SHYA introduces work on improving district governance to teachers and students (with photos)
12.10.2023

The Secretary for Home and Youth Affairs, Miss Alice Mak, today (October 12) visited a secondary school in Kwai Chung to share with teachers and students the Government's work on improving district governance and to appeal to members of the public to cast their votes in the 2023 District Council Ordinary Election. During the briefing session held on campus this morning, Miss Mak explained the objectives and guiding principles of the proposals on improving governance at the district level. She emphasised that the new District Councils (DCs) will be formulated in four methods, namely by appointment, the District Committees constituency (DCC) election, the District Council geographical constituency (DCGC) election and ex-officio seats, so that people with different backgrounds, experience and expertise, who are patriotic and have an affection for Hong Kong, as well as being dedicated to district services can participate in the work of the DCs through multiple channels. Miss Mak said that similar to the DCC election, the DCGC election requires candidates to be nominated by three members in each of the committees of the "three committees" (i.e. the Area Committees, the District Fight Crime Committees and the District Fire Safety Committees) in the relevant district. In view of recent discussions on ways of making contact with DCC electors, Miss Mak stressed that the Government has considered the practical circumstances of prospective candidates in this election and made corresponding arrangements. Any person who wishes to seek nomination from DCC electors may reach out to the District Offices, which serve as the secretariats of the respective District Committees, to make a request to contact the relevant members of the District Committees. The secretariats will relay such requests and contact information to the relevant members as soon as possible for them to decide whether to make contact with the requestors. She stated that the secretariats have been relaying the requests and have processed about 200 referrals since the end of September. Miss Mak added that a performance monitoring mechanism for DC members was introduced in the proposals on improving governance at the district level. By conducting investigations on DC members who fail to meet public expectations and continuously monitoring the performance of DC members during their terms of office, it can ensure that every DC member delivers due diligence and meets public expectations. She appealed to the teachers and family members of the students to cast their votes in the DC election to be held on December 10, so that the seventh-term District Council can assume office on January 1, 2024, as scheduled and carry out district work to build a better community. Miss Mak shared her experiences and encouraged the students to participate in community service in their spare time. Currently, there are two committees in each district, to which young people can nominate themselves as members to serve the community. Since the announcement of the proposals on improving district governance on May 2, Miss Mak and the Under Secretary for Home and Youth Affairs, Mr Clarence Leung, have been actively carrying out explanatory and publicity work for various sectors, including holding briefing sessions on campus at various districts.