Carrie Lam: Outrage is growing in the community over her apparent incompetence as Hong Kong buckles under the worst crisis since World War II.
Carrie’s administration is being lambasted for dithering over vaccine purchase for Hong Kong. At the last press conference (30 November attended by CEO Lam and Professor Sophia Chan, Health Secretary, there was no mention of vaccines. Go to the websites of news.gov.hk, Department of Health and Food and Health Bureau. There is nothing on vaccines for our people. In her policy address, Ms Lam mentioned vaccines but only those from China. This raised eyebrows. The UK and Canada have approved the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine. Where’s our Government? Press enquiries to Prof. Chan ‘s bureau elicited no response. Why? It is easy to suspect the bosses are in disarray, so the staff do not know what to say.
The city is in crisis: people are panicking, businesses collapsing, jobs being lost and the whole economy is slumping. And our Government dithers. Stock markets around the world are surging as investors signal their hopes vaccines mean we are on the way out of this dire crisis. Where’s our Government?
Professor Sophia Chan: The people of Hong Kong fear she is failing them, too
Stinging criticism has been appearing in the letters page of the South China Morning Post:
Gary Allardice: He quotes Prof. Chan as saying vaccine supplies were expected “sometime next year”. “Amid the horrors of a global pandemic, (this) is less than reassuring.” Then he quotes Prof. David Hui, Government pandemic adviser, as saying “if we are lucky by the third quarter of next year we will start seeing the first batches of vaccines arrive.” That is at least nine months from now.
(The UK has started vaccinating people with the Pfizer vaccine. Canada will follow. Why is our Government so slow?)
Mr Allardice writes, “If we are to end 2021 less badly than we will 2020, the Hong Kong Government must urgently show it has a conscience. It must put its obsession with national security to the side and instead prioritise the city’s health and welfare above all else. To do otherwise is flirting with catastrophe, not just with the Government’s reputation but also with the livelihoods of 7.5 million people.”
James Webster accuses Ms Lam of failing the people of Hong Kong, first by not effectively tackling the affordable housing crisis, then for inability to find a political solution to the 2019 protests and now for failing “in her most fundamental duty to protect the lives and health of the Hong Kong people.
“A full rollout (of vaccine) is unlikely to be completed until 2022, ‘if lucky’.” “Lam has failed the people of Hong Kong on many levels, and if she had a shred of accountability, she would unreservedly apologise and resign.”
Mark Peaker writes that the Prof. Hui’s comment all Hong Kong should be vaccinated by 2022 is not good enough. “This is a wholly unacceptable forecast for Hong Kongers and for the economic rebound we need to restore livelihoods and hope.” The chief executive must “start dealing with acquiring immediate access to vaccinate those at high risk in the city and to allow it to start functioning again. . . The Government’s objective for zero local Covid-19 cases is as unachievable as it is ridiculous. . .”
The people of Hong Kong are justified in fearing their Government is failing them. The incompetence starts at the top with Ms Lam. The public will get more and more outraged if her administration does not get a grip on coping with the corona horror. Vaccines are the one hope for a speedy solution. But where’s our Government? Hong Kong has not been in such a terrible state since World War II.
As Churchill would say, “ACTION THIS DAY!”
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