Hong Kong needs a mayor to lead the city's reinvention
Paul Zimmerman says clear division of labour between our two top officials would address the lack
The exhausting distraction of constitutional and political arrangements continues to divert much energy from our senior leadership, and has done so ever since 1982.
This diversion is the reason why many government departments are operating under outdated practices, guidelines and statutes, unable to get the support they need from the top for making changes, as well as the cross-bureau and cross-department coordination that such changes involve.
One solution suggested by many is a division of labour between the chief executive and the chief secretary, not unlike the roles of party secretary and mayor we see in mainland cities.
There is a need for a chief executive who is seen to work hard on implementation of the "one country, two systems" concept.
Like any other city in the world, except for city states like Singapore and Monaco, we have a multilayered government. Many cities have three layers (city, province/state, country). We have only two.
We know everything about the local layer, but we know practically nothing about the operations of the national government in Hong Kong. Who are the employees, what are their titles, mandates, salaries, budgets and tasks?
