Jamaica Gleaner News - Government of Jamaica to accelerate initiatives under ethics programme - Friday

As part of its efforts to address the perception of growing corruption within the public sector, and the need to have in place appropriate mechanisms to guide public servants about appropriate conduct, the Government is moving to further accelerate initiatives under its 'Creation of an Ethical Infrastructure in Government' programme.

The 2002 Ministry Paper on Public Sector Reform, entitled 'Government at your Service', spoke to the need for a public service "in which every public servant thinks and acts in the best interest of Jamaica and its citizens with honesty, and objectivity, taking decisions that are transparent and for which the officer is accountable".

"It is within this context that the Creation of an Ethical Infrastructure in Government programme began," Ryan Evans, senior policy and project officer at the Cabinet Office and coordinator of the programme, told JIS News.

Appointment of ethics officers

Evans explained that the programme, since its commencement, had resulted in the appointment of more than 90 ethics officers within the public sector.

"Of the 90 appointed officers, 63 have thus far been trained, through a collaborative effort between the Cabinet Office and the Management Institute for National Development (MIND)," he said. "The intention is to further accelerate the training programme until all appointed ethics officers have been trained within the public sector."

Plans are also in place to commence another round of training next month.

He said ethics officers "will, by example, lead the process of building awareness and sensitising public sector staff on the issue of ethics and accountability and its applicability and relevance to public servants".

"The draft terms of reference document for the officers also speaks to them being responsible for supervising the implementation of an ethics and values framework within their respective organisation and to guide public servants on the processes to be followed when dealing with matters of ethics and integrity," Evans noted.

He said it was the mandate of the ethics officer to facilitate the internalisation among public servants, the seven public service principles, as articulated in Ministry Paper Number 56 (Jamaica's White Paper on Public Sector), those principles being: selflessness, honesty, accountability, objectivity, integrity, leadership and openness.

Ethics officers "will, by example, lead the process of building awareness and sensitising public sector staff on the issue of ethics and accountability and its applicability and relevance to public servants."