Question

In June 2021, the demand for COVID testing increased exponentially due to a pick in the third wave of the Corona virus disease. The government has put out an offer to subsidy testing at private clinics and hospitals to make access to testing more accessible and to lessen the burden on state resources. The subsidy will only be provided to certain medical practices.

Fortunately, the chair of the board, who is also the CEO and a CA(NAM) at a local private medical practice is good friends with the government official who is overseeing the process of allocating the subsidies. The subsidy would substantially decrease the cost of sales for the test kits. Since the bonuses this year are driven primarily by profit after tax all of management has signed off on taking the government official on trip. The company thus paid for the government official and his children to go and attend the Kanye West concert in America, all expenses paid.

a. In term of the CPC please identify (10)

1. Ethical issues you identified in the information above

2. For all ethical issues identified

1. State the principles that apply

2. Explain why they apply

3. Identify the threats that are applicable

4. Identify some safeguards

b. Identify and explain any other ethical concerns in terms of any other codes and legislations. (5

Answer 1

i)The government official who is overseeing the process of allocating the subsidies is unethically favoring his friend in taking government subsidy in testing kits but is not distributing it properly among the people.

ii)Taking bribes and favoring his friend is an Ethical issue shown up Bribery is an unethical practice, as it increases wealth inequality and supports corrupt regimes. As an immoral act, bribery should be prosecuted even in countries in which it is an acceptable practice.

Businesses and governments should be considered moral entities that enter into a social contract. Honesty and fairness are the principles applied. They apply because bribery and corruption lead to decisions being made for the wrong reasons. Contracts are awarded because of kickbacks and not whether they are the best value for the community.

Threats are that Corruption costs people their freedom, health, and human rights and in the worst cases, it costs lives. It leads to following

• Undermining the Sustainable Development Goals. ...

• Economic loss and inefficiency. ...

• Poverty and inequality. ...

• Personal loss, intimidation, and inconvenience. ...

• Public and private sector dysfunctionality. ...

• Failures in infrastructure.

Establishing an ethical government is not an easy task. There is no single approach to curb corruption effectively. Instead, controlling corruption requires a wide range of strategies. Some safeguards are

1. Education and Culture: In societies where the number of schools and the literacy rate is low, it is possible to assert that political corruption is highly observed. Departing from this point, we may indicate that education comes prominently among the most effective measures in reducing and removing political corruption.

2. Political Will and Effective Leadership: In societies where the public managers are in political immorality and fraudulence, political corruption becomes an “epidemic” and spills over all fractions of the society. Struggle against political corruption should start with self.

3. Law on Government Ethics:A Law on Government Ethics regulating the procedures and principles required to be respected in public management should be put into implementation in order to remove political corruption.

4.Making transactions cashless:It will lead to proper monitoring.

Ans b)The ethical principle of confidentiality requires that information shared by a client with a therapist in the course of treatment is not shared with others.For example a government emloyee leaking tender secreats for favouring his friends, a soldier leaking his vital national secret etc are examples.They will lead to loss of organisation for smaller gains.