Code of conduct For ministers Should be made Public to ensure Transparency, Accountability
The only detail about a ministerial code of conduct announced by Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka was that ministers would be held accountable for conduct unbecoming of a minister. There can be several interpretations of what conduct unbecoming of a minister means. It’s positive to have a code if it is made public so that the people know what it says.
Many democracies have similar codes but they are made available to the public to help the people scrutinise the ministers’ behaviours. Generally speaking a code of conduct is a set of values, rules, standards and principles. It also contains ethics. It safeguards integrity, objectivity, competence, professionalism and governance principles.
A minister is a public officer. His or her conduct is constantly under scrutiny 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Some of the issues we hope are included in the code are:
Personal favour. No minister should be allowed to use his or her office to solicit personal favour
Pecuniary gain. No minister should be allowed to use his or her office to seek pecuniary gain .
Items 1 & 2 above constitute abuse of office and is unlawful.
Gifts. All gifts received by ministers in the course of performing their official duties should be declared to the Prime Minister’s Office. It’s up to that office to decide whether the gifts should stay or be returned with a thank you note. If the code of conduct is well known then people will be discouraged to gift ministers. Ministers are paid, and in many cases, they are well remunerated and should not be getting gifts. The rule protects them from people and groups seeking favour from them. In other words no gifts no obligation.
Conflict of interest. Ministers should not put themselves in situations where they can compromise their ethical standards. If they know that in advance, they need to withdraw and let someone else deal with the case. This can arise where the ministers are either related or are friends or acquaintances. This will make sure that any decision is made on merit not on the basis of who you know. Ministers shall ensure that there is no conflict of interest between their public duties and personal interests.
Ministers are responsible for providing correct information to Cabinet, Parliament and to the people
They must set consistent good examples both in their private and public life
They are ministers for all Fijians not just those who voted for them. They will separate the party and Government service.
If these standards are in the new Government’s code of conduct, they are heading in the right direction.
NEMANI DELAIBATIKI
Feedback: nemani.delaibatiki@fijisun.com.fj