Economic Commission for Africa
Public Administration, Human Resources and Social Development Division
ENHANCING ETHICS IN THE ETHIOPIAN CIVIL SERVICE
November 1996
Executive Summtry 1 Introduction
Section One:
Section Two:
Comparative Experiences In
Improving Ethics in the Civil Service Ethics In the Ethiopian Civil
Service and Comparisons with Other African Countries
Section Three: Proposed Measures for Improving Ethics In the Ethiopian Civil Service References
Annex 1A:
Annex 1B:
Appendix 1:
Appendix 2:
Appendix 3:
Appendix 4:
Appendix 5:
Appendix 6:
Appendix 7:
CSR: Ethics Assignment 96
United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA)
Programme of Assistance to the Ethiopian Government on the Civil Service Reform in the Area of Ethics
A Draft Code of Conduct for Members of Parliament (UK)
The Seven Principles of Public Life
Current Basic Monthly Salary for Superscale Officers in the Singapore Administrative Service Statement of Principles Regarding the
Conduct of Public Employees
Code of Ethics for US Government Officials Duties and Rights of Public Servants
27
38 48 53
56
58 60
62
63 66 67 Proposed New Code of Conduct for UK Civil Service 72
ACA ANC OAG BIR CC CHRGG CPIB CSR EGA EG FCSC ICAC HK IGG LDC NGOs NRM PAC PCC PHSD PMO SA UGA UK WAI
Anti-Corruption Arm (South Africa) African National Congress
Office of Auditor General
Board of Internal Revenue (Phillipines) Citizens' Charter
Commission for Human Rights and Good Governace Corrupt Practices investigation Bureau (Singapore) Civil Service Reform
Economic Commission for Africa Ethiopian Government
Federal Civil Service Commission (Ethiopia)
Independent Commissioon Against Corruption (Hong Kong).
Hong Kong
Inspectorate General of Government (Uganda) Less Developed Countries
Non-governmental Organisations National Resistance Movement Public Accounts Committee
Public Complaints Commission (Nigeria)
Public Administration, Human Resources & Social Development Division
Prime Minister's Office South Africa
Unit for Governance and Accountability United Kingdom
War Against Indiscipline (Nigeria)
economic rehabilitaon has embarked upon a major reform of the civil service.
One of the six key areas that the government's Taskforce on Civil Service Reforms (CSR) identified in 1994 as requiring special attention is ethics, especially for top Management level officials. The Ethiopian Government requested the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) to assist it, specifically, in the area of ethics. ECA appointed a consultant to study the empirical conditions, morale and conduct of the Ethiopian civil service and make recommendaions on how the conduct of civil servants might be improved. The consultant was specifically requested by the Ethiopian Government to drav on contemporary international experiences in submitting his recommendation. This document is the outcome of the study.
2. The study ullized a combination of information-gathering techniques:
literature search, catent analysis of selected documents and interviews with leaders in the civil service, related governmental agencies and representatives of civil society organisations.
3. Maior Findings
3.1 There it a global upsurge of interest in improving ethics in the public service, generally. However, not alt of the initiatives undertaken by several countries have been successful in actually improving the culture of ethics of the civil servie. This study reviewed three case- studies of successes: the United Kingdom, Hong Kong and Singapore;
three recent and promising cases: South Africa, Uganda and Ecuador;
and two failed cases: Philippines, Nigeria.
3.2 The main lessons from the available studies, is that in spite of cultural variabilities, the most effective strategies for fighting unethical practices in government are: a) reducing the incentives and opportunities for corrupt behaviours among officials by ensuring good/ performance- related pay and service conditions especially for professionals and top managers in the civil service; making civil servants responsive to and respectful of citizens and limiting the scope of government activities to areas of its maximum comparative advantage; and b) raising the cost of corrupt behaviour to the civil servants- by increasing the capacity of the government to detect and punish corrupt officials.
3.3. While ethical conditions in the Ethiopian civil service are generally better than they are in many African countries, corruption is perceived to be a growing and gnawing problem in the Ethiopian civil service.
Using four main criteria: competence, dedication to duty, courtesy to
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standard of conduct in the civil service has continued to decline in the present period as well- and is particularly bad in the regional services (compared with the'central government civil services). Several reasons can be advanced for this development:
3.3.1 Overcentralisation of power within trie government and between various units. Even within ministries, there are no dear boundaries of what roles are expected of politicians and adminis trators in the policy process;
3.3.2 Overpoiiticisation: successive regimes have, over the years, used political rather than technical criteria to make appointments into top positions in the civil service- thus leading to low morale, poor performance and absence of role models for lower level officials;
3.3.3 Archaic personnel policies: the current system is not only cumbersome, it is perceived as unfair, inefficient and opaque.
The confidential reporting system is still utilised and is abused.
There is also no policy or mechanisms (structures, budgets) for implementing any programmes nor institutions dedicated to the training of civil servants.
3.3.4 Poor pay and service conditions: the upward review of salaries carried out in 1995 has not been sufficient to compensate for inflation and to attract top professionals away from private and public enterprises and NGOs.
3.3.5 Decline in the educational system: in spite of the extensive and impressive reforms undertaken by the present government in the education sector (it is pushing for equity, devolution of schools and curriculum reform), education remains underfinanced (less than 5% of current budget) and gives little attention to ethical issues.
3.3.6. Absence of a body of ethical norms that is accessible to all civil servants and weak enforcement mechanisms. The 1962 Civil Service Law contains a sense of ethical norms for civil servants but it is outdated and not accessible to most civil servants.
Several of the institutions for detecting, preventing and punishing unethical practices are poorly resourced in terms of skilled personnel, authority or information. The most important institu tions presently are the Ministry of Justice (which also has
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breach of trust involving the sum of Ethiopian Birr 14.4 million ( appro. US$2.2 million) were under investigation.
3.3.7 Non-involvement of the public and the civil society organisations in anti-corruption Activities. All anti-corruption
;nitiatives are currently conducted exclusively by government departments. The legislature, the public and other critical civil society organs such as the media, the NGOs, religious organisations, the chamber of commerce are sidelined. There is thus little public understanding or support for what the govern ment is doing.
3.4. The current period represents a window of opportunity for addressing ethical questions for the following reasons:
3.4.1. Failure of past governments to effectively, consistently and sincerely tackle ethical infractions among public officials. This contrasts with the spartan discipline being displayed by the top leadership of the-present administration, an image earned even before It came to power.
3.4.2. Commitment of the present administration to an open economic and political system implies that the government requires a modern, efficient, honest and responsive civil service that can foster the transition from aristocracy/autocracy to the new system of governance being espoused by the government.
3.4.3. A void currently exists as to what constitutes the body of ethics for civil servants and the civil service currently. Elements of ethical standards are scattered in various documents and are not accessible or known to many civil servants.
3.4.4. Democratisation has meant the creation of new institutions at the national and especially at the regional levels. Some of these lack adequate human/institutional resources and ethical direction or control and are becoming centers of unethical practices.
3.4.5. The on-going reform of the civil service provides a special opportunity to address the ethical problems. Further, the government's anti-corruption programme could become the linchpin for the campaign for good governance.
country. But such freedoms to be truly experienced by all, require effective policing. Moreover, by opening up a debate and discussing a new ethical code those who have to man such policing institutions (civil servants) must understand why they have to sacrifice some of their own political rights in the process and why they are subject to sovereign authority of the public.
3.4.7. Some aspects of the economic reforms already under taken, most especially the retrenchment of civil servants have raised fears among substantial segments of the population that ethnic and political criteria have been used in this process. There may be no substance to these allegations but it would be helpful for the government to articulate its policy on positions within the government that are to be filled by political as distinct from managerial or technical criteria and whether or not it intends to utilise some form of affirmative action to ensure a more represen tative bureaucracy.
4. Recommendations
In order to tackle these problems, seven major strategies have been proposed. These are:
4.1 Articulate, Document and Enforce a Code of Ethics for Civil Servants. This can be done either by updating and reviewing the present code or adopting a new one based on the new Code of Conduct for Civil Servants and for Parliamentarians respectively in the United Kingdom. These code must however be properly discussed and debated among civil servants themselves before they are adopted.
Once adopted, the Federal Civil Service Commission should be reconstituted to monitor compliance and serve as an appellate body for the aggrieved rather than be saddled as it is with detailed personnel management activities. Such routine responsibilities should be left to ministries and various departments of government.
Prelude to the above exercise, the government will articulate its commitment to an ethical service and its readiness to combat corruption in the political and administrative realms. This policy statement should also incorporate proposals for decentralising the government and simplifying operational procedures and uphold merit in the civil service.
4.2 Enhance Internal and External Accountability Mechanisms. There is a need to renew commitment to a merit civil service. Though focussed
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Moreover, rrarit should be defined to incorporate concerns for the need for representative bureaucracy, along the lines of affirmative action, albeit without sacrificing excellence.
Every effort should be made to tackle the serious problem of poor staffing in key instituions such as the Office of the Auditor General, the Police and the Ministry of Justice. In particular, the OAG should seek to improve the timeliness of its audits at the central and regional levels (at least for federal grants) and work with the Public Accounts Commit tee of the partiamnet and the Unit on Governance in the Prime Minister's Office (both recomended below) to increase its compliance capabilites.
The Police, should be separated from the Ministry of Justice and directly accountable to the Prime Minister's Office and shouls develop clearing house arrangements with the regional police systems.
In addition, the capacity of the legislature and the judiciary should be enhanced to enable them relate to the executive as independent agencies. To this end, they should have their own independent administrative/professional support systems. Parliament should establish a Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to scrutinise audit reports and penalise erring ministries and departments. The present accountability mechanisms should be complimented by two new institutions: the Unit on Governance and Accountability, based in the Prime Minister's Office and the independent Commission for Human Rights and Good Govern
ance.
4.3. All government organisations should be encouraged to adopt a Citizens' Charter which will define the relationship between these government organisations and the citizens who are the consumers of their services. One key institution for sustaining the idea is a Unit on Governance and Accountability which should also be placed in the Office of the Prime Minister, to give it adequate authority in relating to other agencies. This Unit will be responsible for carrying out organisational/human resources and performance audit throughout the civil service, including the regional and local government services. It will also monitor the extent to which the various agencies are responsive to the public and make annual awards based on the indicators of perform ance by the Unit and the members of the public. It would also assist main-line agencies tackle obstacles to improved performance through its highly sophisticated investigation department Ultimately, this agency may be charged with the implementation of the CSR which is currently being formulated.
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National Anti-Corruption Agency should be incorporated within the Human Rights Commission with an expanded mandate to promote civic education on democratic rights of the individual Indeed, to save resources, the Ombudsman may be part of the National Commission for Human Rights and Good Governance (CHRGG). It should have a secretariat headed by a credible and highly motivated and respected individual. The Agency should have the capacity to independently investigate, assist to prosecute and ensure that punishment is meted out to the corrupt. It should be responsible only to the parliament but have on its board representatives of human rights and non-governmental organisations.
4.5. A Training Policy for the Civil service should be put in place. The policy should articulate the principles which will undergird the training of civil servants, budget mandates for training and mechanisms for ensuring that training is carried out for ail officers on a regular basis.
Ethical issues should be given its due emphasis in these training programmes. For a start, it is suggested that a National Workshop on 'Ethics in the Civil Service' should be undertaken to kick-start the programme of the government in the area of ethics. Ultimately, the government should consider creating an arm of the Civil Service College into a Centre which (in collaboration with the Addis Ababa University) will specialise in training senior level administrators.
4.7. The government should endeavour to ensure that pay is related to performance and labour market rates especially for its top officials.
This would ensure that they are properly motivated to perform efficiently and honestly and to enable them provide overall professional and moral leadership in the civil service.
4.8. Ethical reform processes should continue to be tied to the government's programme of reforming the polity and the economy.
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Hie Ethiopian Government (EG) has announced its intention of revitalising the Ethiopian civil service as part of its programme of political and economic reforms. Already, the government's Taskforce for Civil Service Reform (CSR) has produced a 'Comprehensive Report' on the state of the Ethiopian civil service and identified areas requiring reform. Volume 4 of this Report covers the following areas: Institutional Management Service Delivery and Ethics. It is understood that the organisation of institutional top manage ment including ethics is one of the six key areas of the Taskforce on CSR. The other areas are: financial management, human resource management, top management systems, central institutions for managing the civil service and services delivery.
1.2 EG has approached the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) for assistance in the area of ethics. ECA has responded favourably to this request and has appointed a consultant to undertake this
assignment.
1.3. Objective of the-Assignment
According to the terms of reference for this assignment, the consultant is required to assist the Prime Minister's Office in Ethiopia by conducting a study on the empirical conditions, morale and conduct of civil service conduct in Ethiopia and present to the Prime Minister's Office a report encompassing recommendations on : a) improving ethical conduct of civil servants including a draft of a code of conduct; b) ensuring accountability; and c) enhancing responsiveness of civil servants to public needs including a draft citizens' charter.
1.3.1 In subsequent discussions with the Coordinator of the Civil Service Reforms in the Prime Minister's Office, the consultant was specifically requested to incorporate the following activities:
a) Conduct a survey of comparative international experiences of strategies that are being used by various countries, within and outside Africa, to improve ethical conduct in their respective civil services;
b) Identify pertinent lessons for the Ethiopian civil service on the basis of this survey;
c) Based on the above-mentioned review, propose a code of Conduct for civil servants and other office holders;
measures designed to enhance the capacity of critical institutions for improving ethical conduct in the Ethiopian civil service on a sustained basis.
1.4. Methods of Collecting Information
A combination of methods were utilised to obtain the required informa tion. First, an exhaustive search for information from published and unpub lished sources in libraries and archival holdings was undertaken (See Annex 1 for the list of the most important references consulted). Second, a critical analysis of available government documentary sources was undertaken.
Finally, the consultant held discussions with key officials of the Ethiopian civil service, the police, the judiciary and the Auditor General's Office. In addition, effort was made to evaluate the perceptions of the ethical conduct of Ethiopian civil servants by private citizens and members of the civil society through individual, open -ended interviews.
Annex 2 shows the major issues raised in these interviews and the schedule of the interviews. The interviewees included Ministers and Vice- Ministers of some selected Ministries, Heads of Departments, middle level civil servants, and officers of the Judiciary, the Police as well as people from the private sector, the media and the civil society at large.
1.5. Report Outline
This final report will be developed under the following subheads:
Section One: Comparative Experiences in Improving Ethics in the Public Service:
Ethics and Public Service Reform; Experiences of Some Selected Countries; Important Lessons for the Ethiopian Civil Service.
Section Two: Ethics In the Ethiopian Civil Service and A Comparison with Other African Countries:
Ethics in African Public Services; Ethics In ths Ethiopian Civil Service
Section Throe: Suggested Measures for Enhancing Ethical Conduct of Civil Servants In ths Ethiopian Civil Service:
1.6. Definition of Key Concepts
The assignment deals primarily with the executive organs of government at the federal le/el and the regions. At the federal level, there are 45,963 officials in the 15 Ministries and agencies while the estimate for the regions is 200,000. The focus of this assignment is on these executive organs at the federal level, which for want of a better word are referred to as 'the civil service*. However some attention is also paid to other organs of the government, such as the judiciary, the legislature etc whose work impact on the ethical standards oi civil servants. The report excludes the parastatals, which are also part of the public service.
'Ethics' refersto normative expectations from civil servants as articulated in the appropriate statutes and social mores. 'Corruption* refers to departures from these normative expectations.
1.7. Time-Frame
The final outline of the report was submitted on September 30, 1996.
Literature search, documentary analysis, field- work and interviews were conducted in September and the first half of October. A draft report was submitted on October 21 while the final product would be submitted after incorporating inputs torn all those who would have read the draft. The project will terminate in its current phase on or before November 8, 1996.
Comparative Experiences in Improving Ethics in the Civil Service
1. Global Interest in Improved Ethics and Public Sector Reform There has been a heightened interest in improving the ethical conduct of public officials throughout the world in the last two decades. Such interest is usually tied to programmes aimed at making the civil service more efficient, responsive and effective. Several factors are responsible for this interest.
They include the following five factors, among others.
a) the global democratic upsurge;
b) the budget squeeze on governments ;
c) landmark corruption cases in industrialised and non- industrialised countries;
d) increasing international cooperation on understanding and improving the ethical conduct of public officials;
e) successful anti-corruption campaigns in Third world contexts and the increasing recognition by training institutions worldwide that ethics has been neglected in public service training curricula.
Each of these five factors are discussed briefly below.
1.1. Democratic Upsurge in Developed and Underdeveloped Countries of the World
This factor is the most pervasive in its impact on the organisation of the public service.
The late 1970s to 1990s represent a period in world history when people in several nations began to demand that they be more involved in the manner in which they are governed. This upsurge was most noticeable in the former communist nations of eastern Europe but they also reverberated in the countries referred to as the third world-Latin America, Asia and Africa.
According to a close observer, whereas only 30 states could be regarded in the world as 'democratic' in 1973, by 1990, the number of democratic states had
Several reasois have been advanced for this development. Some cite the collapse of the Soviet Union, which was best symbolised by the pulling down of the Berlin wall in 1989 which also signified the end of the cold war.
Others think that the causes were economic, arising either from economic prosperity and the pressures for social and economic equity it introduces in the economically successful nations or the impact of the structural aa?ustment programmes on the rot-so successful Third world countries. The roles of the religious institutions such as the Roman Catholic church and the growth of global international communication have also been factored.
Whatever the reasons for this democratic upsurge, one of the most important effects is the demand that the public be more involved in the governing process. Both governments and citizens were united in this search:
citizens because they believe that their governments are not competent to tackle the socio-economic problems confronting their countries or that they are corrupt and/or wasteful. Trie failure of authoritarian governments in the face of economic shocks arising from the oil crises of 1971 and 1978, domestic wars and insurrection was evidence of the failure of the centralised or authoritarian state2. Even in a country like the United States, President Reagan won his 1981 landslide election by arguing that government was not part of the solution, government was the problem!
At the same time, governments around the globe felt that they had to respond to the demand for greater responsiveness, participation and accountability to the public and therefore put in place a number of administra tive reforms specifically designed to increase the role of ordinary citizens in the delivery of public services. The more famous of these reforms have included privatisation, commercialisation of services and enterprises but there have also been others. Amongst these may be noted increasing attention to the client- orientedness of civil servants, exemplified in the United Kingdom and a number of other countries by the adoption of citizens' charters by public agencies, the separation of policy making from services delivery through delegation and contracting to local governments and non-governmental providers, greater attention to equity, fairness and the representativeness of the public service vis- vis the total population, the publication of performance indicators among several public agencies, greater attention to the training of civil servants, the use of
See Huntington 1992, p. 26, Table 1.1.
This was the title of a book I co-edited on African states in 1990 (See Wunsch
& OIowu 1990). The book has since gone into a second edition.
According to one close observer, 'democracy involves more than the election of governments or the control of administration through courts; it also means the empowering citizens-not 'administering' them but responding to them
individually at the everyday level'3.
1.2. Budget Squeeze
The budget squeeze on governments have come from two major
sources.
First, as earlier noted above, the two oil shocks of 1973-4 and 1978-9 led to severe economic difficulties and to economic decline from which many countries are yet to recover. Secondly, even in the prosperous countries, there is a pressure from tax payers to pay less taxes while demanding for higher quality services. The current Head of the British Home civil service suggests that citizens all around the world are placing these types of pressures on governments so that they can have more resources in their pockets to gratify their personal aspirations for cars, washing machines, videos and overseas holidays-consumerism in short4. As a result, in some countries, it has become part of an orthodoxy that improved services can only be assured if public service adopts private sector strategies- hence the preference for privatisation, commercialisation, and the emerging concepts of treating citizens as customers.
Some countries have put in place new mechanisms for ensuring that the civil service acts like private sector organisations. All of these are designed to ensure an impact-directly or indirectly - on the conduct of civil servants.
1.1.3. Landmark Corruption Cases in the Developed and Underdeveloped Countries
Most of the literature on corruption up to the 1970s, had tended to assume that corruption, graft and bribery were confined to underdeveloped countries or the local governments of the industrialised nations. However, in the late 1970s and 1980s, the world was rocked by major scandals in countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan and others. Most people are familiar with the watergate scandal involving President Nixon, but
even as late as 1994, the Inspector General of New Zealand was arrested and
convicted on corruption charges.3 F.F. Ridley 1995, p.20.
4 Sir Robin Butler 1995, p.7
United States, the Barrings Bank in Singapore and the Lockheed scandal in Japan were some of the best known examples but there was also a lot of
corruption associated with the transfer of drug money - money laundering - across national boundaries etc. It gradually became clear that corruption was not limited to underdeveloped countries nor to the local organs of public sector organs in industrialised nations. Perhaps the most astounding findings werethe regular corruption that goes on in international organisations such as the
United Nations and its agencies, the European union, bilateral aid agencies and most importantly, the covert support given by industrial nations to business people operating in underdeveloped nations to bribe their way to receive big- time contracts5.One important reason ethical infractions were increasing at the administrative level in all countries is that administrators were increasingly exercising considerable discretionary power, yet the mechanisms for holding them accountable and responsible for their actions were relatively weak. Many countries have sought to improve these institutions for increasing the accountability of officials. Institutions for tackling corruption are being created or revitalised in the public and private sectors, at national and local levels and even within international organisations. For instance, Transparency Interna tional, an international non-governmental organisation with headquarters in Berlin was set up in the early 1990s to combat corruption at national and international levels.
1.1.4. Increasing International Cooperation on Improving Ethical Conduct
The recognition that ethical issues are international rather than national has led to a willingness on the part of several international organisations to sponsor intervention programmes in this area. Some of the best examples of international organisations that are active in this field, besides Ti, include: the European Commission which has been promoting democracy and good governance in Eastern and Western European countries while the World Bank and other United Nations institutions, most notably the UNDP have also been promoting 'good governance* in developing countries of the world. The United Nations sponsored a major conference on the subject in 1989 and noted in its report that 'the problem of corruption has come to be recognised as a major
See Pope 1995, pp. .138- 142. At least one country, the United States has passed legislation, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act prohibiting American foreign businesses from offering bribes in foreign countries and denying tax deducibility status for monies referred to as 'commissions'. Other OECD
countries are yet to take such measures.
concern in public management'. Furthermore the 8th United Nations Congress argued for 'defining the types of offenses that should be made illegal-including theft, abuse of office without personal gain, conflict of interest, and non disclosure of financial interests'. It then went on to propose measures for containing corruption: developing staff and motivation- including the develop ment of the role of departmental ethics officers and of investigative strategy and
sanctions against wrongdoers 6.
In addition, a number of international conferences have been held regularly by various organisations on the subject of ethics. There is an international study group that holds biennial Anti-corruption conferences and another one on the subject of ethics.
It is perhaps appropriate at this point to indicate that training institutions have also come to recognise, worldwide that ethics has generally been neglected in the curricula of training institutions, in part, because of the difficulty of designing appropriate training methods. The International Institute of Administrative Sciences (HAS) and the International Association of Institutes and Schools of Administration (IASIA) began to focus on this subject from 1978 and has produced some very good publications on the subject (See reference list in Annex 1), Indeed, the last Annual Conference of the IASIA which was held in Durban, South Africa last July focused on the theme: 'Professionalism and Ethical Conduct for the Public Servant: Challenges for the 21st Century'.
Even then, education and training in the field of ethics is still generally in its infancy. A review of public administration graduate education programmes in the United States-one of the foremost nations in the field- found that the
majority of schools do not systematically address ethics7.
1.1.5. Successful Anti-Corruption Campaigns even in Some Third World Countries
Generally, while ethical problems and ethical infractions exist in all countries, the problem is compounded in developing countries because social values are stilt in a greater state of flux. Moreover, there are as yet no effective institutions in place for detecting, restraining and sanctioning corrupt officials.
Nevertheless, some developing countries have demonstrated that corruption can be tackled head-on. The best examples have been Hongkong, Singapore and lately, South Africa. The positive examples of these countries have been an encouragement to many Third world countries to underscore the fact that ethical problems are important and that they can be tackled.
6 As cited by Doig 1995,158-159.
7 SeeW. Bruce 1995, p. 115.
state has failed as an agent of development in many countries in the former socialist states of Eastern Europe and in many Third world countries as earlier highlighted, these countries in contrast, have demonstrated the positive role that good and honest political leadership together with an efficient, honest and highly motivated public services can play in the development process. Such countries include- the Asian Tigers: Singapore, Hongkong, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan, South Korea, and the African nation of Botswana8.
Due to all of these reasons, many countries have embarked upon a new
round of administrative reforms and within these reforms, the issue of ethics is a top priority. For instance, one of the most important rationale for privatisation of public enterprises is the need to reduce the scope and scale of corruption
in government. Even in the mainline civil service, which is the primary concernof this report, there is a considerable concern not only to constrain and contain unethical practices but to ensure that civil services operate efficiently and
according to democratic governance norms of - accountability, transparency, responsiveness to citizens etc. A selected number of these country cases are reviewed in the next section.1.2 Experiences of Some Selected Countries
In this section, we shall review a few country experiences of strategies
adopted to enhance the ethical conduct of civil servants. We shall focus on the national experiences of the following countries: United Kingdom, Hongkong , Singapore, Uganda, Ecuador, South Africa, the Philippines and Nigeria. The
first three countries are examples of successful approaches, while the next three are still largely engaged in the same process but their achievements to- date are noteworthy while the last two represent examples of failed efforts.After the review we shall highlight the major lessons from these national experiences for the Ethiopian civil service reforms. It is our belief that the Ethiopian government could identify important lessons for the reform of its civil service from the experiences of these countries.
For a full discussion of the concept of developmental states See Leftwhich 1995, p.405 . One of the six attributes of these countries is the existence of a powerful, competent and insulated economic bureaucracy. .
Successful Cases
1.2.1 United Kingdom
Many observers have a great admiration for the British civil service.
Political leaders from Lord Callaghan, Lady Thatcher and John Major, across the main political parties in that country regard the civil service as ' the bulwark of the (unwritten British) constitution' and regard it as 'something other countries have every cause to envy'. The key normative principles which have defined the British civil service since the Northcote Trevelyan reforms of 1854 have been 'integrity, impartiality, objectivity, selection and promotion on merit and accountability through the Ministers to Parliament'. Many countries, Ethiopia inclusive, have sought with variable levels of success to replicate what is commonly referred to as the westminster-whitehaJI model.
A number of institutions have been developed, over the years, to enhance the overall accountability of the government to the citizens in the UK.
These institutions include the doctrine of ministerial responsibility to parliament for the activities of his/her department. Parliament exacts accountability from the executive through a number of mechanisms the most important of which are-the parliamentary question time, A Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration (Ombudsman) and, most critically, through Select Committees of the House of Commons and the scrutiny of the audit reports on each ministry by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) which is usually chaired by a member
of the opposition9.
On the other hand, the civil service has suffered from outdated management practices and prejudices which has fed to misplaced priorities and an increasing feeling that civil servants have become 'masters in disguise'. The manner in which the service thwarted the spirited efforts made by the Labour Party under the Fulton reforms of 1968 had become classic entertainment in such written and video productions as 'Yes Minister1. The Conservative government led by Lady Thatcher came to power in 1979 with the belief that Britain was 'overgoverned' and that government should play a much smaller role in the economy and society compared to the private sector. Secondly, they were determined to reduce public expenditure so that they could reduce direct taxation in line with the new government's overall economic policies.
It is doubtful whether the conservatives have been able to produce the magnitude of the fiscal and economic changes which they envisaged through the reform of the civil service. However, they have successfully brought
In the United States, for instance, accountability of departments is ensured through the Government Accounting Office, an independent agency that is responsible only to the legislature.
dramatic change to he structure of the civil service and redefined the concept of accountability of tie civil service to the public.
The major initiatives that brought these changes about were: the efficiency scrutinies of 1979-81, the Financial Management Initiatives (from 1982), the Next Steps (from 1988) and the Citizens Charter programme under
Prime Minister, Johr Major (from 1991).Besides the government's privatisation programme which is not relevant
to our consideration here, civil service reforms have resulted in a situation in which 60% of the hdf- a- million civil servants are today working in Agencies,
institutions that were hived off from parent ministries to enhance moreprofessional management and a closer liaison between the citizens as
customers and the deliverers of services in the civil service.While civil servants are still responsible to the Minister/ Parliament
through the hierarchical structures of the Ministry, they are also directly
responsible to the customer.
The citizens'charter (CC) was announced by the British Prime Minister
in July 1991. He stated the objectives and operational procedures of the programme: it has & simple but ambitious aim- to raise the standard of public
service up to and beyond what they are at present and to make them answerbetter to the need of the ordinary people. It is underpinned by six key
principles- setting standards, information and openness, choice and consulta tion, courtesy and helpfulness , putting things right and value for money."Rie CC, functions like an organisational code of conduct that bonds the organisation to the customer/citizen who is regarded as the equivalent of a
shareholder or a valued customer. The scheme encourages greater responsiveness on the part of service providers, rewards innovation and improves the effectiveness and job satisfaction of the staff. A Minister of Cabinet rank was
appointed in 1992 to oversee the whole CC programme and special awards aremade to outstanding institutions annually. While the programme has exposed
civil service organisations to private sector mechanisms and in some cases to market-testing, the programme has received a positive rating and several countries are already pursuing the option. TTiere is also a sensitivity toperformance standards on the part of agencies and even British local
governments have not been left out.
Not much has been done in respect of the ethics of individual civil
servants, however. Nevertheless, chapter 4 of the Civil Service Managementcode, which came into effect in February 1993, makes specific reference to
anti-corruption activities.Specifically, it provides that civil servants must not make use of their official position to further their private interests or those of others. They are also required to avoid conflicts of interest which may arise from financial inter ests,freemansory etc. In addition, they are not to receive gifts, hospitality or benefits of any kind which might be seen to compromise their personal judgement or integrity. There are also laws governing the employment of former civil servants into private companies to ensure that they do not give special advantage to such companies over their competitors.
The code also covers such issues as the duty not to misuse official information; political neutrality and the duties of civil servants in relation to ministers. The whole effort is geared to ensuring that civil servants are and are seen by the public to be honest and impartial in the exercise of their duties.
It is significant to note that this central code is not a comprehensive one.
Rather, each department or agency is expected to define the standard of conduct they require of their staff, incorporating the framework of central code and adapting them to local needs and circumstances. Rather, the conservative government has directed its focus more to the political office holders. It produced a document titled Questions of Procedures for the Guidance of Ministers (1992) and went on in 1994 to establish a committee to report on the ethics of ministers, Mps and the civil service.
This was because of the repeated sex and money scandals especially by political office holders and the consequent loss of confidence by the general public, as indicated in opinion polls. National surveys revealed that most citizens believe that political office holders do not tell the truth. Whereas clergymen/priests, doctors , judges, teachers and professors were scored relatively highly (70-85%), civil servants, politicians and government ministers were scored 25%, 18% and 16% respectively. That was in 1983. The same poll ten years later showed a decline in the public's rating politicians generally and ministers in particular, but recorded an increase in the public rating for civil servants.
The terms of reference of the committee (subsequently referred to as the Nolan committee after the name of its chairman) included the following:
To examine the current concerns about standards of conduct of all holders of public office, including arrangements relating to financial and commercial activities, and make recommendations as to any changes in current arrangements which might be required to ensure the highest standards of propriety in public life.
For these purposes, public life should include Ministers, civil servants and advisers, Members of Parliament and UK Members of the European Parliament, members and senior officers of all non-departmental public
bodies, non-ninisterial office holders, members and other senior officers of other bodes discharging publicly-funded functions, and elected
members and senior officers of local authorities.The Committee recommended that MPs should remain free to have paid employment so long as this was unrelated to their role as MPs but should not take any jobs which require them to speak, lobby or vote in accordance with their client's instructions. They should also make a disclosure in full of any contracts relating to fie provision of services in their capacity as MPs and all payments received. Finally, the Committee suggested the promulgation of a
new Code of Conduct for MPs and the appointment of a ParliamentaryCommissioner for Standards with respect to this code. A draft of the Code of Conduct recommenced for Ministers is in Appendix 1. Besides these and other specific recommendations for MPs, Ministers and civil servants and the specialised agencies, the Nolan Committee made three important recommenda tions for all public organisations: a) Codes of Conduct for all public organisations where they have not already been drawn up based on the Principles of Public Life: Selflessness, Integrity, Objectivity, Accountability, Openness, Honesty and Leadership. (See Appendix 2 for details); b) Internal systems of self-regulation should be supported by independent scrutiny and monitoring routinely by auditors, and possibly by an independent body; c) More emphasis on education and training to inculcate ethics, especially induction
training.
In addition, there are two instituions that play important roles in the ethics field. These are the National Audit Office, which also has a counterpart for llocal governments and the Serious Fraud Office. These are besides such other institutions as the Public Accounts Committee (which is chaired by the opposition), a fine civil service college and host of other training instituions and
a vigorous and enquiring media.1.2.2 Hongkong
Hongkong, with a 1993 population of 5 million of largely (98%) Chinese is today a prosperous island/peninsula. A British colony, it was ceded to Britain by China in the mid-19th century for a 99-year period which comes to an end in 1997. Hongkong's successful approach to tackling corruption, first in its police force and later in other institutions and the society at large has commended the attention of many governments in the world. Several countries
have tried to replicate the Hongkong approach of creating a powerful indepen dent commission with wide powers for tackling corruption with variable success.Hence, this country's case deserves our attention in this report.
In the 1960s and early 1970s, Hongkong was well known for its corrupt
police. The police was corrupted by several forces: a culture of gift-giving to
public officers, insurrection and illegal immigration from mainland China, drug
trafficking as HK had become a notorious center for drug trafficking and repackaging for export, gambling and prostitution under police protection, to mention a few. All these factors led to a situation in which corruption became institutionalised and this hurt the city-state's economy. Many investors as well as the new and emergent middle-class worried aloud about institutionalised police corruption.
Several big scandals had in the past led to legal reforms followed by renewed forms of corruption and even the Anti-Corruption Branch of the police force, in spite of its broad powers of investigation had itself become the centre of police corruption.
Ultimately, in 1973, the governor of the island announced his intention to create in 1973 a new Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC).
ICAC was charged with three major responsibilities: strong investigatory powers, the prevention of corruption and the detection and prosecution of the corrupt. It was also a completely independent organisation-in its staffing, financing and operations. It was responsible only to the governor. It was also well- resourced and drew upon an expatriate officer (a former member of the
British police force) as its first commissioner.
ICAC has three major departments: the Operations department which has responsibility for investigating, arresting and helping to prosecute corrupt individuals; the Corruption Prevention department which identifies possible points and organisations where corruption might occur, can secure changes in operational procedures of such organisations in order to reduce the risk of corruption; and the Community Relations department gathers support from the public and informs the public while at the same time seeking to change public attitudes. The ICAC has left an enviable and sustained; record of arresting corruption. It has succeeded in prosecuting and securing conviction of very many important people within and outside the police force- in the post office, prisons, public works, transport and urban services and even in the in the private sector. It is reputed to have succeeded in striking fear in the hearts of the corrupt even though it is not possible to claim that it has completely eliminated corruption in this now prosperous country. Its working capital of only US$2 million in 1974 grew to US$14 million by 1982.
Several countries have attempted to copy the Hongkong model but they usually lack the requisites for success: relative freedom from internal corruption- because of its own internal complaints and investigative mechanism -, lack of outside interference, ability to attract widespread support within and outside the government, ability to operate in public and private sectors and also to fit into a heterogenous society. . Most importantly, it has access to tremendous financial and personnel resources which is usually lacking in many Third world countries.
1.2.3 Singapore
Singapore's struggle against unethical practices in government institutions is another example of success. A city-state of only 2.8 million people in 1993 which merged with Malaysia in 1963 and seceded some two years later. Even though its civil service was wracked by inefficiency and corruption in the 1960s, the Singapore civil service which consists today of 58,922 employees is one of the most efficient and corruption -free civil services
in the world.
Five major policies are noted to be responsible for the quality service which Singapore has today. These are: the adoption of anticorruption measures; merit recruitment; competitive pay for high-fliers; computerisation
and the creation of the Service Improvement Unit.For the purposes of our consideration, three of these mutually reinforcing measures have been crucial for the enhancement of the ethical conduct of civil servants in Singapore. They are: anti-corruption measures, meritocracy and
competitive oav. The first was put in place as early as 1952. The bureaucracythat the ruling party, the Peoples' Action Party inherited at independence was not only insensitive to the yearnings of a new nation, it was also corrupt. The Corrupt Practices Bureau (CPIB) which had been an inspiration for the creation of ICAC in Hongkong was established in 1952. This was followed in 1960 by Singapore's tough Prevention of Corruption Act. The latter empowers the public prosecutor to authorize investigation into the assets of any officer or his/her relatives and on income tax payments. According to a close observer, the CPIB "has such a reputation for thoroughness and efficiency that the mention of the CPIB's investigating an officer is said to cause fear and trembling'. The CPIB has demonstrated that it has the clout to punish both the big fish of corruption as well as lesser mortals. Its list of successful prosecution
has included a minister of state, prominent lawyers and surgeons, accountants, expatriates as well as locals and low level officials.In 1980, the 1960 law was repealed in favour of an even tougher law to prevent corrupt opportunities and to increase the penalties for corrupt practices.
In addition, the Public Service Commission recruits the brightest and best for its Divisions I and II appointments. It uses six criteria at its interviews which are well known to most people: citizenship, age, education, experience, medical
fitness and characterfl.e no criminal conviction).It was in 1972, that Singapore was able to address the problem of poor
pay as part of its strategy designed to reduce the incentives for corrupt
practices in the government Civil servants were given a 13-month non-
pensionable allowance comparable to private sector bonus. From 1973 on, the
salaries of the senior civil servants were increased periodically to reduce the
gap with the private sector. In 1989, the Singapore civil service adopted the principle of paying civil servants market rates for their skills. Hence, today the monthly salaries of the top administrative grade (Grade V) was US$20,140 which is much higher than the highest payscale in the United States Federal Civil Service. See Appendix 3 for the monthly pay of superscale officers in the Singaporean administrative service.
Finally, in 1991, a Service Improvement Unit (SIU) was created in the Prime Minister's office 'to monitor and improve the standard of public service by obtaining feedback from citizens. This unit has recorded tremendous success in helping to channel citizens views and question to administrators.
One of the strategies that has facilitated success is the appointment high-level administrative professionals (93 in all) throughout the civil service and statutory boards. Performance measures have been developed and awards are given on the basis of service audits and interviews with providers and users of the public service.
Recent and Promising Cases -
1.2.4 South Africa
When the new African National Congress govemment came to power in 1994, it inherited a civil service that 'was not only bloated but had significant inadequacies and deficiencies ranging from its lack of representativeness, overcentralisation, tack of accountability and transparency to low productivity.' The new South African government therefore committed itself to the transformation and reform of the public service into 'a representative, competent and democratic instrument for the implementation of govemment policies.' A White paper on the Transformation of the Public Service was produced which identified seven major priorities:
rationalising and restructuring to ensure a united, integrated and leaner public service;
• institution building to achieve greater effectiveness and accountability;
• representativeness and affirmative action;
• improved service delivery to meet basic needs and redress past imbalances;
• democratisation and human resource development;
• improving labour relations and employment conditions;
• promoting a professional ethos.
In respect of the latter, the govemment took the following critical measures: it bargained with civil servants for an improvement of service conditions. This led to the introduction of new salary structures developed in
collaboration with errployee organisations in the Central Chamber of the Public Service Bargaining Council as part of a three-year plan of improving the conditions of service. According to the Minister of Public Service, the
government of South Africa believed that:It is when salaries have been negotiated and improved that we can take a firm stand indeed against corrupt officials. It is when public servants feel secure and better paid that we can begin to see a pick-up in the
levels of conscientious service and motivation.The salary increases varied from 30% for lower paid labourers to 80%
for medical personnel. All sides aiso agreed to the need for reducing the size of the civil service and adopt affirmative action to ensure a service that is more representative of the political community. For a country that has been dominated by several years of white rule, this latter has momentous implica tions. The reduction ot the service is to be attained by a combination of measures: abolition of vacancies, voluntary severance package, natural attrition
and redeployment of personnel.In addition elaborate plans have been developed for staff development and training in order to ensure higher levels of professionalism in civil servants.
To this end, the Public Service Commission at the national level and the Provincial Service Commissions at the regional levels have been charged with the responsibility of developing training policies for their respective officers.
The South African Management and Development Institute was also restruc
tured to enable it undertake the additional responsibilities of carrying out
mandatory training of public officials.
Furthermore, the SA government is creating an Anti-Corruption Arm (ACA) which is being mandated to detect and expose corruption within the public sector. A commission of enquiry has also been set up to investigate allegations of improper promotions in the past-especially just before the 1994
elections.Finally, immediately after the 1994 elections, the ANC introduced Codes
of Conduct (referred to as the Asmal Code) and assets declarations for its
office holders, elected members. In addition, there is a high commitment totransparency. All the select Committees of the parliament are expected to
meet in the public in full glare of journalists and cameras. Ditto for court sessions. In turn, civil servants are made answerable to the parliamentespecially in the scrutiny of their budget estimates and the constitution of the
country guarantees the open, fair, and transparent government procurement
and access to information and all other guarantees of due process.1.2.5. Uganda
A richly resourced but landlocked country of some 18 million people, Uganda experienced political turbulence, civil war and dramatic economic decline from 1971 when General Amin came to power and 1965. After 15 years of political turbulence and civil disorder, the National Resistance Movement managed to assume power in January 1986 and brought some semblance of peace into the country through a government of national unity to enable the country restart the work of social and infrastructure rehabilitation and economic recovery. As at 1995, Uganda's per capita income was only $220, which makes it one of the poorest countries in the world but the process of rapid economic growth had commenced and its GDP growth has averaged 6%
in recent years.
When the NRM came to power in 1986, it found the Ugandan civil service 'inefficient, demoralised, and unresponsive; its reputation as the "the best in Africa south of the Sahara" had been ruined'. The new government established a Public Service Review and Reorganisation Commission to help identify the major problems of the public service and recommend the way forward. Besides, diagnosing the problems of the service: inadequate pay and benefits, poor management and organisation, insufficient personnel manage ment and training, it articulated a new vision for the public service. This vision and the strategic framework which came out of it was the result of consultations and interviews with some 25,000 civil servants in 1989-90. This led to a White Paper in 1991. A plan of action was subsequently developed with six major components:
• Rationalisation of Ministries;
Strengthening of the Capability of the Ministry of Public Service to Manage and Champion the Cause of reform;
Monetisation of Benefits;
* Job Grading;
Code of Conduct and Discipline;
Information Program and Communication Strategy for the Reform.
In respect of the fifth component, the Ugandan Code of Conduct drew from the country's standing orders. It states in part that 'no offrcer shall at any time engage in any activity which could in any way impair his usefulness as a public officer or engage in any undertaking which might in any way conflict with the interests of the public service or be inconsistent with his position as a public officer; or make use of his official position to further his private interests or those of his family.
There is also a Leadership Code of Conduct which identifies specifically prohibited conduct and requires the annual disclosure of interests and assets which is to be made to the Office of the Inspectorate General of Government
(IGG). Under the sjgis of this institution, parliamentarians, civil servants and members of the civ society devised a four-point plan to fight corruption. The plan includes: a) 'aising public awareness about corruption; improved
enforcement of arti-corruption laws; building of appropriate institutions especially in the IGG to fight corruption; and the enhancement of transparency and accountability. \ very important part of the civil service reform programmeis the training the country's journalists to improve their professionalism in
fighting corruption aid in obtaining and using information ethically, respecting privacy, checking references and avoiding litigation.The judgement of most observers of the Ugandan system is that while the government hts an ambitious programme of tackling corruption in
government, it is incapacitated by the following factors:High rast of political campaigns which have to be recouped after
the election;
very lew pays of civil servants. By 1994, the monthly salary of a doctor was only $90, $45 for a police officer and $43 for a primary school teacher. The wage bill constituted only 1% of the GDP.
Lack of enforcement of auditing systems within the government and the parastatal sector;
manifest failure to implement the Standing Orders, partly because it is tco draconian and unrealistic;
inability to monitor assets and liabilities of key decision makers in the public service;
• an underresourced judicial system that is yet to recover from the blight of civil war.
The IGG is under-resourced for its wide- ranging responsibilities.
Even though the IGG statute of 2 of 1988 makes the office responsible directly to the President, it does not have enforce ment powers and is forced to depend on the inefficient arms of government (the police, judiciary etc) for the prosecution of its cases. Yet it is charged with the dual functions of anti-corruption and receiving and reacting to citizens' complaints against pubic officers.
A combined mission of donor agencies to Uganda in December 1995 noted the gains made by Ugandan government in respect of political stability and moves towards constitutional rule, tremendous improvements in the economic conditions of Uganda- low inflation, return of capital flight and a convertible currency- and progress in respect of civil service reforms especially the reduction of the civil service numbers to 169,000 from 320,000.
On the other hand, the mission also noted that corruption continues to be widespread in the country- existing both at the top and bottom segments
and for junior civil servants as a means of survival. Even though the country's political leader is perceived as incorruptible and has initiated substantive and determined measures to tackle corruption- the freedom given to IGG to investigate corruption and the incarceration of a number of civil servants and politicians on corruption charges, the population seems unconvinced of the determination of the leadership to effectively combat corruption'.
1.2.6. Ecuador
Ecuador had a population of 11 million in 1993. Its per capita income at that time was US$1,200. Corruption in Ecuador as in many developing countries had become systemic. But it is most virulent in the procurement activities. About 30% of project sums are spent on bribes.
What is most important however, is that Ecuador has developed a highly successful campaign against corrupt practices in its procurement processes with the assistance of Transparency International. All those bidding for a project are required to sign a pledge that they will not bribe. Moreover, whoever wins the project contract will make a full disclosure of all payment s to third parties in respect of the contract. The unsuccessful tenderers are given the right to sue if they can prove that corruption was a factor in the in the deal.
The civil society is actively in monitoring these processes.;
Many other countries are watching the Ecuadorian experiment with immense interest. First, because it targets an important area political and administrative corruption in LDCs-procurement. Second, because it under scores the international nature of unethical practices and the effort to seek international cooperation between government and the private sector, national and international companies and state and civil society actors in the programme of monitoring and policing anti-corruption. Finally, the programme has brought different civil society organisations together in a coalition named, 'Clean Hands Movement'.
1.2.7. Philippines
The Philippines , a chain of 1,700 islands in Asia had a population of 65 million in 1993. Its ruler from 1965 to 1986 was Ferdinand Marcos who came to power on the strength of a campaign to clean the country of corruption. In 1972, he declared martial law because he was dissatisfied with the progress that had been made in poverty alleviation and corruption eradication. Under the martial law he promised the emergence of a 'New Society'. In 1975, he dismissed 2,000 government officials* several of them high ranking- as a result of a performance audit.
One of the most notorious corrupt and inefficient government institutions was the Bureau of internal Revenue (BIR). It was responsible for collecting
two-fifths of the country's revenue and had a manpower size of 7000. But government's reverues from taxes had fallen from 42% in 1973 to 29% in 1975- because of various forms of corrupt practices ranging from embezzle ment, fraud, sinecures to extortion, use of speed money and underassessment of taxpayers to the benefit of tax officials. Even the investigation unit was also corrupted. President Marcos replaced the topmost official in this bureau with a person who was widely perceived as Mr. Clean, Justice Efren Plana Within a short time, Justice Plana had rid the BIR of most of the corrupt practices and elements. Among Ns most important strategies were the dismissal of several corrupt officials and the publication of their names and offenses in the media, collected a lot of information on corrupt officials and taxpayers who tempted them using military and security intelligence services. He also undertook reorientation seminars, and tried to introduce a new organisational culture in the BIR.
Plana made important changes in BIR. In 1980, he became deputy minister of finance and shortly afterwards a justice of the supreme court. He was able to stem the tide of corruption in the BIR and exterminated most of the internal and external forms of corrupt practices in the organisation. Tax collections surged and he created a new sense of professionalism in the
agency.
On the other hand, these gains could not be sustained. The same forms of corruption raised their heads in a more virulent form after his departure from the organisation. The BIR was crucial to the millions that Marcos stashed away before he was removed from power by popular uprising in 1986. According to the New York Times. the President installed his relatives in the BIR to help his family members evade taxes.
Corruption became a national problem in the Philippines and was rated as the most important problem confronting the country by most citizens. It ultimately led to a major national crisis and the removal of the President, who was forced to flee the country and died in exile, under disgraceful circum stances.
1.2.7. Nigeria
Nigeria is black Africa's most peopled country, with a population of some 105 million (1993). The country is blessed with rich mineral, agricultural and human resources. The discovery of oil in commercial quantities in the late 1960s brought windfall gains to the government revenues which enabled it to embark on a number of very ambitious projects-roads, education, health infrastructure and large power dams in the middle of the country. Even a decision was taken to relocate the capital form the port city of Lagos to the centre of the country in the virgin land of Abuja.
Prosperity from oil also led to heightened forms of corrupt practices among the various government officials-first by civilian politicians but later in a more virulent form by military and civil officials, in close collaboration with foreign contractors of various shades and colour.
Military rulers justified their forcible entry into power by the corrupt practices of officials but they themselves were often overthrown by their colleagues on the charges of corruption and mismanagement of public resources. Unfortunately, each successive regime had out-performed the other.
But this was not for want of a battery of measures designed to stem the tide of corruption.
Three major types of measures have been used to tackle unethical practices by Nigerian governments. The first are media campaigns; since most media houses were owned and controlled by the governments this was relatively easy. Under the Buhari/ Idiagbon regime, a "War Against Indiscipline"
, otherwise known as WAI was launched. The Shagari regime followed this up with an ethical revolution and every govemment since that time has launched its own 'war' against indiscipline with lots of fanfare and cost but little tangible results on the conduct of public officials. Secondly, specialised bodies are created to investigate and prosecute corrupt practices: these include special tribunals with wide powers established by military decrees and manned mainly by military officers.
In addition, specialised civilian institutions have also been created, the most important being the Public Complaints Commission (PCC) in and the Corrupt Practices Bureau (both 1975), the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal in 1979. The Code of Conduct itself is very elaborate and prohibits all public officers (from the President down to the most menial of civil servant in the federal, state or local govemment or their agencies) from conflict of interest situations - they are forbidden from taking on part-time jobs, live above their incomes, be members of secret societies, operate foreign accounts, or take gifts or loans other than from banks or registered financial institutions. They are also not permitted to take only one job after retirement from the public service.
Most importantly, all public servants are expected to declare their assets (and those of their immediate families) immediately after taking office and at the end of every four years, at the end of every administration. In 1968, a major reform of the civil service incorporating new measures for improving accountability in the civil services was undertaken. Audit alarm committees were set up with powers to stop any voucher in a department or ministry.
Most of these measures have not had any impact whatsoever on unethical practices either on political office holders or civil servants. Several of these emergency structures are usually not properly resourced or not resourced
