Councillors Report District Officer To Ombudsman

A number of Tsuen Wan district councillors filed a complaint with the Ombudsman on Monday, accusing their government representative and secretariat of maladministration.

The pro-democracy councillors said Tsuen Wan District Officer Jenny Yip and other staff failed to include motions they had filed in meeting agendas, and had left a meeting when members decided to discuss the issues anyway.

The district officials said the motions, relating to Article 23 national security legislation and a move to prevent officials from Beijing's liaison office from taking part in district events, were outside the scope of the council's responsibilities.

But the councillors denied this, and claimed Yip had violated the principle of political neutrality for civil servants.

"They’re believed to have acted without justly following the procedures. They interpreted the District Council Ordinance on their own. But the ordinance states that district councils can discuss matters related to the wellbeing of the people. Article 23 and the liaison office are linked to people’s wellbeing," said Neo Democrats councillor Roy Pun.

Asked to respond to the allegations, the Home Affairs Department repeated the district officials' explanation in a statement to RTHK.

It said its Tsuen Wan office had reservations over whether the motions in question were within the scope of the district councils' work, and added that the secretariat had made clear before the meeting that it cannot handle the motions, and that officials would not attend such discussions.

The government's relations with the district councils have been strained since the pro-democracy camp's sweeping victory in last November's elections, and the administration has faced repeated accusations that its staff are hindering council meetings in various ways.

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