Nga must resign over MyKiosk ‘failure’, says Ti

 The former MCA vice-president says the minister must take responsibility for his ministry’s failure to study the need for the MyKiosk project before its launch.

Former MCA vice-president Ti Lian Ker (left) said housing and local government minister Nga Kor Ming should resign in the interest of accountability.

PETALING JAYA:

 Former MCA vice-president Ti Lian Ker has called on housing and local government minister Nga Kor Ming to step down, following the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) revelation that the ministry failed to carry out a proper needs assessment before launching the MyKiosk initiative.

Ti said this was not a minor administrative oversight as such assessments and impact evaluations were “basic requirements for competent public governance”.

“When billions in public funds are at stake, failing to ask fundamental questions – who needs this, where it should be placed, and how success will be measured – is not just careless but irresponsible,” he said in a statement today.

Ti said the MyKiosk issue added to a “growing record of questionable judgments and misplaced priorities”, including Nga’s directive last year to turn four public toilets into smart toilets, as well as public unease over the Urban Renewal Bill.

“Each episode has followed a similar pattern — tone-deaf decision-making, weak policy grounding and public backlash after the fact. Taken cumulatively, these incidents demonstrate not a one-off lapse (of judgement) but a sustained deficiency in leadership competence.

“When a ministry repeatedly delivers projects that fail to meet objectives, attracts negative audit findings and prompts governance recommendations from MACC itself, responsibility cannot be shifted downwards to the officers or local authorities alone.

“Political responsibility rests with the minister,” he said.

Ti said Nga should resign, not as an admission of criminal guilt, but on grounds of accountability that “signals respect for institutions, taxpayers and the principle that leadership carries consequences”.

“Continuing in office despite repeated governance failures risks normalising incompetence and eroding public confidence in government reforms,” he said.

Earlier today, MACC said the lack of a needs assessment and a comprehensive outcome-monitoring mechanism, including key performance indicators (KPIs), hindered the evaluation of the project’s impact at the local authority level.

It presented five governance improvement recommendations to the ministry yesterday, including incorporating the outcomes of the MyKiosk project into KPIs and establishing a special committee to monitor its effectiveness and results.

They also included enhancing the initiative’s guidelines, covering procurement, management and monitoring, and creating complete federally funded project implementation guidelines to serve as a reference. - FMT