| Ethics
In The Context Of Public Sector Reform
Background
Analyses
of public sector reforms typically recognise two related but distinct
approaches: The first focuses on emergency measures, usually aimed at
bringing the costs and size of the civil service under control. The second
concentrates more on longer-term capacity building and on sustainable
change in terms of culture, role and ethics.
In
the 1980s, a number of developing countries adopted Structural Adjustment
Programmes (SAPs). These programmes almost invariably involved major cost
cutting initiatives in the public service.
By
the early 1990s, the emerging paradigm was a more skilled, ever smaller
public service with a reduced remit, making fewer interventions into the
economy.
As
the decade wore on, the concept of reducing state bureaucracy to the minimum
level needed to discharge fundamental responsibilities gave way to a new
view on the state as an enabler of growth and development. In this period
there was ever-greater emphasis on the need for the reform process to
be 'home-grown and locally owned'. Capacity building and performance improvement
replaced cost cutting and control as the key aspirations.
During this decade, a number of former Soviet republics embarked upon
the transition to independence and democracy. In such nations, questions
such as "What is the public service?" and "Who is a public
servant?" took on an almost cultural significance, contributing to
the definition of the nature of the emerging state and its responsibilities
to and relationship with its citizens.
Finally,
the 1990's also saw a new emphasis on the need to confront and combat
corruption. The President of the World Bank spoke out against 'the cancer
of corruption' and accountability and transparency joined decentralisation
and enhanced service delivery as key aspects of public sector reform.
The
Current Model
The
current model of public sector reform typically has at its centre the
following themes:
- Decentralisation
of power.
- Creating
the enabling environment for change (usually focussing on building capacity
in the public sector in accounting, planning, budgeting and human resource
management).
- Enhancing
accountability and transparency.
- Improving
the quality of service citizens receive.
Many such programmes include an ethics component. This reflects more than
just the greater emphasis placed on fighting corruption:
- Globalisation
means that the public services of individual nations are open to greater
external scrutiny.
- Citizens
have generally higher demands for performance and accountability.
- Decentralisation
and devolved public service management has resulted in a reduction in
the controls and an increase in the flexibility civil servants have.
- The greater
use of private sector methods to enhance public sector efficiency and
effectiveness has, arguably, undermined traditional public service values,
standards and ways of working.
An
Example
To
take one example of a public sector reform initiative with an ethics sub-programme,
consider Ethiopia.
In
November 1994 the Prime Minister's Office set up a Civil Reform Task Force
to examine the overall management arrangements and operations of the Civil
Service at all levels of Government.
Major
problems of the Civil Service identified by the Task Force were:
- Concentration
on routine activities and control of inputs rather than achieving Government
policies and programmes.
- Inability
of management system to effectively respond to the changing environment
in which the Civil Service operates.
- Lack of
accountability for failure to meet expected performance results
- Underdevelopment
of positive attitude towards public service.
- Shortage
of resources.
- Prevalence
of negative perception among the public of the bureaucracy acting as
a hindrance rather than being a facilitator in their lives with needless
and time consuming procedures;
- Underpaid
and under-skilled staff.
- Occurrences
of unethical practices such as corruption, embezzlement, and fraud.
The
Civil Service Reform Programme (CSRP) was the Government's response to
these weaknesses. It aims at creating a professional Civil Service capable
of executing government economic and social policies effectively and efficiently
and in a transparent manner.
In
order to realise this objective the Government launched the CSRP in 1996
in five key areas; each of which were designated sub-programmes:
- Top management
systems
- Expenditure
management and control
- Human
Resource management
- Ethics
- Service
Delivery and quality of service.
The
following measures were taken:
- Federal
lead agencies and sub-programme directors were designated;
- The CSRP
was put under the overall direction of a high level Steering Committee
made up of senior officials and sub-programme directors chaired by the
Prime Minister;
- Each sub-programme
designated projects and embarked on implementing them; and
- A Co-ordinating
Office was established within the Office of the Prime Minister to assist
the sub-programmes in the implementation of the reform projects and
act as a secretariat to the Steering Committee.
With
these arrangements in place, each sub-programme began its own initiatives.
Within the Ethics Sub-Programme, the following projects were pursued:
- Development
of codes of ethics;
- Establishment
of an Ethics Central Body which became the Anti-Corruption Commission;
- Ethics
education;
- Strengthening
the capacity of the media;
- Strengthening
the capacity of the police, prosecutors and the judiciary; and
- A corruption
survey.
In
November 2001, the Government established a Ministry of Capacity Building
to co-ordinate public sector reform activity and to take the reform programme
into its full implementation phase.
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