THE ATTITUDE OF INTEGRITY
INTRODUCTION
Some people say President Levy Patrick Mwanawasa was a president of integrity. Issues of integrity are all around us. Think of a young graduate trying to cheat their way to a job, a potential driver trying or being enticed to bribe their way to a driver’s license, a politician trying to bribe their way into a position and many more similar occurrences. Slowly but surely, generation after generation, we accept lack of integrity to hold us captive and hinder economic development.
Are you a person of integrity? How significant is the integrity of others and indeed your integrity to economic development? I have already established that “Ethics as a basic principle” are essential for development. This is because they lead to confidence in stakeholders and increase the volume of transactions occurring between them. We now move on to the next key principle for economic development and this is INTEGRITY.
DEFINITION OF INTEGRITY AND ITS IMPORTANCE
Integrity is one of the fundamental principles of the Association of Chartered Accountant’s (ACCA) code of ethics. It is also an essential way to measure how those who are involved in both corporate and public governance are accountable to those affected. In the context of behaviour, Integrity involves asking questions such as; how morally upright am I? Am I honest and truthful? If you are not a person of integrity, then you are hypocritical.
Now that word; hypocrisy, is something most people in developing countries will identify with. How many times have people given promises that they have failed to deliver? Many people have held themselves out to have certain attributes that they in fact do not have. It happens almost everywhere; a graduate looking for employment, a politician vying for a position, a marketer trying to get that client to buy the otherwise substandard products. The worst part about it is that most of us do not want to admit that there is too much hypocrisy around and within us.
HOW TO INCREASE INTEGRITY
Despite all this, there are a number of things that you as an individual/ we as a generation can do in order to achieve a high level of integrity. These include but are not restricted to the following:
1. SURROUND YOURSELF WITH AN ENVIRONMENT OF INTEGRITY
Like the old saying goes; “Cleanliness is next to Godliness”. With the religious backgrounds of most poor countries, it is a saying that most will identify with. However it’s implications must be understood well and applied. No matter how hard one thinks they are, prolonged periods of interaction with people who lack integrity may cause you to begin behaving like them. Hence the biblical teaching, “Bad company corrupts good morals.” With hypocritical people around you, you will most likely in no time begin accepting, giving and taking small bribes until you reach a point where lack of integrity does not seem to be a problem in your view. So, step number 1, identify people, places and activities of integrity and involve yourself in such.
2. REFUSE TO “BE EVERYONE
Most fraud perpetrators and people who lack integrity justify their actions with the phrase “everyone is doing it.” Please be informed that you are not everyone. Refuse to be called everyone. You are a unique individual who gets various attributes from various people and experiences in life. The journey to achieving national integrity begins with you. If you accept to be everyone, that first important step towards integrity may never be taken.
3. IDENTIFY WITH CERTAIN ORGANISED CODES OF ETHICS
Most people who are identified as lacking integrity hold key positions in their field(s) and in society in general. They include; but not restricted to, Economists, Accountants, Lawyers, Doctors or medical personnel and Engineers. Most of these have codes of ethics which include integrity as one of the basic principles. It is important to take these codes seriously. Many codes are not laws but voluntary guidelines that when well followed increase the credibility of a profession.
4. REFUSE TO TAKE AND GIVE BRIBES
Let us together fight against lack of integrity. Refuse to take and give bribes. The taking and giving of bribes works like the economic laws of demand and supply. Let us take the giving and taking of bribes as the supply and demand for bribes respectively. Let us begin with a situation when there is low demand for bribes. If many people are willing to give bribes but a few are willing to take them, the amounts (prices) involved in each bribe may be so low as to discourage bribing altogether- ceteris paribus (all else being equal). The transaction might also not be economically viable for the few who might want to remain morally bankrupt and demand bribes. On the other hand, if you refuse to supply (give) bribes and yet more and more people want to take (demand) bribes- as the situation usually is; the demand curve shifts upwards, making the price paid for each bribe huge and therefore more expensive for anyone who would like to give bribes discouraged from doing so.
However, everything has its pros and cons. An increase in what I would call “bribe prices” would lead to bribe takers being encouraged to do more. A reduction would cause bribe givers to wish to use this shortcut as well. The most important thing however is that if a large number of individuals did the right thing, the moral bankruptcy can be reduced and ultimately eliminated.
CONCLUSION
Integrity is a key principle for development. It makes and breaks individuals, leaders, organisations and nations. There are many proposed frameworks for increasing integrity. However the points stressed above can serve as a beginning point in taking that important step towards improving integrity. Let us all have integrity in order to build the economy.
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Economy building is development in prospect. Let us together make it a reality.
economy building 
Being people of high integrity is a matter of great importance. In trying to maintain a high level of integrity, we should also establish what has fueled the loss of integrity in the first place. Once this is done and our efforts are directed at extinguishing this fuel, only then will we improve our chances of being credible people.
Great point Khoza. Life is a set of actions and reactions, most of which are important but highly underated. We ignore various aspects of life that are essential for development- our attitude, our proactiveness and so on. These are the key attributes that could either make or break us and which should be seen as the root cause(s) of various economic problems.
Intergrity has been said as being true to yourself. it is something that starts with you and something that should be upheld. People especially those in governments have preached and sang the song of intergrity for a long time and yet they have not been willing to walk the talk. such attitudes if not instilled in each and every individual will continue but being nothin more than a rhetoric way of getting attention.
to describe intergrity we have to also look at consistency, values and self respect. it is only when you have self respect and good values that u will choose to uphold high intergrity. However such intergrity should not only be displayed in certain places or times but everywhere and everytime.
Remember most issues of intergrity u may face may be small. such as saying you will do the work for someone. whether you decide to keep your intergrity on such minor issues may seem less important. but one thing that should not be misunderstood is that intergrity is a cumulative quality that comes from the little things we do with the lines of ethics
Well elaborated James. I could not have put it better.