Ethics for the Local Government Officer1
| Published date | 01 April 1960 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/j.1099-162X.1960.tb00170.x |
| Date | 01 April 1960 |
Ethicsfor
the
Local
Government
Officer!
THE first
duty
of
an
officer is to give his undivided allegiance to the authority
employing him. With his private activities
the
authority, in general, is
not
con-
cerned, so long as his conduct therein is
not
such as to bring discredit
upon
the service in which he is
an
officer.
For
that
conduct public service is entitled
to
demand
the highest standard.
The
maxim laid down for a
court
oflaw,
that
it is
offundamental
importance
not only
that
justice should be done in it,
but
that
it should manifestly
and
undoubtedly be seen to be done, applies with equal force to
the
officer. Public
confidence in his integrity would be shaken were
the
least suspicion, however
ill-founded, to arise
that
he could be in
any
way influenced by improper.
motives.
From
this it follows,
that
the officer, as a public servant must
not
only be
honest in fact,
but
must be beyond the reach
of
the
suspicion of dishonesty.
His is
not
to subordinate his
duty
to his private interests; or to
put
himself
in a position where his
duty
and
his private interests conflict.
He
should
not
make use of his official position to further those interests;
but
neither is he so to
order
his private affairs as to allow the suspicion to arise
that
atrust has been
abused or a confidence betrayed.
He should be courteous to all with whom his duties bring
him
in contact.
The
public expects from the officer a
standard
of
integrity
and
conduct
not
only inflexible
but
fastidious.
It
is
the
duty
of
the
service to see
that
that
expectation is fulfilled.
!Adopted by the National
and
Local Government Officers' Association,
and
published with
acknowledgement to NALGO. See also Journal
of
African
Administration,
Vol.
XII,
No. I., p. 50.
"Report
of the Public Committee on Principles
and
Standards of Conductof Public Officials".
The
Israel Political Sciences Association, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, 1959; pp. 8.
113
To continue reading
Request your trial