No
2
Dropping the phrase "ministerial system" does not necessarily mean
that the idea has been discarded. As a matter of fact, it is not easy to
discard the idea because the problem which it aims to tackle still exists. The problem is How should the Executive Council be accountable to the Legislative
Council?"
Difficult to Query Senior Government Officials after 1997
According to the Sino-British Joint Declaration, the Executive
Council should be "accountable" to the Legislative Council after 1997. However, after 1997, all Legislative Councillors will be selected by election.
In the past, senior government officials attended Legco meetings. They answered
queries raised by unofficial members and faced open criticism.
At present,
however, the number of official members is diminishing. If there is no other
means to link the executive body and the legislature, the Executive Council
and the Legislative Council will very soon become totally separate. Councillors
will only be able to criticize each other at Legco meetings. Their criticism
against the Government will serve no purpose as no representative from the
executive body is present at the meeting.
Legislative Councillors can of course call in government officials
to answer queries. This practice, however, is restricted to in-house meetings
at present, and the aim of "open criticism" cannot be fulfilled. Even if the Standing Order of the Legislative Council is amended in the future so that this can be done at open meetings, the effect of the present open questioning
cannot be achieved.