Call for government appointments overhaul

Executive councillor Anna Wu Hung-yuk has called for an overhaul of Hong Kong’s system of public appointments, with an independent commissioner to ensure candidates are chosen on the basis of merit, through a transparent process.

The government was quick to pour cold water on her suggestion, which follows controversy over public appointments in the past few months, such as Alfred Chan Cheung-ming replacing York Chow Yat-ngok as chairman of the Equal Opportunities Commission – a watchdog Wu once chaired herself.

In an interview with the Post, Wu said there was a need for Hong Kong to develop a set of principles for appointments to statutory and advisory bodies.

As a point of reference, she cited the UK Commissioner for Public Appointments who ensures that ministers’ picks for the boards of public bodies are made on merit after a fair, open and transparent process. The commissioner, whose post was created in 1995, is appointed by the Queen and is independent of the British government.

“We don’t have a queen in Hong Kong and this would require suitable substitutes,” Wu said. “One possibility is to have the chief executive nominate the commissioner [for public appointments] for endorsement or confirmation by the legislature in an attempt to make the appointment as independent as possible.”

The UK commissioner has published a code of practice for ministerial appointments to pubic bodies based on three core principles – merit, openness and fairness.