A CAMPAIGN against corruption in the government service has been launched without fanfare in the appointment of what have been dubbed 'ethics officers'. This is to be complemented by legislation to punish public officials who flout policy guidelines in procuring goods and services.
It is of more than passing interest that this initiative has not won favour with the president of the Jamaica Civil Service Association (JCSA) Wayne Jones. Mr. Jones argues that protection should be offered to ethics officers and their families who may be endangered by the reporting of corruption. Legislation to designate 'whistle blowers' would be a bolder route to go, Mr. Jones says.
It seems to us that 'whistle blowing' and reports from ethics officers may be a duplication of functions; except that the former may now be cloaked by overt official status and the latter may come to be regarded as mere 'informers' recognised as legal operators.
In any event, existing civil service regulations should surely have sufficient teeth to safeguard the routines of efficient and honest administration. Heads of departments and supervisors at lower levels should be made to do their jobs.
Even so, it is odd that the head of the Civil Service Association should be out of step with an initiative emanating from the head of Government. And be it noted that among the ethics officers already appointed are the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Justice and a Supreme Court Judge. This indicates that such designated officers are a cut above the kind of functionaries that would be required to operate as 'whistle blowers'; the very name smacks of giving signals in the dark.
Mr. Jones has been reported as saying that the public sector is pregnant with stories of corruption but people were afraid to report unethical behaviour. This suggests that draconian measures may be justified to clean up the public service. But a conflict of approaches to the problem is likely to lead to chaos and confusion.
It would be tragic if the public service deteriorates to the point of becoming an arena for 'Big Brother' policing in the manner of George Orwell's 1984.
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