Accountability System to Be Far-Reaching, Progressive: Official

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, April 18, 2002

Accountability System to Be Far-Reaching, Progressive: Official

The Accountability System will be the most significant changes to governance in Hong Kong and the changes are far-reaching, progressive, said Donald Tsang, secretary for administration in Hong Kong Wednesday.

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The Accountability System will be the most significant changes to governance in Hong Kong, which are far-reaching, progressive, said Donald Tsang, secretary for administration, here Wednesday.

At the press conference to explain details of the accountability system for principal officials, Tsang expressed his full support for the new system because it is good for government and good, therefore, for the people of Hong Kong.

Under the Accountability System, the chief executive is to create 14 new posts comprising the secretary for administration, financial secretary, secretary for justice and 11 other principal official posts.

"The new principal officials, unlike permanent civil servants, will be personally accountable for the success or failures of their policy areas," he said.

"They will have to immerse themselves more deeply in public debate and the concerns of their fellow citizens if their five- year-term political agenda they are required to set are to meet public priorities and aspirations," he added.

New system will promote better relationship with LegCo

Tsang believed that the new system will promote a better relationship with Legislative Council (LegCo), because the administration will have a sharply focused political agenda and a well-defined legislative program.

Policy agenda will have to correspond more closely with public priorities and aspirations, as well as to address the needs of LegCo, he noted.

The system will lead to more effective governance, Tsang pointed out, because an Executive Council comprising, at its core, the chief executive and all of his principal officials is much more in tune with the Cabinet-type principles and practices of an executive-led government.

Feature: Tung's Accountability System Gains Major Support

A proposal to institute a ministerial system-styled political system in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government gained support from Legislative Councilors and an academic Wednesday.

The proposal entitled the "Principal Officials Accountability System" designed by HKSAR Chief Executive Tung Chee Hwa's (CE) was also described by a professor in public administration at a local university as a policy that is completely in line with the Basic Law.

The new system will enable future HKSAR chief executives to form their own team of 14 key political positions to head the HKSAR government.

Tsang Yuk Sing, a leader of a major political party who has influence over many HKSAR Legislative Councilors, has remarked, " Basically we support the blueprint. We feel that it can, indeed, improve the government's policy-making by bringing the policy secretaries closer together amongst themselves for policy-making and enabling them to better attend to the views of the public." In Detail

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