KO-NELAYAN TO SIGN INTEGRITY PLEDGE

DEPUTY Chief Minister cum Agriculture and Food Industry Minister, Datuk Seri Panglima Yahya Hussin, witnesses the signing of the Corporate Integrity Pledge (CIP) by Ko-Nelayan at Wisma Pertanian.

By : SHALINA R

DATUK Seri Panglima Yahya Hussin, Deputy Chief Minister cum Agriculture and Food Industry Minister, witnessed the signing of the Corporate Integrity Pledge (CIP) by the Fishermen and Fishery Development Cooperative on 21st December recently.

"This is an effort to create awareness among the employees of the Ministry. Officers, in particular, heads of departments, must assume the responsibility of role models and carry themselves with integrity. That is why the cooperative's high officials are involved in the pledge today," said Yahya.

The cooperative, better known as Ko-Nelayan, is the first statutory body to sign the pledge in Sabah.

"We are well aware of Ko-Nelayan's commitment to create disciplined and productive employees with outstanding integrity. Thus, the signing of the Corporate Integrity Pledge is critical in realizing this aspiration," said Ko-Nelayan General Manager Datuk Masood Salleh in his speech.

According to Masood, Ko-Nelayan has established and practiced procurement of goods and services in accordance with a strict code of ethics that does not tolerate corruption in dealing with contractors. The cooperative has also maintained an atmosphere of transparency in their daily operations.

The General Manager also spoke about the cooperative's measures to maintain integrity and combat corruption.

Some of the initiatives mentioned were promoting values of transparency strengthening the internal control system and providing continuous training on anti-corruption, ethics and integrity.

Also at the event was MACC Sabah Director Jalil Jaaffar, Ko-Nelayan Chairman Datuk Samsudin Yahya, Ko-Nelayan Deputy Chairman Datuk Abdul Mijul Unaini and members of the Ko-Nelayan board of directors.

Datuk Samsudin took the opportunity to stress that Ko-Nelayan had nothing to do with the reports on malpractice among fishermen, that is, selling diesel for profit. He said this in response to a question posed by a reporter after the event.

The Ko-Nelayan Chairman said irregularities may occur at any of the jetties that do not belong to Ko-Nelayan. Ko-Nelayan jetties are found in Lahad Datu, Kudat and Kota Kinabalu.

According to Ko-Nelayan Chairman, Ko-Nelayan distributes 15 million liters of diesel via jetties across the state each month. However, the cooperative does not have any control in the sale of subsidized diesel at the jetties.

The diesel subsidy was introduced on January 1st 2006 with the smart cards to fishermen issued by the for the Fisheries Development Authority of Malaysia (FDAM). Subsidized diesel can only be purchased with these smart cards at RM1.00 per liter at the fishermen's association's sale centres and private sales centers that are recognized by FDAM. (Insight Sabah)