Hong Kong's civil service accountability system will end buck-passing mentality

Kudos to the Secretary for the Civil Service Ingrid Yeung Ho Poi-yan for introducing a two-tier civil service accountability system. This will include giving an independent statutory body, the Public Service Commission, powers to investigate "widespread, repetitive and systemic" management problems, while department heads can investigate problems involving rank-and-file officers.

To many, the revamp of the civil service accountability system is long overdue. Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu has set his mind on this since his last policy address. Recent government fumbles such as the bottled water procurement scandal and seat belt fiasco and the Tai Po fire tragedy have made expanding the political accountability system to the civil service necessary and urgent.

The rules are well established. That serious and massive blunders could still occur has tarnished the public image of the civil service.

Over a decade ago, the lead-tainted water case, which emerged when former chief executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor was still the chief secretary, prompted an independent investigation that concluded it was a "classic case of buck-passing" within government departments. Lam responded to the report by saying no single official would be held responsible because it was a case of systemic failures. Insulation from basic accountability due to a collective failure by people to do their jobs is not what accountability means.

The government proposal – which is to be submitted to the Executive Council next month and tabled at the Legislative Council for "negative vetting" in June – is a step in the right direction. As Yeung said, the outcome of these investigations "will not simply blame the system" because "the system is designed by personnel; we must identify who designed it, who failed to review it over decades of operation, and who did not improve it".

Yeung nailed it on the head. Blaming the system will no longer be the blanket excuse for those who had the opportunity, authority and power to do better. And with that promise, hopefully, public cynicism can be curbed.