Scaling integrity ladder a worthy pursuit

Success in eradicating corruption and unethical conduct heavily hinges on an individual’s conscience, persuasion and commitment to the highest standards of morality.

The power of making a choice to act in a certain way, either for or against a given situation, depends on one’s moral calling and ethical standpoint.

Almost every stage of human life proffers most of us with opportunities to be socialised into a certain way of doing things whether acceptable or not.

It is the power of these socialising agents that determines the behavioural traits and outcomes among people.

The family is the first socialising agent where values are passed on to individuals before they can start learning about them through other institutions such as schools, religion and the society.

VALUES
It is, therefore, imperative for adults, more specifically parents, guardians and all professionals who deal with children, to pass down such values as hard work, honesty, fairness, justice, courage, kindness, sharing and caring.

A story is told of a child who spent a lot of time perusing through each page of the Bible in an effort to locate the ‘character’ of a parent who was full of hate, greed, arrogance and deceit but unfortunately he couldn’t trace it. Actions ‘speak’ louder than what we say.

As a society we are confronted with the challenge of permissiveness where wealth acquired without sweating for it is highly glorified.

We have a collective and critical role to play in shaping attitude and behaviour change towards nurturing a value-based society.

WORK ENVIRONMENT

The effect of significant others in shaping a person’s character and attitude either at home or at the workplace cannot be refuted.

The subject of ethics and integrity cannot be divorced from today’s work environment.

New entrants are similarly socialised into what constitutes morally acceptable conduct through formal induction programmes and other informal processes which come about due to social interactions in the course of discharging various duties.

At the core of such relations are the organisation’s vision and philosophy, which are espoused by the leaders.

INTEGRITY

In the long run, the intent of integrity should guide the means through which complete severance of corruption and unethical conduct in our nation can be realised. We must embrace integrity, be uncompromised, untainted and beyond suspicion in character like Caesar’s wife and, without doubt, the dragon of corruption and unethical conduct will cease rearing its ugly head in our country, Kenya.

Eliminating corruption and unethical conduct is possible. Yes, it is attainable! Can we be counted among the virtuous if subjected to scrutiny? I do not expect an answer, but a demonstration of our collective acts of integrity. It is our responsibility to uphold integrity even if no one else does. Let’s keep this conversation alive.

Ms Kiprotich is a governance educationist. [email protected]