SIBU: Word from the grapevine is that Deputy Rural and Regional Development Minister Datuk Alexander Nanta Linggi will soon be appointed Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities, a portfolio left vacant by Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas.
And the post left vacant by Nanta, who is Kapit MP, would be filled by Lawas MP Dato Henry Sum Agong.
Nanta and Henry Sum are both three-term MPs. Nanta is a PBB vice president while Henry Sum is a supreme council member of the same party.
It is speculated that their appointments would be announced next week following a federal cabinet reshuffle.
The Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities is currently without a minister and deputy minister.
This follows the resignation of Uggah to contest as a BN candidate in Bukit Saban in the May 7 state election. He won and was later appointed one of the three deputy chief ministers.
The deputy minister’s post is vacant following the demise of Tan Sri Noriah Kasnon and five others in a helicopter crash during the state poll’s campaigning period.
When contacted, Nanta declined to comment, but he was, however, glad to hear the ‘news’.
“I have not heard anything about it. But if it’s real, I would be a happy man,” he said.
Meanwhile, Uggah said this would be good news.
“We have been hoping that an Iban in PBB would be appointed to take over my vacated post in the federal government,” Uggah told BAT6, adding he was confident Nanta could shoulder any responsibility entrusted to him by Najib.
As at press time, Sum Agong could not be reached for comments.
If Nanta is indeed appointed a minister, it means Saratok MP Tan Sri William Mawan Ikom—the former leader of Parti Tenaga Rakyat Sarawak (Teras)—will not get to become a federal minister, unless Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak expands his cabinet or drops an existing minister.