Crisis management skills

The scandal in which water supply for tens of thousands of public rental flats was tainted with lead has exposed serious flaws in the monitoring of public housing projects. Subsequent investigations by auditors and lawmakers found that the follow-up actions taken by the government after the 2015 crisis were also unsatisfactory. The performance falls short of what is expected of a responsible government.

It is baffling that officials could not produce any records on the first seven cross-departmental dis- cussions on how to handle the fallout. The Legislative Council committee looking into the matter heard that officials were “too focused” at the time and did not realise that no minutes were taken. The explanation is hardly convincing. While lawmakers said they could not find any evidence of the departments concerned trying to cover up the scandal, it begs the question of what prompted officials to record their subsequent meetings. The failure to record official meetings is not just a deviation from standing procedure; it also prevented lawmakers and the public from monitoring government performance.