,' he said. 'However, the Department of Public Service and Administration and National Treasury are jointly leading this exercise, and once the report is finalised it will be shared with the relevant parliamentary committee and this house.' Salie further said the issue of ghost workers had been an ongoing battle for decades and had resulted in millions being lost per yearly. ALSO READ: Gauteng health freezes 66 salaries in ghost employee crackdown 'We urge the minister and all relevant departments to ensure an audit across government and to provide frequent feedback on findings surrounding ghost workers, prosecution of and recovery of funds from these entities,' Salie sad. Buthelezi defends 'bloated' public service wage bill ANC MP Pumelele Ndamase asked what the overall impact of ghost workers was, in which departments they were mostly found and whether Buthelezi's department is actually aware of how ghost employees end up being in the employ of the state. The public service is often accused of being bloated, Ndamase said, while simultaneously struggling to meet the demand of South Africans. In response, the minister said while it is widely believed that the public service wage bill is too high, the department has a different view. 'We do have many vacant posts in the department and many departments who are struggling to even employ because they have a shortage of staff members, because the government cannot afford to pay their salaries,' Buthelezi said. 'So, the issue of a bloated public service wage bill is not necessarily the case, but we do appreciate the fact that we view that as such because our economy is not growing at the rate that it should.' He said the challenges of the country's stagnant economic growth had a bearing on the expenditure where public employees are concerned. Thorough investigation With regard to the departments affected by ghost employees, Buthelezi repeated that there were currently no statistics, but the department is engaged in a thorough investigation. Before posing his question, Rise Mzansi's Stanford Makashule Gana Minister said the 'ghost employees' should be referred to appropriately – public servants who 'give themselves more than one salary'. ALSO READ: R6 million in salaries paid to ghost workers in Mpumalanga 'Trigger-happy managers' Gana finally asked if the Buthelezi's department is considering attaching cost orders to managers who are trigger happy and quick to suspend public servants who don't deserve to be suspended. 'As a department, when it comes to managers who simply suspend employees willy-nilly, we have come up with a directive that says whenever there is an employee that is alleged to have committed a particular offence, instead of suspending that person and continuously get a salary, that person must be transferred to another department or unit,' Buthelezi responded. He said he was not aware of public servants earning more than one salary and that the department is putting systems in place to curb wastage. Redundancy audit Heloise Denner, FF Plus MP, asked if the department had considered or assessed the feasibility of implementing an audit to identify redundant posts within the public service in order to reduce costs. In response, the minister said the department is already putting systems in place to deal with redundancy. He said that the departments need to first consult the Department of Public Services and Administration whenever there's a post to fill. '[This is so that] we look into whether or not there is a need for that particular post or if it means they redefine their organogram,' Buthelezi said. '[They must] also consult with National Treasury to see that there are funds available so that we prevent departments from employing people for posts which do not add any value into the system,' he added. NOW READ: 'It's a scam': Mbalula says Prasa's ghost workers saga to be referred for criminal investigations
