Hong Kong lawmakers keep up grilling over need to overhaul government as HK$95 million plan inches towards vote
- Lawmaker Tik Chi-yuen argues creation of deputy posts should be delayed to six months after new administration takes over
- Other legislators question whether RTHK should be moved to proposed new bureau covering culture, as well as need to move women’s issues to Home and Youth Affairs Bureau
The office of Hong Kong’s incoming leader has defended the need to overhaul the government as lawmakers kept up their grilling over the ambitious plan that is estimated to cost taxpayers an extra HK$95 million (US$12.1 million) a year.
The blueprint endorsed by the Executive Council last week calls for the number of policy bureaus to be increased from 13 to 15 and adding deputy posts under the secretaries for administration, finance and justice to better coordinate large infrastructure projects and improve communication throughout the civil service.
But at a Legislative Council subcommittee meeting on Monday, Tik Chi-yuen, the sole lawmaker not aligned with the pro-establishment bloc, asked whether the secretary for justice needed a deputy minister.
“What problems have arisen in the internal coordination of the Department of Justice?” he said. “How would adding posts such as a deputy secretary for justice help to resolve such problems?”
