Chief executive-elect Leung Chun-ying is close to finalising his cabinet line-up, and fresh young faces can be expected among assistants to the new ministers, his top aide says.
Without naming names, Fanny Law Fan Chiu-fun, head of the Chief Executive-elect's Office, said: 'We are confident we can line up all the ministers by the end of this month or early next month. Just a few [candidates] are still contemplating.'
The new ministers would play a role in picking their undersecretaries and political assistants, she said.
'The ministers can select their aides according to the candidates' experience and ability, and have to be held accountable for the performance of their choices.'
There would be changes to the second and third tiers of the political appointee system, which has drawn criticism for a perceived mismatch between appointees' performance and their high pay.
Undersecretaries earn more than HK$200,000 a month, with the top earner receiving about HK$230,000, while political assistants are paid between HK$134,000 and HK$164,000 a month.'[The political appointees] will reach out to residents more often,' Law said. 'The salaries of political assistants will not be bound by hard indicators, but set by the ministers.'
She repeated her call for the Legislative Council to approve a shake-up in the way the government works to avoid a delay that would leave the new administration hamstrung in its first six months in office.
