DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said today the government’s sudden announcement over the apparent revocation of the Emergency Ordinances now meant that it would be unable to procure sufficient funds from the National Trust Fund (KWAN) to procure Covid-19 vaccines.
Lim pointed out that the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government had previously relied on the Emergency Ordinance to amend the National Trust Fund (KWAN) Act — without the approval of Parliament — to allow the government to appropriate some RM5 billion to purchase vaccines under the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (NIP).
“Without using Emergency powers to amend the KWAN Act, the government cannot appropriate money from a fund set up as an investment for the future.
“If the Emergency Ordinance amending the Act to appropriate RM5 billion to purchase vaccines is revoked on July 21, will the federal government have sufficient funds to complete the procurement?
The revocation of the Emergency Ordinances may result in the government having to find other sources of funding to make up for any shortfall of the RM5 billion,” he said in a statement.
He said the government has yet to reveal how much of the RM5 billion has been appropriated from KWAN for the vaccine purchases to date, before urging Bank Negara Malaysia to step in for the sake of public transparency and accountability by revealing the amount drawn down thus far.
Lim hit out at the government’s mixed messaging after federal territories minister Annuar Musa said yesterday the ordinances were “in the process” of being revoked, contradicting Takiyuddin’s assertion that they had already been annulled.
“No wonder Malaysia is plunging towards becoming a failed state when ministers attending the same Cabinet meeting cannot even be consistent and speak on the same script on such an important matter,” he said.