The government on Wednesday announced the appointment of three undersecretaries and two political assistants. With two undersecretaries who took on a second term earlier, there are still more than half of the undersecretary posts vacant. There are difficulties in attracting suitable talents to join this super-hot kitchen.

    Of the three new undersecretaries announced on Wednesday, Yau Shing-mu belongs to the original undersecretary team. John Lee Ka-chiu comes from the disciplined services of the civil servant system while Christine Loh Kung-wai comes from outside the government. The new government has taken office for nearly two and a half months. In the 12 policy bureaux, other than the Civil Service Bureau that is without an undersecretary in its establishment, there are five finalised candidates for 11 of the undersecretary posts for the time being. It shows not only that the authorities would rather put quality before quantity but also that currently there are not too many people who satisfy the requirements of an official and are willing to join the government's accountability team.

    The difficulty in finding talents for the accountability team had long since existed before Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying took office. Some social elites might not have the same political philosophy as that of Leung. For some candidates of choice, entering the hot kitchen was to be avoided. Some of those who wanted to join the accountability team were not adequately qualified. The team that finally came out got involved in scandals one after another and were attacked by political parties, thus flaming and raising the temperature of the hot kitchen. The government was kept busy putting out the fire.

Greatly exhausting political energy may not be cost-effective

    At the time when some legislators filibustered, it dragged down Leung's plan to restructure the accountability team framework. Actually, even if he succeeded in fighting for increasing two deputy director posts and setting up two more policy bureaux, whether enough talents with the same philosophy as his and in favour with the general public to fill in these vacancies can be found is also doubtful.

     Leung once said at the time that if the proposal for three directors, two deputy directors and 14 bureaux was vetoed by the Legco, it would be deliberated again at the new Legco. His team might not be complete until next April. From the results of this Legco election, it can be seen that radical power is rising and the seats of political parties that filibustered have increased. If the government remains intact and re-introduces the restructure of the politically appointed team framework, it will greatly exhaust political energy even if the proposal can be passed. If suitable deputy director candidates cannot be found, reluctantly bringing things to fruition may not necessarily be cost-effective .

Easy things first, straighten out political assistant remuneration

   The reform in political assistant in Leung's framework restructure proposal answered to the citizens' criticism of the pay being so high that it could not match the role. Leung at that time suggested changing the monthly salary currently at around $100,000 to the upper limit of the appropriation for a policy bureau , allowing each bureau chief to appoint political assistants flexibly within the budget. The whole budget could be used on appointing one person or divided into several portions to appoint several people. This arrangement is more flexible than the existing system. The use of public money is more reasonable. No matter whether the framework restructure will make a comeback or not in future, it will not hinder the deliberation and implementation. 

    The chairman of the largest political party in the new Legco Tam Yiu-chung has already advised Leung's administration to re-assess whether or not to propose the framework restructure again. Leung cannot expand his accountability team and it will naturally be difficult to increase his political energy. The reality is that asking again for an increase in the number of accountability officials with an annual additional spending of $72 million will immediately have to face the filibuster challenge from the radicals. In view of the political environment and talent restrictions, an expedient response by the new government is to first fight for Legco's agreement, change the arrangements in political assistant appointment and under the condition of not making additional increase in public money expenditure implement role blending for the accountability bureau chiefs, including the earlier ideas of managing land planning and housing under one bureau chief and merging the transport and works divisions.