Under the outbreak of the epidemic, the Hong Kong government has been inactive, and people’s grievances have reached its peak. Some people questioned whether anyone in the Hong Kong government’s governance team was soft-handed or professionally inappropriate, allowing the epidemic to hit Hong Kong, and they directly condemned the officials involved. Bring down the devil. Some scholars believe that when necessary, they may study the provisions of the “Hong Kong National Security Law”, review the incident from the perspective of national security, understand the underlying reasons for the outbreak, and punish whether officials deliberately caused social harm during the epidemic. Some people in the legal profession believe that investigations in the direction of “misconduct in public officials” should be considered and held accountable.
Scholars advocate studying the provisions of the National Security Law to investigate
The anti-epidemic officials have been criticized for their performance. Chen Weiqiang, a lecturer at the School of Professional and Continuing Education of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, said that there have been voices from the outside world that some people in the current government are deliberately “spoiling the situation”, and even foreign forces or agents are helping to make the epidemic worse. Interestingly, the loopholes in Cathay Pacific’s “opening the middle door” have caused a lot of controversy. Therefore, Hong Kong may study the provisions of the “Hong Kong National Security Law” to understand the cause of the outbreak.
He went on to say that the current governance team adopts a flat approach, and even with the support of the central government, resources have not been fully utilized. On the other hand, he also criticized that the accountability system for senior officials is useless. For example, in the past lead-water incidents, no senior officials have been found to be held accountable, so it is difficult to punish the relevant officials this time. He added that the Legislative Council also has a mechanism to jointly propose a motion to impeach senior officials, but he believes it is difficult to propose it at this stage.
As for the views that public officials are empowered to exercise the powers in the public interest, they have great responsibilities and therefore should also be held accountable when they misbehave. Gong Jingyi, a practicing barrister, said that under the epidemic, citizens want to know a lot of information, including the recent foot ban and forced inspections. He pointed out that the authorities should announce the details as soon as possible, including the list of officials responsible for decision-making. However, the current management team is “sighing slow”, and the current officials who are mainly fighting the epidemic, including the Secretary for Food and Health, Sophia Chan, and the Chief Executive, Carrie Lam, have not clearly explained the movement of foot ban and forced inspection. try best.
Gong Jingyi continued to point out that the relevant law enforcement officers could take “misconduct in public officials” as the direction of investigation, and the Court of Final Appeal also listed the main elements that constituted misconduct by public officials in past cases, including the intentional conduct of a public official by an act or omission. Misconduct, such as willful neglect or failure to perform their duties; no reasonable excuse or justification, etc. For public officials convicted of misconduct in public office, the maximum penalty is seven years in prison and a fine.
MPs call for emergency law to requisition private courts
Assemblyman Leung Mei-fen also described the epidemic in Hong Kong as a mountain fire. No matter if you want to cut down trees or other methods, you must find a way to put out the fire as soon as possible. Therefore, the emergency law can be used as a “universal key” for law enforcement, including the requisition of resources such as private hospitals. She also pointed out that there is a system problem in Hong Kong, the Hong Kong government is not coordinating well, and it has not made good use of private resources. She pointed out that up to now, she has not seen the Hong Kong government arrange medical personnel from the mainland to Hong Kong, and private hospitals have not provided assistance to see patients, stressing that The epidemic in Hong Kong cannot affect the mainland. The 1.4 billion people in the mainland must be well-being, and the mainland must strictly guard against imported cases from Hong Kong. She also pointed out that the rapid testing and reporting platform failed to faithfully reflect the actual number of infected people, and there were many confirmed cases of children and elderly people around.
