Procurement law and government’s unruly recruitments to be discussed

José Pereira Coutinho

The Legislative Assembly (AL) will discuss the amendment of the city’s procurement law and also the government’s unruly method of recruiting workers for public departments.

Proposed by Mak Soi Kun, the discussion on the city’s procurement law was passed with 24 votes in favor.

In Mak’s words, Macau’s procurement law has already become a sickness to the society, and “it generates corruption, and severely damages the public’s interests.”

To support Mak, José Pereira Coutinho commented that besides sheltering corruption, the procurement law also causes unfair competition.

Mak Soi Kun

He challenged the city’s high officials to stand up and tell the public about an exact schedule for an amended procurement law.

Song Pek Kei and a few other lawmakers also voiced their support of the discussion.

However, Tsui Wai Kwan deemed such discussion as meaningless, as the government has already admitted that the amendment should be applied to the procurement law.

Cheung Lup Kwan said that the government should have initiated the work a long time ago and said that the amendment has been delayed for too long.

“There is an overdue every year because the government has too much money” he said.

Moreover, Cheong hopes that high officials can face these things. “I’m not blaming the high officials, but I hope they can work it out as soon as possible.

Another motion proposed by Leong Veng Chai, is that he expects the Secretariat for Legal Affairs and Administration to supervise its related departments in their recruitment processes. Leong Veng Chai added that many of their employees were treated equally and fairly however they were hired through illegal methods.

Leong hopes that a discussion can allow the lawmakers to express their opinions and even establish clear laws on pursuing legal responsibilities over illegal recruitment. JZ