Will top Hong Kong civil servants pay price for blunders under new system?
Former ministers, senior officials and observers point to practical challenges of attributing responsibility
Who is at fault for the notice: the frontline officers involved or the senior civil servant overseeing them?
“Opinions are divided among ourselves,” said a veteran civil servant, speaking on condition of anonymity. “In this case, the senior official can say this was an execution problem by frontline staff. Such a high-ranking official doesn’t micromanage to this level.”
But another said: “Can the head truly shrug off supervisory accountability? It may depend on whether he or she turned a blind eye to questionable practices. But it’s hard to prove.”
The new mechanism targets department heads for “widespread, repetitive, systemic” failures, aiming to clarify administrative blame.
Former ministers, high-ranking bureaucrats and political observers pointed to the practical challenges of attributing responsibility amid scandals, and questioned the government’s decision not to make it a legal requirement to publish full investigation results.