Strengthening Ethics Infrastructure

It is important to construct and strengthen the ethics infrastructure so that the framework is in order and that confidence in the operations of State civil servants can be ensured as well as possible. The citizens have to be able to trust civil servants and the authorities, while at the same time, the operations have to be productive, effective and efficient.
Specific strategies which should be considered include :-

• Effective laws which require civil servants to give reasons for their official decisions, (for example; a Freedom of Information law).
• Management approaches which encourage all public officials and civil servants to deal positively with corruption and unethical practice when they encounter it.
• Whistleblower' protection law to protect appropriate 'public interest disclosures' of wrongdoing by officials.
• Ethics audits to identify risks to the integrity of the most important processes ( for example, financial management, tendering, recruitment and promotion, dismissal and discipline).
• New Human Resource Management strategies ( which link, for example, ethical performance with entry and advancement, and ethical `under-performance' with disciplinary processes), merit based promotion and recruitment, antidiscrimination  protections.
• Training and development in the content and rationale of Ethics codes, the application of ethical management principles, the proper use of official power, and the requirements of professional responsibility.
• Effective external and internal complaint and redress procedures.

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