CORRUPTION OF ETHICAL BEHAVIOUR

Sir,

We all know when certain things are not ethical; and as such, we instinctively know when certain things or actions are not right. This is what some people refer to as the ‘moral compass’. This is notwithstanding that there may be nothing in law that criminalises our action. I mean, when I start doing business with my wife’s employer, whether directly or indirectly, there is bound to be a perception of unfair advantage accruing to me, no matter how transparent my appointment was. Similarly, when family members of politicians in government start getting contracts from companies awarded huge road construction tenders in the country we are bound to suspect them to have had an unfair advantage over the rest of the citizens.

Knowledge

Even if advertised, we will always have the lingering question of whether they had prior knowledge of the contract or whether they were preferred over other bidders. The bottom line is that it is not a great idea to have family members of politicians be seen to be doing business with government; whether directly or indirectly. It’s a question of ethics more than it is a question of free enterprise and the rights of the persons involved.

Reference

While I recall that there may well be some reference to similar circumstances in the Procurement Act governing doing business with government, I still feel we need no law to tell us what is ethically flawed. This trend should be frowned upon because there is a real danger of government being biased when dealing with those individuals. Will it be easy for government officials to crack the whip and demand specific performance from such people? Let us assume that after shortcomings are brought to the attention of the individual and the individual fails to remedy the shortcomings, and government has to have recourse to law; how easy would that be for government to do? Obviously it wouldn’t be the easiest thing to do. Governments the world over suffer from this kind of corruption - a corruption that abuses ethical behaviour.

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