Housing Department accused of breaching rules by allowing unseated district councillors to keep offices
‘Umbrella soldier’ Chui Chi-kin complains he has to rent a unit in a shopping mall after defeated rival is told he can stay put
The Housing Department has been accused of breaking its own rules by allowing two pro-government lawmakers to keep their offices despite losing in the district council elections last year.
Eastern District councillor Chui Chi-kin, an “umbrella soldier”, shot to fame in the poll on November 22 by unseating Christopher Chung Shu-kun of the Beijing-loyalist Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong.
In Sha Tin, Chung’s party colleague, Elizabeth Quat, was unseated by Labour Party candidate Yip Wing.
But renting an office to start his councillor work had proved a difficult task for Chui, as the department told him that Chung was entitled to rent his office as at least until his lawmaker’s tenure ended in September.
As there is no other place available in the constituency, Chui is renting a 100 sq ft unit in a nearby shopping mall as his office for HK$4,000 a month.
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In Sha Tin, Yip was also told that Quat had extended her lease to the end of this month, and has asked the housing department to further extend it until her Legislative Council term expires in the summer.
