My TakeHas Carrie Lam just released her re-election manifesto?
- With less than half a year to go as chief executive, she wants to restructure the entire government, something you do at the start rather than the end of your time in office
Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor wants to overhaul the structure of government. The chief executive has less than six months left in office. What cunning plan does she have up her sleeve?
Lam took advantage of the intense public interest in her first formal meeting with new lawmakers in the revamped Legislative Council this week to announce the biggest restructuring plan for the government in more than a decade.
She has admitted it can’t be done within the short time she has left in office. However, she is ready to get the blueprint ready for the next chief executive to implement.
Isn’t it the height of presumption and arrogance to try to lock in the governance agenda of a successor who, after all, has both the right and power to bin Lam’s master plan? Wouldn’t that be a complete waste of time and money?
There is another possibility. Beijing apparently doesn’t want a local electoral race until the last minute – the nomination period starts in the middle of next month – to avoid too much acrimony or even a civil war within the pro-establishment camp.