DAP MPs quiz Khairy on vaccine drive funding

KUALA LUMPUR – The government taking RM5 billion from the National Trust Fund (KWAN) was one of the main concerns raised by DAP in a meeting with Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin today.

Parliamentarians Ong Kian Ming (Bangi), Steven Sim (Bukit Mertajam) and Dr Kelvin Yii (Bandar Kuching) urged for transparency on the monies used for vaccine procurement and the national inoculation programme as it represents almost 30% of KWAN’s estimated RM17.4 billion, while the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) remains powerless.

“The RM5 billion that is being used represents almost 30% of the estimated RM17.4 billion in KWAN. That is why utmost transparency and accountability are needed to instil public confidence, avoid wastage, mismanagement and abuse.

“The fact that the government needs to tap into the National Trust Fund also points to the need for the PAC to reconvene. For the PAC to reconvene, the emergency must be lifted and Parliament must be allowed to sit again,” the MPs said in a statement.

PAC chairman Wong Kah Woh had said last week that the committee and parliamentary select committees (PSCs) have been ordered by the Dewan Rakyat speaker not to hold proceedings or meetings as long as Parliament is suspended.

Among the issues concerned is the RM1.5 billion spent for the vaccine roll-out that includes expenditure for large-scale vaccination sites, sanitation and community outreach and advocacy programmes.

“How many of these large-scale contracts were awarded via open tender? Did they go through the usual e-perolehan process or were they awarded via direct negotiation or limited tender?” they asked.

Also, RM347 million has been allocated as allowances for volunteers, but the DAP lawmakers said there has to be a breakdown of the number of volunteers to ascertain the expenditure per volunteer.

The fact that the government needs to tap into the National Trust Fund also points to the need for the PAC to reconvene. For the PAC to reconvene, the emergency must be lifted and Parliament must be allowed to sit again.

“Furthermore, we question the total allocation for the data integration and appointment system, and post-inoculations evaluations that amount to RM85 million. We request a clear breakdown of such expenditure and question the need for such a sum, especially since there is already the existence of MySejahtera, and other existing dashboards and databases.”

They also questioned the RM55 million allocated for the outreach programmes, given that the vaccine take-up rate as of May 1 is only 39% of the targeted population.

With regard to the administration and deployment of the vaccination programme, the MPs said they have questions on why members of high-risk groups have yet to receive their inoculation appointment dates.

“This includes safeguards to ensure state governments do not overstep and prioritise groups outside of the recommended groups, just like what happened in Pahang. We also suggested improvements on notifications, especially for the elderly group that may not be too familiar with the MySejahtera app.”

As for the parallel and multi-stream vaccinations, they recommended the federal government allow and offer assistance to states and the private sector to procure their own vaccine doses.

“We hope that the issue of state governments procuring supplies of the vaccines for themselves to deploy can be expedited by the federal government once the official request has been sent by the respective state governments, including the most populous state in Malaysia, Selangor, and also the largest state in Malaysia in terms of land size, Sarawak, and the most important state in terms of exports, Penang,” they said.

The reps reiterated their call for Parliament to reconvene, “allowing for such important decisions to be debated and scrutinised”.

On their 75-minute meeting with Khairy that started at 1.30pm today, they said many of their questions were answered and assurances were given that the expenditure breakdown will be supplied.

Meanwhile, Khairy thanked the trio on Twitter for their suggestions on the implementation and expenditure of the Covid-19 vaccination programme. – The Vibes, May 3, 2021