Complaint against district officer

Five Tsuen Wan district councilors filed a complaint with the Ombudsman's Office yesterday, accusing the district officer and Home Affairs Department staff of maladministration.

The councilors put their complaint letter into the mailbox outside the Ombudsman's Office as the reception was closed.

The councilors said the Tsuen Wan district officer Jenny Yip Kam-ching failed to explain why the department did not include two motions proposed by councilors Roy Pun Long-chung and Martin Lau Chi-hung in the meeting agenda last Friday.

The two motions requested the government not to legislate Article 23 of the Basic Law before the implementation of universal suffrage and barred liaison office staff from attending any district council-funded activities.

Pun, of the Neo Democrats, also slammed Yip and Home Affairs Department staff for leaving in the middle of the meeting after councilors insisted on discussing the unlisted motions.

"It is ridiculous [for Yip] to threaten us," Pun said, adding that it was a "serious maladministration" for the department's secretariat to refuse to respond to inquiries on the absence of motion on the agenda.

The councilors also accused Yip of misinterpreting the District Councils Ordinance, as she explained the motions were out of the council's domestic affairs.

But Pun said the ordinance also allows councilors to advise on matters related to "the well-being of the people in the district," and both motions were connected with people's welfare.

"Who can discuss the motions if the district councilors cannot?" Matthew Lai Man-fai of Democratic Party said.

District councilor Katrina Chan Kim-kam criticized Yip for breaching the principle of political neutrality under the civil service code, as she said the council had discussed Article 23-related motions before.

"Why can pro-establishment and pro-government councilors discuss supporting the legislation, but pro-democracy and localist councilors are silenced?" she said.