IT MAY sound strange but it is that in the west the discussion about the role of ethics, morality, religion and spirituality in the realm of public affairs and governance been deftly avoided. Perhaps sufferings caused by a few who interpreted and applied certain religious dicta created a hard-boiled cynicism, giving to general conception that the process of administration should be kept outside the influence and interference of religion and morality. It was also thought that to serve the public effectively, effectively, economically and evenly the statecraft had to be kept of dirty party-politics, patronage, and scandalous behavior. This was seen necessary because government rules and regulations were considered purely objective, data-based, and secular endeavor. Politics and morality (drawn on organised religion) were seen as subjective factors, mostly emotive, very personal in nature. The side-effect of decades of fencing- out morality and ethics was the creation of a generation of professionals who turned into a kind of amoralistic people.
There is no doubt that the intention-to keep politics and religion out of administration was noble at was noble ant the time in order to bring equality of treatment and to control patronage and corruption; but the end-result was that it fenced-out even morality and ethics from the domain of governance. The movement led by the us scholars, in effect, overlooked the fact that even their own democratic society was founded on the principle of the human dignity and societal values which were drawn from various moral principles of Christianity. Even such fundamental rights as equality of treatment, justice for all the rule of law and even political rights all derived their source from the societal ethics, morality spirituality and religious precepts. And when ethics and morality were kept out of governance and when the main mantra business world that is ends justify the means, engulfed the governing system notions like integrity dedication and honesty were replaced by amoral system of managing public affairs ultimately contributing to a large scale immorality expediency and corruption It was no surprise that some government officials learnt (partly to survive and partly to equally benefit from the amoral politics) how to act as per prevailing political culture that they found themselves in and to rationalize their behavior saying “if everybody does it it’s OK. Should we be surprised that there is a world wide increase in corruption scandals, fraud and deception? Does it not mean that ethics, morality and values were sacrificed too soon at the altar of expediency and sycophancy? How could we think of good governance when amoralism reigns supreme?
Religious Foundations for governing wisely and ethically: Now let us turn to pages of history where we a rich tapestry of philosophic and religious commentaries on how state affairs ought to be conducted. King Solomon was known to be the wisest and most just ruler of his time. Parables or maxims were used to illustrate the reasoning behind the advice given to rulers. For example, in Gita (during the Mahabharata Great War in India), Lord Krishna advises officials: by understanding what ought to be done and what not what is to be feared and what not and what is obligatory and what is simply permitted a ruler leads the moral and righteous nation (Gita, XVIII:30). Similarly Confucius (55-479 BC) believed that a well-ordered society required a government based on superior morality rather than on superior authority and the ruling class to represent the highest morality (Linbarger and others, 1956) In the Islamic world, letters written to governors (administering far-away lands) by Imam Hazrat Omar and Imam Hazrat Ali are the shining examples of governing through ethics and morality. For brevity and time the author quotes here one specific instance of what was advised by the fourth Caliph Imam Hazrat ali (the Righteous one) in a letter to the governor of Egypt Malik Al-Ashtar: Be impartial and be careful not to make your person, position and favours act as sources of malice you should not treat good and bad people alike because in this way you will be discouraging good persons and at the same time emboldening the wicked to carry on their wickedness.” These examples various religions illustrate that one should not shy away from tapping religious assets stressing the positive and when possible returning to the power of one’s own spiritual tradition. These passages among various spiritual traditions which enjoin us to be humble grateful generous generous and caring call for a new vision based on bringing secular and spiritual domains together for the brighter future of humanity The author here is not extolling the application of absolute virtue” in governance; rather he is asking us to heed the advice of Solomon who warns: Be not righteous overmuch neither make thyself over wise (Ecclesiastes, 7:6). This is also what Confucius advised to his Chinese administrators: use golden mean and avoid extremes And thus ethics and morality when taken to extremes will always turn into intolerance and become very disruptive forces against the normal functioning of governance.
Importance of ethics in the public service Its importance can be gleaned from the fact that it prevents corruption creates the atmosphere for delivering efficient and effective public services, helps to avoid and control situations of conflict of interests, assists in managing the proper use of government resource and brings transparency in procurements, awarding contracts and selecting consultants. As we all know that in the world today, corruption is the biggest barrier to good government and protection of the common good its prevention is more important than its prosecution because enforcement system becomes overwhelmed when the proof and the court prosecutions are delayed creating abnormal situations of pending cases for years while the preventive measures reduce the need to use drastic measures of disciplinary actions, prosecution and punishment That is why an ethical public service the taint of corruption being guided by the consideration of common good rather than personal gain. It is to be noted that the effects of corruption are not only corrosive in any organization, but are also the main obstacle for the rule of law, fairness and national development. Finally the ethical public service protects good ministers from scandals which bring the government into disrepute, and thus builds public.
TOWARDS ETHICAL GOVERNANCE
Can we create and sustain ethical government? This depends on the two main factors: (a) when the holders of public offices are willing to acknowledge the moral responsibility of their actions, and (b) to accept the accountability of their decisions. But in reality the emphasis among many of them is how to deflect that accountability and remain quite about the moral responsibility in reality, many officials have become very good at actualizing deflection and denial without realizing how their actions will have consequences though not faced by them personally.
We should also realize that major problems of corruption and mismanagement generally start at the higher level simply because it is there where more is to be gained. That is why ethical leadership is crucial otherwise its absence breeds cynicism and generates tolerance of hypocrisy, greed and self-indulgence. Although ethical indolence in public offices may result partly the absence of deterrence and partly from the increasing tendency to moral relativism or the decline in moral teaching and training, rapid cultural changes and moral disintegration are also the contributing factors. What be done? In order to improve moral behavior in government organizations, motivate them and strengthen the feeling among public servants that it duty and responsibility to serve the public; in this way their moral character can be built. Because no matter how many laws are passed, codes of conduct promulgated and threats of disciplinary actions made, these cannot force public officials to behave ethically. Instead, a better option is to inculcate in them the sense of public duty patriotism, spirituality, and a personal sense of responsibility so that all together, can conditions for ethical administration.
Thus ethical governance (another name for good governance) requires public officials adhering to the principle of serving others by setting a high standard of moral conduct and by considering their jobs as vocation. The objective is to create an atmosphere that motivates officials to respond to the challenges of government by adhering to the notion of duty and service to the community as well as well as taking responsibility for the welfare of others. In order to achieve this objective, we do need to build the capacity of moral reasoning and and ethical behavior public service system. Because without encouraging reinforcing, resurrecting and strengthening some articles of faith (drawn from the the societal values, cultural traditions, and spiritual ideals), the system of governance is never going to good; and ultimately we shall end by making all kinds of laws and yet the system is going to remain faulty.
THE DOCTRINE OF DUTY TO SERVE AND RESPONSIBILITY TO CARE
The duty to serve the public with care is the most essential virtue for public servants. This concept can be viewed from two dimensions: the religious and the secular. Historically, religion has played a vital role in upholding the virtue of serving others because all religions exhort their people that serving others should be the ultimate duty of a person. For example religions such as Christianity Islam Judaism Hindu religion Buddhism Confucianism, they all subscribe to the dictum that to help and serve others and doing self-sacrifice is the highest purpose of human beings. As Socrates emphasized the virtuous life is a life devoted to the service to community. Furthermore, example abound in various religious orders throughout the history of humanity that great devoted their lives to serving others. One can look up to Buddha, Christ Hazrat Ali, and Gandhi as examples of such individuals who devoted their lives to the principles of individual self-sacrifice, discipline compassion, justice and striving for highest moral purpose by serving others. On the other hand in a secular domain, that concept of service was initially invoked by many rulers in the past to ensure loyalty, dedication and commitment of their servants in the name of the divine right of kings. But when that divine right was replaced making the people sovereign, it was expected that the government embodying the public interest will require the same adherence of serve concept from its employees. However, with mechanization and industrialization during the past century, unionism started gaining grounds which brought the quantitative and qualitative changes in the behavior and performance of government employees. Earlier, they entered the public service that they are going to be ultimately bound by an obligation to serve the public. However by the 1970s when many countries gave rights to their employees the right to strike and collective bargaining which resulted in the acquisition of political muscle for the unions. Unions also brought to the fore the concept of concept of job in place of service by discarding the concept of duty to serve. Now the time has come as illustrated by the Canadian Report which suggested that to control the declining public trust in government and help to confidence in the public service as a high calling More recently in 2005 the International Institute of Administrative Sciences (Brussels) brought out a report on administering global governance. The world we could Win which listed the following major public service values: access to justice, adherence to due process and to the rule of law respect for human rights respect for democratic values care for the need of poorest and vulnerable group tolerance for diversity protection of the environment sustainability of outcomes and public service professionalism.
The above listed attributes revolve around the concept of duty to serve which assumes that individuals joining the public service will do so because it is a vocation a commitment and a duty to serve. The concept demands sacrifices, dedication and loyalty to the cause of serving public interest. The concept also draws is strength from the core values of democracy and politics in the sense that morality in politics influences the ethical behavior of public servants. If the morality of politicians is weal the bureaucratic cannot remain higher too long. Sooner or later it will approximate to the level of political morality of the society. That is why the concept could be made to act as instrument by which we can determine and ensure the morality of statecraft. In short one can think of duty to serve concept as instrumental to but not a part of the moral dimension of the state. Moreover the confidence and trust In the democracy can be safeguarded only when the governing process exhibits a higher moral tone deriving from the breadth of morality. This calls for a commitment on the part of elected and appointed public to morel government and administration. Because let us remember that we get a more moral government by creating those conditions within which a moral government can operate. This can be possible if officials are to acquire the necessary traits and practice the same. Because an exemplary public servant to be specific is not simply one who obeys the laws and behaves within the confines of laws and administrative procedures but is also one who strives for a moral government.
On the other hand the concept of responsibility to care requires public servants to act according to certain principles such as (a) responsibility cannot be disclaimed because disclaimers are not self- validating (b) responsibility cannot be evaded by diluting the gravity of their actions or by pleading special or trying circumstances, or personal events which forced them not to complete the task assigned simply disowning the consequences of their actions; (c) responsibility cannot be deflected stating someone else should have taken the action ;and (d) command responsibility never disappears which means that once an order has been issued the responsibility will rest with officer although the person might have moved to other position. These principles are the very crux of the existence of public institutions and their officials depends upon how responsibly they behave. To force the administrative responsibility, parliamentarians have passed number of rules and procedures to keep the officials in line although instance are plentiful of some parliamentarians and ministers behaving irresponsibly but then they face electoral wrath which public servants don’t For example the Canadian government sponsorship program scandal reveled that the chain of accountability was broken down no proper records were maintained and procedures were by passed the commission of inquiry revealed that a political developed which influenced the administrative culture leading to such behavior Unless that culture is changed with a sense of duty and responsibility to care for the public b upholding the public interest the chain of accountability will not be complete. Irrespective of external rules and regulation to secure accountability instances of unaccountable behavior will keep on happening unless the culture of administration is changed which creates an environment of public duty and obligations for serving and caring for the public. Thus the critical issue before us is: how can we rebalance relationship between parliament and government so that the chain of accountability is restored by undertaking certain specific actions such as controlling partisan political involvement in the administration of public programmes improving sufficient oversight by senior servants, restricting the avoidance of compliance with established policies and legislation and ensuring that ministers and senior officials are duty bound to acknowledge the responsibility for any mismanagement that might occur? Without some specific measures of deterrence such as a higher level of professionalism, building character, and enhancing personal ethics/ spirituality, good governance may remain a distance dream.
Among some examples of how the administrative process can be strengthened the author suggests two options. The first is to strengthen the two essential ingredients of good governance- integrity and professionalism. As we have observed that how since 1980 and there has been a deep decline of the concept of service to the public. Moreover in the name of improving efficiency and responsibility national governments and also international institutions have inserted private sector business principles and values into the operation of government thereby weakening the effectiveness and working of established public administration institutions. The side-effect is that amoralism vanity a bottom-line mentality and short-term considerations have become the way of life in many a public service. And the second is by instituting E-governance where the information and communication technology as a powerful tool can assist change and may create new efficient consistent transparent and accountable system and may also empower the public by enabling to check their cases on line.
Public Service as a vocation: Vocation means a purpose driven life devoted to the well-being of all It is a concept based on the ideal of service to others particularly to the society. The ideal upon self-sacrifice a concept that rises above individualism including self-enlightened interest to create an environment of public duty among government officials and bureaucrats It draws on the doctrine of vocation (or calling) and the concept of service relates to the sense of mission which a public official is supposed to undertake to serve the public perform duties and fulfil obligations. It also includes the concept of paying debt to the society which an individual owes given so much. It also means that public servants adhere to the principle of serving others by setting a high standard of moral conduct and by considering their jobs as vocations akin to religious calling. Thus the concept stresses the caring dimension in government employment. It involves a notion of duty and service to members of the public as well as undertaking the responsibility for their welfare. And it means that public servants must always be thinking ahead of the community on behalf of the community However the concept of public service vocation should not be equated with any specific political ideology or even theocracy because it is reconciled with the higher values of democratic secularism and public morality.
Both the duty to serve and responsibility to care ought to be seen as integral parts of public service vocation include not only the required ethical behavior (accomplishment of a job entrusted in a most professional manner) but also exhibiting positive attributes such as trust fairness conduct beyond the call of duty and good will to Hence standards and requisites of performance should include what a public servant ought not to do as well as an equal emphasis on the positive side of what he or she ought to do Rectitude and duty to serve the public both are the requisite pat of expected standards of the public servant That part also includes an acknowledgement of the morel implications of public and administrative action. Moreover to be acquire a quantity of wisdom. A few become wise early in life but most take their time to learn and absorb it. To become an ethically developed person a public servant needs to demonstrate not only the highest standards of personal integrity honesty fairness and justice but also to consider the service as a vocation Only then can public officials inspire public confidence and trust which are the true hallmarks of moral government.
CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS
Some interpretative explorations and few general propositions are offered below as concluding observations on the issue of public service are offered below as concluding observation on the issue of public service ethics:
(1) Needed public officials with Conscience of a person depends largely with conscience of a person depends largely on his/ her character as well as spirituality. As discussed earlier, spirituality plays an important part in the happiness and wellbeing of people. Similarly, it plays a crucial role in keeping the system of governance honest and transparent. Spirituality can lead to mastery over our baser impulses such as greed exploitation, abuse and the mistreatment of people; it requires self discipline, humility and above all the absence of arrogance in holding public office. Furthermore it enables people to centre their values on the notion that there is a cosmic ordinance and divine law which must be maintained. Spirituality serves both as a model and operative strategy for the transformation of the human character by strengthening the genuine, substantive will to serve the common people. If our goal is to serve and protect the common good then spirituality can provide the incentive for public officials to serve the public with dignity and respect. Although spirituality is supposed to be an integral part of out of our religious traditions and beliefs its secular dimension (which is yet to e particularly acknowledged by secular institutions is equally crucial in governing a nation especially with respect to public service ethics and values. If these dimensions can be strengthened in the management of public affairs it may be possible for a public official to rise above self-interest by placing the collective good above private interest and greed. The strengthening of such a notion creates a shared feeling of spirit of public duty among those who govern.
(2) Good Governance Requires public servants ought to demonstrate Social conscience and caring Behaviour. The objective of good governance is to create an environment in which public servants as well as politicians in government are able to respond to the challenge of good governance. That challenge for public officials involves a notion of duty as well as acting morally responsibly and accountably and also demonstrating social conscience through their caring behavior. Demonstration of such a social conscience and caring behavior by public officials is intertwined with the general concept of good governance and protecting the common good. It is an obligation that human beings owe not only to each other within a society but also to others to others living elsewhere. The concept of service can be seen from two dimensions: the religious and the secular. Historically world religions have played vital role in upholding the virtue of serving others.
(3) Educating public servant to serve- The Ethical Approach to public service ethics and responsibility should be made compulsory for all administrators. When designing such a course it should be approached from three dimension (a) classical (b) legal and (c) cultural The classical approach emphasizes drawing from the philosophical and cultural traditions of a nation. The legal approach focuses on laws rules and regulation and constraints on individuals to regulate their administrative power and authority The environmental or cultural approach aims at sensitizing public servants to the need to act as guardians of the state so that its resources are appropriately used and carefully protected; for this they might act somewhat as Plato’s philosopher kings A sense of vocation and responsibility in the service to public must be instilled unequivocally among public officials and stat employees with a proper carrot and stick policy. That sense of belief is founded on the premise that governance is a public trust and working for the government is a public duty that demands highest level of integrity and behavior that exhibit such virtues as honesty impartiality sincerity and justice That level of integrity, if fully realized can turn into creating a culture of excellence in public affairs which is truly a function of the commitment of individual public servants to work towards the goal of goal of democratic good governance.
(4) Controlling Ethical Deficit: For ethical public servants, one important challenge they are facing now is to control if not reverse the tide of an ethical deficit in many nations. The term ethical deficit means that the public in those nations would not hesitate to pay an extra sum in order to receive service that it deserves from an official and to avoid unnecessary delay in receiving the service being unable to fight bureaucratic jungle of rules and procedures. It is known in many countries that from admission in prestigious schools to the appointment through public service commission to government departments or the transfer of government officials to lucrative posts where extra money can be made to securing government contracts or the willingness of street vendors to pay bribes for keep selling their unlicensed stalls, corruption is rampant and systemic. This is happening because systemic corruption happens to be imbedded in the cultural software of these countries. Could it be because the administrative system has become over bureaucratized? Or is it because the prevailing political culture and weak moral leadership has decayed so much that it has encouraged the breakdown of basic values by elevating the upsurge of moral relativism? All these factors (systematic corruption weak moral leadership and increase in moral relativism) have caused irreparable ethical deficit in many countries. We must also remember one thing if there is a single factor most likely to drain the vitality of a nation it is political corruption because it eats up the public trust, tells public servants to either overlook instances of mismanagement and entices them to toe along with politicians in power to personally benefit from such unsavoury association. Both such officials become the wrong role models for others.
(5) The current culture of Administration needs changing if we take a clue from the Canadian Sponsorship scandal we find that the commission of inquiry noted not only a breakdown of ethical standards but amazingly it continued far too long without being stopped by senior administrators and ministers and it happened precisely of the prevailing administrative and political culture which tolerated and even encouraged the contracting practices that led to abuse The commission recommended that unless heads of departments and senior officials were willing to accept responsibility and are interested in putting more emphasis on efficiency and probity the culture will not change. But the commission also acknowledged that more regulations and oversight agencies will not provide solutions to problems The major culprit is the prevailing administrative and political culture surrounding the governing process which tolerated and even encouraged the contracting practices that led to abuse. That culture will have to change… [and it] will not until the attitudes of the participants change and that will require a change in the environment. For that environment to exist and flourish it requires the earlier discussed concept that administrators and public officials must show a genuine concern for fellow citizens because the use of power and authority is based in certain moral connotations, and thus demand an unwavering commitment to serve and care for the public. This is the foundation and basic premise upon which depends the normal functioning and survival of a liberal democratic system of government.
(6) Rewarding Ethical Leadership: Ethical conduct begins with ethical leadership at all levels of the organization what leaders say and do influences all employees and when their decisions are based on ethical principles those values become living values of the organization as their actions encourage the creation of transparency and accountability and such values also become the shared values of all. Of one the important aspects of good leadership is that tasks assigned to subordinates have clear expectation so that these are executed efficiently and effectively Ethical leadership also involves mentoring which encourages creativity empower participation and motivates subordinates. Mentoring also helps in creating an environment of a shared vision shared commitment shared responsibility and shared pride in the individual and collective contribution to serve the nation. Finally recognizing and awarding the ethical and honest performance is crucial for the upliftment of morale and team-spirit of the people in that organization. While corrupt sycophant and unoccupied employees are getting richer or enjoying extra-privileges honest employees are suffering. Thus, a special step be undertaken to acknowledge their efforts and reward them appropriately of course not all corrupt officials will get caught and punished and the corruption may continue a bit longer but the government must not dither from showing appreciation for those who are ethical scrupulous and decent human being And do remember ethics is not about always trying to down a corrupt person or being aggressively self-righteous going around blaming others and showing contempt it is more so about the conduct of your own behavior which is moral ethical responsible and transparent.
(7) Restoring the oversight Responsibility of governance and Accountability to Parliament and legislative Assemblies: It is now abundantly clear that Parliament and provincial legislatures have nearly lost control over the policies and programmes of the executive especially with respect to control over public purse. Despite the complexity of modern government ministerial responsibility used to serve as a viable central pillar of parliamentary democracy holding the executive accountable for the direction and management of government programmes and policies. But now only a modicum of the politics-administration dichotomy is being kept. The greatest damage was done by the New public Management besieged by its shock troop of business ideologues who forced the executive to believe in bottom-line rather than on responsible and ethical governance; thereby no effort was made to restore parliament’s capacity to oversee government’s direction of the public service and its programmes. If the concept of ministerial responsibility is no more effective, then the entire concept of cabinet government within the parliamentary system has become outmoded and ought to be replaced. Otherwise we shall not be able to escape the dangers arising from the over- concentration of power in the hand of the executive with the tacit approval of the bureaucracy. A Fundamental way in which accountability should be restored in government is through strong ethical leadership and changing the culture of administration such that the concept of the duty to serve with care is fully ensconced in the mindsets of our public servants.
CONCLUSION
To control the tide of over all corruption among all nation nations there is an absolute need not only to strengthen the moral resolve towards good governance but also to appreciate pragmatic ethical values so that people in all the professions would act morally and ethically. By doing that there might emerge the needed shift in global consciousness and universal connectivity to accomplish this phenomenon we need to reincarnate the incorruptible public administrators of the yester years who were keen to serve and steadfastly devoted to uphold the moral and spiritual imperatives of the democratic ideals of protecting the common good and serving the public and for those of them who are already in the service we need to honor them so that act as mentors and role models in sustaining the ideals of service to humanity which is the highest duty of a person in any society and in any culture of course theirs theirs is the most difficult task when being surrounded by the sea of unethical activities and unscrupulous colleagues; nevertheless they will have to rise to the occasion by accepting the challenge for rekindling the torch of ethical governance but we should also realize that speeches exhortations and pious hopes are not going to create ethical governance instead all out efforts will have to be made by such people as visionary leaders motivated youth empowered communities and inspired bureaucrats. And this the challenge before the world around us all.
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