ExCo | Municipal Institution given green light

The Executive Council (ExCo) has finished analyzing the law draft regarding the establishment of the non-political municipal organization, with the draft suggesting that all members of the management and advisory councils should be appointed by the Chief Executive.

According to the proposal, the future Municipal Institution will in effect succeed the functions which the IACM currently performs. Only a few of the IACM’s current functions will be articulated and restructured through the general functions of the Macau government, while others are being optimized with other functions of different competent services.

Most of the IACM’s present employees will be transferred to the new institution, with the remainder transferred to related governmental departments.

The proposal suggested that the Municipal Institution should establish two internal councils; namely, the Municipal Administration Council and the Municipal Consultation Council.

The first council will consist of eight members, including one chairman and one vice-chairman, and all members shall be nominated by the Chief Executive (CE).

The second council should comprise fewer than 25 members, who, it is suggested, will also be nominated by the CE.

It was further suggested that the two councils should elect the members of the CE election committee.

The CE council draft complies with the details of the proposal which was first presented to the public last year, when a public consultation was held following the proposal’s first announcement.

However, last Friday, a report on the results of the public consultation remained unavailable prior to the press conference.

The head of the Public Administration and Civil Service Bureau (SAFP), Kou Peng Kuan, speaking on the sidelines of the press conference, was heavily questioned by the media regarding the absence of a consultation results report.

Kou declared that the report had been published on Friday, which was in accordance with Macau’s law concerning consultation reports.

In Kou’s words, the consultation results indicate that “the opinions within the society generally agreed” that the establishment of the municipal body must comply with the Basic Law.

Kou strongly emphasized that the words “generally agreed” mean that “no opinions opposed” the establishment of the municipal body being compliant with the Basic Law.

According to Kou, the government received a total of over 1,600 opinions during the public consultation, with approximately 800 of them mentioning the advisory council.

However, the SAFP head could not give an exact number regarding the number of opinions which felt the council members should be elected through CE nomination.  JZ