Elements of Ethical Competency

A public servant needs to be ethically competent. An ethically competent public servant has commitment to high standards of personal and professional behaviour; has knowledge of relevant ethics, codes and laws; has the ability to engage in ethical reasoning when confronted with challenging situations, acts ethically, and promotes ethical practices and behaviour in public agencies and organisations.

Thus, these five viz. commitment, knowledge, ethical reasoning, action and promotion make the key elements of ethical competency.

Thus, for a public servant, the key prerequisites for ethical competency include:

• Knowledge of ethical principles
• Information about professional code of ethics
• Respect for constitutional principles of equality, fairness, representativeness.
• Public’s right to know about public business
• Respect of law
• Respect for public interest
• Ethical reasoning

These are some of the prerequisites for an ethically competent public servant.