KOTA KINABALU – Former state education and innovation minister Datuk Yusof Yacob has slammed the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) government for failing to resolve the problem of unemployment in Sabah, which has worsened since the Covid-19 pandemic.
Yusof told The Vibes that even before the pandemic, Sabah’s unemployment rate was the highest in the country, at 5.8% in 2019.
“The rate is expected to be higher now, with Sabah youth being the most affected.
“How can we move forward and how can we administer the state?
“How can we solve the unemployment problem in Sabah if the minister does not even know how serious the problem of joblessness is in Sabah,” he said.
Yusof was taking a jab at the state’s current Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Yakub Khan, who the former claimed as being unable to resolve Sabah’s unemployment woes.
In a recent interview Yakub expressed his fear over the state of unemployment in Sabah.
He said his ministry has yet to receive the statistics for those laid off during the pandemic, but urged jobless Sabahans to come forward and apply for available reskilling courses at the state Human Resources Department.
Yusof said such a response is unbecoming of a minister and chastised him for being incapable of handling the job.
“During my time, the Human Resource Master Plan for Sabah was in progress.
“I do not know what is the current status (of the plan).
“During my time, the Social Security Organisation (Socso) and the Human Resources Department attended ministry meetings.
“My plan was to identify how many jobless persons, what field they were in, how many were laid off and those offered the Voluntary Separation Scheme.
“We already planned and did retraining, upskilling and rematching with industries besides training and providing assistance for those intending to start a new business or franchise,” said Yusof, adding that the then Warisan government already had long- and short-term solutions in place to resolve the issue. – The Vibes, April 10, 2021
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