The Chief Executive's Policy Address proposal to launch a quasi-ministerial accountability system in Hong Kong was long overdue. As society becomes increasingly politicised it is ever more difficult to distinguish between administrative and political accountability.
Many members of the public have certainly found the distinction a fine one. This was the case during the high-profile public-housing piling scandal last year. Calls were made for the resignation of both the Director of Housing, Tony Miller, and Housing Authority chairman Rosanna Wong Yick-ming. To most people the distinction between the culpability of the two that led Mrs Wong to take political responsibility and step down, while Mr Miller, a civil servant, remained in his post was not widely appreciated.
One obvious advantage of the proposed system is that the distinction between political office and civil servants will be crystal clear. Top officials appointed by the Chief Executive, whether from within or outside the civil service, will be responsible to the Chief Executive and also to the public and the legislature for the success or failure of their policies. If the appointees' responsibilities and powers are well defined then the public will feel the Government is far more responsive to its concerns and demands.
This is an important step forward in a society that will demand ever more say in the way government policies are formulated and implemented.
The basics of the system were outlined by Mr Tung in his Policy Address. But what the Chief Executive was later reticent about was the question of whether appointees would have to resign if they made grievous mistakes. Mr Tung's understandable response was that this was not the prime aim. Nevertheless, without this requirement to resign over serious errors, the proposed system would be incapable of satisfying the public or, indeed, of creating political accountability at all.
Secretary for Constitutional Affairs Michael Suen Ming-yeung's comments yesterday therefore, that appointed ministers would resign over major mistakes, are reassuring.
