Public Money & Management
ISSN: 0954-0962 (Print) 1467-9302 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rpmm20
Operationalization of Ghana’s civil service code of
conduct
Franklin Akosa, Emmanuel Yeboah-Assiamah, Bossman E. Asare, Kwame
Asamoah, Akua Pokua Essah-Koli & Paiman Ahmad
To cite this article: Franklin Akosa, Emmanuel Yeboah-Assiamah, Bossman E. Asare, Kwame
Asamoah, Akua Pokua Essah-Koli & Paiman Ahmad (2019): Operationalization of Ghana’s civil
service code of conduct, Public Money & Management, DOI: 10.1080/09540962.2019.1598198
To link to this article:  https://doi.org/10.1080/09540962.2019.1598198
Published online: 11 Apr 2019.
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PUBLIC MONEY & MANAGEMENT
https://doi.org/10.1080/09540962.2019.1598198
Operationalization of Ghana’s civil service code of conduct
Franklin Akosaa, Emmanuel Yeboah-Assiamahb, Bossman E. Asarec, Kwame Asamoahd,
Akua Pokua Essah-Kolid,e and Paiman Ahmade
aMountCrest University College, Accra, Ghana; bSchool of Public Leadership, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa; cGhana Electoral
Commission and Department of Political Science, University of Ghana, Ghana; dDepartment of Public Administration & Health Services
Management, University of Ghana Business School, Ghana; ePaiman Ahmad, College of Human Sciences, University of Raparin, Iraq
ABSTRACT KEYWORDS
This paper examines the internal and external challenges to the implementation of the code of Code of conduct;
conduct in the Ghana’s civil service using the Controller and Accountant Generals’ Department effectiveness; ethics
(CAGD) as a case study. The main internal challenges to the implementation of the civil service challenges; implementation;
code of conduct at CAGD were found to be: the categories of staff affected by the code of public sector
conduct; ‘immunity’ from sanctions, nepotism; and limited checks on enforcement
mechanisms. The key external challenges to the implementation of the civil service code of
conduct at the CAGD are discussed in the paper and the authors make five important policy
suggestions to enhance effectiveness of the implementation process. The suggestions will
have value in countries with developing administrative systems.
IMPACT
Enforcing of codes of conduct in many public sector organizations in Ghana and other
developing countries can be difficult. Cronyism, nepotism and other non-merit
considerations in appointments and promotions can result in employees openly flouting
codes of conduct. Governments must empower their civil services to come up with well-
enforced mechanisms to ensure full compliance with that country’s public sector code of
conduct. This paper explains how policy-makers in developing countries can move
forward to prevent code violations and to resist political interference in civil service
operations.
Introduction (2010) examined how leadership factors influence
enforcement of codes in some African countries. They
Promoting an ethical workforce requires codes of
found that many of these countries had a code of
conduct to structure and regulate the behaviours of
conduct in place for public officials, yet these were gen-
an organization’s personnel. Codes of conduct
erally poorly enforced. Meanwhile, a recent study by
denote a set of values and rules that govern the
Bailey (2018) demonstrates the importance of an
way social institutions should behave towards their
ethical civil service and the need to promote ethics
stakeholders and the way stakeholders (particularly
among public officials. Although there are structural
employees) should behave toward the institution
and institutional mechanisms to ensure the operatio-
and each other (Carson, McGill, & Baetz, 2008).
nalization of codes of conduct in Ghana, enforcement
Codes are not recent arrangements but have antece-
th is problematic—resulting in immoral and corruptdents in the 18 century (Gilman, 2005) when they
behaviour in many public organizations.
served as strategic tools for socializing norms and
This paper fills a gap in the academic literature by
values, whether religious, professional or civic codes.
examining the internal and external challenges to the
Early examples of codes of conduct include the Ten
implementation of codes of conduct in the civil
Commandments (Ali and Gibbs, 1998), Pericles’ Athe-
service. The focus is on the Controller and Accountant
nian code and the Hippocratic oath (Davey, 2001). In
General’s Department (CAGD) in Ghana. We had three
contemporary times, codes have been recognized as
key research questions:
useful in the administration of public services in
many countries in the world (Benavides & Dicke,
2016; Thaler & Helmig, 2016). . To what extent do public employees demonstrate
Studies have been done on codes of conduct and awareness of the civil service code of conduct?
their implementation, especially in developed . What militates against the implementation of the
countries like the USA, and UK (Blewitt, 2008; Garrod code of conduct?
& Fennell, 2004) and developing African countries (Nur- . How could implementation be made more
unnabi, 2015; Sakyi & Bawole, 2010). Sakyi and Bawole effective?
© 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
2 F. AKOSA ET AL.
Conceptual overview action may be regarded as ethical or unethical, right
or wrong, acceptable or unacceptable. ‘Deontology’
Codes of conduct are generally broad, encouraging
originates from the Greek words ‘deon’ (duty) and
groups and individual employees to show and
‘logos’ (science), so it means the science of duty (Hall-
espouse particular characteristics such as honesty,
garth, 2012). Socrates, Immanuel Kant and other scho-
loyalty, selflessness, objectivity, probity and integrity
lars contributed to the theory of deontology. While
(Fisher & Alan, 2006). Carson et al. (2008) define ‘code
Socrates argued that people will conform to moral prin-
of conduct’ as a set of values and rules that govern
ciples to determine whether an action is ethical or not,
the way social institutions should behave toward
Kant’s view was that there are some moral obligations
their shareholders and the way stakeholders (particu-
that are obtained absolutely, irrespective of the conse-
larly employees) should behave towards both the insti-
quences produced (Kant, 2017). The theory is also
tution and each other.
useful for ‘unpacking’ a code of conduct and under-
The Ghanaian civil service code of conduct is
standing implementation in organizations.
intended to be a guide to the civil servants in Ghana
The deontological approach is principles-based and
on how to deal with their key stakeholders—the gov-
hinges on a set of agreed principles that guide the
ernment, civil service organizations and the general
decisions of civil servants. The means cannot be
public. Administrative sanctions are in place to be
divorced from the ends and the public administrator
applied to any civil servant who does not follow the
must necessarily apply the principles or codes in
code’s guiding principles (Ghana Civil Service, 2018).
order to act ethically; the moral law is absolute and
The 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana includes
supreme (Hallgarth, 2012). The theory contends that
code of conduct provisions for public officers (articles
adherence to the codes is compulsory and that any
289 to 292), relating, for example, to conflicts of interest,
individual who fails to comply must face agreed upon
other public appointments, declaration of assets and
sanctions.
liabilities. Sakyi and Bawole (2010) note that the Gha-
naian civil service is guided by the following principles:
selflessness, integrity, justice and fairness, accountabil-
ity, transparency and leadership. These are linked with Linking the deontological approach to the
enforcement provisions in the constitution. Figure 1 implementation of Ghana’s civil service code of
highlights key provisions for civil servants’ behaviour conduct
in Ghana’s civil service code of conduct. One of the basic values governing public adminis-
tration enshrined in Ghana’s constitution (chapter 24)
is a high standard of professional ethics. This suggests
The deontological approach
that public officials are assigned some duties, principles
Deontological theory is applied in this paper to explain or ideals which are expected to be adhered to in their
the values and principles which determine which day-to-day activities. Professionals in the Ghanaian
Figure 1. Key provisions in Ghana’s civil service code of conduct.
PUBLIC MONEY & MANAGEMENT 3
public service are required to demonstrate ethical published and unpublished materials on codes of
behavior in the workplace. According to Section 8(1) conduct. Additionally, relevant information from the
of the Ghana civil service code of conduct, civil servants internet and newspapers were used in the study.
‘should conduct themselves in accordance with the Primary data for the analysis and discussion were gath-
standards of integrity, impartiality and honesty in ered through one-on-one interviews with selected
dealing with ministers, members of parliament and CAGD officials and workers. A total of 30 respondents
the public’. It is the responsibility of workers to was selected for the study. The key respondents
adhere to the principles or core values of their organiz- involved 12 officials from the finance and adminis-
ation. By so doing, employees will behave responsibly tration department; six respondents from the audit
and be committed to their work (Akosa, Asare, Essah- and investigation unit; six from the ICT management
Koli, & Twerefoo, 2018). Scholars (for example Griffin department; four from the financial management ser-
& Herres, 2002) have argued that, if someone makes vices unit; and two from the payroll management
a promise, they have to keep it. Individuals who and treasury unit.
accept appointment letters from employers therefore Seven of the officials interviewed had worked from
indirectly agree to abide by the rules and regulations one to five years at the CAGD; nine had worked from
of that organization. six to 10 years at the CAGD; five had worked for 11
Relating this to the Ghana’s civil service code of to 15 years; and six workers had been with the CAGD
conduct, if an individual has accepted a job in the for over 20 years. Three workers did not indicate the
Ghana civil service they must conform to the civil number of years they had worked at the CAGD. There-
service code of conduct. When individuals are fore, the majority of the respondents were experienced
employed by an organization, they have a responsibil- and information rich about the CAGD. Sixteen were
ity to comply with all of that organization’s demands male and 14 female. Thematic analysis was used to
and codes. The deontological approach enables indi- identify, analyse and report patterns within the data
viduals at the workplace to know the ‘rights’ and (Braun & Clarke, 2006). This was done in relation to
‘wrongs’. The provision of rights and wrongs and the research questions to enable the researchers
knowledge of dos and don’ts through codes of con- make logical deductions and conclusions (Huberman
ducts enable workers to understand what is expected & Miles, 2002). Sub-themes were also generated from
from them in their workplace which helps in managing main themes until the point where no new themes
ethics among workers (Bromley & Orchard, 2016). were discovered by the researchers
Research methods and study context Findings
Study context Awareness of the existence of Ghana’s civil
service code of conduct
The case study organization, the CAGD, is a public
service body that supervises government accounts The first objective of the study was to assess awareness
and is also in charge of processing the salaries of all or knowledge level about the code of conduct. Twenty-
public sector workers in Ghana. The CAGD consists of eight respondents (93%) were aware of the code of
the following divisions: finance and administration, conduct at the CAGD and understood that going
treasury, financial management service, payroll man- against the code could have consequences. However,
agement, audit and investigation, and information two respondents did not indicate their position on
and communication technology management. One of their awareness of the code of conduct. Some respon-
the perceived ethical challenges at the CAGD is a dents referred to code of conduct as the dos and don’ts
weak punishment system for staff involved in corrupt of civil servants working at the CAGD.
activities, for example misappropriating public funds.
Implementation of the code of conduct at CAGD
Research design A large number of respondents said that the nature of
A qualitative approach was employed to explore the enforcement of the code of conduct at the CAGD
inherent challenges militating against effective needed to be retooled. The key evidence for improving
implementation of professional code of conduct in enforcement of the code of conduct is discussed
the civil service of. The qualitative approach enabled below.
the researchers to develop in-depth understanding
of the code of conduct (Boateng, 2014). The study Disciplinary actions against deviants
made use of both secondary and primary sources of Various forms of disciplinary actions have been insti-
data. The secondary data comprised the civil service tuted to punish workers who have been found guilty
professional codes of conduct, as well as other relevant of misconduct and to deter other people from doing
4 F. AKOSA ET AL.
so. An example of the disciplinary actions indicated by general public could be made more aware of the
respondents included fining workers if public money code and its sanctions for misconduct.
had been misspent. For example, the CAGD reported
and handed over to the Bureau of National Investi-
gation (BNI) workers who connived with student tea- How CAGD management enforces the code of
chers in the Ashanti region of Ghana to defraud the conduct
state (Today, 2016).
Our interviewees revealed that management influ-
Training ences the enforcement of the code of conduct
Training is an e ective mechanism for enforcing a code through disciplinary actions and reform programmes.ff
of conduct. One respondent indicated that new The department’s disciplinary committee (DDC)
entrants to the CAGD were being educated about the ensures that workers who violate the code are dealt
code of conduct. Interviewees also revealed that civil with. There is an appeal committee in place to ensure
service training seeks to empower workers to adopt that the code of conduct is applied fairly.
the code of conduct as a guide for day-to-day manage- Reforms in Ghana’s public sector are a strategic tool
ment of staff behaviour. An o cial told us: that trigger motivation in terms of professionalism,ffi
transformation and modernization for the improve-
All new employees should be educated on the code as ment of institutions and processes.
soon as they are employed. This will guide them on When workers are posted or transferred to CAGD,
how to conduct themselves in the organization.
management organizes training or orientation pro-
grammes for them. Newly-recruited staff are pro-
Rewards vided with an overview of the civil service code of
Rewarding workers who adhere to a code of conduct in conduct during their orientation. At the time of this
the workplace can help in the effective implementation study, CAGD was still engaged in educating newly-
of that code of conduct. Individuals who adhere to the recruited staff about the code of conduct in quarterly
code at the CAGD are sometimes recommended for newsletters. Based on the responses from partici-
promotion or awards. For example, there is a ‘best pants, reform programmes at CAGD are providing
civil servant award’ at the CAGD. These practices adequate information and education on the code of
have encouraged staff to follow the CAGD code to conduct.
receive promotions and awards.
Making the code of conduct accessible Challenges to the implementation of the civil
Providing a copy of the code of conduct to each new service code of conduct
entrant is an obvious way of making it accessible. A
Our findings, on the surface, suggested the civil service
key official went further and suggested that the civil
code of conduct is being used in the CAGD. However,
service code of conduct should be available at every
an in-depth interaction with respondents revealed
tertiary institution in the country to prepare students
some internal challenges militating against the
for the job market. One respondent at the finance
effective operationalization of the code of conduct.
department said there was a need to simplify the
code of conduct because it could be hard to follow.
For instance, simple handouts on the code of Cherry-picking in implementation
conduct could be made available to all staff. Publishing A majority of the officials (19 out of the 30 respon-
the code of conduct on the internet would be another dents; 63.33%) interviewed disclosed that the code
way of making the document available to all workers of conduct mainly affects only junior and middle-
and to the interested public. Ghana’s Public Service level staff at the CAGD, who can be used as
Commission (2018) indicated that the code of scape-goats to protect senior management from
conduct could be made more accessible to workers punishment:
by displaying it in strategic places such as meeting-
rooms and the canteen. … the code of conduct affects only the lower and
middle-level staff, the top-level officials appear to go
unpunished when they violate the rules and regulation
Creating awareness spelt out in the code of conduct.
Continuous awareness creation among workers con-
cerning the code of conduct would help in its … a junior staff member is suspended if their actions
effective implementation. Awareness can be created are contrary to the tenets of the code of conduct of
the organization. Nevertheless, the same offence by a
through staff meetings, seminars, noticeboards and senior will not require suspension. Lesser sanction
workshops. Awareness could also be built using social such as refusal for promotion would be applied in
media like WhatsApp or Facebook. In addition, the the case of the senior staff.
PUBLIC MONEY & MANAGEMENT 5
Protection from sanctions … I haven’t seen any mechanisms put in place to
Another internal challenge to the implementation of ensure enforcement of the code in this organization,
the civil service code of conduct at CAGD is shielding because it is issued by the head of civil service.
workers from sanctions. This happens when manage- Other respondents indicated that although disci-
ment has personal or social relations with someone plinary committees, attendance records and other
who has violated the code. Sometimes, they are devices have been put in place to enforce the code
simply transferred to other departments within the of conduct, no-one was monitoring whether the
service. An official revealed: measures put in place had achieved their purpose.
Yes, management sometimes hinders the process by These findings confirm similar arguments by Hall and
tempering justice with mercy. Instead of giving the Taylor (1996) who indicated that some of the chal-
appropriate sanctions, they base the sanction on per- lenges observed in the public sector of developing
sonal relationship. countries include poor supervision and monitoring
It is against such backdrop that one respondent leading to ineffective implementation of codes of
attributed all the challenges to internal problems: conduct. The behaviours of individuals and the mech-
anisms that are put in place to check the conduct of
… I am not aware of any external challenges to the people are better understood in terms of rational
implementation of the code of conduct in this organiz- choice theory, i.e. the extent to which flouting of insti-
ation, the challenges are within the organization. tutions/rules will come with sanctions. Individuals are
Fundamentally, the code of conduct for the Gha- likely to weigh the benefits and possible sanctions of
naian civil service needs to ensure that all civil servants unethical behaviour (Hall & Taylor, 1996).
conform to the appropriate norms and standards of
behaviour (Moeketsi, 2000). Operationalization of the
code needs to occur in a uniform fashion. External challenges to the implementation of
the civil service code of conduct
The majority of the respondents said that there were
Nepotism and favouritism also external challenges to the implementation of the
Both nepotism and favouritism on the part of some civil service code of conduct.
managers to their preferred subordinates can be a chal-
lenge to the implementation of the code of conduct in Ethnic and political interferences
the civil service. Some respondents indicated that man- Ethnic and tribal interferences were reported to be
agement at the CAGD interfered with effective opera- major external challenges to the implementation of
tionalization of the codes by remaining silent despite the civil service code of conduct in Ghana:
the fact that some workers were selling and buying
products at work. This trading was often ignored by … people are appointed to work in the civil service not
management because of an association with the indi- because they merit and have deeper insight into the
viduals involved and this is not conducive to e ective code of conduct of the organization but rather onff
their ethnic and tribal background.
implementation of the code of conduct at CAGD.
Internal interferences in the implementation of the Top-level managers and officials mostly have politi-
code of conduct in the organization negatively affect cal ‘godfathers’ in government who shield them from
staff members standards of behaviour and their atti- punishment and other sanctions. The Ghanaian civil
tude to work (see Yeboah-Assiamah, Asamoah, service appears politicized in that when recruiting
Bawole, & Buabeng, 2016). people into the service—partisan politics consider-
ations and political calculations tend to underpin
such decisions (Appiah & Abdulai, 2017). More often
Limited checks on enforcement than not, if a member of the public service is facing
sanctions after breaking the code, their political links
There are limited checks on the mechanisms used to
can be used to excuse them, for example with
enforce the implementation of the code of conduct.
officials hiding behind technicalities (see Yeboah-Assia-
There are no clear and explicit mechanisms for enfor-
mah & Alesu-Dordzi, 2016).
cing the code of conduct at the CAGD. Due to the
limited checks, mechanisms normally used by the
CAGD are recommendations from the DDC to freeze Difficulties in accessing the code of conduct
an offender’s salary or other benefits. There have also document
been suspensions and demotions. Because the mech- Respondents revealed that can be difficult to access
anisms to enforce the code of conduct are not very the code of conduct document. One respondent said
clear, some respondents felt that the code of conduct that the code of conduct document should be attached
it was not enforced: to an individual’s appointment letter:
6 F. AKOSA ET AL.
The code of conduct should be the first document visible justice, so if managers’ or employees’ beha-
issued together with the appointment letter for the viours do not match the code and nothing happens,
worker to read and assess whether he/she will be it will fail’ (p. 16). In their discussion on code of
able to abide by all the rules and regulations before
accepting the organization’s appointment letter. conduct violations, Nitsch, Baetz, and Hughes (2005)
note that employees develop frustration, anger and
cynicism when code violations are unchecked and go
Inadequate resources to build capacity unpunished. It is prudent for organizational leaders to
Another major challenge revealed by respondents is demonstrate fairness and justice in the implementation
resources to build capacity at the CAGD so as to of code of ethics uniformly because workers are
enable the effective implementation of the civil rational beings sensitive to values of fairness and
service code of conduct. An official indicated that, the unfairness which has implication on trust (Wolfe,
civil service fails to effectively implement the code of Rojek, Manjarrez, & Rojek, 2018). Michel and Hargis
conduct because of inadequate resources to build (2017) contend that procedural injustice has impli-
capacity at the CAGD. There are limited resources to cation on deviant behaviour among public sector
train and manage the workers at the CAGD. workers.
Our paper explains that maintaining an ethical
Optimizing implementation climate in the civil service requires individuals to
Concerning mechanisms to improve the use of the follow the code of conduct. Cronyism, nepotism and
code of conduct, our respondents indicated that man- other non-merit considerations in appointments and
agement should demonstrate interest in the code of promotions place public sector organizations in a situ-
conduct. Management should ensure that workers ation where employees can openly flout codes of
who violate the code are punished. Sims and Brinkman conduct. In their study in Norway, Marnburg (2000)
(2003) said that leaders should serve as examples or observed that the mere existence of a code does not
models to sustain a workplace code of conduct. Super- necessarily impact the attitudes of workers and that
visors and directors must abide by the rules and regu- staff need to acknowledge, accept and abide by the
lations that govern the organization so as to induce or code. We conclude that by not properly enforcing the
encourage other workers to do same (see Weinberg, code of conduct, the Ghana civil service is lacking in
2014). A study in Israel by Beeri, Dayan, Vigoda- professionalism, with many staffmembers who are sus-
Gadot, and Werner (2013) noted that ethical leadership picious of top management. This is in line with a study
positively related to employees’ awareness of a code of by Murtaza, Shad, Shahzad, Shah, and Khan (2011)
ethics. which observed that ‘procedural and distributive
justice have positive and significant effect on employ-
ees’ commitment, with procedural justice having stron-
Conclusions and policy implications
ger effect’ (p. 73).
This paper has presented key issues regarding the use Based on the conclusions of this study, we have
of code of conduct of the civil service in Ghana using some recommendations to address the internal and
the CAGD as a case study. The main internal challenges external challenges in the implementation of the civil
affecting the implementation of the civil service code service code of conduct in Ghana. These apply to
of conduct at the CAGD were cherry-picking staff other developing public administrations.
members who will face sanctions (junior and middle- First, more efforts should be made to communicate
level staff only), immunity from sanctions, issues relat- and explain the code of conduct to employees, so that
ing to nepotism in personnel management, and they know what is expected of them and what to avoid.
limited checks on enforcement. Employees will have no justification for violating the
External challenges to the implementation of the code because they will be fully aware of the conse-
civil service code of conduct included ethnic and politi- quences of their actions. Serious efforts should be
cal interferences, as well as difficulties in accessing the made to target clients or customers (citizens) to make
code of conduct document. Although there is a civil them aware of the civil service code of conduct so
service code of conduct in Ghana, its enforcement that they could hold civil servants accountable if the
and compliance appears to occur in a non-uniform code is violated. Organizations need to encourage
fashion with most people ‘getting away with it’, with communication, encourage whistle-blowing and
a few, lower-level staff who were not politically or man- avoid a culture of silence. Citing the Enron case,
agerially connected used as scape-goats. These cherry- Perlow and Williams (2003) discuss a culture of
picking issues are serious: Adam and Rachman-Moore silence where the organizational climate made
(2004) contend that code of ethics is only effective workers feel that they could not discuss the unethical
when interspersed with the right ethical behaviour practices going on in the organization.
from managers in terms of conformity and implemen- Second, staff could be made aware of the principles
tation. Stevens (2009) puts it, ‘members respond to on the code via social media. For example by sending
PUBLIC MONEY & MANAGEMENT 7
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