KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah government has agreed to provide a special financial assistance of RM2,000 to all state civil servants.
Sabah Finance Minister Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun said the aid includes temporary, contract, and daily paid workers.
"This special financial assistance will be paid in two stages, with RM1,000 to be paid in January 2024 and another RM1,000 before Hari Raya Aidilfitri," said Masidi during his 2024 Sabah state budget speech at the State Legislative Assembly.
"I hope this incentive will further motivate the state civil servants to serve with enthusiasm and strive even harder to enhance the quality of service delivery to the people," he added.
He said the function of check and balance has been added by prioritising transparent and open policies in managing the state's social, economic and development projects.
"This is by strengthening the Internal Audit Section in the Ministry of Finance to an Internal Audit Department under the Chief Minister's Department commencing 2024," said Masidi.
He said this department would ensure that the state ministries, departments, and agencies optimised the utilisation of the allocated funds effectively.
He said the state government is also committed to enhancing and cultivating integrity among state civil servants comprehensively.
"An allocation is given to the state's integrity and governance section (BIGONS) under the State Secretary Office to coordinate programmes on integrity and anti-corruption culture with the goal of an excellent state administration system.
"Allocations are also provided to all ministries and departments under operational expenditure to ensure the smooth implementation of all planned programmes," he said.
He said that the state government has also allocated RM25.06 million to encourage continuous learning among civil servants to ensure they have the knowledge, expertise and skills to carry out their assigned duties.
This year, he said, to enhance the effectiveness of public service delivery further, the state government has created 799 new positions to meet the required workforce to balance the increasingly challenging and complex workload.