一个词将笼罩香港社会，直至下月那个夺走168位同胞性命的惨烈大埔火灾周年之际：问责。到我们纪念那一天时，我们将知晓，是否仍拥有一个部长为其政策领域的失职承担政治责任的制度，抑或我们必须修订我们的宪制安排。
One word will hang over the Hong Kong community in the run-up to next month’s anniversary of the dreadful Tai Po fire that took 168 of our fellow citizens’ lives: accountability. By the time we mark the occasion, we will know if we still have a system based on ministers taking political responsibility for failures in their policy areas or whether we must revise our constitutional arrangements.
去年11月26日在宏福苑爆发的大火，令全城人口备受创伤，也毁灭了直接相关人员——消防员等首批救援人员、生还者及遇难者家属——的生活。同情与支持如潮水般涌现，各地市民纷纷伸出援手，竭尽所能提供帮助。
The fire at Wang Fuk Court, which broke out on November 26 last year, traumatised the whole population of our city as well as devastating the lives of those directly involved, first responders, survivors and victims’ families alike. There was an outpouring of sympathy and support as people everywhere rallied to do what they could to help.
政府成立了由陆启康法官领导的调查委员会，以查明出了什么问题。公开聆讯揭露了一个关于专业素养欠佳、工作草率及错失良机的惊心动魄的故事。委员会的完整报告上周已移交。四个政府部门——消防处、屋宇署、劳工处及房屋局独立查核组——被认定不同程度地负有责任。
The government established a committee of inquiry, led by Justice David Lok Kai-hong, to ascertain what went wrong. The public hearings revealed a harrowing tale of poor professionalism, shoddy work and missed opportunities. The committee’s full report was handed over last week. Four government bodies – the Fire Services Department, Buildings Department, Labour Department and Independent Checking Unit of the Housing Bureau – were identified as being to some degree blameworthy.
现在到了最艰难的部分：问责。这是一个极热门的话题。两周前我刚在专栏撰文探讨，主要聚焦建筑业，但也着眼于即将出炉的火灾报告。该文引来的回响，超过了我自2010年撰写专栏以来的任何一篇。
Now comes the hard part: accountability. This is a very hot topic. I wrote about it just two weeks ago in a column mainly focused on the construction industry but with an eye to the future fire report. I received more feedback from that piece than from any of the other columns I have written since 2010.
其中也牵涉内地方面。有人将文章译成中文，连同英文原文全文，发布在内地官员已知使用的社交媒体上。
There was also a mainland angle. Someone translated the article into Chinese and posted the translation, together with the full English text of the original, on social media known to be used by mainland officials.
谈到问责，有三类主体须予考量：私营部门的公司与个人、任何部门的公务员，以及作为相关决策局首长的局长。
When it comes to accountability, there are three groups to consider: companies and individuals in the private sector, civil servants in any department and ministers as the heads of the bureaus concerned.
第一组相对容易识别和处理。被发现违法违规的公司和个人可以被起诉，而那些表现不达标、尚未达到刑事责任程度的人则可以被禁止或暂停参与未来的政府项目竞标。相关执法部门可以确定第一类人员并起草将在法庭上提出的指控。第二类人员可以通过行政方式处理。
The first group is relatively easy to identify and handle. Companies and individuals found to have breached the law can be prosecuted, and those whose performance fell short in ways short of criminal liability can be banned or suspended from bidding for future government work. The relevant enforcement authorities can determine those in the first category and draft charges to be brought before a court of law. Those in the second category can be dealt with administratively.
处理公务员则没有那么直接。其中一些人可以从调查中提供的证据中识别出来，并可能在报告本身中被点名。公务员事务局已经成立了一个特别工作组，以审议是否有理由对个别官员采取纪律行动。
Dealing with civil servants is less straightforward. Some can be identified from the evidence given to the inquiry and could be named in the report itself. The Civil Service Bureau has established a special task force to consider whether there are grounds to take disciplinary action against individual officers.
据推测，他们将调查涉及第二级首长级及以下人员的案件。公务员叙用委员会可以自行决定是否有理由对部门首长或常任秘书等更高级别的官员采取纪律行动，在这种情况下，将要求该工作组予以协助。
Presumably they will be looking into cases involving staff at directorate level two and below. The Public Service Commission itself can decide whether there is a case for disciplinary action against more senior officers such as heads of department or permanent secretaries, in which case the task force would be asked to act in support.
公务员通常是长任制的，并且有法律保障来保护他们免受任意撤职，以维护其政治中立。因此，针对他们的纪律案件是正式程序，必须在法律意见的指导下起草适当的指控，并将其提交给必须获得回应机会的官员。
Civil servants are normally permanent, and there are legal safeguards to protect them against arbitrary removal to preserve their neutrality. Discipline cases against them are therefore formal proceedings in that proper charges must be drafted, with legal advice, and laid against the officer who must have an opportunity to respond.
最终结果可能是各种各样的惩罚，例如经济处罚、失去资历甚至革职。这里的关键在于，问责过程需要时间，结果存在不确定性，且结果不太可能平息公众的愤怒。
The final result can be a wide range of punishments, such as financial penalties, loss of seniority or even dismissal. The point here is that the accountability process will take time, the outcome is uncertain and the result is unlikely to satisfy public anger.
相关官员并无此类法定保护：发展局局长林世雄（负责建筑署）、房屋局局长黄永玉（负责独立检查组）、劳工及福利局局长孙玉菡（负责劳工处）及保安局局长唐泽棠（负责消防处）。
There is no such statutory protection for the ministers involved: Secretary for Development Bernadette Linn Hon-ho (responsible for the Buildings Department), Secretary for Housing Winnie Ho Wing-yin (responsible for the Independent Checking Unit), Secretary for Labour and Welfare Chris Sun Yuk-han (responsible for the Labour Department) and Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung (responsible for the Fire Services Department).
他们是政治委任官员，职位源于行政长官李家超的个人推荐，并由中央政府以港澳办主任夏宝龙的形式予以认可。他们需对政治后果负责。在太平这样的灾难之后，四位局长都应挺身承担责任，甚至向李家超提出辞职。
They are political appointees who owe their positions to the personal recommendation of Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu, as endorsed by the central government in the form of Xia Baolong, the head of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office. They are accountable for the political implications. After a disaster on the scale of Tai Po, all four ministers should step up to take responsibility, even offer their resignations to Lee.
引入部长制度时，高地位和高薪酬之所以合理，是因为该职位不稳定，且持有者即使并非直接对错误负责，也可能失去工作，因为有人必须承担政治责任。
When the ministerial system was introduced, high status and pay were justified by the precarity of the position and the fact that holders could lose their job even if they were not directly responsible for the errors because someone needed to accept political responsibility.
如果到下个月，当电视屏幕和报纸上充斥着太平纪念报道时，仍没有任何官员被追究责任，我们就会知道该制度已经崩溃。
If no minister has been held accountable by next month, when TV screens and newspapers are full of Tai Po commemorations, we will know the system has broken down.