International practices

Introduction Good governance is crucial to development Parliaments can promote good governance Oversee government activities Create ethics regimes So… what makes ethics regime work?

Ethics regimes Ethics regimes can be made up of several components: Ethics codes Codes of conduct Disclosure rules Ethics committees

Legal dispositions are necessary but not sufficient Dispositions must be enforced Ethics committees make sure that codes are respected and violations are punished Legal Dispositions of Codes

Relation between Code and Disposition Fact: In the House of Commons, the Code states that MPs must be open, honest and so on… Question: Do the dispositions of the code apply only to what MPs do in public life or also to what they and their family members do in their private life?

Example one: Ponder this A journalist launched a campaign against an MP Accused MP of dishonesty & illegally raising funds to buy a house MP replied by heavily insulting the journalist Do you think the behavior of the British MP is consistent with the dispositions of the code?

What happened? Accusations against the MP were false! He had legally financed his house; code of conduct could not sanction him for this. The MP was sanctioned for insulting the journalist - inconsistent with values of the code.

Second example The wife of a British MP made racist remarks to passers by The issue was brought to Parliament Can and should a member be sanctioned for his wife’s racist remarks?

discussion These examples raise a very important issue: In order to have effective ethics regimes, ethics rules must be: 1. reasonable 2. clearly stated 3. clearly and uniformly interpreted 4. objectively applied and enforced

Therefore… Ethics committees must: Educate members Provide guidance to the meaning of the code’s dispositions

Partisanship: A Second Problem Ethics committees and their members must be APARTISAN. Members should not use the committee to delegitimize political opponents Ethics committees that are partisan will be discredited A discredited ethics committee provides no incentive to respect the dispositions of the code