CHRAJ to provide ethics desks to maintain standards

The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) would soon provide ethics desks and officers to assist management of public institutions to adhere to ethical standards in the workplace. This is in line with the Commission's aim to promote integrity, transparency and accountability in the public service and to ensure that those who exercised power did so responsibly. Ms Anna Bossman, Acting Commissioner of CHRAJ, said on Tuesday that the Commission had produced Guidelines on Conflict of Interest for public officials to identify, manage and resolve conflicts of interest and ensure that they served in the interest of the general public. Speaking at a workshop for District Assemblies on ensuring transparency and accountability in local government administration, she said the responsibilities of the ethics officers would include the observance and compliance with the guidelines and in-house ethics and policies. She said they would also provide periodic training in ethics and decision-making of staff to help them to better appreciate the importance of ethics in the public service and to advise management on the application of ethics rules. Ms Bossman said the major concern in most developing countries was how to ensure that those in power were held accountable for their actions. She said corruption generated lack of public trust in the public service which in turn destroyed political stability. Ms Bossman said integrity, accountability and transparency must be ways of life if the country was to achieve the millennium development goals. She commended the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament for doing a good job and called on the public to condemn those who were threatening the life of its chairman, Mr Samuel Salas-Mensah. The Chairman said he had received at least five calls from unknown persons threatening his life and asking the Committee to stop the exercise of scrutinising the accounts of MDAs.