Dear Editor,
I am gratified to learn of the introduction of lie detectors as a means of weeding out undesirables from important public service departments. But isn’t it discriminatory as well as a double standard to hold the lower echelons in government departments to a higher standard of ethical behaviour than their civilian minders? Wouldn’t it be a demonstration of exemplary leadership qualities if those, whose handlings of the affairs of state are virtually inscrutable, were to strap themselves unto that machine and answer the same kind of questions that will be put to their uniformed subordinates?
Corruption, particularly in organized hierarchical administrative structures, bends to the demands of gravity to the same degree as physical matter. It is virtually impossible for the trend to climb in the opposite direction. Given that reality, it would seem to me that the wise thing to do in our situation would be to ensure cleanliness at the top, and then move on down towards the bottom. Of what utility is a clean and varnished floor when the roof might be porous and leaking?
Yours faithfully,
Robin Williams
