‘A colossal waste of time and money’: Legco quorum calls cost Hongkongers HK$45.6 million

Time is money, as the saying goes, and Hong Kong’s legislature has been wasting plenty of both.

The Legislative Council ended its fifth term yesterday bogged down in a filibuster by the pan-democrats to block the government’s proposed reform of the city’s medical watchdog, even as it emerged that lawmakers had wasted more than HK$45.6 million in taxpayers’ money during this term on taking quorum calls.

More than half of the sum was wasted during the 2015-16 year alone. That was without factoring in the work hours that government officials and lawmakers wasted while waiting in the chamber for secretariat staff to take headcounts.

Legco president Jasper Tsang Yok-sing noted that 115 hours had been spent on quorum calls in the 2015-16 session, with 596 bells rung.

Asking for a headcount is a tactic frequently deployed by pan-democrats to delay approval of government proposals.

According to the Basic Law and Legco’s rules of procedure, at least half of all members are ­required to attend a debate to ­ensure enough representation. If a quorum is not met after the bell has been rung for 15 minutes, the meeting will have to be adjourned until the next sitting.