Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam should delegate more and stick around for two terms, aide urges

Bernard Chan tells the Post his top priority is to ensure Carrie Lam secures a second term as chief executive to give her time to solve city’s deep-rooted problems

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Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor. Photo: Sam Tsang

Published: 11:33am, 8 Mar 2018Updated: 11:33am, 8 Mar 2018

Hong Kong’s leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor needs to delegate more to her team and minimise political risks when rolling out policies so that the city can strengthen its ability to keep up with China’s rapid development, according to her top policy adviser.

In an exclusive interview with the Post, Bernard Chan also said his number one task now was to ensure Lam will be Hong Kong’s first post-colonial leader to complete two five-year terms. One term would not be sufficient time for a leader to solve deep-rooted problems and implement important policy improvements, he said.

Chan, an executive councillor from 2004 to 2009 and again since 2012, was head of Lam’s campaign office in the chief executive election last year. He was later appointed by Lam, who originally joined the government in 1980, as convenor of the Executive Council’s non-official members, or policy advisers. Chan is also a deputy to the National People’s Congress.

Hong Kong Executive Council convenor Bernard Chan. Photo: Simon Song

Speaking on the sidelines of the NPC’s annual session in Beijing, Chan lauded Lam for her knowledge of public administration and swift response when problems emerged.

“Lam is also so familiar with the systems that she took everything upon her shoulders, and it seems there have not been many problems,” Chan said. “The response time for this term of government is only about one or two days.”