|
Public officials will earn trust if they project trust
2008-04-20 10:45:17
By Editor
There is a gap between the letter and spirit of what an ethical leadership is all about. Needless to say, it is a means of promoting moral uprightness among those who either vie for a public office via a political process or by appointment.
The bottomline is that they are being entrusted a public office, where a high level of integrity is expected of them all the time as they discharge their functions.
This is because in the course of doing so, they make crucial decisions on allocation of public resources, be it money or any other asset.
They enter into sensitive agreements and contracts on behalf of a public, which takes it for granted that they will safeguard its interests.
It is contradictory that while these officials swear to integrity and for the politicians, declare their wealth to the Commissioner of Ethics, the public has great difficulty getting access to such information.
We say so from the hurdles the press has always encountered when seeking information on the wealth of some of our public officials.
Why is it made so difficult for the ordinary public, whom the officials swore to serve, to periodically know the status and source of the wealth of the officials?
What are the officials, assisted by baffling red tape, trying to hide?
Lest we forget, we can only forge a trusting public by enforcing transparency among its leaders and officials.
It means enforcing a periodic public declaration of their wealth, as a test of their integrity, but also as proof of good governance.
As we have noted, not doing so, gives rise to a very suspicious public and a lot of unnecessary speculation about the wealth of public officials.
Let the law require mandatory periodic declaration of wealth to build trust and transparency.
|
