Strengthening Of Ethical and Moral Values In Governance

Significant progress has been recorded in recent years in development of effective Civil Service ethics, Codes of Conduct, transparency measures, ethics and integrity systems etc.  There areas which need immediate attention for strengthening ethical and moral value in governance are:

Areas of Attention

These are basically as follows:

• Envisaging threats to ethical standards and integrity in the public sector. One should pay special attention to core public sector values and commitments.
• Foster ethical competence in civil servants alongwith strengthening professional ethics. New ways have to devised to institutionalise ethically competent decision-making which supports professional responsibility, self-discipline and support for the rule of Law.
• Development of administrative practices and processes which promote ethical values and integrity.
• Enactment of efficient laws which require all public officials to state reasons for all their official decisions
• Implementation of particular management approaches which will make public officials to take on corruption and unethical practices sensibly.
• Proper ‘Whisleblower protection law’ to assist the disclosures of wrongdoing by officials.
• Ethical audits to mark risks to integrity of the primary processes like financial management, tendering, recruitment and promotion, dismissal and discipline.
• Effective complaints and redressal procedures.

The Insufficiency of Ethical Code

Public Service Ethics are still equated with anti-corruption efforts in most Civil Service regimes. This often limits the professional practice issues to a minimalist written Code of Conduct or Code of Ethics. Latter pertains to prohibiting all conflicts of interests and promoting other types of impartiality and service to the community. This is not enough as meaningful results can be obtained when enforceable Ethics code is linked to systemic practices and procedures. Latter is often backed by legislation and political commitment.

Problem of Implementing Effective Codes of Ethics

Lack of technical competence to be able to recognise an ethical problem and  standards expected as per their organization’s code of conduct is the primary issue in effective implementation of Code of Ethics. The Code of Ethics is best seen as a set of ‘core values’ which will define the professional role of civil service. This Code defines high-level principles like integrity, accountability, responsibility, trustworthiness etc. However, the Code rarely demarcates specific standards of conduct expected in a range of possible situations. In disciplinary matters, the Code is not of much use as no manager will risk taking any disciplinary step based on vaguely defined Code or ethical principles or guidelines. The lack of teeth in the Code will contrarily make managers overlook issues where disciplinary problem exists. In such situations the Ethics Code may reinforce misconduct and corruption.

Charters of Service as Ethics Standards

Service and accountability are considered as main aims of civil service reform and are highly emphasized in various charters of service delivery. The charters also support many fundamental ethical principles, attitudes and practices.

• Service: Citizens have right to many kinds of services but are expected to serve only the communities and government of the land. All unwanted administrative hindrances should be timely identified and removed.
• Accountability: All decisions made by civil servants and policy-makers should be transparent and open. All official decisions should come with appropriate reasons.
• Complaints: Effective mechanisms should be put in place to help people lodge complaints about any grievance and thus receive appropriate remedies in time.

Laws against poor administration

This is a typical case against all sorts of maladministration which refers to taking an official decision in a way which is against the law of the land, is arbitrary, unreasonable, without proper justification, lacking in fairness of process, taken without duly considering merits of the case or taken by corrupt reasons. It is also said to be incompetence, abuse of office or authority, etc. for personal gain. This is typically unethical conduct. All officials who are responsible for maladministration are usually corrected by their employer.

Anti-corruption laws

In many countries a higher duty is put on civil servants and public officials for compulsory reporting all incidents where corruption is suspected and any other kind of misconduct as per the relevant Code of Conduct. Any kind of failure to do so is a serious breach of discipline and calls for action against the civil servant.

Right to Access Official Information

Many governments have proper ‘Right to Information’ laws in place which equip the citizens to have access to any kind of official information which is held by government, bureaucratic set-up and public bodies. However, any information which is sensitive in nature and can compromise national interest, economic interest of nation, interfere with the criminal procedures, relates to national security etc. is not given in larger public interest. RTI is now regarded essential for ensuring accountability by public officials or the Government. Countries which are best examples of this are Canada, USA, Australia, New Zealand and India.

Right to Obtain Reasons for Official Decisions

Some nations have made special provisions for citizens whereby they have a right to know the reasons behind the decisions in which they are directly affected. This also involves the right to be advised at the time when decision is being taken all the information which was considered by the decision-maker. This information has to be given in writing. This right has been highly effective in curbing corruption and ensuring good governance. Nations in which this is practiced are: Britain, US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand etc.

Right to Review Official Decisions

There are nations which have defined special procedures for their citizens wherein if they are adversely affected by any official decision to get it reviewed by an independent decision maker. Latter may change the decision altogether or return the matter for reconsideration by original decision-maker. This points to practice of both substantive and procedural fairness. All official decisions can be subjected to such independent reviews. Mostly the review is undertaken internally unless the matter is of larger public interest or sensitive in nature where the review is done by external agencies like Ombudsman or even a Court of Law.

Right to Procedural Fairness

Citizens are usually permitted by law to the protection of procedural fairness behind all official decisions which affects them directly. In other words, it entitles a citizen to a hearing regarding a hearing before a final decision is done. In more serious matters, citizens are also entitled to professional representation.

Right of Protected Disclosure of Official Wrongdoing

This is also referred to as Whisleblower’ Protection. In their efforts to improve accountability and strengthening their fight against corruption, many nations have passed laws wherein a citizen is allowed to make protected ‘public interest disclosure’ of any suspected misconduct or corruption by any public official. The primary aim of protection of ‘Whisleblower’ is to keep a genuine and workable balance between encouraging the needed disclosure of an official wrongdoing. Such laws protect the reputations of innocent individuals and other government organisations. However, such disclosures are protected only if they are based on honest beliefs and held on reasonable grounds. Any person who takes the risk to make such disclosures has the right to be protected from any kind of retaliation.

Public Finance Management Reforms

Tight statutory controls on public finances are seen in many countries. This is done to put a check on public expenditure, minimise corruption, any kind of waste and other expenditure. All these measures are usually taken by an independent Auditor General. Parliaments have also got Public Accounts Committees to help government in check the public accounts and their budgets.

Regulatory Reform

Elimination of unwanted administrative red tape is promoted by many countries as it brings down the cost of government as size of administrative machinery is reduced. This is also helpful in curbing corruption by minimising the number of administrative opportunities for bureaucrats to extract bribes etc.

Integrity testing

These are done to check the observance of Code of Conduct by the employees of an organisation. It is conducted either by an employee’s agency or some anti-corruption body to find individuals to will accept bribe or fall for any other incentive to do something which they are required to do in their position. The test ‘set’ should be very real and be a reflection of circumstances of officer’s position. The process is exposed to independent review.

Responsibilities of Citizens dealing with Public Bodies

Introduction of any formal requirements which the citizens are required to observe like honesty, lawfulness, etc. is a new development in the field of integrity. Citizens thus have responsibilities of reasonable expectations of law, honesty and integrity. The citizens are expected to refrain from deceptive, dishonest and any kind of fraudulent conduct.