Principal Officials Accountability System

Principal Officials Accountability System
Traditional Chinese主要官員問責制
Simplified Chinese主要官员问责制
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinZhǔyào Guānyuán Wènzé Zhì
Yue: Cantonese
Yale RomanizationJyú yiu gūn yùhn mahn jaak jai
JyutpingZyu2 yiu3 gun1 jun4 man6 zaak3 zai3

In Hong Kong, the Principal Officials Accountability System (主要官員問責制) was introduced by inaugural chief executive Tung Chee Hwa in July 2002. It is a system whereby all principal officials, including the Chief Secretary, Financial Secretary, Secretary for Justice and head of government bureaux would no longer be politically neutral career civil servants. Instead, they would all be political appointees chosen by the chief executive.

Under the new system, all heads of bureaux would become ministers, members of the Executive Council, a refashioned cabinet. They would report directly to the chief executive instead of the Chief Secretary or the Financial Secretary.

POAS was portrayed as the key to solving previous administrative problems, notably the lack of co-operation of high-ranking civil servants with the chief executive. The changes were introduced by Tung at the beginning of his second term, with the hope of resolving difficulties he faced in governance.[1]

It was expanded and superseded by the Political Appointment System in 2008.[2][3]

  1. ^ Yau, Cannix (31 May 2002). "Legco green light for accountability system". The Standard. Hong Kong. Archived from the original on 30 April 2008. Retrieved 11 January 2007.
  2. ^ "立法會:政制及內地事務局局長就「政治委任官員的離職就業安排」議案開場發言(只有中文)". www.info.gov.hk.
  3. ^ http://www.cmab.gov.hk/doc/issues/publicity_tc.pdf [bare URL PDF]