Minister of Education, Culture, Youth Affairs and Sports Hon. Patricia Lourens-Philip on
Thursday addressed the issue of integrity with her ministry staff at the University of St. Martin as part of the Government’s integrity project.
The Minister’s speech is as follows:
Integrity in Government
Minster of Education, Culture, Youth & Sports
Ministry ECYS
Thursday, February 27, 2014
Good afternoon,
Protocol: (staff of the various departments in the Ministry of Education, Culture, Youth & Sports, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen),
I will first like to start my short presentation with establishing a common perspective regarding what we mean when we speak about integrity not only in a global sense but within the context of our particular work place which is collectively – within the civil service of the government of St. Maarten but in particular within the Ministry of Education, Culture, Youth and Sports Affairs.
Integrity in the workplace speaks about one’s moral and ethical behaviour that is expected on the one hand by all, as the common standards and values that are held in high esteem by the organization and then on the other hand are then demonstrated in the workplace.
All employers seek to have their employees demonstrate a high level of fundamental values in the workplace and the expectation of government as an employer is no different. This is what we call integrity.
The other side of this is that it is known that anti- integrity behaviour or we sometime refer to it locally as corruption, is inextricably woven into the issue of governance.
Corruption eats into any system, regardless of the philosophy or ideology or expectation of the government, or the location of the country. No political system in any country is immune from corruption.
Even some countries that have been rated the most transparent by Transparency International still have cases of corruption that are carried out by members of the governance system. It is something society has to live with but we must do everything to deal with in a structural manner.
It is therefore important that as a young country, we must look and learn from our past, adapt to the present and anticipate the future. Our country’s integrity or anti-corruption strategy is part of a broader governance and a capacity-building strategy.
We have to keep our own house clean, because no one else can do it for us. We have to do it ourselves and Government has taken the lead when the Council of Ministers in December 2010 approved the Integrity Project Sint Maarten.
As a Government, plans are in place regarding how best to run the country so that our citizens may have the best chances of a good life and progress in moving forward.
Integrity in government is an on-going process that does not have an end date. In our daily tasks, transparency in our affairs and processes will determine how good we do as a country.
As long as everybody follows the processes and procedures in place, the likelihood of corruption will be a lot less and marginalized and the level of integrity will increase.
Our vision as a civil service is to have a corruption-free environment, which is a source of strategic competitive advantage for our country and its long-term future.
Education, culture, youth and sports are key areas of any countries development.
Youth policies are required to guide the holistic development of our country’s young population.
Sports play a role in keeping our young people active and healthy and at the same time learning competitive skills in a sports environment – game friendly.
We must be guided by our past, our cultural heritage and values and highlight and promote this to our young people today and for generations to come so they never forget where we came from.
Education plays the role of keeping our economic engine moving forward and guarantees social mobility and progress. An educated human resource will ensure a level playing field of opportunity.
I have set out a vision for our ministry, without one we would not know exactly where we are going and what we need to accomplish.
In order to accomplish what we have set out to do, integrity plays a key role.
The vision is that of a Ministry that would be able to perform as a service-oriented arm of government, which would provide strategic leadership in the process of preparing an individual to become an independent, thinking, productive, wholesome, useful and valued member of our Sint Maarten society.
The mission of each one of us in this ministry is to carry out the vision as previously prescribed by providing and ensuring the implementation of effective and efficient systems, promote and secure equal opportunities and access to quality education, recreation, social, cultural and physical development for all the people of our country with the foundation in all our actions being the tenet of integrity for the better public good.
of each one of us in this ministry is to carry out the vision as previously prescribed by providing and ensuring the implementation of effective and efficient systems, promote and secure equal opportunities and access to quality education, recreation, social, cultural and physical development for all the people of our country
The core values of our ministry are as follows:
service-client orientation;
quality;
reliability;
and continuous improvement with once again the tenet of integrity as the basis for all of our actions.
The development strategies of our ministry details actions and activities that will contribute to the National Development Plan and Nation Building Plans for our country.
These development strategies are primarily geared towards helping the different departments and divisions of the Ministry to improve service, performance and productivity as well as to involve our stakeholders in a more participatory way, to raise the current standard to standards of excellence in every area of the Ministry’s portfolio. None of this can be achieved if we do not all have an active awareness of and demonstration of integrity as we go about our daily task carrying out the mission of the ministry.
Anti – Integrity behaviour by public servants of this Ministry is not to be tolerated at all costs.
As Civil servants we are custodians of public resources and public trust and this also stands for our ministry. This is how we have to look at what we do on a daily basis when we come to work at 8.00am in the morning.
Prior to me holding the position of Minister, I was a civil servant, so I speak from experience and hold integrity to the highest levels within our democratic system of government.
I do encourage you to practice some very simple actions that can demonstrate integrity. Simple things like " working when you are on the clock… socializing, surfing the internet or the blogs, making non-emergency phone calls, texting , over extending lunch breaks are things that distract from wok time." Honouring your work hours by not stealing time from your employer , which is government in particular and the ministry by extension is what integrity is all about.
Cutting corners by neglecting to follow proper procedures and processes that lead to misinformation to our clients, problems and even threatening and dangerous situations need to be avoided at all costs.
Respecting yourself and respecting your co-workers and colleagues and those in management over you , polite communication, respect for other persons opinions, dealing honestly with your co-workers demonstrating a level of trust are all acts of integrity hat we all should strive for as we work together for this ministry.
The end result of integrity, transparency, accountability and openness in whatever we do with respect to the Ministry can be summed up by the great literary writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe:
"Knowing is not enough. We must apply. Willing is not enough. We must do."
So to translate this in the context of integrity we will say " "Knowing what is integrity is not enough. We must always apply integrity in what we do! Being willing to practice integrity is not enough we must demonstrate/ do integrity."
Having said this, I now take the opportunity to introduce to you the one of the two persons of trust within our ministry:
Thank you
Patricia Lourens-Philip
Minister of Education, Culture, Youth and Sports
PHOTO CUTLINE: Minister Hon. Patricia Lourens-Philip.