The Anguillian Public Service: Comments Invited On Draft Ethics Code

A draft Code of Ethics in the Anguilla Public Service has now been published and members of the public are being invited to make comments and suggestions.

This is according to a press release issued by the Deputy Governor’s Office on Tuesday, April 3. The full text of the release is as follows:

“The Anguilla Public Service continues its quest to identify and document the standards expected of public servants as they carry out their duties. It is felt that the public service is made up of public servants who are generally concerned to the right thing, the right way. Achieving this end is not always easy, particularly when members of the public and public servants are unaware of the standards public servants are expected to attain and maintain.

“One tool which will assist public servants in their daily efforts to achieve and maintain certain standards in public life is an established Code of Ethics and Integrity for the Anguilla Public Service. The Code will serve to remind all public servants and the public, of the aspirations of the public service as regards the values that it is hoped will pervade the entire service.

“The steps taken thus far to achieve this goal has included two ‘Ethics and Standards in Public Service’ workshops, held at Paradise Cove Resort during the week of 13th November 2006. Participants had the benefit of the knowledge and experience of Professor Victir Ayeni (former Head of Governance at the Commonwealth Secretariat) and Christopher Jary of the UK National School of Government who were lead facilitators at the workshops.
“These workshops were funded by the U.K., Department for International Development and organised by the National School of Government (the U.K.’s business school for Government). The aim of the workshops was to increase awareness of the issues of ethics and integrity within the public service of Anguilla and to begin the process of formulating a Code of Ethics and Integrity for the Anguilla Public Service. Full participation by participants allowed the participants to make significant progress in producing a draft Code of Ethics and Integrity for the public service of Anguilla and its citizens.
“It was the general consensus of those attending the workshops that a Code of Ethics and Integrity for the public service should only be published after all public servants had been afforded an opportunity to have input in the Code. This opportunity was afforded to public servants over the period January 15th – February 1st, 2007 with the help of a team led by Valerie Hodge, Deputy Human Resource Management. The team visited the government departments and afforded public servants a further opportunity to have input in the proposed Code of Ethics and Integrity for the public service. The results of the consultative process have been incorporated into the Draft Code of Ethics which is now being made available to the public for their comments and suggestions.
The Draft Code is available at web site gov.ai/ethics.php. Hard copies can be obtained at the General Post Office, the Public Library, the Court House, Inland Revenue and Treasury Departments respectively.
Comments and suggestions can be submitted to the Executive Assistant, Deputy Governor’s Ofice, Old Ta, Anguilla; faxed to 497 3314 or emailed to Glynicef@gov.ai.
All persons are encouraged to take advantage of this opportunity so as to ensure that the standards established are reflective of what the general public expects of public servants.