Posted on 02/12/2005 1:43:03 AM PST by kipita
Kenya's government, which was elected on a pledge to fight corruption, has been hit by the resignation of its chief anti-corruption official John Githongo this week.
Donor countries have threatened to suspend aid if they cannot be sure that their money will be well spent.
Kenya's leaders are not the only ones to find that eradicating corrupt practices is a tall order.
Sceptics fear that the UK-led move to increase aid to Africa and forgive their debts will only make more money available to corrupt elites.
Western governments are increasingly linking aid to good governance, and in particular to efforts to tackle corruption.
So, is corruption in Africa getting worse, or just getting more attention?
Brave
William Kalema, Chairman of the Board of the Uganda Investment Authority, and one of the Commissioners for Africa named by UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, is not sure if corruption is worse than five or 10 years ago but says it is certainly more widespread than 20 or 30 years ago.
"The scale is increasing but I think also that the information about it is also increasing.
"The erosion of institutions in Africa has been a steady process so if the institutions get weaker every year then the time comes when they are so weakened that certain things are possible that would not have been possible before."
Jeremy Pope, a founding executive director of the anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International, says Kenya's anti-corruption chief John Githongo did his best but was blocked by powerful political groups.
"It's been a very gutsy performance by John, he has stuck in there to do absolutely what he could," he said.
"He realised that he was going to get nowhere because the political forces against reform were so much stronger and were outwitting the political forces in favour of reform."
Lone reformer
Nigeria's President Olusegun Obasanjo has also found it difficult to stamp out corruption once in office.
Mr Pope says he is desperately trying to get on top of corruption but that even the president can do little on his own.
"Everybody knows that come a certain date, he will be out of office, he will be gone, and the inertia is there. It is very, very difficult for a reformer at the top unless there are people like him throughout the system."
Zambia and Malawi have had a similar experiences, with new presidents promising to get tough on corruption facing political obstacles, sometimes from within their own parties
"What has been revealed is a hopelessly corrupt political elite - a political class across the spectrum that simply sees politics as a way of becoming wealthy," Mr Pope says.
"As long as politics is seen as the path to wealth, then Africa is on a downward path."
He points to Botswana as proof that African countries can be well governed.
"They look after their money, they invest wisely, and they run a decent country with a very good human rights record."
Gloomy
Mr Kalema says that both African countries and the west can take measures to make it harder for the corrupt to benefit from their crimes.
"In many consultative meetings people called on particularly the governments of the West to make it very much harder for ill-gotten gains to be salted away in their banks.
Other suggestions are to make it easier for African countries to recover stolen assets.
And to publish information that would enable civil society to hold leaders to account regarding the use of funds and regarding their own personal gains from public funds.
Mr Pope feels that the only solution is the emergence of a new political class that has not had to buy its way into politics.
But he emphasises that it is not just African countries themselves who are responsible for corruption.
"When one focuses on corruption in Africa, the tendency is to think only in terms of Africa. But the international banks, the Western businessmen who bribe to get the contract, who are in cahoots with all the millionaires are all up to their eyeballs in what's taking place.
"So when it comes to moral standing everybody belongs in the gutter together."
A gloomy picture.
But at least the new emphasis on linking aid to good governance gives both Western and African governments a greater incentive to see what they can each to do to tackle the scourge of corruption.
Maybe the West should look at "Bribery" as sort of a "Barter" system, as opposed to "corruption", which is what it would be based on western values. It seems a Barter system is the way society works in Africa.
"Is corruption getting worse in Africa?"
It may be worse ?
Has it been any better?
Does the Pope crap in the woods?
"Nigerians were voted as one of the world's happiest people"
Well, of course. They all have $20,000,000 sitting in bank accounts, and just need a way to get it out of the country.
If all the cardinals crap in the woods and the Pope was observed crapping in the woods then maybe crapping in the woods is within the nature of the elite within the Vatican.
Sorry. I'm quoting a bad video game.
Well, I believe in the logic. If a businessman wanted a contract with the Vatican for mutually beneficial interest, and all other businessmen crapped in the woods, then that's what he/she would have to do to compete for the business.
Halliburton did what Halliburton had to do. I've read and seen stories where the educational system is the same way, a bribe gives incentives for the teacher to do a better job. To barter in most of the world's cultures is not necessarily corruption based on their standards.
bump for later (I think that means I'm interested in your post and I'll read it a bit later).
I think that you're either reading WAY too much in to my comment or your sense of humor is beyond me.
My original comment was in response to the article's headline.
If someone tried to convince me that Africa, in general, is becoming less corrupt due to tying aid to good governace it would be too much to believe. Prosecuting corrupt officials and businesses that contribut to corruption would be the best answer in my opinion.
Bartering is not corruption. Using a position of influence to enrich one's self most certainly is.
Having reread the article I see that my remark could be construed as a reference to Jeremy Pope. It was not.
A character in a video game that I play uses the line "Does the Pope s*** in the woods?" as an affirmative response. In the context of the game it is a mild insult towards ignorant street thug types who can not or will not speak correct english.
Let's see, always been tribal warfare to beat all. Always been kidnappings and torture. Always been graft.
Remember for those with an education, it was usually blacks selling other blacks into slavery to the slave traders. Still is slavery in Africa. Rape. pillage, plunder, graft,still there and always has been.
Getting worse? Nahhh just the same pathetic craphole of a continent.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the United States Congress.
Laugh if you like. My cut is coming in any day now.
I was just trying to state a "when in Rome" realization of how Africa "works" amongst the players. Anyway, hows about "the Pope is to Rome as corruption is to Africa" (and let's leave it at that). :-)
How could corruption get any worse in Africa?
"As long as politics is seen as the path to wealth, then Africa is on a downward path."
Ture, but--unfortunately, politics and law ARE a path to wealth just about everywhere, including the U. S.
I think there is a "frame" called "Race" which is used by Liberals, Elitists, true Racists, Democrats, etc. to claim to represent victims while achieving their objectives. The reality is, there are systems of governance which create "100ft tall" people and there are lesser systems that create "10ft tall" people. The people who come the 100ft tall system of governance will fight to the end to maintain it against the lesser systems. Some other battle grounds:
Falkland Islands vs. Argentina
Gibraltar vs. Spain (to a much lesser degree)
Ukraine vs. Russia
Georgia vs. Russia
Singapore vs. Malaysia
Hong Kong vs. China
Taiwan vs. China
etc.
Again, when possible, the Evil ones use race as a factor where the real fight is FOR Equality, Liberty, Freedom and the pursuit of happiness.
My daughter was in the Peace Corps in Mozambique. In order to show an aids video on prevention, she had to "barter" money to the various village rulers.
Think about it............this video was good thing paid for by the USA and would benefit all people of the village. It was "free". Yet, people in power had to be "paid off"
This is rampant corruption, not bartering
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