Very new-PHD-Thesis-Matthew-Igboamalu - unipub

The effect of corruption on Human development-Corruption Control Strategy-The way out.

By Rev. Fr. Matthew Chibuko Igboamalu

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TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Table of Contents 1 List of Tables 6 List of Figures 6 Declaration 6 Acknowledgements 7 Abstract 9 General Introduction 10 CHAPTER ONE 20 Introduction of Corruption 20 Definition of terms 25 A.CORRUPTION 25 B.VARIOUS DISCIPLINE DEFINITION OF CORRUPTION 26 1. Philosophy 27 2. Systemic Corruption 28 3. Economic and Political Science 29 4. Weber’s rational-legal bureaucracy model 30 5. Defining Corruption: A conventional distinction in the social sciences 32 6. Anthropological Methods and Approach 34 7. Concluding Remarks 43 C.THE NATURE AND CHARACTERISTICS OF CORRUPTION 44 1. Political corruption (grand) 45 2. Bureaucratic corruption (Pelly); and 45 3. Electoral corruption 46 4. Systemic corruption 46 5. Structural corruption 46 6. Organized corruption 46 D. OTHER ACTUAL FORMS OF CORRUPTION 46 1. Bribery 47 2. Fraud 47 3. Embezzlement 47 4. Extortion 47 5. Favouritsm 48 6. Nepotism 48 E. THE CAUSES OF CORRUPTION 48 1. Great Inequality in distribution of wealth 51 2. Political office as the primary 53 3. Conflict between changing moral codes 53 4. The weakness of social and Government enforcement mechanism 54 5. The absence of a strong sense of National Community 55 F. Effects of Corruption 58 A. Positive effects for those involved 58 B. Negative effects of corruption 61 G. HUMAN DEVELOPMENT AS CONCIEVED BY POPE BENEDICT


By Rev.Fr. Matthew Chibuko Igboamalu

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XVI VERITAS IN CARTATE AND THE COMPENDIUM OF THE SOCIAL DOCTORINE OF THE CHURCH 66 1. What is Human Development? 66 2. Openness to Life is at the centre of true Development 79 3. Fraternity, Economic Development and civil society 88 4. The development of Peoples rights and duties of the Environments 97 5. Corruption hinders the co operation of the Human Family 106 6. The Development of Peoples and Technology 114 7. Corruption – A challenge to development co operation 121 8. Rich Countries contribute to corruption in development Countries 122 9. The practicable methods to combat corruption against development 123 10. Corruption-A global problem that affects everyone and development 124 CHAPTER TWO 126 A. THE ETHICS OF HUMAN ACTS AS CONCIEVED BY THE CHRI STIAN ETHICS 126 1. What is Human Acts? 126 2. Knowledge 128 3. Freedom 128 4. Actual Choices or Voluntariness 129 5. Structures of sin 135 6. Ends of Human Acts 138 7. Norms of Human Acts 139 8. Morality of Human Acts 140 9. Properties and Consequences of Human Acts 142 9a. In cases of structures of sin 143 9b. Polygamy and extended family system 143 9c. Poverty 143 10. Summary 144 B.THE FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT CORRUPTION 147 1. The reality of corruption 149 2. Examples: Which Countries are the most corrupt? 153 3. What are the characteristics of Countries with high corruption? 158 4. Do higher wages for bureaucrats reduce corruption? 173 5. Can competition reduce corruption 176 6. Why have there been so few (recent) successful attempts to fight corruptions 178 7. Does Corruption Adversely Affect Growth 181 8. Conclusion: The Way-Out! 187 C. CORRUPTION CONTROL STRATEGIES IN GHANA 188 1. Introduction 188 2. Specific aspects of the Ghanaian Situation 190 3. Historical and cultural perspective of corruption in Ghana and the gold coast 195 4. Pre-colonial years 197 5. The Kwame Nkrumah years (1957 – 1966) 200 6. The National Liberation Council and the Busia years (1966 – 1972) 206 7. The Rawlings years after his 2nd coup (1981 – 2000) 209 8. Role of Anti-Corruption bodies and their effectiveness 215 9. Point of view of International Organization 218



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10. Conclusion 221 D. CORRUPTION CONTROL STRATEGIES IN SIERRA LEONE 2 23 1. Report on the Governments fight against corruption in Sierra Leone as conceived by the National Anti-Corruption Strategy (NACS) 223 2. Project Objectives 228 3. Methods of Data collection 228 4. Limitations of the study 230 5. A brief assessment of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy (NACS) 232 6. An analysis of the 2001, 2002 and 2003 ACC Annual Caseload 235 7. Analysis of research findings 239 8. Conclusion 250 E. CORRUPTION AND CORRUPTION CONTROL STRATEGIES IN NIGERIA 252 1. Democracy, the Military dictatorship, the Common good, Religion and Anti- Corruption Strategy in Nigeria 257 2. Military dictatorship, Civil Society and the collapse of the Common Good in Nigeria 264 3 The Cracks on the wall 268 4. Option for civil society 288 5. Association Ties 293 6. Communal Ties 293 7. Communication Ties 293 8. A new concept of the Nation State 298 9. Rule of Law and Justice for all 299 10. A just, none-discriminatory society 299 11. A place for women 300 12. A functionally literate society 301 13. A healthy mind in a healthy body 301 14. A new role for the Military 302 15. Vibrant Patriotic Press 304 16. A genuine war against corruption and indiscipline 305 17. Other Suggestion for effective Control of Corruption in Nigeria 311 18. Conclusion 323 CHAPTER THREE 325 A. CORRUPTION CONTROL STRATEGIES ON HUMAN DEVELOP MENT IN AFRICA 325 1. INTRODUCTION 325 2. Types of Anti-Corruption Strategy and their general characteristic 327 a. Local or citizen efforts level 327 b. Populist Initiatives 331 c. National efforts 334 d. International efforts 337 e. The need for an inclusive strategy 339 f. The role of international community 344 g. The significance of political will in fighting corruption 349 h. The 6c’s analytical tools for corruption control strategy 356



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1. Connectedness 357 2. Courage 357 3. Cosmology 358 4. Care and Compassion 358 5. Commitment 359 6. Competence and complacent 359 B. MODULES OF CORRUPTION CONTROL STRATEGIES AND CONFLICTS OF INTERESTS IN THE SOCIET 360 1. Bribery 361 2. Commercial Bribery 362 C. NORMAL GIFTS GIVING AND CORRUPTION 362 1. Socio-cultural logics information everyday practices 362 2. The logics of gift-giving 363 3. The logics of solidarity network 365 4. Solution of modules 371 5. Ethics and integrity definitions 371 D. HABERMASGUIDE TO ETHICAL DECISION- MAKING A KEY TO CORRUPTION CONTROL 377 E. WHISTLE-BLOWING: CULTURE? 378 F. HORIZONTAL ACCOUNTABILITY AND CORRUPTION CONTROL 383 G. WHY FOCUS ONINSTITUTION ? 384 H. INSTITUTIONS OF HORIZONTAL ACCOUNTABILITY 386 a. The Law 387 b. Anti-Corruption Bodies 387 c. Ombudsman’s Office 389 d. Public Audit 389 e. The Judicial System 390 f. Parliament 390 I . INSTITUTIONS OF VERTICAL ACCOUNTABILITY 392 a. Electoral Accountability 393 b. Independent Mass Media 393 c. None-Governmental Organization 394 d. External Accountability 394 e. Support and co operations 395 CHAPTER FOUR 397 A. EXAMPLES OF CORRUPTION CONTROL STRATEGY IN OTHE R COUNTRIES 397 1. Poland: Pope John Paul II and the socio-political transformation of Poland 397 a. The power of the solidarity Ethos 404 b. Equality and Egalitarianism 404 c. Moral support from the church 405 d. Appeals to Polish Myth and Idioms 405 e. Faith and Country 405 f. The supremacy of law 406 g. Democracy and civil society in post communist Poland 406 B. SOUTH AFRICA 408 1. God and transition in South Africa 408



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2. The re-invention of a theology for Freedom and Liberation 418 3. The role of International community 420 4. The Ecumenical dimension of the struggle 420 5. The Adoption of new symbols and Idioms 421 C. ALGERIA 421 1. RELIGION AND DEMOCRACY IN ALGERIA 422 CHAPTER FIVE 429 A. THE ROLE OF THE CHURCH TOWARDS CORRUPTION CONTROL 429 1. Our prophetic calling 429 2. The church’s social teaching on corruption control, Enhancement of Human Development, Eradication of poverty and inequality in the world 437 3. What the church must do 447 4. Prayer for Nigeria 454 5. Prayer for Nigeria in Distress 455 6. Prayer against Bribery and corruption in Nigeria 456 CHAPTER SIX 458

A. EVALUATION: THE SOCIAL TEACHING OF THE CHURCH: IMPLICATIONSFOR TODAY’S WORLD IN RELATION TO PEACE, JUSTICE AND CORRUPTION CONTROL 458

B. CHRISTIAN AND AFRICAN VALUES AS MEANS OF FIGHTING CORRUPTION 462

C. CHRISTIAN VALUES 462 1. Love 462 2. Truthfulness 465 3. Justice 465 4. Peace 466 5. Service 467 D. AFRICA VALUES 468 1. Sense of Community 469 2. Sense of respect for Authority and Elders 472 3. Sense of good human relations 474 4. Sense of Hospitality 475 5. Sense of the sacred and of religion 476 6. Sense of Time 477 7. Sense of language and proverbs 480 E. CONCLUSION 484 F. BIBIOGRAPHY 486



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LIST OF TABLES

Table 1 the most corrupt countries - 157 -

Table 2 Corruption of Country Characteristics: Human Capital - 163 -

Table 3 Corruption and Country Characteristics: Openness - 165 -

Table 4 Corruption and Country Characteristics: Regulation of Entry - 166 -

Table 5 Corruption and Country Characteristics: Freedom of Media - 168 -

Table 6 Growth and Corruption - 186 -

Table 7 Corruption Perception Index (The top 10 and bottom 10 countries) Error! Bookmark not defined.

Table 8 Corruption in Ghana - 219 -

LIST OF FIGURES

DECLARATION

I hereby declare that I have composed this Ph.D. thesis by my own personal and independent

study, and that it has not been submitted for any other degree or professional qualification.

Ref. Father. Matthew Igboamalu

2011



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AKNOWLEDGMENTS

I wish to express my profound gratitude to God Almighty for guiding me through this work. My

profound gratitude goes also to Rt. Rev. Dr. C. Onaga my current Bishop and the Bishop Emeritus

Rt. Rev. Dr. A. O Gbuji for making it possible for me to study in Austria.

My deepest and warmest thanks go to my able professor and moderator, Prof. Leopold Neuhold,

who has always acted as a father, mobilizer, reinforcer and adviser throughout this work. He

meticulously and painstakingly read in between the lines of every aspect of this work. He corrected

all the necessary errors and made sure that I lacked nothing in this work. In short, he is a man of his

words, kind, humorous and loving. He is worthy of his position, may God reward him and his

family abundantly. My thanks go also to his secretary Ms. Cornelia Flori, a diligent and dedicated

secretary, who is always available to help.

I wish to thank in a special way my second professor and moderator, my moral theology

professor, Very Rev. Fr. Prof. Walter Schaupp for reading through this work, his advices thought

provoking lectures on Moral Theology and his friendliness. He is really a man of God.

I deeply wish to thank in a special way my big brother and a special friend Rev. Fr. MM.

Hermann Glettler, through whom it was possible for me to study in Austria. It is no exaggeration to

say that this work is his brain-child. This is because he suggested this topic for me and gave me

every encouragement and veritable conducive atmosphere that I need to work. He is really my

source of inspiration. He is in fact a brother in need, may the Good Lord bless him and the entire

household of the St. Andrew’s Parish Graz Austria. I find in them good friends.

My deepest gratitude goes to my immediate junior brother Rev. Fr. Mag. Philip Tobechukwu

Igboamalu who is currently here in Austria pursuing his Doctoral studies. He has been a source of

my encouragement and support. His advice and succour has been a balm. May the Lord reward

him hundred-folds.



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I wish to thank my brothers and sisters, my senior brother, Late Mr. Elias Igboamalu and family

Anthony Igboamalu and his family, Victoria Igboamalu and her family, Marcelina Igboamalu and

family, Helen Igboamalu and family for all their prayers and support.

My special thanks go to Ms. Jutter Becker and Nkiru A. Eneh who helped to organize the

manuscript. Again, I thank in a special way, Mr. Endurance...... (Alias Biggy) for his endurance in

typesetting and advice to see that this work go through.

My gratitude goes to the Rector and the entire Staff of Karl-Franzens-University (Graz-Austria)

for their unreserved assistance through this work.

My deepest greetings go to Very Rev. Msgr. Professor Obiora Ike and Rev. Fr. Dr. Ikechukwu

Ani who actually helped me in no small measure to see that I studied here in Europe.

I wish also to thank the following special friends who helped me in one way or the other to see

that this work sees the light of the day. They include; Frau Traude Schrotner, Frau Weber Kajtia,

Frau Maria Eder, Engr. Patrick Thalhammer, Mr. Gilbert Ezeama, Rev. Fr. Mag. Eliseus

Ezeuchenne, Rev. Fr. Mag. Charles Ogbunambara, Robert Hautz, Petra Mietler, Michael Ugodu,

Mrs. Evelyn Ikeche, Ifeoma Ikejide, Mrs. Victoria Ugwu, Mrs. Lydia Ilboudu, Mr. Ignatius

Ezeama, Mrs. Scholastica Boakyawaa, Henry Jesionka, and a host of other good friends whose

names cannot all contain here.



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ABSTRACT

Corruption control strategies are most effective when they are participative and inclusive of all stakeholders in society. Such inclusiveness requires building coalitions among stakeholders—government, civil society, and NGO--in order to ensure the sustainability of reforms. The international community also has a role to play in supporting committed reformers who are more likely to generate challenges to their country's regimes. This project examines the practical issues involved in minimizing corruption in Africa and consequently the whole world. It is argued that reforms are more likely to succeed when various stakeholders are involved in the design and implementation phase of an anti-corruption strategy. Such an approach creates the necessary consensus for reform as well as a sense of participation in improving the quality of governance and generating a better condition for effective human development. It is also believe that the problem of corruption which has obstructed human development over the years especially in Africa and Nigeria in particular can be drastically reduced to the barest minimum by corruption control strategy as the-way-Out.



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GENERAL INTRODUCTION

According to the Social Doctrine of the Church,

“At the dawn of this Third Millennium, the Church does not tire of proclaiming the Gospel that brings salvation and genuine freedom also to temporal realities…He is the Holy Door.” (cf. Jn 10:9)1

Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life (cf. Jn 14:6): contemplating the Lord’s face, we confirm our faith and our hope in him, the one Saviour and goal of history. Therefore, we as Christians cannot rightly discuss the Effect of Corruption on Human development in the society without alluding to the Social Doctrine of the Church.2

This is because, Church is mindful of the solemn exhortation given by St. Paul to his disciple Timothy;

“Preach the word, be urgent in season and out of season, convince, rebuke, and exhort, be unfailing in patience and in teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but have itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suite their own likings and will turn away from listening to the truth and wonder into myths. As for you, always be steady, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfil your ministry.”3 (2 Tim 4:2-5)

It should be understood that it is the expression of God’s Love for the world, which he so loved, that he gave his only Son (Jn 3:16). This new law of love embraces the entire human family and knows no limits, since the proclamation of the salvation wrought by Christ extends to the ends of the earth4 (Acts 1:8)

According to the Catholic Social Doctrine of the Church,

“Discovering that they are loved by God, People come to understand their own transcendent dignity, they learn not to be satisfied with only themselves but to encounter their neighbour in a net work of relationship that are ever more authentically human5”.

1 Compendium of the “Social Doctrine of the Church.” 2004. P.1.

2 Ibid.

3 Op cit P2.

4 cf. Compendium of the “Social Doctrine of the Church.” 2004. P.2.

5 Ibid.



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Convinced in this way, they will be ever ready to tackle in the most effective way the problem of Corruption in the society. This is because; corruption is a phenomenon that hinders man from taking man as authentically man.

Again, there have been many propositions and projections put forward by various people from different works of life as to the best way to tackle the problem of corruption. I, personally agree with some of the authors like, Roberta Gatti, and Jamele Rigolini who are of the view that anti-corruption strategies are most effective especially when they are participative and inclusive of all stakeholders in society. According to this view, such inclusiveness requires building coalitions among stakeholders – government, civil society, and NGO- in order to ensure the sustainability of reforms6.

The international community also has a role to play in supporting committed reformers who are more likely to generate challenges to their countries regimes. This work deals with the effect of corruption on human development in Africa, the whole world and corruption control strategy as the way out. It examines the practical issues and policies involved in minimizing corruption in Africa in particular and the world in general. It is argued that reforms are more likely to succeed when various stakeholders are involved in the design and implementation phase of anti-corruption strategy. Such an approach creates the necessary consensus and fertile ground for reforms as well as a sense of participation in improving the quality of governance, development and consequently life in the world.

In conformity with this participatory and all inclusive control strategy, Roberta Gatti and Jamele Rigolini, using individual-level data for 35 countries, investigated the microeconomic determinants of attitudes toward corruption. They find women, employed, less wealthy, and older individuals to be more averse to corruption. They also provide evidence that social effects play an important role in determining individual attitudes toward corruption, as these are robustly and significantly associated with the average level of tolerance of corruption in the region7.

This finding lends empirical support to theoretical models where corruption emerges in multiple equilibria and suggests that,

"Big-push policies might be particularly effective in combating corruption”8.

6 Above is a cache of http://siteresources.org/INTISPMA/Resources/Training-Events-and-Materials/Training_May17,2004_Rigolini_CorruptionPaper.pdf. Pg.1. . 7 Gatti,/Rigolini.

8 Ibid.



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In my earlier work; ``The Fact of Corruption in Nigerian Society-a hindrance to human development`` I tried to establish the fact that it belongs to the second nature of man to be corrupt. Therefore, man is culpable for man’s corrupt practices. I also established the fact of corruption in Nigerian society.

In this second work, I wish to deal with, The Effect of corruption on Human Development in the world as a whole, with particular reference to African countries – Corruption Control Strategy the- Way Out.

This work deals with the more concrete and practical means to solving the corruption menace in the world.

Pope Benedict XVI on the authentic development of every person and of all humanity said that, “Charity in truth, to which Jesus Christ bore witness by his earthly life and especially by his death and resurrection, is the principal driving force behind the authentic development of every person and of all humanity”9.

According to him,

“Love (Caritas) is an extraordinary force which leads people to opt for courageous and generous engagement in the field of justice and peace. It is a force that has its origin in God, Eternal Love and Absolute Truth. Each person finds his good by adherence to God's plan for him, in order to realize it fully: in this plan, he finds his truth, and through adherence to this truth he becomes free (cf. Jn 8:32).”10

Therefore, we must face the fact of corruption in a thorough way to set the first step for change.

According to the Social teaching of the Church,

“Love faces a vast field of work and the Church is eager to make her contribution with her social doctrine, which concerns the whole person and is addressed to all people. In the light of this, there are so many needy brothers and sisters who are waiting for help, so many who are oppressed waiting for justice, so many unemployed who are waiting for a job, so many people are waiting for respect. One wonders how it can be even today there are still people who are dying of hunger. Condemned to illiteracy? Lacking the most basic medical care? Without having a loof over their head? And love has to be based on truth11

9 Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate, of the Supreme Pontiff Benedict xvi 2009, no.1

10 ibid.

11 Compendium of the “Social Doctrine of the Church.” 2004. No5. P.2 .



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Love therefore, is very essential and has a very important role to play in the man to man relationship in the society.

For the Pope, to avoid corruption, man must relate with each other in love and truth. To make this fact clearer, the Pope continues,

“to defend the truth, to articulate it with humility and conviction, and to bear witness to it in life are therefore exacting and indispensable forms of charity. Charity in fact rejoices in the truth (1 Cor.13:6). All people feel the interior impulse to love authentically: love and truth never abandon man completely, because these are the vocation planted by God in the heart and mind of every human person. The search for love and truth is purified and liberated by Jesus Christ from the impoverishment that our humanity brings to it, and he reveals to us in all its fullness the initiative of love and the plan for true life that God has prepared for us. In Christ, charity in truth becomes the Face of his Person, a vocation for us to love our brothers and sisters in the truth of his plan. Indeed, he himself is the Truth (cf. Jn 14:6)12.”

For this reason, the Pope believes that Charity is at the heart of the Church's social doctrine. And therefore, every responsibility and every commitment spelt out by that doctrine is derived from charity which, according to the teaching of Jesus, is the synthesis of the entire Law (cf. Mt 22:36- 40) and which corruption negates13.

It should be observed that the scenario of poverty can extend indefinitely, in addition to its traditional forms, we think of its newer patterns.

According to the social doctrine of the church,

“These latter (lack of charity and poverty) often affect financially affluent sectors and groups which are nevertheless threatened by despair at the lack of meaning in their lives, by drug addiction, by fear of abandonment in old age or sickness, by marginalization or social discrimination...”14

It is important here to note that charity therefore gives real substance to the personal relationship with God and with neighbour; and for this reason it is the principle not only of micro-relationships (with friends, with family members or within small groups) but also of macro-relationships of (social, economic and political ones). For the Church, instructed by the Gospel, charity is

12. Caritas in Veritate, Pontiff Benedict xvi 2009, no.1.

13 Caritas in Veritate, of the Supreme Pontiff Benedict xvi 2009, no.1. 14 Compendium of the “Social Doctrine of the Church.” 2004. No5. P.



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everything because, as Saint John teaches (cf. 1 Jn. 4:8, 16) and as the Pope recalled in his first Encyclical Letter, “God is love” Deus Caritas Est.15

For the Pope,

“Everything has its origin in God's love, everything is shaped by it, and everything is directed towards it. Love is God's greatest gift to humanity it is his promise and our hope”16.

No wonder then, Pope Benedict XVI is of the opinion that charity has been and continues to be misconstrued and emptied of meaning, with the consequent risk of being misinterpreted, detached from ethical living and, in any event, undervalued. In the social, juridical, cultural, political and economic fields the contexts, in other words, that are most exposed to this danger, it is easily dismissed as irrelevant for interpreting and giving direction to moral responsibility. Hence the need to link charity with truth not only in the sequence, pointed out by Saint Paul, of VERITAS in caritate (Eph 4:15), but also in the inverse and complementary sequence of caritas in Veritate17.

For the Pope Charity and truth are inter connected and that is why according to him,

“Truth needs to be sought, found and expressed within the economy of charity, but charity in its turn needs to be understood, confirmed and practised in the light of truth”18.


“How can we remain indifferent to the prospect of an ecological crisis which is making vast areas of our planet uninhabitable and hostile to humanity? Or by the problems of peace, so often threatened spectre catastrophic wars? Or by contempt for the fundamental human rights of so many people, especially children?”19

I agree with the Pope that by looking at Charity and Truth in this perspective, not only do we do a service to charity enlightened by truth, but we also help give credibility to truth, demonstrating its persuasive and authenticating power in the practical setting of social living. This is a matter of no small account today, in a social and cultural context which relativizes truth, often paying little heed

15 Caritas in Veritate, of the Supreme Pontiff Benedict xvi 2009, no.1.

16 Benedict XVI, Encyclical Letter Deus Caritas Es, loc. cit., 219. 17 Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate, of the Supreme Pontiff Benedict xvi 2009, no.1.

18. Ibid 19 cf. Compendium of the “Social Doctrine of the Church.” 2004. No5. P.3 .



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to it and showing increasing reluctance to acknowledge its existence and thereby making corruption possible.20

In the light of this close link with truth, as we have seen above, charity can be recognized as an authentic expression of humanity and as an element of fundamental importance in human relations, including those of a public nature. Only in truth does charity shine forth, only in truth can charity be authentically lived and only in it is the anti-corruption strategy possible. Truth is the light that gives meaning and value to charity. That light is both the light of reason and the light of faith, through which the intellect attains to the natural and supernatural truth of charity: it grasps its meaning as gift, acceptance, and communion. Corruption is therefore a bane to these beautiful supernatural gifts of God to man.21

According to Pope Benedict XVI,

“Without truth, charity degenerates into sentimentality. Love becomes an empty shell, to be filled in an arbitrary way. In a culture without truth, this is the fatal risk facing love. It falls prey to contingent subjective emotions and opinions, the word “love” is abused and distorted, to the point where it comes to mean the opposite. Truth frees charity from the constraints of an emotionalism that deprives it of relational and social content, and of a fideism that deprives it of human and universal breathing-space. In the truth, charity reflects the personal yet public dimension of faith in the God of the Bible, who is both Agápe and Lógos: Charity and Truth, Love and Word”22.

I agree with the Pope that because it is filled with truth, charity can be understood in the abundance of its values, and therefore can be shared and communicated, while Truth, in fact, is logos which creates diá-logos, and hence communication and communion.23

It should be noted that ‘Truth’, by enabling men and women to let go of their subjective opinions and impressions, allows them to move beyond cultural and historical limitations and to come together in the assessment of the value and substance of things. Truth opens and unites our minds in the logos of love: this is the Christian proclamation and testimony of charity24.

20 Cf. Caritas in Veritate, of the Supreme Pontiff Benedict xvi 2009.

21 Ibid.

22 . Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate, of the Supreme Pontiff Benedict xvi 2009, no.2. p2. 23 Ibid.

24 Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate, of the Supreme Pontiff Benedict xvi 2009, no.2. p2.



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Therefore, in the present social and cultural context, where there is a widespread tendency to relative truth, practising charity in truth helps people to understand that adhering to the values of Christianity is not merely useful but essential for building a good society and for true integral human development free from corruption and its tendencies which are selfishness and greed.25

As Pope Benedict XVI puts it,

“A Christianity of charity without truth would be more or less interchangeable with a pool of good sentiments, helpful for social cohesion, but of little relevance. In other words, there would no longer be any real place for God in the world. Without truth, charity is confined to a narrow field devoid of relations. It is excluded from the plans and processes of promoting human development of universal range, in dialogue between knowledge and praxis”26.

Consequently, the Church sees Charity as love received and given. This dynamic of charity received and given is what gives rise to the Church's social teaching, which is caritas in Veritate in re socialibus: the proclamation of the truth of Christ's love in society. This doctrine is a service to charity, but its locus is truth. Truth preserves and expresses charity's power to liberate in the ever-changing events of history27.

In other words, it is at the same time the truth of faith and of reason, both in the distinction and also in the convergence of those two cognitive fields. It is “grace” (cháris). Its source is the wellspring of the Father's love for the Son, in the Holy Spirit. Love comes down to us from the Son. It is creative love, through which we have our being; it is redemptive love, through which we are recreated. Love is revealed and made present by Christ (cf. Jn 13:1) and “poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit” (Rom 5:5)28.

As the objects of God's love, men and women become subjects of charity, they are called to make themselves instruments of grace, so as to pour forth God's charity and to weave networks of charity and therefore to eschew corruption in all its ramifications.

From the above reasons, it should be observed that development, social well-being, the search for a satisfactory solution to the grave socio-economic problems namely Corruption besetting humanity, all need this truth. What they need even more is that this truth should be loved and demonstrated. Without truth, without trust and love for what is true, there is no social conscience

25 Op cit.

26 Ibid.

27 Ibid.

28 Cf. Caritas in Veritate, 2009.



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and responsibility, and social action ends up serving private interests and the logic of power, resulting in social fragmentation, especially in a globalized society at difficult times like the present29.

That is why it is clear to me that the Pope’s encyclical ‘Caritas in Veritate’ is the principle around which the Church's social doctrine turns, a principle that takes on practical form in the criteria that govern moral action. The Pope considered two of these in particular, which are for him, of special relevance to the commitment to development in an increasingly globalized society: justice and the common good.

In the first place, He took cognizance of justice. Ubi societas, ibi ius: he makes it clear that every society draws up its own system of justice. And that Charity goes beyond justice, because to love is to give, to offer what is ‘mine’ to the other; but it never lacks justice, which prompts us to give the other what is ‘his’, what is due to him by reason of his being or his acting.


“I cannot ‘give’ what is mine to the other, without first giving him what pertains to him in justice. If we love others with charity, then first of all we are just towards them. Not only is justice not extraneous to charity, not only is it not an alternative or parallel path to charity: justice is inseparable from charity and intrinsic to it. Justice is the primary way of charity or, in Paul VI's words, ‘the minimum measure’ of it an integral part of the love “in deed and in truth” (1 Jn 3:18), to which Saint John exhorts us”30.

We can say on the one hand, according to John Paul II that,

“Charity demands justice: recognition and respect for the legitimate rights of individuals and peoples. It strives to build the earthly city according to law and justice. On the other hand, charity transcends justice and completes it in the logic of giving and forgiving. The earthly city is promoted not merely by relationships of rights and duties, but to an even greater and more fundamental extent by relationships of gratuitousness, mercy and communion. Charity always manifests God's love in human relationships as well, as it gives theological and salvific value to all commitment for justice in the world.”31

Having seen what Justice is, one would now ask, what is common good? It should be noted that the individual good is not the only good in the society. Besides that good, there is a good that is also linked to the living in the society.

29 Cf. Caritas in Veritate, 2009. 30 Benedict XVI, Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate, 2009

31 Cf. John Paul II, Message for the 2002 World Day of Peace. AAS 94 (2002), 132-140.



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According to the Second Vatican Council,

“To love someone is to desire that person's good and to take effective steps to secure it. Besides the good of the individual, there is a good that is linked to living in society: the common good. It is the good of àll of us`, made up of individuals, families and intermediate groups who together constitute society. It is a good that is sought not for its own sake, but for the people who belong to the social community and who can only really and effectively pursue their good within it. To desire the common good and strive towards it is a requirement of justice and charity”32.

One is required to make every necessary effort to ensure the protection of these goods. We are bound in conscience, love and reality to protect the common good in the society.

This is why both the Second Vatican council and Pope Benedict XVI maintain that,

“to take a stand for the common good is on the one hand to be solicitous for, and on the other hand to avail oneself of, that complex of institutions that give structure to the life of society, juridically, civilly, politically and culturally, making it the polis, or city. The more we strive to secure a common good corresponding to the real needs of our neighbours, the more effectively we love them and the more we fight Corruption and opt for Justice in the entire world”33.

The world community more urgently needs this type of love rooted in truth especially now there are increased corruption and injustices in the society. Hence everyone especially the Christians are called to practise this charity, in a manner corresponding to his vocation and according to the degree of influence he wields in the pólis. This is the institutional path we might also call it the political path of charity, no less excellent and effective than the kind of charity which encounters the neighbour directly, outside the institutional mediation of the pólis.

From the above discussions, we can easily notice that corruption control strategy when animated by charity, commitment to the common good has greater worth than a merely secular and political stand would have. Like all commitment to justice, it has a place within the testimony of divine charity that paves the way for eternity through temporal action.

As John XXIII, puts it,

“Man's earthly activity, when inspired and sustained by charity, contributes to the building of the universal city of God, which is the goal of the history of the human family. In an increasingly

32 Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium et Spes,

26. 33 Benedict XVI, Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate, 2009.



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globalized society, the common good and the effort to obtain it cannot fail to assume the dimensions of the whole human family, that is to say, the community of peoples and nations.”34

That is in other words, a city that is Corruption free in such a way as to shape the earthly city in unity and peace, rendering it to some degree, an anticipation of a pre-figuration of the undivided city of God.

34 Cf. John XXIII, Encyclical Letter Pacem in Terris (11 April 1963): AAS 55 (1963), 268-270.



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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION OF CORRUPTION


“God is seen as the origin of what exists, as the presence that guarantees to men and women organized in a society the basic conditions of life, placing at their disposal the goods that are necessary. On the other hand, he appears as the measure of what should be, as the presence that challenges human action both at the personal and at the social levels regarding the use of those very goods in relation to other people.”35

Since everything that that exist is believed to come from God, it is consequently important therefore to see the common good as the free gifts from God to man. For this reason, in every religious experience, importance is attached to the dimension of gift and gratuitousness, is seen as an underlying element of the experience that human beings have of their existence together with others in the world, as well as to the repercussions of this dimension on the human conscience, which senses that it is called to manage responsibly and together with others the gift received36. Hence, the proof of this is found in the universal recognition of the Golden Rule, which expresses on the level of human relations the injunction addressed by the mystery to men and women: Whatever you wish that men should do to you, do so to them. (Mt 7:12)37


“This revelation responds to the human quest for the divine in an unexpected and surprising way, thanks to the historical manner-striking and penetrating- in which God’s love for man is made concrete”38.

35 Compendium of the “Social Doctrine of the Church.” 2004. No.20. P.14.

36 Ibid.

37 Cf Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1789, 1970, 2510.

38 Compendium of the “Social Doctrine of the Church.” 2004. No.20. P.14.



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According to the Book of Exodus, the Lord speaks these words to Moses:

“ I have seen the afflictions of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters; I know their sufferings, and have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey.”39(Ex 3:7-8)

The gratuitous presence of God to which his very name alludes, the name he reveals to Moses: “ I am who I am” (Ex 3:14) is manifested in the fleeing from the slavery and in the promise.

It should be noted that when People deviate from this Plan of God and act the otherwise then come injustice, deprivation, corruption and other vices in the society.

Because of man’s refusal to this original plan of God’s love for man, that Corruption and its attendant consequences have filled the society of the world, especially in Africa of which my work is concentrated on.

It is observed with utter dismay that controlling corruption in the African countries—both high and low levels – is one of the greatest challenges to the establishment and consolidation of democratic system in the continent, and consequently the entire World.

“The notion that corruption adversely impedes development is no longer an issue of debate. Cross-country empirical work has confirmed the negative impact of corruption on institutions, growth and productivity, policy processes, property rights, and consequently, development.”40

It is also clear that in some African countries, the negative impact of corruption has been translated into political instability and frequent regime changes. For instance, the overthrow of democratic governments in countries such as Sierra, Mobutu’s Zaire, Moussa Troare’s Mali, Samuel Doe of Liberia were a few historical examples of countries where high-level and systemic corruption have been highlighted as factors that contribute to the denouncement and overthrow these regimes. More recently, civil unrest also has been associated with increasingly high levels of systemic corruption and the lack of effective leadership necessary with this persistent problem.

According to Kpundel,

39 (Ex 3:7-8) .

40 Daniel Kaufmann and colleagues at the World Bank Institute, or visit their website at www.worldbank.org/wbi/governance.



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“In short, Africans have continued to hold their states responsible for economic hardships in large part because of widespread abuse in official circles. Paradoxically, this abuse fostered democratization in several countries in the early 1990s by forcing civil society to take matters into its own hands and demand more transparent and accountable systems of government”41.

This taking of matters into their hands by the civil society as the result of bad governance has become wide spread in various parts of Africa and consequently has caused much havoc in these countries. It can be observed that, in many of these African countries, a real political process and legitimate links have yet to grow. Corruption is at the core of this dilemma. Until recently, citizens and, particularly bilateral and multilateral, donors have rarely held African governments accountable. But the globalization of markets dramatically highlights developmental inequities in these countries.

It is also to be pointed out that citizens want economic reforms such as liberalization and privatization.

According to Kpundeh,

“There are serious demands for increased transparency, accountability, integrity, political and economic competition, and the involvement of civil society in the broader governance of the country places corruption at the centre of these changes. This focus on the economy has also renewed attention on more democratic forms of governance. Internal stakeholders and the international community are beginning to insist on transparency, creating a dilemma for those leaders who resist their countries’ move to more inclusive, participatory governments.”42

As we can see, the fight against corruption requires the involvement of the entire country as well as the international community. This is why the Policymakers and academics agree that reform can only be sustained if a wide range of stakeholder’s government, civil society, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the private sector, as well as the international community is involved in the development of anti-corruption strategies.

One notices that theoretically, democratic institutions offer the potential for citizens, NGOs, the private sector, independent media, and other stakeholders to carefully scrutinize the actions of politicians and government officials.

41 Kpundeh and Irene Hors (eds.) (UNDP/OECD.




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I wish to stress here that corruption is more prevalent during the transitional stage to more democratic forms of governance; this could be primarily because democratic political systems provide incentives and opportunities for corrupt practices. On the other hand, it can be said that, established democracies have devised institutions to contain abuse.43

However, this argument has been challenged by some scholars like Little, W. And E. Posada-Carbo, who point to evidence from newly functioning democracies in Eastern Europe, Latin America, and Africa where, existing structures have proven ineffective in curbing high levels of malfeasance.

According to this view,

“There is mounting evidence in developing countries contend that liberalization does not necessarily reduce corruption”44.

This project examines the salient issues of why little progress has been made in the fight against corruption in Africa and proposes corruption control as “the way out”. I therefore focus on the critical issue of participatory governance, which has been absent in anti-corruption reform initiatives and argue that reform strategies are more effective when they are participative and include all stakeholders.

From the discussion, it becomes crystal clear that Coalition building is essential to sustaining an anti-corruption strategy and these coalitions must be reflective of all the stakeholders at the national and local levels including government, civil society, NGOs themselves and community-based organizations (CBOs) in which case the anti-corruption organizations are also controlled by the community.

I wish to begin this work first and foremost, with an investigation into the meaning, causes of corruption and the consequences for democracy and development.

Secondly, to provide an analysis of the current academic and policy debate on reform strategies, highlighting policies designed to control, deter, and punish as well as discuss the kinds of initiatives that can be effective.

Thirdly, to explore the institutional and political requirements for a serious assault on corruption, focusing on the significance of political will and what needs to be done to design and

43 Ibid.

44 Little, W. And E. Posada-Carbo, 1996, Political corruption in Europe and Latin America (London: Macmillan).



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empower anti-corruption agencies and build an effective judicial system for enforcing anti-corruption laws and regulations. And fourthly to analyse the need for an integrated strategy that focus on the role of civil society, (both independent, non-governmental organizations and the mass media), the private sector, and CBOs in the process.

Lastly, this work concludes with an evaluation of all the corruption control strategies taking a look at the international community and how international institutions, including international civil society, organizations, NGOS, Religious Organizations, and foreign governments cooperate with, and strengthen the efforts of African states and societies to control corruption in the whole world.

I wish to point out here that there are many unresolved problems in (Nigeria) Africa, but the issue of the upsurge of corruption is troubling. And that the damages it has done to the polity are astronomical.

According to Kpundeh

“And this explains, why menace of corruption leads to slow movement of files in offices, police extortion tollgates and slow traffics on the highways, port congestion, queues at passport offices and gas stations, ghost workers syndrome, election irregularities, among others.”45

Even the mad people on the street recognize the havoc caused by corruption - the funds allocated for their welfare disappear into the thin air. Thus, it is believed by many in the society that corruption is the bane of Nigeria. Consequently, the issue keeps reoccurring in every academic and informal discussion in Nigeria. And the issue will hardly go away!

It is because of this observation that leads some writers as Lipset and Lenz, to believe that

“corruption is endemic in all government, and that it is not peculiar to any continent, region and ethnic group. It cuts across faiths, religious denominations and political systems and affects both young and old, man and woman alike. Corruption therefore, is found in democratic and dictatorial politics; feudal, capitalist and socialist economies. Christian, Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist cultures are equally bedevilled by corruption.”46

As we can see, corrupt practices did not begin today; the history is as old as the world. This because ancient civilizations have traces of widespread of ‘illegality and corruption.’

Thus, according to Lipset and Lenz,


46 Lipset and Lenz 2000, pp. 112-113.



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“Corruption has been ubiquitous in complex societies from ancient Egypt, Israel, Rome, and Greece down to the present”47.

From the above quotation, we should not be lead to think that the magnitude of corruption is equal in every Society; this is because some countries are more corrupt than others!

As George Orwell notes in his widely read book, Animal Farm:

“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others”48.

Therefore, one can rightly argue that since corruption is not new, and since it is a global phenomenon, it is not peculiar to Nigeria. One can however say that, corruption is pandemic in Africa (and in many other Continents of the world as Asian nations); in other words, many of the leaders (Those who are in the position of trust) as well as the followers are corrupt (the masses-the led). Consequently, it has defied all the necessary ‘medicines.’ If there is a lack of control of corruption in every sphere in the nation, then the nation decays.

According to old adage:

“When water chokes you, what do you take to wash it down?”49

This paper, therefore, adopts a new approach to tackle the menace of corruption in Africa and consequently, the entire world. And a broad definition of the phenomenon matters in the society for its effective control.

DEFINITION OF TERMS

CORRUPTION

The Church does not lose sight of the sufferings of her people irrespective of their religious affiliations and or beliefs, especially in the face of corruption in our society.


47 Lipset and Lenz 2000, pp. 112-113. 48George Orwell, (June 1996, p.109). 49 The Philosophy of Aristotle, 451-ME2783, p.355.



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“The Church, sharing in mankind’s joys and hopes, in its anxieties and sadness, stands with every man and woman of every place and time, to bring them to good news of the Kingdom of God, which in Jesus Christ has come and continues to be present among them”50

This is why it is important for us to examine the meaning of corruption and what the terms refer to.

Corruption has been defined in different ways by different people and at various periods over time. That is to say, there is no definite definition of Corruption. However, according to Sen,

“Corruption has broadly been defined as a perversion or a change from good to bad. Specifically, corruption or corrupt behaviour involves the violation of established rules for personal gain and profit51”.

(B) VARIOUS DISCIPLINES DEFINITION OF CORRUPTION

It should be noted that in philosophical, theological, or moral discussions, corruption is spiritual or moral impurity or deviation from an ideal. In economy, corruption is payment for services or material which the recipient is not due, under law. This may be called bribery, kickback, or, in the Middle East, baksheesh. In government, it is when an elected representative makes decisions that are influenced by vested interest rather than their own personal or party ideological beliefs.52

Etymologically, the word corrupt (Middle English, from Latin corruptus, past participle of corrumpere, to abuse or destroy: com-, intensive pref. and rumpere, to break) when used as an adjective literally means "utterly broken".)53

Hence Political corruption can be defined as the abuse of public power, office, or resources by elected government officials for personal gain, e.g. by extortion, soliciting or offering bribes.54It

50 Compendium of the “Social Doctrine of the Church.” 2004. No 60. P.33.

51 Sen 1999, Pg.275.

52 "Corrupt | Define Corrupt at Dictionary.com". Dictionary.reference.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/corrupt Retrieved 2010-12-06.

53 Op. Cit.



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can also take the form of office holders maintaining themselves in office by purchasing votes by enacting laws which use taxpayer money.55

While Systemic corruption is referred to as the complete subversion of a political or economic system, Governmental corruption of judiciary is broadly known in many transitional and developing countries because the budget is almost completely controlled by the executive. The latter undermines the separation of powers, as it creates a critical financial dependence of the judiciary. The proper national wealth distribution including the government spending on the judiciary is subject of the constitutional economics. It is important to distinguish between the two methods of corruption of the judiciary: the government (through budget planning and various privileges), and the private.56

Furthermore, Police corruption is a specific form of police misconduct designed to obtain financial benefits, other personal gain, and/or career advancement for a police officer or officers in exchange for not pursuing, or selectively pursuing, an investigation or arrest. One common form of police corruption is soliciting and/or accepting bribes in exchange for not reporting organized drug or prostitution rings or other illegal activities. Another example is police officers flouting the police code of conduct in order to secure convictions of suspects for example, through the use of falsified evidence. More rarely, police officers may deliberately and systematically participate in organized crime themselves. In most major cities, there are internal affairs sections to investigate suspected police corruption or misconduct. Similar entities include the British Independent Police Complaints Commission.

1. PHILOSOPHY

Frequently in philosophical discussions, corruption takes the form of contrasting a pure spiritual form with a corrupted manifestation in the physical world. Many philosophers, in fact, have

54 Chinhamo, Obert; Shumba, Gabriel (2007), Institutional working definition of corruption Anti-Corruption Trust of Southern Africa.

55 Barenboim, Peter (October 2009). Defining the rules. Issue 90. The European Lawyer.

56 "Glossary" U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre http://www.u4.no/glossary/.Retrieved 26 June 2011.



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regarded the physical world as inevitably corrupt being the most famous example of this school of thought). The Book of Genesis 6:12 similarly describes a world before the flood where 'everyone on earth was corrupt'.

Another philosophical use of the term "corruption" is in opposition to "generation," as in Aristotle's book On Generation and Corruption also known as On Coming to Be and Passing Away. In this sense, corruption is the process of ceasing to exist and is closely related to the concept of dying given certain views about the nature of living things. In a moral sense, corruption generally refers to decadence or hedonism. In theological or political debates, certain viewpoints are sometimes accused of being corruptions of orthodox systems of belief, which is to say, they are accused of having deviated from some older correct view.

2. SYSTEMIC CORRUPTION

Systemic corruption (or endemic corruption 57 is corruption which is primarily due to a weakness of an organization or process. It can be contrasted with individual officials or agents who act corruptly within the system.

Factors which encourage systemic corruption include conflicting incentives, discretionary powers; monopolistic powers; lack of transparency; low pay; and a culture of impunity.58Specific acts of corruption include "bribery, extortion, and embezzlement" in a system where "corruption becomes the rule rather than the exception."59Scholars distinguish between centralized and decentralized systemic corruption, depending on which level of state or government corruption takes place; in countries such as the Post-Soviet states both types occur.

57 Lorena Alcazar, Raul Andrade (2001), Diagnosis corruption, pp. 135–136.

58 Znoj, Heinzpeter (2009). "Deep Corruption in Indonesia: Discourses, Practices, Histories". In Monique Nuijten, Gerhard Anders. Corruption and the secret of law: a legal anthropological perspective. shgate..9http://books.google.com/books?id=P52bOZFExesC&pg=PA53.

59 Legvold, Robert (2009). "Corruption, the Criminalized State, and Post-Soviet Transitions" In Robert I. Rotberg. Corruption, global security, and world orde. Brookings Institution. p. 197. .



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3. ECONOMISTS AND POLITICAL SCIENTISTS;

According to Prince, “Economists and political scientists have taken the lead in recent research on corruption world-wide”60. It should be noted that International debates on how to approach the phenomenon are ongoing, but a general and widely accepted definition of corruption, according to Gray and Kaufmann is “the abuse of public office for private gain.”61 The question is how this definition, which is informed by Weber’s rational-legal bureaucracy model, applies to non-western contexts. In other words, what definition can be more inclusive having seen that this definition obviously depends upon the existence of a public domain that is recognisably separated from the private sphere.

It is important to note that this conventional definition of corruption is too narrow and excessively concerned with the illegality of practices. I wish to remark here that people’s own assessments of courses of action do not arouse only from a set of culturally universal, invariable norms that helps to decide if certain actions are to be classified as “corrupt” or not. Rather, what is seen as corruption varies from one context to another. Given such variations, explorations of how the actors themselves evaluate social practices are required.

In order to make this point clearer, I wish to place the rational-legal paradigm within a social and historical context to disclose shortcomings of the above-mentioned definition of corruption. By reviewing some of anthropology’s methods and approaches it will become clear that the discipline has much to offer contributing to a broader understanding of the phenomenon. An examination of socio-cultural logics informing everyday practices will show how corruption can be seen as an ambiguous phenomenon because of variations in social experience and cultural values.

60 Prince 1999.

61 Gray and Kaufmann 1998.



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4. WEBER’S RATIONAL-LEGAL BUREAUCRACY MODEL

It should be noted that the rational-legal bureaucracy model has long traditions in European countries. According to,

“the idea of bureaucratic organisation is hardly an invention of Western social-science.”62

to buttress this fact, Handelman made series of efforts to show whether there may be logical connectivity between the seventeenth-century idea of taxonomic organization and Weber’s depiction of modern bureaucratic-organization. In his efforts, Handelman finds continuity between early organisational principles in the West and the evolution of bureaucratic-organisation. Handelman argues that in the West

“one is predisposed to feel and think in particular ways, perhaps in terms of different logics, when one is within particular locales or settings which are relevant to the frame”63

For Handelman, this does not imply that bureaucratic orders are simply the reflections of society.

Bureaucratic orders maintained in Western countries today must be seen as a result of historical events informing and changing the idea of a rational-legal bureaucratic-organisation.64

According to Scott,

“the control of administration we know today would have been impossible without the development in the late nineteenth century of government accountability to broadly representative legislative bodies.”65

Furthermore, that public office was viewed as private property in much of Western Europe till at least the mid-nineteenth century exemplifies how notions of rational-legal principles have changed. According to Scott,

“developing nations have, for the most part adopted the full panoply of laws and regulations that evolved from, and gave expression to, the long political struggle for reform in the West”66

62 Handelman 1981:6.

63 op. cit.: 12.

64 This is made clear in the following statement, “In the West, one recognizes that the idea of bureaucratic-organization is somehow different from one’s perception of the everyday, and yet the same” (1981:14).

65 Scott 1969:316.

66 Scott 1969:319.



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It should be noted that this view is in line with Olivier de Sardan’s statement with reference to Africa that,

“the functioning of the administrative apparatus is entirely copied from the European pattern. In law, official functioning and budget it is totally Western.” 67

It becomes evidently clear that, the mere adoption of a bureaucratic-administrative framework will not necessarily establish the concomitant bureaucratic values and practices. As opposed to Western Europe, the logics of bureaucratic organisation may be far removed from predominant socio-cultural logics.

For Olivier de Sardan,

“In England, the development of political and bureaucratic rules and norms was a result of a long process, whereas for instance in Africa and South Asia the entire legal framework was for the most part a legacy of colonialism. As a result, the functioning of the administrative apparatus, entirely copied from the European pattern, takes the form of a “schizophrenic type”68

It should be pointed out that, the European legacy of colonialism may have set the stage for conflicting norms regarding bureaucratic-organisation in pre-colonial nations. Nigeria is a living examples of this conflicting norms regarding bureaucratic-organisation in pre-colonial nations.

To buttress this fact, Cohen reports from Nigeria maintained that

“Africans learned how to live and operate under a bureaucratic system in which illegitimacy was normal.”69

Unfortunately and as one would expect, the new rules and political norms of the colonisers had little or no applicability to the realities of their own lives. Moreover, the public services set in place by British colonial authority departed from how such services were managed in Britain for several reasons. For this reason, the inefficiency, mistrust, and frustrations of over-centralisation and incompatible logics became part of the norms and culture of the Nigerian public service well before Africans took over. Consequently, when they did, they also took over the inconsistent managerial style of the previous administrators thereby perpetrating corruption in the Nigerian society.

67 Olivier de Sardan 1999:47.

68 Ibid.

69 Cohen 1980:81.



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5. DEFINING CORRUPTION: A CONVENTIONAL DISTINCTION IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES

According to Sissener,

“In political science, the conception of public office is strongly influenced by Max Weber’s ideal type of rational-legal bureaucracy. This rational-legal paradigm is crucial for the understanding of corruption as the non-respect of the distinction between public and private. However, this public administration perspective on Corruption has not gone unchallenged.”70

Sissener gave majorly three reasons for his arguments. Sissener quoted some authors like Wood, Ruud and Price to support his arguments.

Firstly, according to Sissener,

“the notion of public office is essentially a western concept. Several scholars have made this point clear. Wood says, “it does not proceed from an a priori assumption that such [Weberian] rationality is or can be the norm in society” (Wood 1994:520). Price argues in the case of India that “a public servant is confronted with a wide range of pressing demands for action which are not described in official rules and regulations […]. We can see the existence of competing codes as a reason for the widespread contestation of bureaucratic norms in many sections of Indian societies”

(Price 1999:318). Ruud states that “to be the same man, and not to entertain primary loyalty at certain times to an informal institution, a lofty ideal, to remain the person in which your friends have trust, that seems more human, at least under certain circumstances to Bengali villagers” (Ruud 1998:4).71

In his second point to support his argument, Sissener quoted Myrdal and Ward.

Secondly, according to him,

70 Sissener Tone Kristin r, Anthropological perspectives on corruption WP 2001: 5 Anthropological perspectives on

corruption Chr. Michelsen Institute P.O. Box 6033 Postterminalen, N-5892 Bergen, Norway ISBN 82-90584-85-7 p 5.

71 Ibid.



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“legal procedures are not per se the most rational. Myrdal (1968) differentiated between the ‘actual’ rules of bureaucratic behaviour and the ‘official’ rules and suggested that the former may be more ‘innovative’ and appropriate to local conditions. Although corruption is often interpreted as having negative distributional consequences, others have argued that corruption has positive effects; it ‘humanises’ the workings of bureaucracy (Ward 1989). The task of finding a suitable definition of corruption, which can be used for purposes of comparative analyses, has proved fraught with difficulty. The legalistic understanding of the term relates corruption to the violation of a rule or a law. This approach raises several problems. Firstly, it presupposes rules and laws prohibiting corrupt behaviour and does not allow looking into the actions or inactions that laws on corruption (and regulations that distinguishes public from private) do not cover. Secondly, given that legal codes vary from country to country, judgements of the legality of various practices will also vary.”72

In his third argument to support his point, Sissener quoted, Williams and Olivier for his claims. Thirdly, according to Sissener,

“the legal approach depends on the notion that legal frameworks are somehow neutral, objective and non-political (Williams 1999), but corrupt activity is not an objective form of practice existing in a vacuum. It is a social act and its meaning must be understood with reference to the social relationships between people in historically specific settings. A transaction is now a legal one, now illegal, depending upon the social context of the transaction. Trying to understand how corruption is conceptualised the question we need to raise is; what behaviour is being compared, how are practices evaluated, and by whom? Supporting the view that Weberian informed definitions of corruption is “too narrow and excessively concerned with the illegality of such practices, defined from a modern, Western point of view” (Olivier de Sardan 1999:27), my argument is that a broader notion of corruption is required. Olivier de Sardan uses the term of ‘corruption complex’ to include practices beyond corruption in the strict sense of the word, i.e. nepotism, abuse of power, embezzlement and various forms of misappropriation, influence peddling, prevarication, insider trading and abuse of the public purse (ibid). This seems the most satisfactory alternative as it opens up for a more advanced view of the complexity of social behaviour. Furthermore, it makes an exploration of people’s own evaluations of their practices possible.”73

72 Sissener Tone Kristin r, Anthropological perspectives on corruption WP 2001: 5 Anthropological perspectives on corruption Chr. Michelsen Institute P.O. Box 6033 Postterminalen, N-5892 Bergen, Norway ISBN 82-90584-85-7 p 5-6.

73 Ibid.



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6. ANTHROPOLOGICAL METHODS AND APPROACHES

With regards Anthropological, Sissener discusses and explains what he meant by saying that Weber’s definition of corruption is narrow.


“Blundo and Olivier de Sardan argues that corruption is largely a clandestine or concealed practice with strong normative undertones, similar to other phenomena like large scale and petty crime, parallel to black market activities and drug trafficking. Anthropology, as a social science sub-discipline, has an inventory of methodological tools appropriate for analysing the habitually concealed and under-communicated, usually illegal, and sometimes illegitimate practice of corruption. As an initial approach to a field where corruption is not very well-known or previously described, to formulate new hypotheses and verify the applicability of existing theories derived from other studies, anthropological field methods are particularly fruitful.”74

I agree with Sissener that, besides traditional social science methods like questionnaires and quantitative studies run the risk of being identified with police interrogations and to produce embarrassed silence, self-victimisation, condemnation of others, and very biased results. Consequently, the indirect anthropological field methods are particularly apt in getting information from this social field that is so difficult to access for the ‘none initiated’.


“In Blundo and Olivier de Sardan’s discussions of anthropological field methods, they emphasise observation as a useful method to assess the tension between formal and informal norm systems and to determine what practices informants are considering being the most important. Corruption does not necessarily take place where the researcher is looking for it; its everyday

74 Cf. (Blundo and Olivier de Sardan 2000). In Sissener Tone Kristin r, Anthropological perspectives on corruption WP 2001: 5 Anthropological perspectives on corruption Chr. Michelsen Institute P.O. Box 6033 Postterminalen, N-5892 Bergen, Norway ISBN 82-90584-85-7 p 6-7.



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manifestations might be elsewhere. This everyday dimension is often overlooked by other social sciences and has as a result been lacking in the literature on corruption.”75

That is why for Sissener, even when corruption per se is hardly observable through “participatory observation”, informal conversations and people’s everyday discourses are rich in anecdotes, confessions and accusations, through which both substantiations and assessments on corrupt practices can be obtained. One can also study more directly observable activities, like transactions in buses, hospitals and roadblocks, although at high costs and with serious ethical dilemmas.76

Furthermore, I wish to agree Sissener by arguing that,

“valuable information on corrupt practices can also be collected through interviews, and preferable informal interviews that can uncover the popular and local semiotics and ethics concerning corruption. Focus group discussions have also been fruitful in some situations. Case studies, whether of particular institutions or specific interactions or episodes, are also fruitful.”77

It should be noted that in the final analysis, Blundo and Olivier de Sardan underline the significance of methodological triangulation which holds that approaches and methods should be combined and used in parallel, like for instance interviews combined with observations and news paper reports or court hearings, to substantiate and verify the findings.78

To buttress his arguments Sissener writes,

“In this subsection I will present three anthropological works on corruption. This is to show how other social scientists, working within the field of anthropology, have argued for a broader understanding of corruption. These selected works illustrates quite clearly the importance of contextualisation.”79

Following this argument of contextualisation and to make it clearer, Akhil Gupta managed to bring to the surface how an understanding of the complexity of social experience and cultural

75 Op cit p 7

76 Ibid.

77 Ibid.

78 Cf, Blundo and Olivier de Sardan 2000, in Sissener Tone Kristin r, Anthropological perspectives on corruption WP 2001: 5 Anthropological perspectives on corruption. P 7

79 Sissener Tone Kristin r, Anthropological perspectives on corruption WP 2001: 5 Anthropological perspectives on corruption. P 8.



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values is crucial when trying to understand the discourse of corruption. Consequently, Akhil Gupta made an early anthropological contribution to the international scholarly debate about corruption with an article published in 1995. By examining how lower level officials execute their duties, Gupta found the conventional distinction between private and public inapplicable to an Indian context.80

Gupta says that,

“Sharmaji, an Indian lower-level official, “pose an interesting challenge to Western notions of the boundary between ‘state’ and ‘society’ in some obvious ways”. The reason, he continues, is perhaps because “those categories are descriptively inadequate to the lived realities that they purport to represent.”81

Gupta said that the following case is an example of how an ordinary lower-level officer executes his duties.

Gupta went on to explain his points further by telling more stories saying,

“Sharmaji was a patwari, an official who keeps the land record of approximately five to six villages. Sharmaji lived in a small, inconspicuous house deep in the old part of town. The lower part of the house consisted of two rooms and a small enclosed courtyard. One of those rooms had a large door that opened onto the street. This room functioned as Sharmaji’s ‘office’. That is where he was usually to be found, surrounded by clients, sycophants, and colleagues. Two of the side walls of the office were lined with benches; facing the entrance toward the inner part of the room was a raised platform, barely big enough for three people. It was here that Sharmaji sat and held court, and it was here that he kept the land registers for the villages that he administered. All those who had business to conduct came to his ‘office’. At any given time there were usually two or three different groups, interested in different transactions, assembled in the tiny room. Sharmaji conversed with all of them at the same time, often switching from one addressee to another in the middle of a single sentence. Everyone present joined in the discussion of matters pertaining to others. Sharmaji often punctuated his statements by turning to the others and rhetorically asking, “Have I said anything wrong?” or, “Is what I said true or not?” Most of the transactions conducted in this ‘office’ were relatively straightforward but these things ‘cost money’”82

80 Ibid.

81Cf. Gupta 1995:384. In Sissener Tone Kristin r, Anthropological perspectives on corruption WP 2001: 5 Anthropological perspectives on corruption. P 8.

82 Gupta1995:379. In Sissener Tone Kristin r, Anthropological perspectives on corruption WP 2001: 5 Anthropological perspectives on corruption. P 8-9.



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I agree with Sissener and Gupta here, that Sharmanji’s way of executing his duties show little resemblance to Western experiences in at least three ways. Firstly, his office was located in the same building as his home. Secondly, when performing his duties he constantly discussed the matters with others present. Thirdly, money was demanded in order for Sharmaji to execute his duties. However, when villagers complained about the corruption of state officials they were not mainly complaining about how they kept office, or having to pay bribes, but about lack of performative competence required in order to be successful in their dealings with state officials.83

Interestingly, Gupta concludes that,

“the discourse of corruption varies a great deal from one country to another, dependent as it is on particular historical trajectories and the specific grammars of public culture. In other words, social boundaries marking acceptable behaviour is not the same in all contexts, but rather culturally specific and socially produced.”84

Clearly and convincingly, Arild Engelsen Ruud argues in a paper from 1998 that seen from the actor’s point of view, that there is a difference between bribery and other forms of corruption. He says that in the case of Bengal the villagers have a special term for ‘bribe’ while other forms of corruption are not covered in everyday vocabulary.

Ruud writes,

“as such bribes appear to have a special significance, a special meaning, which is negative” (Ruud 1998:13). However, bribing may appear without being given a negative meaning, but outright bribery is described as only the last resort. First, problems are sought solved through the use of contacts. “In order to secure a more steady income, Kalo applied for a position at a near-by hospital. There were thirty vacant positions and several hundred applicants Kalo had reasonably good qualifications, but so had many others. As one who was not exceptionally qualified, he knew that only informal sources of influence would help: bribes, contacts, or pressure from the top. Over the month or so that went by from the formal interviews to the declaration of the results, Kalo

83 Cf. R Ruud 1998:11. In Sissener Tone Kristin r, Anthropological perspectives on corruption WP 2001: 5 Anthropological perspectives on corruption. P -9 (Ruud cites an Indian newspaper reporting that a group of peasants had sent a letter of complaint to the Prime Minister, “The letter did not complain about bribes having to be paid. Instead, it complained that the rates of the bribes for the various tasks varied from day to day, and even from person to person” (Ruud 1998:4). Supporting Gupta, Ruud says that, “The process of negotiation for getting a job done by a bureaucrat – including the negotiation for the size of the possible bribe – is a game, and it requires knowledge, wit and intelligence.”).

84 Op cit p 11-13.



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made frequent travels into town from his village home searching for information and contacts in connection with his employment application. He had initially two promising contacts, a friend of his from old, who was employed in the municipality and who allegedly knew personally one of those in charge of the selection process; and then Kalo’s cousin whose neighbour was a highly placed hospital clerk. With his friend he went to the one in charge of the selection process, and with his cousin he visited the neighbour-clerk. The neighbour-clerk part of the affair was pretty open and straight-forward. As a good neighbour he would do his bit to help. He asked for money that he would need to pay off certain well-placed people. Kalo expected him to envision a reasonable cut for himself as well. A rather steep sum was required but the argument was that lots of people were willing to pay up. Kalo’s cousin’s in-laws turned out to be close personal friends of one of the commissioners in town. The commissioner explained that his own position was not one of great influence in the matter (which was to say that he was not particularly interested), and promised to write a letter to the right person recommending Kalo – which to all meant that would not apply his clout in this matter but that equally he would not jeopardise his relationship with his friends, whose in-laws brought this per so. The last strategy was that he implored his brother in- law, Nikhil, to come to his assistance. He [Nikhil] declined to do it, declined to help his sister’s family, and jeopardised his relationship with her and they are not on speaking terms any more. Kalo’s many other strategies also failed and he did not get the job.” In the case of Kalo most of those who got involved tried to help him secure the job without expressing any resentments about how they were approached. Neither did Kalo complain about the sum of money that was asked for.” 85

Consequent upon these explanations, I agree with Ruud that it is not as easy as people think in the Weber’s definition of corruption to distinguish between paying a bribe and remuneration in the bureaucracy for a job done in one’s favour.

Following this line of thought, Ruud writes that,

“it is not easy to draw the distinguishing lines between paying a bribe and remunerating some distant contact in the bureaucracy for a job done in your favour.”86

I want to conclude with Ruud that what is corruption and what is not is a matter of shade. While giving a bribe and using one’s contact can give the same results evaluations of the two acts are rarely the same.

85 Ruud 1998:14. In Sissener Tone Kristin r, Anthropological perspectives on corruption WP 2001: 5 Anthropological perspectives on corruption. P -10.

86 op.cit. 17.



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Furthermore, drawing on ethnographic material about a set of Nepalese cultural practices known as ‘natabad – crypabad (Kondos writes that, “helping kin is known as ‘natabad’ helping others as ‘crypabad’”. Natabadcrypabad is translated to favouritism.87

Alex Kondos made an attempt to chart the meaning which ‘favouritism’ has for Nepalese in their everyday encounters with central administration. This he compared again to how the idea of favouritism is constructed by the Westernised intellectuals to mean corruption. It was interesting to note that he finds a conflict between the two opposing ideologies and argues that, what the academics tend to label as instances of corruption, those involved will view as obligations towards family and friends. This view is supported by ‘rickshaw wallas’ in Kathmandu in the following case story.

According to Kondos

“Many a ‘rickshaw walla’ in Kathmandu explains why he does not operate with a motorised version of the vehicle known as ‘tempo’ by simply saying ‘pahauch chaina’ I have no source-force ( Kondos says that, “‘source’ refers to the contact and ‘force’ refers to your contact’s power.”88

To explain this further, Kondos continues,

“During the 1970s a Cabinet Minister launched a scheme which provided for long-term interest-free bank loans to ‘rickshaw wallas’ for the purchase of ‘tempos’, arguing that, among other things, this would help up-grade the occupation which had become popular among Kathmandu’s educated youth because of lack of alternative employment opportunities. He claimed that the government’s action would demonstrate in a very concrete way its own and the people’s faith in education by illustrating that ‘education holds the key to better occupational opportunities’. The scheme was short-lived because, as the press, and the radio bulletins put it, ‘corruption’ marked the occasion. Some Nepalis insist that this was not the reason but rather the scheme became so popular that the students from all over Nepal rushed to the city ‘to cash in’ on the scheme and hiring their acquisitions to existing ‘rickshaw wallas’. It appears that those who managed ‘to cash in’ on the scheme were either relatives of the Minister or close friends of these relatives or staunch political supporters of the Minister. The ‘rickshaw wallas’ that did not manage to get the favourable bank loans expressed no complains about how these loans were

87 Kondos 1987:18 . In Sissener Tone Kristin r, Anthropological perspectives on corruption WP 2001: 5 Anthropological perspectives on corruption. P -11 (Kondos writes that, “helping kin is known as ‘natabad’ helping others as ‘crypabad’”. Natabadcrypabad is translated to favouritism.

88 ibid, (Kondos- 1987:17 says that, “‘source’ refers to the contact and ‘force’ refers to your contact’s power”).



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gained. The only regret they expressed concerned their own lack of ‘source-force’. Kondos concludes that because favouritism constitutes a legitimate way of going about things in a highly traditional Hindu culture these practices are not regarded as corruption by the participants.”89

I agree with Sissener that a narrow definition on corruption makes it difficult to explain how behaviour that transcends Weberian borders of what is deemed acceptable for holders of public office, are seen as legitimate and even laudable to those involved. In order to explore the legitimacy of various practices a broader understanding of the phenomenon is essential. This will have to include a contextualised assessment of what practices are the most important seen from the actors’ point of view.

It is important here to discuss the Webster’s definition of corruption after which we compare it with other notions of corruption This will help us to be able to grasp more comprehensive definition of corruption that will be more encompassing and inclusive. This will help us in no small measure to tackle the problem of corruption in the world and especially on Africa.

As we have seen, that etymologically the word corruption originates from the Latin word, “Corruptus” which means something that is broken. As we have said earlier, there is no uniform definition of corruption, but one common definition of the concept is “abuse of a position of trust for private gain”. Corruption can also be expressed as a lack of loyalty to the community at large.”90

The Word broken as regards corruption is very interesting. This is because when things are broken, they are no more normal. Therefore, corruption breaks the society and makes them abnormal. That is why corruption seen as a dangerous dieses that should be taken seriously.

Among the organisations studied, Corruption is defined in a similar way. The variations mostly consist of the persons who should be covered by the definition. Some of the organisations studied have mainly chosen to include public sector employees in their definitions (World Bank and EU), while other donors have a broader interpretation in which private persons and employees of companies and organisations are also covered by the definition (Transparency International and OECD). NORAD emphasizes the interaction between the public and private sectors.

It is important to make a distinction between corruptions from a legal perspective and a socio-economic/moral perspective. In the first case, corruption is a criminal offence that mainly occurs in

89 Kondos 1987:17.

90 The social Science Encyclopaedia published by Routledge and Kegan Paul in 1995, edited by Adam Kuper and Jessica Kuper 1995, pg163-64.



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connection with bribery. The crime is regulated in the national criminal codes. In the second perspective, corruption has a much broader meaning. The meaning is thus less specific but is broadly regarded as a type of behaviour that does not correspond well with general perceptions of good governance, accountability, ethics, integrity, transparency, tradition and the honour of public officials91.

Unfortunately, Corruption has permeated into the society that it has become systematic, in which case, people in this type of corrupt society see corruption as a system. This is because it has become the way of doing things. This is also referred to as Systemic Corruption. An example of this is the Nigerian society where people do things in the corrupt way because they see others do it.

It should be noted that in the international debate, among donor organisations and in this work, corruption is not merely considered from the legal perspective. It is also regarded as a social problem with significant negative socio-economic consequences.

I want to make it clear here that corruption is not a new phenomenon in society. Corruption has existed as long as there have been individuals who have chosen to appropriate advantages for themselves at the expense of the common good. A lack of loyalty to the community at large can be expressed in the form of bribes, thefts of government property, fraud, extortion, giving favours (particularly jobs) to friends etc.92

According to social science theory,

“these expressions of corruption can be regarded as a collective action problem or a social trap”. 93

It is called a social trap because it is very difficult for people in this type of society to resist the temptation to plunge themselves into the mess of corruption since everybody do it the same way without punishment.

According to the individual point of view, (both the citizen and the civil servant), it is often meaningful to give oneself or one’s family different types of advantages.

It is important here to point out without equivocation that, individual rationality of this type (maximising utility) often involves a collective irrationality94.

91 . Joachim Anger, Corruption control strategy. Jan 2004 pg 1. 92 . Joachim Anger, Corruption control strategy. Jan 2004 pg 1. 93 Ibid. 94 The social Science Encyclopaedia published by Routledge and Kegan Paul in 1995, edited by Adam Kuper and Jessica Kuper 1995, pg163-64.



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We know that social trap is characterised by a situation in which everyone would gain by cooperating provided that “everyone else” cooperates. This means, if one cannot rely on the cooperation of others, it can be rational for the individual not to cooperate. If, for example, there is a general feeling that all, or most, civil servants accept bribes, it is utterly meaningless to be the only civil servant who does not do it.

I want to point out here that this is a very wrong precept because when this way of thinking and acting becomes the norm in society, society is stuck in a social trap. When the trap has closed, it can be extremely difficult for a society to extract itself from it.

From this perspective, it is particularly difficult to explain the existence of corruption since everyone else is involved. Instead, the central issue (and puzzle) is how it is possible that loyalty to the community at large can actually come into being in certain societies and in certain situations because we are all involved.

There are ways of escape from social trap as suggested by many social science literature researchers. These include

“for example audit offices, media, effective tax collection, ombudsman institutions, accountability, free and independent press, active civil society, political opposition, regular general elections, efficient legal system, rule of law, for example fair and qualifications-based public sector appointments, easily accessible information and openness, possibility of living on politicians’ and civil servants’ pay, capacity of political institutions to provide basic social services/welfare such as health and medical care, education, for example through training in appropriate conduct and civic virtues”.95

These control measures are very important in other to control corruption in various societies and organizations. We can now see that it is in the principle of these instruments that donors and other organisations work with, in different ways when drawing up policies and strategies to combat corruption in developing countries.

This is why we must note that for these instruments to be effective, it is essential that those who “govern” practise or at least are perceived as practising what they preach. Many authors believe at this juncture that it is only then that it will be possible for social capital to be spread in society, i.e. that persons who do not have a personal relationship with each other can nonetheless feel a certain degree of confidence and trust in each other.




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I therefore believe that a certain degree of trust in society between citizens, citizens’ trust in politics and institutions, and politicians’ trust in the citizens is, in fact, essential in order to avoid falling once again into the social trap.

One can however here say that, because corruption has received an extensive attention in the communities, and perhaps, due to the fact that it has been over-flogged in the academic circles, corruption has received varied definitions.

For Lipset & Lenz, Corruption is,

“efforts to secure wealth or power through illegal means – private gain at public expense; or a misuse of public power for private benefit”96.

Furthermore, for Nye, one can also say that corruption

“is a behaviour which deviates from the formal duties of a public role, because of private[gains regarding personal, close family, private clique, pecuniary or status gains. It is a behaviour which violates rules against the exercise of certain types of duties for private gains regarding influence”97.

According to this definition such behaviour as,

“bribery use of a reward to pervert the judgment of a person in a position of trust; nepotism (bestowal of patronage by reason of ascriptive relationship rather than merit); and misappropriation illegal appropriation of public resources for private uses”98.

In addition to the already crowded landscape, for Osoba, corruption is an

“anti-social behaviour conferring improper benefits contrary to legal and moral norms and which undermine the authorities to improve the living conditions of the people”. 99

7. CONCLUDING REMARKS

I wish to say here that corruption is an ambiguous phenomenon often causing diverse, ambivalent, and contradictory understandings among scholars, policymakers, and practitioners

96 Lipset and Lenz, Corruption control strategy 2000, p.112-114. 97 Nye,1967. 98 Victor E. Dike, Democracy and Political Life in Nigeria ( Zaria, Nigeria: Ahmadu Bello University Press) 2001. 99 Osoba 1996).



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alike. For that reason and given such ambiguousness, discourses of corruption can only be understood when seen as part of wider social and cultural contexts. It is important to opt for a broader understanding of corruption. I find the conventional definition on corruption too narrow and excessively concerned with the illegality of practices. For this reason, a more open approach has been argued for. Anthropology has an inventory of methodological tools and analytical approaches appropriate for capturing people’s own assessments of courses of action. Using these methods and approaches enables us to disclose what is corruption and what is not corruption seen from the actors’ own point of view. Corruption is very much an issue in public debates and everyday conversations both in Africa, Russia, and South Asia. The intention has not been to excuse illegal actions by providing an explanation by ‘culture’, but to show that the borderline for acceptable behaviour is not universal. Knowledge of peoples own views and their discourses of corruption provided by anthropologists will bring to light possible discrepancies between official and practical norms and practices. Unless practices are seen as unacceptable to the practitioners, reformations may prove hard to implement. Any ‘anti-corruption’ policy must face up to this.

In conclusion, I see Corruption as ‘deviation from the normal standard of behaviour for private gains thereby preventing the smooth running of human development in the society. When this unbridled egoistic tendency desire is left unchecked, it disorganizes the entire society, and/or with the .knowledge of peoples own views (culture) and their discourses of corruption provided by anthropologists will bring to light possible discrepancies between official and practical norms and practices. Unless practices are seen as unacceptable to the practitioners, reformations may prove hard to implement. Any ‘anti-corruption’ policy must face up to this.

Even though some of these definitions of corruption used in this work, have been around for over decades, the recent development in Nigeria where discoveries of stolen public funds run into billions of US Dollars and Nigeria Naira, make these definitions adequate and appropriate. Corruption is probably the main means to accumulate quick wealth in Nigeria. Corruption occurs in many forms, and it has contributed immensely to the poverty and misery of a large segment of the Nigerian population.

C. T HE NATURE AND CHARACTERISTICS OF CORRUPTION

It is important to note at this point, that some studies have taken a holistic (broader) approach in the discussion of Corruption by dividing it into many forms and sub-divisions. We shall therefore look at the various forms of Corruption as follows:



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1) Political Corruption (grand); 2) Bureaucratic Corruption (petty); and 3) Electoral Corruption. 4) Systemic Corruption 5) Structural Corruption 6) Organized Corruption.

1. POLITICAL CORRUPTION

Political corruption takes place at the highest levels of political authority. This is said to take place, “when the politicians and political decision-makers, who are entitled to formulate, establish and implement the laws in the name of the people, are themselves corrupt. It also takes place when policy formulation and legislation is tailored to benefit politicians and legislators. Political corruption is sometimes seen as similar to corruption of greed as it affects the manner in which decisions are made, as it manipulates political institutions, rules of procedure, and distorts the institutions of government”100.

2. BUREAUCRATIC CORRUPTION

Bureaucratic Corruption (petty); it is observed that bureaucratic corruption occurs in the public administration or the implementation end of politics.

“This kind of corruption has been branded low level and street level. It is the kind of corruption the citizens encounter daily at places like the hospitals, schools, local licensing offices, police, taxing offices and on and on. Bureaucratic petty corruption, which is seen as similar to corruption of need, occurs when one obtains a business from the public sector through inappropriate procedure”.101

100 NORAD, ch.4, Jan. 2000; The Encyclopaedia Americana, 1999. 101 See also NORAD, ch.4, 2000).



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3. ELECTORAL CORRUPTION

As its name suggests, Electoral corruption includes purchase of votes with money, promises of office or special favours, coercion, intimidation, and interference with freedom of election Nigeria is a good example where this practice is common. Votes are bought, people are killed or maimed in the name of election, losers end up as the winners in elections, and votes turn up in areas where votes were not cast.

“Corruption in office involves sales of legislative votes, administrative, or judicial decision, or governmental appointment. Disguised payment in the form of gifts, legal fees, employment, favours to relatives, social influence, or any relationship that sacrifices the public interest and welfare, with or without the implied payment of money, is usually considered corrupt”102.

4. SYSTEMIC CORRUPTION

Systemic Corruption: This is where corrupt practices become the Norm in the society-this how we do it.

5. STRUCTURAL CORRUPTION

Structural Corruption as the name suggests, is when the society and government structures are involved in Corruption in an organized way that it becomes the parts and parcel of them without any person frowning at what the other person is doing that is wrong.

6. Organized Corruption: This is when a group of people specially or otherwise organise themselves for the purpose Corrupt practices. They do hide and seek and cover up among themselves in the society.

D. OTHER ACTUAL FORMS OF CORRUPTION

There are many other forms of corrupt practices, but for the meantime, let us limit ourselves with the following six forms as examples:

102 The Encyclopaedia Americana, 1999.



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1. BRIBERY:

The payment (in money or kind) that is taken or given in a corrupt relationship this includes kickbacks, gratuities, pay-off, sweeteners, greasing palms, etc.103

2. FRAUD:

It involves some kind of trickery, swindle and deceit, counterfeiting, racketing, smuggling and forgery104.

3. EMBEZZLEMENT:

This is theft of public resources by public officials. It is when a state official steals from the public institution in which he/she is employed. In Nigeria the embezzlement of public funds is one of the most common ways of economic accumulation, perhaps, due to lack of strict regulatory systems.

4. EXTORTION:

This is money and other resources extracted by the use of coercion, violence or threats to use force. It is often seen as extraction from below (The police and custom officers are the main culprits in Nigeria)105.

103Bayart al Corruption in Africa. 1997, p.11 104 Ibid.



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5. FAVOURITISM:

This is a mechanism of power abuse implying a highly biased distribution of state resources. However, this is seen as a natural human proclivity to favour friends, family and anybody close and trusted.

6. NEPOTISM:

This is a special form of favouritism in which an office holder prefers his/her kinfolk and family members. Nepotism, which is also common in Nigeria, occurs when one is exempted from the application of certain laws or regulations or given undue preference in the allocation of scarce resources106.

There are other forms of corruption that are not mentioned here some of which are even worse than the one’s I have already mentioned. These are mentioned for us to take note.

The question then is what are we going to do in this present situation? How do we tackle this endemic problem called corruption? In the report on Second Global Forum on Fighting and Safeguarding Integrity, it was observed that,

(E). THE CAUSES OF CORRUPTION

Corruption arises from institutional attributes of the state and societal attribute towards formal

political process. Institutional attributes that encourage corruption include wide authority of the

state, which offer significant opportunities for corruption, minimal accountability, which reduces

the cost of corrupt behaviour and perverse incentives in governmental employment which induces

105ibid 106 (NORAD, ch.1, ch.2 and ch.4, Jan. 2000; Amundsen, 1997; Girling 1997; also see Fairbanks, Jr. 1999).



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self-serving rather than public serving behaviour. Societal attitudes fostering corruption include

allegiance to personal loyalties over objective rules, low legitimacy of government, and dominance

of a political party or ruling elite over political and economic process.

From the USAID Hand Book for Fighting Corruption, the following major causes of corruption can be deduced.

Major Causes Illustrative Responses.

1) Wide Authority 1) limit authority (e.g.; increase competitive binding, privatized

Industry.

2) Limited Accountability. 2) Increased accountability through greater transparency (e.g.

more elective offices, financial disclosure.

-greater oversight (e.g. audit office, inspector general)

-increased sanctions (e.g. increased enforcement laws)

3) Wrong incentives 3) Realign incentives (e.g.; provided living wages,)

on performance.

4).Weak institutions 4) build transparent decision making procedures, checks and

balances of independent courts.

5) Underdeveloped civil society 5) strengthen business association watch dogs groups

Advocacy society organization ns, political parties,

Independent labour unions and independent media for

for example.107

It should be noted also that political or economic uncertainty can provide power incentives to government officials who fear that a change of government will affect their positions, prompting attempt to maximize their present situation by engaging in corrupt acts. Levels of corruption are thus high during periods of economical or political transformation.

107 USAID Hand Book for Fighting Corruption, October 1998



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Again, if the bureaucracy is inefficient, bribery can be used to speed up the granting of license and permits; conversely, this practice may provide a significant motivation to maintain bureaucratic inefficiency.

Furthermore, some economists try to incorporate the ethical dimension into their analysis, categorizing the moral cost of breaking the laws as a distinctive towards committing a corrupt act.

Most often individual’s values, ethic and tastes of government officially are accepted as giving, and they are regarded as rational beings maximizing their personal utility or office. The potential benefit and costs are usually considered in relation to economic development which can be Brocken down into economic growth, political development and national integration.

As we have seen above, it is clear that many factors give rise to the corrupt behaviours in our various societies.

For instance, in June 27, 2002, according to Reuters, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) had to relieve some of its officials of their posts because they had taken bribes. And all the commissioners of the European Union (EU), resigned because they, too, had been found to be corrupt beyond acceptable limits. In the United States, Enron Corporation, an energy giant and WorldCom, a telecommunication company, were charged with fraud. The companies ‘manipulated their balanced sheets, profit and loss account and tax liabilities.’ Enron’s accountant, Arthur Andersen, collapsed for greed and fraud as it was charged with obstruction of justice in connection to the Enron probe108.

We can say here that the above examples are but tip of the iceberg! Yet, analysts tend to believe that developed countries are less corrupt than developing nations.

Wraith & Simpkings pointed out that,

“ throughout the fabric of public life in newly Independent State…runs the scarlet thread of bribery and corruption”.109

This is an uphill task, for the simple reason that it is difficult if not impossible to find an honest people in the society since corruption has become almost the way of life of the people.

According to Nye,

“it will probably be "difficult to secure by honest means a visa to a developing country.”110

That would be the subject of a corruption study.

108 (Reuters June 27, 2002; the Observer (UK), June 9, 2002). 109 (Wraith and Simpkins 1963). 110 (Nye 1967).



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Another very important question one could ask is why is corruption a viable enterprise in the Third World (Nigeria) for instance?

As we shall see, the causes of corruption are myriad; and they have political and cultural variables. And,

“Some evidence point to a link between corruption and social diversity, ethno-linguistic fractionalization, and the proportions of country’s population adhering to different religious traditions”111

Accordingly, many studies have shown that “corruption is widespread in most non-democratic countries, and particularly, in countries that have been branded ‘neo-patrimonial,’ ‘kleptocratic’ and ‘prebendal”’112

This is exactly why the political system and the culture of a society could make the citizens more prone to corrupt activities. However, we shall focus on the fundamental factors that engender corrupt practices in less developed nations, including Nigeria. Some of the factors include:

1) Great inequality in distribution of wealth; 2) Political office as the primary means of gaining access to wealth; 3) Conflict between changing moral codes; 4) The weakness of social and governmental enforcement mechanisms; and 5) The absence of a strong sense of national community113.

Studies have shown that the causes of corruption in Nigeria cannot deviate significantly, if at all, from the above factors. In any case,

1. Great inequality in distribution of wealth;

This is a very important factor and one of the most causes of corruption in the society. This happens when three are too much gaps between the poor and the rich in the society especially in Nigeria. There seem to be completion on who will accumulate more wealth in the society. It does not matter how one becomes rich. According to Ndiulor,

111 2000. Lipset and Lenz, Corruption control strategy 2000, p.112-114. 112 NORAD 2000. 113 ibid



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“Obsession with materialism, compulsion for a shortcut to affluence, glorification and approbation of ill-gotten wealth by the general public, are among the reasons for the persistence of corruption in Nigeria”.114

The life style in Nigeria is a very great problem and consequently the source of corruption in Nigeria. One can easily see that one of the popular, but unfortunate indices of good life in Nigeria is flamboyant affluence and conspicuous consumption. Because of this, some people get into dubious activities, including 'committing ritual murder for money-making.' The cases of ritual murder abound in Nigeria, but a few examples will suffice. According to report,

“A middle-aged woman and an SSS3 female student were reportedly beheaded in Akure, the Ondo State capital recently”115.

The story of the ritual killing episode at Owerri in Imo State has it that,

“A well-known proprietor of 'Otokoto' hotel, Clement Duru was reported to have been killing and selling the body parts of some of the travellers that checked into his hotel at Owerri. And recently, another incident of ritual killing was reported in the area.”116 (Ogugbuaja).

From the reports as seen above, we can infer that something is wrong. That is, the placement of our values. The lack of ethical standards throughout the agencies of government and business organizations in Nigeria is a serious drawback.

According to Bowman, ethics is action,

“the way we practice our values; it is a guidance system to be used in making decisions. The issue of ethics in public sector [and in private life] encompasses a broad range, including a stress on obedience to authority, on the necessity of logic in moral reasoning, and on the necessity of putting moral judgement into practice”117.

114 Ndiulor, March 17, 1999 115 This Day News, July 7, 2002. 116 The Guardian, May 16, 2002. 117 Bowman 1991.



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2. POLITICAL OFFICE AS THE PRIMARY MEANS OF GAINING ACCESS TO WEALTH;

This is the situation Where Political posts have now become the means of accumulating ill-gotten wealth. For this reason, elections have become a do or die affair.

It is quite unfortunate, that many officeholders in Nigeria (appointed or elected) do not unfortunately, have clear conceptions of the ethical demands of their position. Even as corrupt practices are going off the roof, little attention, if any, is being given to this ideal.

We can also refer to other factors such as poor reward system and greed;

3. CONFLICT BETWEEN CHANGING MORAL CODES;

This is a situation where good morals have been thrown overboard. For this reason,

Nigeria’s reward system is, perhaps, the poorest in the world. Nigeria is a society where national priorities are turned upside down; hard work is not rewarded, but rogues are often glorified in Nigeria. Arthur Schlesinger said of America in the 60s, that,

“Our (the )trouble with Nigeria is not that our capabilities are inadequate. It is that our priorities - which mean our values – are wrong”118.

Peer community and extended family pressures, and ‘polygamous household’ are other reasons119. The influence of extended family system and pressure to meet family obligations are more in less developed societies. Lawrence Harrison acknowledged that the extended family system “is an effective institution for survival,” but notes that it possesses a big “obstacle for development”120 .

I therefore believe that we must change our way of thinking, especially, our bad rules, According to Edward Lotterman,

118 Howard 1982. 119 Onalaja and Onalaja, 1997. 120 Lawrence Harrison, 1985, p.7.



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“Bad rules and ‘ineffective taxing system,’ which makes it difficult to track down people’s financial activities, breed corruption”121.

4. THE WEAKNESS OF SOCIAL AND GOVERNMENTAL ENFORCEMENT MECHANISMS;

We must also re-organize our tax system. This is because ineffective taxing system is a serious problem for Nigeria. The society should institute an appropriate and effective taxing system where everyone is made to explain his or her sources of income, through end-of-the-year income tax filing. The recent ban on importation of Tokumbo (used car) over five years of manufacture, is in our opinion, an example of a bad policy that could breed corruption. If this anti-business ban is not reviewed or discarded completely, it will, as many critics have noted affect the economy, as those making a living in the business will be exposed to poverty, and subsequently, corruption. Businessmen would be forced to bribe the corrupt custom officials (to allow the cars in), causing the state to lose the needed tax revenue. In addition, the policy will divert business to other neighbouring countries122 (Pioneer Press, April 25, 2002). To tame corruption, the society should try to get rid of regulations that serve little or no purposes.

Furthermore, the lack of seriousness or lukewarm attitude of those who are supposed to enforce the laws of the land (judges, police officers and public officials) could lead to people engaging in corrupt behaviour, knowing well that they would get away with it. Some cultural and institutional factors lead to corruption. For instance, Nepotism and the strength of family values are linked to the feeling of obligation which can breed and nurture corruption.

It is on this note, especially the relationship between culture and corruption that Robert K. Merton in his work “means-ends schema” implies that,

“Corruption is at times a motivated behaviour responding to social pressures to violate the norms, so as to meet the set goals and objectives of a social system.”123

Often times we miss our good opportunities due to corrupt practices.

According to Lipset,

121 Edward Lotterman (Pioneer Press, April 25, 2002. 122 Pioneer Press, April 25, 2002. 123 Robert K. Merton. (1968).



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“Those going through corrupt means (through the back door, so to say), to achieve their objectives have little or no access to opportunity structure. The hindrance to economic opportunity, according to the study, could be a result of their race, ethnicity, lack of skills, capital, material and other human resources. And that cultures that stress economic success as an important goal but nevertheless strongly restricts access to opportunities will have higher levels of corruption”.124

5. THE ABSENCE OF A STRONG SENSE OF NATIONAL COMMUNITY;

Lack or low access to economic opportunities among the Nigerian populace breeds corruption. That probably explains the high incidence of corrupt behaviours in Nigeria. As a Nigerian News Paper puts it,

“Many Nigerians are highly achievement oriented, but they have relatively low access to economic opportunities. For example many civil servants work for months without getting paid”125.

Despite this ugly situation, the society expects them to be honest and productive. And to crown it all, many of those civil servants working without pay are parents, who are expected to train their children in schools with empty wallet. How can they do that? Are they magicians? No! Under this condition, many citizens would reject the rule of the game (societal norms) and criminally innovate to make ends meet.

Our attitude to wealth especially the ill-gotten wealth is a thing of concern in Nigerian society. This why a Nigerian “This Day Online” has this to say,

“The ‘brazen display of wealth by public officials,’ which they are unable to explain the source, points to how bad corruption has reached in the society. Many of these officials before being elected or appointed into offices had little or modest income. But now, they are owners of many properties around the world”126.

The above ugly and unfortunate situations are highly unbearable. The situations are not the same in some developed world like United States of America.

According to CNN News,

124 Lipset and Lenze, (2000, pp. 112-117. 125 This Day, July 7, 2002; Daily Trust, July 9, 2002. 126 This Day Online, June 24, 2002.



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“while in contrast with the United States, many of the elected officials are known to be modest in living (There are some bad eggs in their midst, but they face the laws when they are found wanting). The 2000 financial disclosure forms released in 2001, which is required annually for all 535 members of Congress (House and Senate members), show that many of them live relatively modest. (The financial forms show sources of outside income, assets, liabilities, speech honoraria donated to charity and travel paid by private interests; by law, honoraria are donated to charity). The main asset of the Senate Majority Leader, Tom Daschle (the nation’s highest-ranking Democrat, with direct influence over billions of federal dollars), is a one-half share in a house in Aberdeen, South Dakota, given by his mother and worth between $50,000 and $100,000 in income”127 (CNN News, June 14, 2001).

I wish to observe here that the contrast is clear. This is because, if he were a Nigerian, he could have owned many million-dollar homes in beautiful areas in London and the United States (all over Nigeria too), and decorated himself with countless traditional titles.

Again, family orientation can have serious adverse effect on corruption practices.

According to Edward Benfield,

“there is a relationship between corruption and strong family orientation. The study, which helped to explain high levels of corruption in southern Italy and Sicily, notes that “corruption is linked to the strong family values involving intense feelings of obligation.” That was the case with the Mafia in Italy where some people were seen to have the attitude of “anything goes that advances the interests of one’s self and family”128.

One becomes clear that all the above enumerated problems, can lead to corruption and should be taken care of as a matter of urgency as the Daily Trust puts it,

“including bad practices of non-payment or late payment of workers, bad business cultures of delays and refusal, or late payment for services executed by business establishments in Nigeria are forms of corruption. These kinds of behaviours have the tendency to scare away foreign and local investors, with tremendous negative effects on the economy”129.

However, in the face of all these problems, the Church’s social teaching is an integral part of her evangelizing ministry. Nothing that concerns the community of men and women-situations and problems regarding justice, freedom, development, relations between peoples, peace is foreign to evangelization and evangelization would be incomplete if it did not take into account the mutual

127 CNN News, June 14, 2001. 128 Edward Banfield, 1958. 129 Daily Trust, July 9, 2002.



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demands continually made by the Gospel and by the concrete, personal and social life of man. They include eminently evangelical order, which is that of charity:

According to the Social doctrine of the Church,

“how in fact can one proclaim the new commandment without promoting in justice and in peace the true, authentic advancement of man.”130

The Church through her social teaching seeks to proclaim the Gospel and make it present in the complex net work of social relations. It is not simply a matter of reaching out to man in society-man as the recipient of the proclamation of the Gospel-but of enriching and permeating society itself with the Gospel131

This means that for the Church therefore, tending to the needs of man means that she also involves society in her missionary and salvific work. The way people live together in society often determines the quality of life and therefore the condition in which every man and woman understand themselves and make decisions concerning themselves and their vocation. For this reason, the Church is not indifferent in what is decided, brought about or experienced in society; she is attentive to the moral quality that is, the authentically human and humanizing aspects of social life. Society-and with it, politics, the economy, labour law, culture-is not simply a secular and worldly reality, and therefore outside or foreign to the message and economy of salvation. Society in fact, with all that is accomplished within it, concerns man. Society is made of men and women, who are the “primary and fundamental way for the Church132”

This is why according to the social doctrine of the Church,

“By means of her social doctrine, the Church takes on the task of proclaiming what the Lord has entrusted on to her. She makes the message of the freedom and redemption wrought by Christ, the Gospel of the Kingdom, present in human history. In proclaiming the Gospel, the Church bears witness to man, in the name of Christ, to his dignity and his vocation to the communion of persons. She teaches him the demands of justice and peace in conformity with divine wisdom”133.

130 Compendium of the “Social Doctrine of the Church.” 2004 no.66. p37.

131 Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 40 AAS 58 (1966).

132 John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Redemptor Hominis, 14: AAS 71 (1979, 284.

133 Compendium of the “Social Doctrine of the Church.” 2004 no.63. p35.



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Therefore, the Church in her prophetic must of necessity of her to call to bear witness to truth and justice fight against all factors that bring about corruption in the society, since corruption is against human development.

F. EFFECTS OF CORRUPTION

A. THE POSITIVE EFFECTS OF CORRUPTION FOR THOSE INVOLVED

When one talks of the positive effect of corruption, it looks odd for some people that one can talk of some positive aspects of corruption for the simple reason that corruption in itself is negative and therefore should produce only negative effects. However, it should be noted that until the 1980s, scholarly research on corruption was largely confined to the fields of sociology, political science, history, public administration, and criminal law. Since then, economists have also turned their interest to this topic, largely on account of its increasingly evident link to economic performance. Much of the early research focused on weaknesses in public institutions and distortions in economic policies that gave rise to rent seeking by public officials and the incubation of corrupt practices. It also highlighted some positive effects of corruption, which were discounted in the subsequent literature.134

However, one can say that there exist some advantages of corruption in the nation’s development. It is observed that through corrupt means one can get rich faster. This is because one can get what he wants through the back door.

According to Pye, “despite the immoral aspect and pernicious effects of corruption, some scholars have argued that corruption can be beneficial to political development or political modernization"135.

And for Nye,

134 George T. Abed and Sanjeey Gupta, “The Economics of Corruption: An Overview”. 2002 International Monetary Fund, September 23, 2002 p1.

135 Pye, March 1965.



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“Political modernization or development means growth in the capacity of a society's governmental structures and processes to maintain their legitimacy over time (presumably in time of social change) by contributing to economic development, national integration and administrative capacity, and so on”136.

Nevertheless, Max Gluckman opined that,

“scandals associated with corruption sometimes have the effect of strengthening a value system of a society as a whole”137.

Some have argued that the vast gap between literate official and illiterate peasant, which is often characteristic of the countryside, may be bridged if the peasant approaches the official bearing traditional gifts or their (corrupt) money equivalent.

In addition, some writers have noted that corruption may help to ease the transition from traditional life to a modern political life.

McMullan points out that,

“a degree of low-level corruption’ can 'soften relations of officials and people.”138.

These observations are common occurrences in Nigeria where communities pay political visits to their Governors, Commissioners and top civil servants with cows, wines, cola nuts and money stuffed in bags that is named by Nigerians ‘Ghana must go’ in other to get the corrupt governors attend to their local problems faster and even when they are not qualified or not their turn to receive these facilities or benefits.

The apparent benefits of corruption notwithstanding, we are here mainly concerned with the evils of corruption. Any right thinking person in Nigeria where ubiquitous corruption has ravaged the society will find it impossible to agree that corruption is beneficial, no matter how plausible it may be. And Shils notes that corruption can 'humanize government and make it less awesome'139.

It should be noted that despite the fact that the international organizations consistently claim that corruption hinders economic growth, economists have not necessarily agreed with the claim from theoretical standpoints

136 Ibid. 137 Max Gluckman, (1955). 138 McMullan, July 1961. 139 Shils, (1962).



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Theoretically, some scholars like Leff believe that corruption can produce positive effect in economy insofar as it relaxes the rigid regulations imposed by the government. More than 30 years ago, Leff, first argued that,

“Corruption might promote economic growth as it relaxes inefficient and rigid regulations imposed by government”140.

It is also interesting to note that since the mid 1980s, some economists have formalized mechanisms, in which corruption enhances efficiency and promotes growth. For instance, Lui argues that,

“bureaucrats, when allocating business licenses to firms, give priority to those who evaluate time at the greatest value and bribe the bureaucrats into speeding up procedures”141

Furthermore, one can argue according to Shleifer and Vishny that,

“corruption enables private agents to buy their way out of politically imposed inefficiencies”142. This is true especially in developing countries like Nigeria where many private agents buy their ways out of some corrupt situations in which they entangled themselves.

Again, Tullock argues that,

“Corruption may make possible smaller or no salary payments to officials who, if carefully supervised, will still carry out their functions on a fee-for-service basis”143.

Corruption can make it possible for corrupt individuals to become rich quicker through ill gotten wealth at the detriment of others.

However, we can then see that theoretical studies suggest that corruption may counteract government failure and promote economic growth in the short run, given exogenously determined suboptimal bureaucratic rules and regulations. As the government failure is itself a function of corruption, however, corruption should have detrimental effects on economic growth in the long

140 Leff 1964 in Nobuo Akai, Short-run and Long-run Effects of Corruption on Economic Growth: Evidence from State-Level Cross-Section Data for the United States, Last Updated: 9 June 2005 p1.

141 Lui 1985, in Nobuo Akai, Yusaku Horiuchi and Masayo Sakata, Short-run and Long-run Effects of Corruption on Economic Growth: Evidence from State-Level Cross-Section Data for the United States, Last Updated: 9 June 2005 p1. 142 Shleifer and Vishny 1994:1013

143 Tullock 1996:6.



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run. In practice, policymakers and economists care more about such long-term consequences of corruption than the short-term effects.144

Furthermore, Beck and Maher and Lien developed auction models arguing that bribes in a bidding process can promote efficiency because most efficient firms are often those who can afford the highest bribe.145

I wish to conclude by saying without mincing words that corruption has more negative effects than it has positive effects. This is because; whatever positive effects corruption may have, they are limited to short term. Consequently, Economics consider more the long term implications of corruption, and that is for me what matters.

B. THE NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF CORRUPTION

It is crystal clear that the negative effects of corruption are very enormous and override in no small measure the positive effects of corruption on economic growth. As Nobuo Akai, Yusaku Horiuchi and Masayo Sakata put it,

“We also select proper instruments by testing their validity. Considering these factors, we show that the effect of corruption on economic growth is indeed negative and statistically significant in the middle and long spans but insignificant in the short span.”146

Following this line of thought, some scholars, such as Tanzi and Aidt, have recently refuted these arguments that corruption has positive effects for various reasons.

First and foremost, they maintained strongly that private firms paying a high bribe are not necessarily economically competitive firms and for them, if a firm with potentially talented individuals engages in rent-seeking activities instead of more productive activities, such a sub-

144 Nobuo Akai, Yusaku Horiuchi and Masayo Sakata, Short-run and Long-run Effects of Corruption on Economic

Growth: Evidence from State-Level Cross-Section Data for the United States, Last Updated: 9 June 2005 p1.

145 Beck and Meher, 1986.

146 Nobuo Akai, Yusaku Horiuchi and Masayo Sakata, Short-run and Long-run Effects of Corruption on Economic Growth: Evidence from State-Level Cross-Section Data for the United States, Last Updated: 9 June 2005 p5.



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optimal use of human capital will damage macroeconomic. For that reason, they are of the view that the private firms are often forced to make side-payments to government officials to run their business in many countries, such as Indonesia, Russia and Ukraine, and the cost of such corruption is particularly high for small but emerging enterprises, which can be a driving force of economic growth.147

For Aidt, the second argument is that, corruption acts as an arbitrary tax for those giving bribes to public officials, as they have to bear the cost of searching for “partners” and negotiating with them. Because of such rent-seeking costs, according to him, the auction model’s claim that bribery is equivalent to competitive auction as the same firm wins the prize at the same price under two arrangements is irresistibly invalid.

On the other hand, it becomes true that when corrupt officials rather than the treasury collect revenues from individuals and firms, an opportunity to lower the tax burden is lost.

Finally, government officials intentionally impose rigidities in order to extract bribes, thus officials know that the more rigidities they impose the more opportunity they have for extracting bribes. Similarly, if bribes are used to speed up procedures, bureaucrats may further slow down the administrative procedures.

Consequently and in the final analysis, Tanzi and Aidt believes that when corruption allows public officials to receive private benefits secretly and arbitrarily, they do not perform their expected role of fixing market failures, and instead create even more market failures. The government’s fundamental role of protecting property rights is also distorted, and its accountability and transparency are diminished 148

Tanzi and Aidt having considered all the above arguments, regard the last argument as particularly important. As some economists argue, corruption may work as the second-best solution to market distortions imposed by government procedures and policies at least in the short run. In the long run, however, corruption itself produces further market distortions and reduces market efficiency.149

According to Lui,

147 Tanzi 1998:582) and Aidt (2003:634–35.

148 op cit p7

149 Ibid.



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“corruption has two effects; (i) a positive level [Short-term] effect on allocative efficiency; and (ii) a negative effect on the economy’s long-term growth rate”. 150

I agree with Nobuo Akai, that although the first effect still remains a matter of debate, there seems to be no theoretical disagreement for the latter. Furthermore, in practice, what policymakers and economists often care about is not the short-run effect but the long-run effect.

*One would be tempted to ask: what is the difference between the effect of corruption and the evils of it. I would say that, the effect of corruption can have advantages and disadvantages while the evils of corruption do not have advantage because it is always negative and evil.

The evils of corruption abound and are as follows-

According to the Guardian News Paper,

“through corrupt means many political office holders acquire wealth and properties in and outside Nigeria; and many display their wealth (which is beyond the means), but the society does not blink. This has made politics a big business in Nigeria, because anything spent to secure a political office is regarded as an investment, which matures immediately one gets into office” 151

Many studies have been conducted that show the evils or consequences of corruption. And corruption has taught the Nigeria a dangerous and wrong lesson that it does not pay to be honest, hardworking and law-abiding.

As Welch Jr., puts it,

“The General Buhari's post-coup broadcast to Nigerians in 1983 is a case in point.”152

It should be noted with utmost dismay that Corruption wastes skills as precious time is often wasted to set up unending committees to fight corruption, and to monitor public projects. It also leads to aid forgone. Some foreign donors do not give aid to corrupt nations. For instance, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has withdrawn development support from some nations that are notoriously corrupt. And the World Bank has introduced tougher anti-corruption standards into its lending policies to corrupt countries. Similarly, other organizations such as the Council of Europe and the Organization of American States are taking tough measures against international corruption.

150 Lui 1996:28.

151 The Guardian, July 14, 2002. 152 Welch, Jr., 1987.



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Corruption is politically destabilizing, as it leads to social revolution and military takeovers. Most "post-coup rationalizations" in less developed worlds point to corruption. But hiding under the excuse of corruption to topple a legitimate government in Nigeria will seize to be a credible reason for the involvement of the military in Nigerian politics in future. This is because many of the previous military leaders in Nigeria were as corrupt, if not more corrupt than the civilian politicians they replaced. Corruption was even blamed for the first 1966 military coup in Nigeria (and that in Ghana too).

According to Wallenstein however,

“The post-electoral crisis in the Western region and the fear of northern domination of the affairs of Nigeria were other reasons.”153

As Callaghy puts it,

“Because of the widespread of petty and grand the international business community regard the whole of Africa as a sinkhole that swallows their money with little or no return."154

With the recent changes in the political economy of East Europe, the attention of the business world has been turned to this area where they may reap quicker results from their investments.

I agree with Lord Bishop of Guilford, David Peck who said,

“that Bribery and corruption, the culture of late payment, delays or refusal of payment for services already done, are scaring away British investors from Nigeria...those who fail to pay companies for services done seem to forget that the life blood of any company is its cash flow... the price of corruption is poverty.”155

According to Mauro,

“Corruption causes a reduction in quality of goods and services available to the public, as some companies could cut corners to increase profit margins. Corruption effects investment, economic growth, and government expenditure choices; it also reduces private investment”156 Above all, corruption can tarnish the image of a country.

To buttress this point, one African diplomat could not say it any better:

153Wallenstein, March 14, 1966; and Kilson, Jan. 31, 1966. 154 Callaghy 1994. 155 Lord Bishop of Guilford, David Peck, (Daily Trust, July 9, 2002. 156 Mauro 1997.



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"Eastern Europe is [now] the sexiest beautiful girl, and we [Africa] are an old tattered lady. People are tired of Africa. So many countries so many wars."157

As we have seen, what is happening in Africa is a blueprint of the problem facing Nigeria.

As Adams puts it,

“The nation’s unworkable economic policies, blatant corruption in fact, the fossilized system of government has brought almost everything to a halt.”158

And for Sen,

“Thus, corruption discourages honest effort and valuable economic activities; and it breeds inefficiency and nepotism. Corruption leads to possible ‘information distortion’ as it ‘cooks the books;’ and ‘a high level of corruption can make public policies ineffective’.159

As we have seen, Nigeria suffers more than most nations from an appalling international image created by its inability to deal with bribery and corruption.

The bad effects of corruption are as one would expect, more than its good effects. Among the good effects of corruption are: Through corrupt means some developed countries cheat the so called undeveloped world. This they do by making use of corrupt officials to achieve their purpose which would not have been possible taking the right track. For example, Raw Materials like crude oil, iron ore, tin etc. Consequently some of these undeveloped countries become poorer.

Again, the Corruption effects on the nation’s socio-political and economic development are myriad and cannot be over emphasised.

According to Mauro,

“The negative effects impact economic growth as it, among other things, reduces public spending on education”.160

Because of the seriousness of the negative impact Corruption has on the growth of a nation, the following authors have these statements to make:

According to Lipset and Lenz,

“the effect on growth is in part, a result of reduced level of investment, as it adds to investment risk” 161.

157 Newsweek Education Program - Fall/1994, 'conflict in Africa'. 158 Adams, May/June, 1995. 159 Sen 1999, p.135; also see Reuters’ Jessica Hall on WorldCom, June 27, 2002. 160 Mauro, 1997; and 1995.



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For Shleifer & Vishny,

“the effect of corruption on education comes from the fact that the government spends relatively more on items to make room for graft162. As Lipset & Lenz put it, “corrupt government officials would shift government expenditures to areas in which they can collect bribes easily. Large and hard-to-manage projects, such as airports or highways, make fraud easy. In addition, poverty and income inequalities are tied to corruption”163.

Furthermore, development projects are often made unnecessarily complex in Nigeria to justify the corrupt and huge expense on it. The new national stadium in Abuja, which is said to have gulped millions of Naira more than necessary, is a case in point.

G. HUMAN DEVELOPMENT AS CONCEIVED BY POPE BENEDICT XVI VERITAS IN CARITATE AND THE

COMPENDIUM OF THE SOCIAL DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH.

1. WHAT IS HUMAN DEVELOPMENT?

There is fairly broad agreement on certain aspects of the human development paradigm.

According to the Social teachings of the Church,

“Men and women who are made new by the Love of God are able to change the rules and the quality of relationships, transforming even social structures. They are people capable of bringing peace where there is conflict, of building and nurturing fraternal relationships where there is hatred, of seeking justice where there prevails the exploitation of man by man. Only love is capable of radically transforming the relationships that men maintain among themselves. This is the perspective that allows every person of good will to perceive the broad horizons of justice and human development in truth and goodness.”164

161 Lipset and Lenz, 2000. 162Shleifer and Vishny, 1993; Lipset and Lenz, 2002. 163 Lipset and Lenz 2000. 164 Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, 2004.no. p2.



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While, human development paradigm defines the ends of development and analyses sensible options for achieving them by maintaining that, development must put people at the centre of its concerns. The purpose of development is to enlarge all human choices, not just income.

The human development paradigm is concerned both with building up human capabilities through investment in people and with using those human capabilities fully through and enabling framework for growth and empowerment165.

However, Pope Paul VI had an articulated vision of development. At which he also put People at the Centre of its concern. He understood the term to indicate,

“The goal of rescuing peoples, first and foremost, from hunger, deprivation, endemic diseases and illiteracy166”.

I find this definition very strong. This is because, from the economic point of view, this meant their active participation, on equal terms, in the international economic process; from the social point of view, it meant their evolution into educated societies marked by solidarity; from the political point of view, and it meant the consolidation of democratic regimes capable of ensuring freedom and peace.

In this regard, after so many years, as we look closely with concern the developments and perspectives of the succession of crises that afflict the world today, we ask to what extent Paul VI's expectations have been fulfilled by the model of development adopted in recent decades. We recognize, therefore, that the Church had good reason to be concerned about the capacity of a purely technological society to set realistic goals and to make good use of the instruments at its disposal.

In fact, when the Church,

“fulfils her mission of proclaiming the Gospel, she bears witness to man, in the name of Christ, to his dignity and his vocation to the communion of persons. She teaches him the demand of justice and peace in conformity with the divine wisdom.”167

According to Benedict XVI,

“Profit is useful if it serves as a means towards an end that provides a sense both of how to produce it and how to make good use of it. Once profit becomes the exclusive goal, if it is produced

165 Sen 1999, p.135; also see Reuters’ Jessica Hall on WorldCom, June 27, 2002.

166 Benedict XVI, Encyclical Letter CARITAS IN VERITE, 2009. 167 Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2419.



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by improper means and without the common good as its ultimate end, it risks destroying wealth and creating poverty168”.

Therefore it can be clearly observed that the economic development that Paul VI hoped to see was meant to produce real growth, of benefit to everyone and genuinely sustainable. It is true that growth has taken place, and it continues to be a positive factor that has lifted billions of people out of misery but most unfortunately and recently due to corruption, it has given many countries the possibility of becoming effective players in international politics.

Furthermore and in a more serious note, it can be seen that this same economic growth has been and continues to be weighed down by malfunctions and dramatic problems, highlighted even further by the current crisis. As Benedict XVI puts it,

“This presents us with choices that cannot be postponed concerning nothing less than the destiny of man, who, moreover, cannot prescient from his nature. The technical forces in play, the global interrelations, the damaging effects on the real economy of badly managed and largely speculative financial dealing, large-scale migration of peoples, often provoked by some particular circumstance and then given insufficient attention, the unregulated exploitation of the earth's resources: all this leads us today to reflect on the measures that would be necessary to provide a solution to problems that are not only new in comparison to those addressed by Pope Paul VI, but also, and above all, of decisive impact upon the present and future good of humanity169”.

I believe that in whatever way we may see it, the different aspects of the crisis, its solutions, and any new development that the future may bring, are increasingly interconnected, they imply one another, and they require new efforts of holistic understanding and a new humanistic synthesis170.

According to the doctrine of the Church,

“the solution to the problem of development requires cooperation among individual political communities. Political communities condition one another and we can affirm that each one will succeed its development by contributing to the development of others. For this to happen, understanding and collaboration are essential.171”

This means also that the solution must be done in a holistic way comprising all the other strategies.

168 Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2419 169 Benedict XVI, Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate , 2009. 170 Ibid.

171 John XXIII, Encyclical Letter, Mater ET Magistra: AAS 53 (1961).



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The complexity and gravity of the present economic situation rightly cause us concern, but we must adopt a realistic attitude which for me must include anti-corruption strategy that is holistic and integral in its pursuit as we take up with confidence and hope the new responsibilities to which we are called by the prospect of a world in need of profound cultural renewal, a world that needs to rediscover fundamental values on which to build a better future.

According to the social doctrine of the Church,

“It may seem that underdevelopment is impossible to eliminate, as though it were a death sentence, especially considering the fact that it is not only the result of erroneous human choices, but also the consequence of “economic, financial and social mechanism” and “structures of sin172” that prevent the full development of men and peoples”173.

Truly speaking, the current crisis obliges us to re-plan our journey, to set ourselves new rules and to discover new forms of commitment, to build on positive experiences and to reject negative ones. The crisis thus becomes an opportunity for discernment, in which to shape a new vision for the future. In this spirit, with confidence rather than resignation, it is appropriate to address the difficulties of the present time that is Corruption and its attendant negative consequences.


“These difficulties must nonetheless be met with strong and resolute determination, because development is not only an aspiration but a right that, like every right, implies a duty. “Collaboration in the development of the whole person and of every human being is in fact a duty of all towards all, and must be shared by the four parts of the world: East and West, North and South”174.

It is very unfortunate to note that this time the picture of development has many overlapping layers. The actors and the causes in both underdevelopment and development are manifold, the faults and the merits are differentiated. This fact should prompt us to liberate ourselves from ideologies, which often oversimplify reality in artificial ways, and it should lead us to examine objectively the full human dimension of the problems.

This why according to John Paul II,

172 Cf. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, 36-37, and 39: AAS 80 (1988), 561-564, 567.

173 Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, 2004.no.446 p251.




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“The demarcation line between rich and poor countries is no longer as clear as it was at the time of Populorum Progressio. The world's wealth is growing in absolute terms, but inequalities are on the increase”175.

One can notice without difficulty that in rich countries, new sectors of society are succumbing to poverty and new forms of poverty are emerging.

For Paul VI,

“In poorer areas some groups enjoy a sort of super development of a wasteful and consumerist kind which forms an unacceptable contrast with the ongoing situations of dehumanizing deprivation... The scandal of glaring inequalities continues.”176

It is therefore observed with utter dismay that above all, that corruption and illegality are unfortunately evident in the conduct of the economic and political class in rich countries, both old and new, as well as in poor ones. Among those who sometimes fail to respect the human rights of workers are large multinational companies as well as local producers. Due to Corruption, International aid has often been diverted from its proper ends, through irresponsible actions both within the chain of donors and within that of the beneficiaries.177

As the Magisterium sees it,

“the right to development is based on the following principles: unity of origin and a shared destiny of the human family; equality between every person and between every community based on human dignity; the universal destination of the goods of the earth; the notion of development in its entirety; and centrality of the human person and solidarity” 178.

Unfortunately and similarly, in the context of immaterial or cultural causes of development and underdevelopment, we find these same patterns of responsibility reproduced. On the part of rich countries there is excessive zeal for protecting knowledge through an unduly rigid assertion of the right to intellectual property, especially in the field of health care. At the same time, in some poor countries, cultural models and social norms of behaviour persist which hinder the process of development.179

175 Cf. Encyclical Letter, Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, 28: loc. cit., 548-550. 176 Paul VI, Encyclical Letter Populorum Progressio, 9: loc. cit., 261-262.. 177 Ibid.


179 Cf. Paul VI, Encyclical Letter Populorum Progressio, 9: loc. cit., 261-262.



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The Church’s social doctrine encourages forms of cooperation that are capable of facilitating access to the international market on the part of countries suffering from poverty and underdevelopment.


“Even in recent years, it was thought that the poorest countries would develop by isolating themselves from the world market and by depending only on their own resources. Recent experience has shown that countries which did this have suffered stagnation and recession, while the countries which experienced development were those which succeeded in taking part in the general interrelated economic activities at the international level”180.

I want to say here straightaway with the Pope, that progress of a merely economic and technological kind is insufficient. Development needs above all to be true and integral. The mere fact of emerging from economic backwardness, though positive in itself, does not resolve the complex issues of human advancement, neither for the countries that are spearheading such progress, nor for those that are already economically developed, nor even for those that are still poor, which can suffer not just through old forms of exploitation, but also from the negative consequences of a growth that is marked by irregularities and imbalances181.

As John Paul II, puts it,

“After the collapse of the economic and political systems of the Communist countries of Eastern Europe and the end of the so-called opposing blocs, a complete re-examination of development was needed. Pope John Paul II called for it, when in 1987 he pointed to the existence of these blocs as one of the principal causes of underdevelopment, inasmuch as politics withdrew resources from the economy and from the culture, and ideology inhibited freedom.”182

Again in his Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus John Paul II moreover, in 1991, after the events of 1989, he asked that,

“ in view of the ending of the blocs, there should be a comprehensive new plan for development, not only in those countries, but also in the West and in those parts of the world that were in the process of evolving”183.


181 Benedict XVI, Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate, loc, 24, 2009.

182 Encyclical Letter Sollicitudo Rei Socialis20: loc. cit., 536-537. 183 John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus, 22-29: loc. cit., 819-830.



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It is clear that this has been achieved only in part, and it is still a real duty that needs to be discharged, perhaps by means of the choices that are necessary to overcome current economic problems.

Things have changed. This is because the world that Paul VI had before him even though society had already evolved to such an extent that he could speak of social issues in global terms was still far less integrated than today's world. Economic activity and the political process were both largely conducted within the same geographical area, and could therefore feed off one another. Production took place predominantly within national boundaries, and financial investments had somewhat limited circulation outside the country, so that the politics of many States could still determine the priorities of the economy and to some degree govern its performance using the instruments at their disposal which led him to write the famous Encyclical Letter Populorum Progressio.


“It seems therefore that the chief problem is that of gaining fair access to the international market, based on the unilateral principle of exploitation of the natural resources of these countries but on the proper use of human resources”184

A new Era has come. And at this period, the State finds itself having to address the limitations to its sovereignty imposed by the new context of international trade and finance, which is characterized by increasing mobility both of financial capital and means of production, material and immaterial. This new context has altered the political power of States.


“Among the causes that greatly contribute to underdevelopment and poverty, in addition to the impossibility of ascending to the international market, mention must be made illiteracy, lack of food security, the absence of structures and services, inadequate measures for guaranteeing basic health care, the lack of safe drinking water and sanitation, corruption, instability of institutions and of political life itself”185.

As Benedict XVI puts it,

“Today, as we take to heart the lessons of the current economic crisis, which sees the State's public authorities directly involved in correcting errors and malfunctions, it seems more realistic to re-evaluate their role and their powers, which need to be prudently reviewed and remodelled so as to





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enable them, perhaps through new forms of engagement, to address the challenges of today's world” 186.

The spirit of international cooperation requires that, beyond the strict market mentality, there should be awareness of the duty to solidarity justice and universal charity.

This is because once the role of public authorities has been more clearly defined, one could foresee an increase in the new forms of political participation, nationally and internationally, that have come about through the activity of organizations operating in civil society; in this way it is to be hoped that the citizens' interest and participation in the res publica will become more deeply rooted.


“There is a connection between poverty and in many countries, the lack of liberty, possibility of economic initiative and a national administration capable of setting up an adequate system of education and information.187”

Considering this matter in another point will be helpful, for instance, from the social point of view, systems of protection and welfare, already present in many countries in Paul VI's day, are finding it hard and could find it even harder in the future to pursue their goals of true social justice in today's profoundly changed environment.

As the doctrine of the Church puts it,

“In fact, there exists something which is due to man because he is man by reason of his lofty dignity... Cooperation is the part to which the entire international community should be committed, according to an adequate notion of the Common Good in relation to the entire human family.”188

Many positive results flow from this; for example an increase of confidence in the potential of poor people and therefore of poor countries and an equitable distribution of goods.

The global market has stimulated first and foremost, on the part of rich countries, a search for areas in which to outsource production at low cost with a view to reducing the prices of many goods, increasing purchasing power and thus accelerating the rate of development in terms of greater availability of consumer goods for the domestic market. Consequently, the market has prompted new forms of competition between States as they seek to attract foreign businesses to set up

186 Benedict XVI, Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate, loc, 24, 2009. 187 Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, 2004.no.448 p252.




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production centres, by means of a variety of instruments, including favourable fiscal regimes and deregulation of the labour market189.

Unfortunately and as one would expect, I believe that these processes have led in no small measure to a downsizing of social security systems as the price to be paid for seeking greater competitive advantage in the global market, with consequent grave danger for the rights of workers, for fundamental human rights and for the solidarity associated with the traditional forms of the social State. Systems of social security can lose the capacity to carry out their task, both in emerging countries and in those that were among the earliest to develop, as well as in poor countries. 190

As the social doctrine of the Church puts it,

“The international activity of the Holy See is manifested objectively under different aspects: the right to the active and passive delegation; the exercise of the ius contrahendi in stipulating treaties; participation in international organizations, such as those under the auspices of the United Nations; and mediation initiatives in situation of conflict. This activity aims at offering non-partisan service to the international community, since it seeks no advantage for itself but only for the good of the entire human family”191.

For this reason, it comes to logical conclusion that the budgetary policies, with cuts in social spending often made under pressure from international financial institutions, can leave citizens powerless in the face of old and new risks; such powerlessness is increased by the lack of effective protection on the part of workers' associations.

It can be observed with utter dismay that, through the combination of social and economic change, trade union organizations experience greater difficulty in carrying out their task of representing the interests of workers, partly because Governments, for reasons of economic utility, often limit the freedom or the negotiating capacity of labour unions.


“Hence traditional networks of solidarity have more and more obstacles to overcome. The repeated calls issued within the Church's social doctrine, beginning with Rerum Novarum for the promotion of workers' associations that can defend their rights must therefore be honoured today


190 Ibid.




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even more than in the past, as a prompt and far-sighted response to the urgent need for new forms of cooperation at the international level, as well as the local level.”192

However, it is important here to point out that the mobility of labour, associated with a climate of deregulation, is an important phenomenon with certain positive aspects, because it can stimulate wealth production and cultural exchange. Nevertheless, according to Benedict XVI,

“uncertainty over working conditions caused by mobility and deregulation, when it becomes endemic, tends to create new forms of psychological instability, giving rise to difficulty in forging coherent life-plans, including that of marriage. This leads to situations of human decline, to say nothing of the waste of social resources. In comparison with the casualties of industrial society in the past, unemployment today provokes new forms of economic marginalization, and the current crisis can only make this situation worse. Being out of work or dependent on public or private assistance for a prolonged period undermines the freedom and creativity of the person and his family and social relationships, causing great psychological and spiritual suffering.”193

It is particularly important here to remind everyone; especially governments engaged in boosting the world's economic and social assets, that the primary capital to be safeguarded and valued is man, the human person in his or her integrity: “Man is the source, the focus and the aim of all economic and social life.”194

It should be note with particular attention that Culture is another aspect of man that should never be over looked in consideration a human society. In Africa especially in Nigeria, Culture play a very important role as one of the most determinant of human dignity. According to Benedict XVI,

“That is why, on the cultural plane, compared with Paul VI's day, the difference is even more marked. At that time cultures were relatively well defined and had greater opportunity to defend themselves against attempts to merge them into one.” 195

I agree with Benedict XVI that at the present time, the possibilities of interaction between cultures have increased significantly, giving rise to new openings for intercultural dialogue: a dialogue that, if it is to be effective, has to set out from a deep-seated knowledge of the specific identity of the various dialogue partners.

According to John Paul II,

192 . Loc. cit., 135. 193 Benedict XVI, Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate, loc, 24, 2009.

194 Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium et Spes 63.




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“Let it not be forgotten that the increased commercialization of cultural exchange today leads to a twofold danger. First, one may observe a cultural eclecticism that is often assumed uncritically: cultures are simply placed alongside one another and viewed as substantially equivalent and interchangeable. This easily yields to a relativism that does not serve true intercultural dialogue; on the social plane, cultural relativism has the effect that cultural groups coexist side by side, but remain separate, with no authentic dialogue and therefore with no true integration. Secondly, the opposite danger exists that of cultural levelling and indiscriminate acceptance of types of conduct and life-styles. In this way one loses sight of the profound significance of the culture of different nations, of the traditions of the various peoples, by which the individual defines himself in relation to life's fundamental questions.”196

One must be very careful in dealing with culture so that human identity should not be destroyed. As John Paul II puts it,

“What eclecticism and cultural levelling have in common is the separation of culture from human nature. Thus, cultures can no longer define themselves within a nature that transcends them, and man ends up being reduced to a mere cultural statistic. When this happens, humanity runs new risks of enslavement and manipulation197”.

I am of the opinion that we including the Church and the government must do everything possible to protect and defend the individual countries culture that are positive to human dignity. This must be done to avoid alienation and enslavement. It should be noted unfortunately, that corruption has hindered these efforts to preserve people’s culture.

I wish to point out here that corruption has lead Life in many poor countries to be still extremely insecure as a consequence of food shortages, and the situation could become worse: hunger still reaps enormous numbers of victims among those who, like Lazarus, are not permitted to take their place at the rich man's table, contrary to the hopes expressed by Paul VI.

“Feed the hungry (cf. Mt 25: 35, 37, 42) is an ethical imperative for the universal Church, as she responds to the teachings of her Founder, the Lord Jesus, concerning solidarity and the sharing of goods.”198

According to a Nigerian adage, ‘A hungry man is an angry man’ holds true here. For this reason I agree with Benedict XVI, that then People are hungry they, they are in serious dilemma in which situation anything can be possible, including wars and corruption. Moreover, the elimination of

196 Cf. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus, 24: loc.. cit., 821-822. 197 Cf. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Veritatis Splendour (6 August 1993), 33 AAS 85 (1993), 1160, 1169-1171,

1174-1175; Id., Address to the Assembly of the United Nations, 5 October 1995, 3. 198 Cf. Encyclical Letter Populorum Progressio 47: loc. cit., 280-281; John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Sollicitudo Rei

Socialis, 42 loc. cit., 572-574.



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world hunger has also, in the global era, become a requirement for safeguarding the peace and stability of the planet. Hunger is not so much dependent on lack of material things as on shortage of social resources, the most important of which are institutional. What is missing, in other words, is a network of economic institutions capable of guaranteeing regular access to sufficient food and water for nutritional needs, and also capable of addressing the primary needs and necessities ensuing from genuine food crises, whether due to natural causes or political irresponsibility due largely to corruption, nationally and internationally.199

I want to say here again, that food according to our African culture is a gift from God. For this reason, one should not deny a hungry man food. Also in our culture, even as a form of punishment, denial of food is not allowed. And for the same reason,

according to Benedict XVI,

“ Since the distribution of food against hunger is a universal right, the problem of food insecurity needs to be addressed within a long-term perspective, eliminating the structural causes that give rise to it and promoting the agricultural development of poorer countries. This can be done by investing in rural infrastructures, irrigation systems, transport, organization of markets, and in the development and dissemination of agricultural technology that can make the best use of the human, natural and socio-economic resources that are more readily available at the local level, while guaranteeing their sustainability over the long term as well. All this needs to be accomplished with the involvement of local communities in choices and decisions that affect the use of agricultural land.”200

It is important to note here that the pope did not only talk about the need to equitable distribution of food, but also proffered solution for this distribution to be possible. The method of distribution as suggested by the pope especially through tradition is innovative and encouraging.

According to him,

“In this perspective, it could be useful to consider the new possibilities that are opening up through proper use of traditional as well as innovative farming techniques, always assuming that these have been judged, after sufficient testing, to be appropriate, respectful of the environment and attentive to the needs of the most deprived peoples.”201

199 Benedict XVI, Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate, 2009.

200 Ibid.




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The pope maintained that at the same time, the question of equitable agrarian reform in developing countries should not be ignored. The right to food, like the right to water, has an important place within the pursuit of other rights, beginning with the fundamental right to life. There is a universal Nigerian adage that puts this way: Man does not sing with the empty stomach.202

“It is therefore necessary to cultivate a public conscience that considers food and access to water as universal rights of all human beings, without distinction or discrimination”. 203

I therefore agree with the Pope as we have seen above that it is not only important, but also necessary, to emphasize that solidarity with poor countries in the process of development can point towards a solution of the current global crisis, as politicians and directors of international institutions have begun to sense in recent times. Through support for economically poor countries by means of financial plans inspired by solidarity so that these countries can take steps to satisfy their own citizens' demand for consumer goods and for development not only can true economic growth be generated, but a contribution can be made towards sustaining the productive capacities of rich countries that risk being compromised by the crisis.204

As we have discussed above; that every development must be people oriented, one of the most striking aspects of development in the present day is the important question of respect for life, which cannot in any way be detached from questions concerning the development of peoples. As John Paul II puts it,

“It is an aspect which has acquired increasing prominence in recent times, obliging us to broaden our concept of poverty and underdevelopment to include questions connected with the acceptance of life, especially in cases where it is impeded in a variety of ways”.205

It has been observed with serious concern that not only does the situation of poverty still provoke high rates of infant mortality in many regions, but some parts of the world still experience practices of demographic control, on the part of governments that often promote contraception and even go so far as to impose abortion. In many economically developed countries, legislation contrary to life is very widespread, and it has already shaped moral attitudes and praxis, contributing to the spread of an anti-birth mentality; frequent attempts are made to export this

202 Ibid.

203 Cf. Benedict XVI, Message for the 2007 world Food AAS 99 (2007), 933-935. 204 Ibid.

205 Cf. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Evangelium Vitae, 18596364: loc. cit., 419-421, 467-468, and 472-475.



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mentality to other States as if it were a form of cultural progress without noticing the danger of this practice.206

As if this ugly promotion is not enough, some non-governmental Organizations work actively to spread abortion, at times promoting the practice of sterilization in poor countries, in some cases not even informing the women concerned. Moreover, there is reason to suspect that development aid is sometimes linked to specific health-care policies which de facto involve the imposition of strong birth control measures. Further grounds for concern are laws permitting euthanasia as well as pressure from lobby groups, nationally and internationally, in favour of its juridical recognition.207

2. OPENNESS TO LIFE IS AT THE CENTRE OF TRUE DEVELOPMENT.


“Openness to transcendence belongs to human person: man is open to the infinite and to all created beings. He is open above all to the infinite God because with his intellect and will, he raises himself above all the created order and above himself, he becomes independent from creatures, is free in relation to created things and tends towards total truth and the absolute good. He is open also to others, to the men and women of the world, because only insofar as he understands himself in reference to a thou can he say I. He comes out of himself, from the self-centred preservation of his own life, to enter a relationship of dialogue and communion with others”208.


“When a society moves towards the denial or suppression of life, it ends up no longer finding the necessary motivation and energy to strive for man's true good. If personal and social sensitivity towards the acceptance of a new life is lost, then other forms of acceptance that is valuable for

206Benedict XVI, Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate, loc, 24, 2009.

207 Ibid.

208 Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, 2004.no.130 p 72.



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society also wither away. The acceptance of life strengthens moral fibre and makes people capable of mutual help.”209

The Church sees in men and women, every person, the living image of God himself. This image finds, and must always find a new, an ever deeper and fuller unfolding of itself in the mystery of Christ, the perfect image of God, and one who reveals God to man and man to himself. Therefore, for the Church, life is very important and should be respected in both the social and human development.210

Consequent upon this acceptance of Life and by cultivating openness to life, wealthy peoples can better understand the needs of poor ones, they can avoid employing huge economic and intellectual resources to satisfy the selfish desires of their own citizens, and instead, they can promote virtuous action within the perspective of production that is morally sound and marked by solidarity, respecting the fundamental right to life of every people and every individual, and accepting it as gift from God to Humanity.


“It is to these men and women, who have received an incomparable and inalienable dignity from God himself, that the Church speaks, rendering to them the highest and the most singular service, constantly reminding them of their lofty vocation so that they may always be mindful of it and worthy of it”211.

According to Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI, there is another aspect of modern life that is very closely connected to development but as an obstacle to development: the denial of the right to religious freedom. They are not referring simply to the struggles and conflicts that continue to be fought in the world for religious motives, even if at times the religious motive is merely a cover for other reasons, such as the desire for domination and wealth212.

Today, in fact, people frequently kill in the holy name of God, as both John Paul II and Benedict XVI have often publicly acknowledged and lamented.

“Violence puts the brakes on authentic development and impedes the evolution of peoples towards greater socio-economic and spiritual well-being. This applies especially to terrorism

209 Cf. Benedict XVI, Message for the 2007 world Day of Peace, 5. 210 Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, 2004.no.105 p62.





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motivated by fundamentalism which generates grief, destruction and death, obstructs dialogue between nations and diverts extensive resources from their peaceful and civil uses”.213

I want to make it also clear here, that religious fanaticism in some contexts impedes the exercise of the right to religious freedom, as well as the deliberate promotion of religious indifference or practical atheism on the part of many countries obstructs the requirements for the development of peoples, depriving them of spiritual and human resources that they need214. For instance, in my own country Nigeria, this problem of religious fanaticism is a case in hand. The Sect called The Boko Haram has become a turn in the fresh of the Nigerian populace. The Boko Haram has Arabish origin meaning rejection of Western Education including other religious affiliation other than Islamic religion in the narrowest way of their understanding and the strict interpretation of it. This ideology has done more evil than good in Nigerian society. This is because many lives and properties have been lost through this fanatical group. Religion is supposed to be peaceful, loving, encourage justice, among other things, promote development and human dignity. But unfortunately this is not the case with Boko Haram.


“Christ the son of God, “by his incarnation has united himself in some fashion with every person. For this reason, the Church recognizes as her fundamental duty the task of seeing that this union is continuously brought about and renewed215”

In Christ the Lord, the Church indicates and strives to be the first to embark upon the part of the human person.

As Benedict XVI, puts it,

“God is the guarantor of man's true development, inasmuch as, having created him in his image; he also establishes the transcendent dignity of men and women and feeds their innate yearning to “be more”. Man is not a lost atom in a random universe: he is God's creature, whom God chose to endow with an immortal soul and whom he has always loved. If man were merely the fruit of either chance or necessity, or if he had to lower his aspirations to the limited horizon of the world in which he lives, if all reality were merely history and culture, and man did not possess a nature

213 John Paul II, Message for the 2002 world of Peace, 4-7, 12-15: AAS 94 (2002), 134-136, 138-140; Id., Message for the 2002 world Day of Peace 8: AAS 96 (2004), 119; Id. Message for the 2005world Day of Peace, 4: AAS 97 (2005), 177-178; Peace 5, 14: loc. cit., 778, 782-783. And Cf. John Paul II, Message for the 2002 world Day of Peace 6: loc. cit., 135; Benedict XVI, Message for the 2006 world Day of Peace 9-10: (2011) loc. cit., 60-61.


215 Ibid.



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destined to transcend itself in a supernatural life, then one could speak of growth, or evolution, but not development.”216

Unfortunately, either due to lack of proper knowledge of theology or lack of exposure to the true understanding of supernatural realities that make these fanatics behave the way they do. The harm and havoc done by these groups in the Nigerian society is quite alarming.

Sometimes also, the states attitudes to religious practice contribute in no small measure to this unfortunate situation. The examples of the instances of this sort of situations abound, where people are constrained in their Religious beliefs. For example when the State promotes, teaches, or actually imposes forms of practical atheism, it deprives its citizens of the moral and spiritual strength that is indispensable for attaining integral human development and it impedes them from moving forward with renewed dynamism as they strive to offer a more generous human response to divine love.217

Consequently, the Church invites all people to recognize in everyone near and far, known and unknown, and above all in the poor and the suffering a brother or sister for whom Christ died. (1 Cor 8:11; Rom 14:15). In the context of cultural, commercial or political relations, it also sometimes happens that economically developed or emerging countries export this reductive vision of the person and his destiny to poor countries. This is the damage that super development causes to authentic development when it is accompanied by moral underdevelopment218


“All of social life is an expression of its unmistakable protagonist: the human person. The Church has in many times and in many ways been the authoritative advocate of this understanding, recognizing and affirming the centrality of the human person in every sector and expression of society: Human society is therefore the object of the social teaching of the Church since she is neither outside nor over and above socially united men, but exists exclusively in them and, therefore, for them.”219

I agree with the Pope that the theme of integral human development takes on an even broader range of meanings: the correlation between its multiple elements requires a commitment to foster the interaction of the different levels of human knowledge in order to promote the authentic development of peoples. Often it is thought that development, or the socio-economic measures that go with it, merely require to be implemented through joint action. This joint action, however, needs

216 Cf. Benedict XVI, Homily at Mass, Islinger Feld, Regensburg, 12 September 2006. 217 John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, 28; loc. cit., 548-550. 218 Paul VI, Encyclical Letter Populorum Progressio 19: loc. cit., 266-267. 219 Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, 2004.no.106 pp 61-62.



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to be given direction, because all social action involves a doctrine. In view of the complexity of the issues, it is obvious that the various disciplines have to work together through an orderly interdisciplinary exchange.220

For Benedict XVI,

“Charity does not exclude knowledge, but rather requires, promotes, and animates it from within. Knowledge is never purely the work of the intellect. It can certainly be reduced to calculation and experiment, but if it aspires to be wisdom capable of directing man in the light of his first beginnings and his final ends, it must be seasoned with the salt of charity. Deeds without knowledge are blind, and knowledge without love is sterile. Indeed, “the individual who is animated by true charity labours skilfully to discover the causes of misery, to find the means to combat it, to overcome it resolutely Faced with the phenomena that lie before us, charity in truth requires first of all that we know and understand, acknowledging and respecting the specific competence of every level of knowledge.”221

Let me point out here that, Charity is not an added extra, like an appendix to work already concluded in each of the various disciplines: it engages them in dialogue from the very beginning. The demands of love do not contradict those of reason. Human knowledge is insufficient and the conclusions of science cannot indicate by themselves the path towards integral human development. There is always a need to push further ahead to combine the various ideas in man and containing the worth of man.


“this is what is required by charity in truth. Going beyond, however, never means presiding from the conclusions of reason, or contradicting its results. Intelligence and love are not in separate compartments: love is rich in intelligence and intelligence is full of love”.222

It then follows as a consequent that the Church's social doctrine which has an important interdisciplinary dimension, can exercise in this perspective, a function of extraordinary effectiveness. It allows faith, theology, metaphysics and science to come together in a collaborative effort in the service of humanity. It is here above all that the Church's social doctrine displays its dimension of wisdom. This means that moral evaluation and scientific research must go hand in


221 Ibid. 75: loc. cit., 293-294. 222 Cf. Benedict XVI, Encyclical Letter Deus Caritas Est, 28: loc. cit. 238-240.



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hand, and that charity must animate them in a harmonious interdisciplinary whole, marked by unity and distinction.223

I agree with Benedict XVI that the excessive segmentation of knowledge, the rejection of metaphysics by the human science the difficulties encountered by dialogue between science and theology are damaging not only to the development of knowledge, but also to the development of peoples, because these things make it harder to see the integral good of man in its various dimensions.224

Paul VI had seen clearly

“that among the causes of underdevelopment there is a lack of wisdom and reflection, a lack of thinking capable of formulating a guiding synthesis,” 225 for which “a clear vision of all economic, social, cultural and spiritual aspects is required. The broadening [of] our concept of reason and its application is indispensable if we are to succeed in adequately weighing all the elements involved in the question of development and in the solution of socio-economic problems”226.

Man has the ability to think clearly, reflect and due to the wisdom given to him specially, can go beyond himself.


“The human person is open to the fullness of being, to the unlimited horizon of being. He has in himself the ability to transcend individual particular objects that he knows, thanks effectively to his openness to unlimited being”227.

The significant new elements in the picture of the development of peoples today in many cases demand new solutions. The question is, how are the elements going to be used? These need to be found together, respecting the laws proper to each element and in the light of an integral vision of man, reflecting the different aspects of the human person, contemplated through a lens purified by charity. Remarkable convergences and possible solutions will then come to light, without any fundamental component of human life being obscured.

According to Paul VI,

223Benedict XVI, Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate,, 2009.

224 Ibid.

225 Cf. Encyclical Letter Populorum Progressio 40, 85: loc. cit., 277, 298-299. 226 Benedict XVI, Address at the University of Regensburg 12 September 2006. 227 Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, 2004.no.130 p72.



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“The dignity of the individual and the demands of justice require, particularly today, that economic choices do not cause disparities in wealth to increase in an excessive and morally unacceptable manner and that we continue to prioritize the goal of access to steady employment for everyone.228”

I therefore, agree with the Pope that this steady employment for everyone is also required by economic logic. Through the systemic increase of social inequality, both within a single country and between the populations of different countries (i.e. the massive increase in relative poverty), not only does social cohesion suffer, thereby placing democracy at risk, but so too does the economy, through the progressive erosion of “social capital”: the network of relationships of trust, dependability, and respect for rules, all of which are indispensable for any form of civil coexistence.229


“The person cannot be a means for carrying out economic, social or political projects imposed by some authority, even in the name of an alleged progress of the civil community as a whole or of other persons, either in the present or in the future. It is therefore necessary that public authorities keep careful watch so that restrictions placed on freedom or any onus placed on personal activity will never become harmful to personal dignity”230.

Economic science tells us that structural insecurity generates anti-productive attitudes wasteful of human resources, inasmuch as workers tend to adapt passively to automatic mechanisms, rather than to release creativity. On this point too, there is a convergence between economic science and moral evaluation. Human costs always include economic costs and economic dysfunctions always involve human costs.


“In no case, therefore, is the human person to be manipulated for ends that are foreign to his own development...in fact, man in his interiority transcends the universe and is the only creature willed by God for itself.”231

It is important to distinguish between short- and long-term economic or sociological considerations. Lowering the level of protection accorded to the rights of workers, or abandoning

228 Cf. Paul VI, Encyclical Letter Populorum Progressio 33: loc. cit., 273-274. 229 Benedict XVI, Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate, 2009.


231 Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, 200 4 no. 133. p74/ Gaudium et Spes 16.



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mechanisms of wealth redistribution in order to increase the country's international competitiveness, hinder the achievement of lasting development. It should be remembered that the reduction of cultures to the technological dimension, even if it favours short-term profits, in the long term impedes reciprocal enrichment and the dynamics of cooperation.

Moreover, as Paul VI, puts it,

“The human consequences of current tendencies towards a short-term economy — sometimes very short-term — need to be carefully evaluated. This requires further and deeper reflection on the meaning of the economy and its goals, as well as a profound and far-sighted revision of the current model of development, so as to correct its dysfunctions and deviations. This is demanded, in any case, by the earth's state of ecological health; above all it is required by the cultural and moral crisis of man, the symptoms of which have been evident for some time all over the world.232”

It should be noted that just society can become a reality only when it is based on the respect of the transcendent dignity of the human person. This is because, the person represents the ultimate end of the society, by which it is ordered to the person.


“Hence, the social order and its development must invariably work to the benefit of the human person, since the order of things is to be sub-ordinate to the order of persons, and not the other way around.”233

Consequently, it should be noted that the respect for human dignity can in no way be separated from obedience to this principle. That is why it is necessary to consider every neighbour without exception as another self, taking into account first of all his life and the means necessary for living it with dignity.


“Every political, economic, social, scientific and cultural programme must be inspired by the awareness of the primacy of each human being over society.”234

I wish to point out here that if some areas of the globe, with a history of poverty, have experienced remarkable changes in terms of their economic growth and their share in world production, other zones are still living in a situation of deprivation comparable to that which

232 Cf. Paul VI, Encyclical Letter , 33: 273-274 233 Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, 200 4 no. 1332 p74.

234 Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2235.



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existed at the time of Paul VI, and in some cases one can even speak of deterioration. More than forty years after Populorum Progressio its basic theme, namely progress, remains an open question, made all the more acute and urgent by the current economic and financial crisis.


It is significant that some of the causes of this situation were identified Populorum Progressio such as the high tariffs imposed by economically developed countries, which still make it difficult for the products of poor countries to gain a foothold in the markets of rich countries. Other causes, however, mentioned only in passing in the Encyclical, have since emerged with greater clarity. A case in point would be the evaluation of the process of decolonization, then at its height.235

Due to Corruption that has engulfed the modern Word’s Governance; Paul VI hopes to see the journey towards autonomy unfold freely and in peace was dashed to the ground. More than forty years later, we must acknowledge how difficult this journey has been, both because of new forms of colonialism and continued dependence on old and new foreign powers and because of grave irresponsibility within the very countries that have achieved independence.236

As it were, according to Benedict XVI,

“Paul VI had partially foreseen it, but the ferocious pace at which it has evolved could not have been anticipated. Originating within economically developed countries, this process by its nature has spread to include all economies. It has been the principal driving force behind the emergence from underdevelopment of whole regions, and in itself it represents a great opportunity”.237

Hence the principal new feature has been the explosion of worldwide interdependence, commonly known as globalization. Nevertheless, without the guidance of charity in truth, side by side with Ant-Corruption Strategy this global force could cause unprecedented damage and create new divisions within the human family. Hence charity and truth, Ant-Corruption Strategy as the way out- confront us with an altogether new and creative challenge, one that is certainly vast and complex. It is about broadening the scope of reason and making it capable of knowing and directing these powerful new forces, animating them within the perspective of that “civilization of love” whose seed God has planted in every people, in every culture.

The human development paradigm is a holistic development model. It embraces every development issue including economic growth, social investment, people's empowerment, the


236 Ibid.

237 Ibid.



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provision of basic needs and social safety nets, political and cultural freedom and all other aspects of people's lives including Religions and Morals. While no aspect of the development model falls outside its scope, the vantage point is the widening of people's choices and the enhancement of their lives. All aspects of life –religious, morals, economic, political and cultural are viewed from that perspective.

Human development has four essential pillars: equity, sustainability, production and empowerment.

The human development paradigm defines the ends of development and analyses sensible options for achieving them.

According to Mahbub ul Haq,

“In the last analysis Human Development is a child who did not die, a disease that did not spread, an ethnic tension that did not explode, and a dissident who was not silenced, a human spirit that was not crushed.”238

3. FRATERNITY, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND CIVIL SOCIETY

Why it is relevant in today’s world?

The political community is established to be of service to civil society, from which it originates. As the social doctrine of the Church puts it,

“Civil society is the sum of relationships and resources, cultural and associative that are relatively independent from the political sphere and the economic sector. The purpose of civil society is universal, since it concerns the common good, to which each and every citizen has a right in due proportion”.239

The Church has contributed to the distinction between the political community and the civil society above all by her vision of man, understood as an autonomous, relational being that is open to the transcendent. The Church’s commitment on behalf of social pluralism aims at bringing about

238 Dr. Mahbub ul Haq and Mrs. Khadija Haq, 2004, Human Development Foundation, Date/Time Last Modified:

3/7/2005 11:42:15 AM. 239 Leo XIII, Encyclical Letter Rerum Novarum: Acta Leonis XIII, 11 (1892), 134.



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a more fitting attainment of the common good and democracy itself, according to the principles of solidarity, subsidiarity and justice.

The human being is made for gift, which expresses and makes present his transcendent dimension. Sometimes modern man is wrongly convinced that he is the sole author of himself, his life and society. This is a presumption that follows from being selfishly closed in upon him, and it is a consequence to express it in faith terms of original sin.

“The Church's wisdom has always pointed to the presence of original sin in social conditions and in the structure of society: “Ignorance of the fact that man has a wounded nature inclined to evil gives rise to serious errors in the areas of education, politics, social action and morals”240.

In the list of areas where the pernicious effects of sin are evident, the economy has been included for some time now. We have a clear proof of this at the present time regarding the structures of sin two folds.

This vision is challenged by political ideology of an individualistic nature and those of a totalitarian Character, which tend to absorb civil society into the sphere of the state.

As Benedict XVI; puts it,

“Charity in truth places man before the astonishing experience of gift. Gratuitousness is present in our lives in many different forms, which often go unrecognized because of a purely consumerist and utilitarian view of life. The conviction that man is self-sufficient and can successfully eliminate the evil present in history by his own action alone has led him to confuse happiness and salvation with immanent forms of material prosperity and social action.241”


“The political community and the civil society, although mutually connected and inter dependent, are not equal in the hierarchy of ends. The political community is essentially at the service of the civil society and, in the final analysis, the persons and groups of which civil society is composed”242.

Every economic process in the society, must of necessity consider the moral character and the dignity of the human person.

240 Catechism of the Catholic Church, 407; cf. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus, 25; loc. cit., 822-824.

241 241 Benedict XVI, Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate, 2009.

242 Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, 200 4 no. 1332 p74.



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It should be noted that some individuals belief that the economy must be autonomous, that it must be shielded from influences of a moral character, has led man to abuse the economic process in a thoroughly destructive way. In the long term, these convictions have led to economic, social and political systems that trample upon personal and social freedom, and are therefore unable to deliver the justice that they promise. 243

As Benedict XVI said in his Encyclical Letter Spe Salvi,

“History is thereby deprived of Christian hope, deprived of a powerful social resource at the service of integral human development, sought in freedom and in justice. Hope encourages reason and gives it the strength to direct the will”244

As the absolutely gratuitous gift of God, hope bursts into our lives as something not due to us, something that transcends every law of justice. Gift by its nature goes beyond merit, its rule is that of superabundance. It takes first place in our souls as a sign of God's presence in us, a sign of what he expects from us. Hope therefore, is already present in faith, indeed it is called forth by faith. Charity in truth feeds on hope and, at the same time, manifests it. Truth which is in it a gift, in the same way as charity is greater than we are, as Saint Augustine teaches.245

Pope Benedict XVI puts more clearly this way,

“Likewise the truth of ourselves, of our personal conscience, is first of all given to us. In every cognitive process, truth is not something that we produce; it is always found, or better, received. Truth, like love, is neither planned nor willed, but somehow imposes itself upon human beings”246.

I agree with the Pope that the unity of the human race, a fraternal communion transcending every barrier, is called into being by the word of God-who-is-Love. In addressing this key question, we must make it clear, on the one hand, that the logic of gift does not exclude justice, nor does it merely sit alongside it as a second element added from without; on the other hand,

243 Benedict XVI, Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate, 2009 .

244 Cf. Benedict XVI no. 17: AAS 99 (2007), 1000; Cf. ibid, 23: loc. cit., 1004-1005. 245 Saint Augustine expounds this teaching in detail in his dialogue on free will (De libero arbitrio, II, 3, 8ff.). He

indicates the existence within the human soul of an “internal sense”. This sense consists in an act that is fulfilled outside the normal functions of reason, an act that is not the result of reflection, but is almost instinctive, through which reason, realizing its transient and fallible nature, admits the existence of something eternal, higher than itself, something absolutely true and certain. The name that Saint Augustine gives to this interior truth is at times the name of God (Confessions X, 24, 35; XII, 25, 35; De libero arbitrio II, 3, 8), more often that of Christ (De magistro 11:38; Confessions VII, 18, 24; XI, 2, 4).

246 Benedict XVI, Encyclical Letter Deus Caritas Est, 3: loc. cit. 219.



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economic, social and political development, if it is to be authentically human, needs to make room for the principle of gratuitousness as an expression of fraternity.247


“One of the fundamental tasks of those actively involved in international economic matters is to achieve for mankind an integral development in solidarity, that is to say, it has to promote the good of every person and of the whole person in Charity and truth248”.

However to achieve this task requires a vision of the economy, that on the international level, that guarantees an equitable distribution of resources and that is responsive to awareness of the interdependence economic, political and cultural that today unites people definitively among themselves and makes them feel linked by a sole destiny.

We should then realize that human community that we build by ourselves can never, purely by its own strength, be a fully fraternal community, nor can it overcome every division and become a truly universal community.

The question then is how do we achieve this fraternal community? It becomes imperative to conclude that, Charity in truth as a gift is therefore a force that builds community; it brings all people together without imposing barriers or limits. In a climate of mutual trust, the market is the economic institution that permits encounter between persons, inasmuch as they are economic subjects who make use of contracts to regulate their relations as they exchange goods and services of equivalent value between them, in order to satisfy their needs and desires249.

According Benedict XVI,

“The market is subject to the principles of so-called commutative justice, which regulates the relations of giving and receiving between parties to a transaction. But the social doctrine of the Church has unceasingly highlighted the importance of distributive justice and social justice for the market economy, not only because it belongs within a broader social and political context, but also because of the wider network of relations within which it operates”250.

It follows then that if the market is governed solely by the principle of the equivalence in value of exchanged goods that it cannot produce the social cohesion that it requires in order to function







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well. This is simply because without internal forms of solidarity and mutual trust, the market cannot completely fulfil its proper economic function.

As the Pope puts it,

“It was not just a matter of correcting dysfunctions through assistance. The poor are not to be considered a “burden”, but a resource, even from the purely economic point of view. It is nevertheless erroneous to hold that the market economy has an inbuilt need for a quota of poverty and underdevelopment in order to function at its best. It is in the interests of the market to promote emancipation, but in order to do so effectively, it cannot rely only on itself, because it is not able to produce by itself something that lies outside its competence. It must draw its moral energies from other subjects that are capable of generating them”251.

It can be said without mincing words that the Church has always held that economic action is not to be regarded as something opposed to society. In and of itself, for the church, the market is not, and must not become, the place where the strong subdue the weak. This is why the society does not have to protect itself from the market, as if the development of the latter were ipso facto to entail the death of authentically human relations. Admittedly, the market can be a negative force, not because it is so by nature, but because a certain ideology can make it so252.


“The free market is an institution of social importance because of its capacity to guarantee effective results in the production of goods and services. Historically, it has shown itself able to initiate and sustain economic development over long periods. There is good reason to hold that, in many circumstances, the free market is the most efficient instrument for utilizing resources and effectively responding to needs”253.

It must be remembered that the market does not exist in the pure state. It is shaped by the cultural configurations which define it and give it direction. Economy and finance, as instruments, can be used badly when those at the helm are motivated by purely selfish ends. Instruments that are good in themselves can thereby be transformed into harmful ones. But it is man's darkened reason that produces these consequences, not the instrument per se. Therefore it is not the instrument that






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must be called to account, but individuals, their moral conscience and their personal and social responsibility.254

It is crystal clear that economic activity cannot solve all social problems through the simple application of commercial logic. This needs to be directed towards the pursuit of the common good, for which the political community in particular must also take responsibility. Therefore, it must be borne in mind that grave imbalances are produced when economic action, conceived merely as an engine for wealth creation, is detached from political action, conceived as a means for pursuing justice through redistribution.


“The Church's social doctrine holds that authentically human social relationships of friendship, solidarity and reciprocity can also be conducted within economic activity, and not only outside it or “after” it. The economic sphere is neither ethically neutral, nor inherently inhuman and opposed to society. It is part and parcel of human activity and precisely because it is human, it must be structured and governed in an ethical manner” 255.

Space also needs to be created within the market for economic activity carried out by subjects who freely choose to act according to principles other than those of pure profit, without sacrificing the production of economic value in the process. The many economic entities that draw their origin from religious and lay initiatives demonstrate that this is concretely possible.


“A truly competitive market is an effective instrument for attaining important objectives of justice: moderating the excessive profit of individual business, responding to consumers’ demands, bringing about a more efficient use and conservation of resources, rewarding entrepreneurship and innovation, making information available so that it is really possible to compare and purchase products in an atmosphere of healthy competition”256.

I wish to remark here that the Church's social doctrine has always maintained that justice must be applied to every phase of economic activity, because this is always concerned with man and his needs. Locating resources, financing, production, consumption and all the other phases in the economic cycle inevitably have moral implications. Thus every economic decision has a moral consequence. The social sciences and the direction taken by the contemporary economy, point to

254 Ibid.





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the same conclusion. Perhaps at one time it was conceivable that first the creation of wealth could be entrusted to the economy, and then the task of distributing it could be assigned to politics. 257


“Indeed, the market cannot find itself the principles for its legitimization; it belongs to the consciences of the individuals and to the public responsibility to establish a just relationship between means and ends.”258

Today that would be more difficult, given that economic activity is no longer circumscribed within territorial limits, while the authority of governments continues to be principally local. Hence the canons of justice must be respected from the outset, as the economic process unfolds, and not just afterwards or incidentally.

The processes of globalization, suitably understood and directed, open up the unprecedented possibility of large-scale redistribution of wealth on a world-wide scale; if badly directed; however, they can lead to an increase in poverty and inequality, and could even trigger a global crisis.

It should be noted that despite some of its structural elements, which should neither be denied nor exaggerated, “globalization, a priori, is neither good nor bad. It will be what people make of it.” 259


“We should not be its victims, but rather its protagonists, acting in the light of reason, guided by charity and truth. Blind opposition would be a mistaken and prejudiced attitude, incapable of recognizing the positive aspects of the process, with the consequent risk of missing the chance to take advantage of its many opportunities for development. It is necessary to correct the malfunctions, some of them serious, that cause new divisions between peoples and within peoples, and also to ensure that the redistribution of wealth does not come about through the redistribution or increase of poverty: a real danger if the present situation were to be badly managed”260.

Poverty, according to the social doctrine of the Church,

257 Ibid.

258 Ibid.

259 John Paul II, Address to the Pontifical Academy of social Sciences, 27 April 2001. 260 Benedict XVI, Encyclical Letter Caritas in Caritas, loc, 35, 2009.



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“poses a dramatic problem of justice; in its various forms and with its various effects, it is characterised by an unequal growth that does not recognize the equal right of all people to take their seat at the table of the common banquet”261.


“At the beginning of the New Millennium, the poverty of billions of men and women is the one issue that most challenges our human and Christian consciences.”262

For a long time it was thought that poor people should remain at a fixed stage of development, and should be content to receive assistance from the philanthropy of developed peoples. Paul VI strongly opposed this mentality in Populorum Progressio.


“Such poverty makes it impossible to bring about the full humanism which the Church hopes for and pursues so that persons and peoples may be more and live in conditions that are more human.”263

Today the material resources available for rescuing these peoples from poverty are potentially greater than before, but they have ended up largely in the hands of people from developed countries, who have benefited more from the liberalization that has occurred in the mobility of capital and labour. The world-wide diffusion of forms of prosperity should not therefore be held up by projects that are self-centred, protectionist or at the service of private interests.

The fight against poverty and corruption finds a strong motivation in the option or preferential love of the Church for the poor.

As the Church puts it,

“In the whole of her social teaching the church never tires of emphasizing certain fundamental principles of this teaching, first and foremost, the universal destination of goods.”264

Indeed the involvement of emerging or developing countries allows us to manage the crisis better today. The transition inherent in the process of globalization presents great difficulties and


262 Ibid.


264 Ibid.



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dangers that can only be overcome if we are able to appropriate the underlying anthropological and ethical spirit that drives globalization towards the humanizing goal of solidarity265.

It should be noted that constantly reaffirming the principle of solidarity, the Church’s social doctrine demands action to promote the good of all and of each individual, because we all really responsible for all.266

Unfortunately this spirit is often overwhelmed or suppressed by corruption, ethical and cultural considerations of an individualistic and utilitarian nature.

“Globalization is a multifaceted and complex phenomenon which must be grasped in the diversity and unity of all its different dimensions, including the theological dimension. In this way it will be possible to experience and to steer the globalization of humanity in relational terms, in terms of communion and the sharing of goods”267.


“The principle of solidarity, even in the fight against poverty, must always be appropriately accompanied by that of subsidiarity, thanks to which it is possible to foster the spirit of initiative, the fundamental basis of all social and economic development in poor countries.268”

In the same vein, the Church continues,

“The poor should not be seen as a problem, but as people who can become the principal builders of a new and more human future for everyone. Seeing the poor this way, is more dignifying and human.”269

Unfortunately however, the other factors that endanger the dignity of the individual especially the poor (children and civilians) are violence and lack of peace in the world.

Consequently, since the shocking events of 9/11, and those that followed it, believable images of peace have become even more elusive. War and conflict, though as old as human history itself, seems to have become even more violent as it increasingly targets the most vulnerable civilians, and as more and more children become engulfed in the deadly spiral of violence without

265 . Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, 200 4 no 450 2009.

266 Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, 200 4 no 449.

267 Benedict XVI, Encyclical Letter Caritas in Caritate, loc, 42, 2009. 268 Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, 200 4 no. 449 p253.

269 Ibid.



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boundaries. Increasingly we see a vicious cycle where human development is diminished by conflict, and diminishing human development promotes yet more conflict. It is this cycle that HDF (Human Development Foundation) can break by helping people build their own grassroots capability for peace and social development.

The end of cold war produced new hope for world peace amid widespread discussions of the peace dividend, i.e. the freeing up of resources that had been devoted to military build-up. Although many hoped that this peace dividend would be used to advance the wellbeing of those at the lowest end of the human development paradigm. That hope has never been realized.

Visionaries throughout human history have dreamed of a world at peace where all human beings will live in harmony. But that dream has not materialized despite all our technological advances and achievements, even though we as human beings can be truly proud of them.

According to ul Haq and Mrs. Haq,

“the causes of war and peace are multi-dimensional and we cannot claim that elevating the status of human development will provide a panacea to every conflict in the world. But let us not shirk our responsibility by denying the power of Human Development. By offering hope for a better future, by empowering people, and by developing understanding and acceptance of other points of view we will take real, definite steps towards world peace.”270

4. THE DEVELOPMENT OF PEOPLE RIGHTS AND DUTIES THE ENVIRONMENT

Why do we need a movement?

Care for the environment represents a challenge for all humanity. This is because it is a matter of a common and universal duty, that of respecting a common good. It is a responsibility that must mature on the basis of global dimension of the present ecological crisis and consequent necessity to

270 Mahbub ul Haq and Mrs. Khadija Haq, 2004, Human Development Foundation, Date/Time Last Modified: 3/7/2005 11:42 cooperation 15 AM.



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meet it on a worldwide level, since all things are interdependent in the universal order established by the creator.271

The Supreme Pontiff, Benedict XVI in Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate, maintains that,

“The reality of human solidarity, which is a benefit for us, also imposes a duty. Many people today would claim that they owe nothing to anyone, except to themselves. They are concerned only with their rights, and they often have great difficulty in taking responsibility for their own and other people's integral development. This way of thinking by many people brought to bear the need for this movement. As the Pope Puts it, hence it is important to call for a renewed reflection on how rights presuppose duties, if they are not to become mere licence.”272

As the doctrine of the Catholic Church puts it,

“One must take into account the nature of each being and of its mutual connection in an ordered system, which is precisely the `cosmos`.”273

This perspective takes on a particular importance when one considers, in context of close relationships that bind the various parts of the ecosystem, the environmental value of biodiversity, which must be handled with a sense of responsibility and adequately protected, because it constitutes an extraordinary richness for all of humanity.

For Benedict XVI,

“A link has often been noted between claims to a right to excess and even to transgression and vice, within affluent societies, and the lack of food, drinkable water, basic instruction and elementary health care in areas of the underdeveloped world and on the outskirts of large metropolitan centres. The link consists in this: individual rights, when detached from a framework of duties which grants them their full meaning, can run wild, leading to an escalation of demands which is effectively unlimited and indiscriminate.”274

Consequently, I agree with the pope that responsibility for the environment, the common heritage of mankind, extends not only to the present needs, but also to those of the future. The truth stands that we have inherited from past generations, and we have benefited from the work of our

271 Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, 200 4 no. 466 p263 272 Cf. John Paul II, Message for the 2003 world Day of Peace, 5: AAS 95 (2003), 343. 273 Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, 200 4 no. 466 p263

274Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, 200 4 no 449



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contemporaries: for this reason, we have obligations towards all, and we cannot refuse to interest ourselves in those who will come after us, to enlarge the human family.275

I wish to say here that this is also true in my own culture Igbo land Nigeria West Africa. We do not joke with these three moments in the history of man: the past, the present and the future. We believe and are also taught that these three worlds co-exit. For this reason, whatever we do as individuals or as a community must take into account these realities which include also the environment, i.e. material and non-material things. This is not only an obligation but also a duty that we owe and must protect.

According to our culture, this is a responsibility that present generations have towards those of the future, a responsibility that also concerns individual states and the international community. In this regard, each person can easily recognize, for example, the importance of the Amazon, which is one of the world’s most precious natural regions because of its bio planet.276

It can be seen that nowadays we are witnessing a grave inconsistency. On the one hand, appeals are made to allege rights, arbitrary and non-essential in nature, accompanied by the demand that they be recognized and promoted by public structures, while, on the other hand, elementary and basic rights remain unacknowledged and are violated in much of the world. Sometimes, overemphasis on rights leads to a disregard for duties. Duties set a limit on rights because they point to the anthropological and ethical framework of which rights are a part, in this way ensuring that they do not become licence. Duties thereby reinforce rights and call for their defence and promotion as a task to be undertaken in the service of the common good.277


“Responsibility for the environment should also find adequate expression on a juridical level. It is important that the international community drew up uniform rules that will allow states to exercise more effective control over the various activities that have negative effect on the environment and to protect ecosystems by preventing the risks of accidents.”278

I believe that it is on this note that the Church maintains that,

“the juridical content of the right to a safe healthy natural environment is gradually taking form, stimulated by the concern shown by the public opinion to disciplining the use of created goods

275 Ibid.

276Ibid.

277 Benedict XVI, Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate, 2009. 278 Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, 200 4 no. 468 p264.



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according to the demands of the common good and a common desire to punish those who pollute. But juridical measures by themselves are not sufficient. They must be accompanied by a growing sense of responsibility, as well as an effective change of mentality and life- style.”279

I wish to say here that this change of mentality and life style should include our moral life style also. This is because; our morality is of great importance with regard to human development especially, when it is put in question.


“Moral Corruption can be a great threat and danger to man’s authentic development. When a people are morally irresponsible, the society is adversely affected, as it is the case in many developed Countries. Populous nations have been able to emerge from poverty thanks not least to the size of their population and the talents of their people. Morally responsible openness to life represents a rich social and economic resource.”280

It can be clearly seen that formerly prosperous nations are presently passing through a phase of uncertainty and in some cases decline, precisely because of their falling birth rates; this has become a crucial problem for highly affluent societies.


“The decline in births, falling at times beneath the so-called “replacement level”, also puts a strain on social welfare systems, increases their cost, eats into savings and hence the financial resources needed for investment, reduces the availability of qualified labourers, and narrows the “brain pool” upon which nations can draw for their needs”281.

It is interesting here to note that, smaller and at times miniscule families run the risk of impoverishing environments, social relations, and failing to ensure effective forms of solidarity due to lack of manpower as a result of decline in births.


“These situations are symptomatic of scant confidence in the future and moral weariness. It is thus becoming a social and even economic necessity once more to hold up to future generations the beauty of marriage and the family, and the fact that these institutions correspond to the deepest needs and dignity of the person. In view of this, States are called to enact policies promoting the

279 Ibid.





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centrality and the integrity of the family founded on marriage between a man and a woman, the primary vital cell of society and to assume responsibility for its economic and fiscal needs, while respecting its essentially relational character.”282

I wish to observe with utter dismay that at the present, many individuals, groups and even some states have lost the sense of the sacredness of family and thereby constituting a great danger to the society.

I agree with the Pope that for this reason, banks are proposing “ethical” accounts and investment funds. This because, striving to meet the deepest moral needs of the person also has important and beneficial repercussions at the level of economics. The economy needs ethics in order to function correctly not any ethics whatsoever, but an ethics which is people-centred. “Ethical financing” is being developed, especially through micro-credit and, more generally, micro-finance. These processes are praiseworthy and deserve much support. Their positive effects are also being felt in the less developed areas of the world283.


“It would be advisable, however, to develop a sound criterion of discernment, since the adjective ethical can be abused. When the word is used generically, it can lend itself to any number of interpretations, even to the point where it includes decisions and choices contrary to justice and authentic human welfare. Today we hear much talk of ethics in the world of economy, finance and business. Research centres and seminars in business ethics are on the rise; the system of ethical certification is spreading throughout the developed world as part of the movement of ideas associated with the responsibilities of business towards society”284.

I wish to point out here straight away that the word ethical, then, according to the Pope,

“should not be used to make ideological distinctions, as if to suggest that initiatives not formally so designated would not be ethical. Efforts are needed and it is essential to say this not only to create “ethical” sectors or segments of the economy or the world of finance, but to ensure that the whole economy the whole of finance is ethical, not merely by virtue of an external label, but by its respect for requirements intrinsic to its very nature.”285


283 Ibid.

284 Ibid.




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I am of the opinion that in this case; we should go back to the teaching of the catechism of the Catholic Church (catechism classes) to the children especially those preparing for the receipt of the Holy Communion, the youth and even to the adults who are preparing for marriage. This because, many people including the Catholic faithful has lost or are totally ignorant of these moral values.

For us to achieve this desired gaol, sound moral teaching is needed and much in fact depends on the underlying system of morality.


“On this subject the Church's social doctrine can make a specific contribution, since it is based on man's creation “in the image of God” (Gen 1:27), a datum which gives rise to the inviolable dignity of the human person and the transcendent value of natural moral norms. When business ethics prescinds from these two pillars, it inevitably risks losing its distinctive nature and it falls prey to forms of exploitation; more specifically, it risks becoming subservient to existing economic and financial systems rather than correcting their dysfunctional aspects. Among other things, it risks being used to justify the financing of projects that are in reality unethical. The Church's social teaching is quite clear on the subject, recalling that the economy, in all its branches, constitutes a sector of human activity.”286

Pope Benedict XVI made it clear that,

“when we consider the issues involved in the relationship between business and ethics, as well as the evolution currently taking place in methods of production, it would appear that the traditionally valid distinction between profit-based companies and non-profit organizations can no longer do full justice to reality, or offer practical direction for the future”.

It is important to point out here very clearly that for the Pope,

“In recent decades a broad intermediate area has emerged between the two types of enterprise. It is made up of traditional companies which nonetheless subscribe to social aid agreements in support of underdeveloped countries, charitable foundations associated with individual companies, groups of companies oriented towards social welfare, and the diversified world of the so-called “civil economy” and the “economy of communion”. This is not merely a matter of a “third sector”, but of a broad new composite reality embracing the private and public spheres, one which does not exclude profit, but instead considers it a means for achieving human and social ends”.287

286 Cf. Paul VI, Encyclical Letter Populorum Progressio, 14: loc. cit., 264; John Paul II, Encyclical Letter

Centesimus Annus,32 : loc. cit., 832-833. 287 Benedict XVI, Encyclical Letter Caritate in Veritate, loc, 46, 2009.



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It should be noted that the strengthening of different types of businesses, especially those capable of viewing profit as a means for achieving the goal of a more humane market and society, must also be pursued in those countries that are excluded or marginalized from the influential circles of the global economy. In these countries it is very important to move ahead with projects based on subsidiarity, suitably planned and managed, aimed at affirming rights yet also providing for the assumption of corresponding responsibilities.

I believe that on this earth there is room for everyone: here the entire human family must find the resources to live with dignity, through the help of nature itself God’s gift to his children and through hard work and creativity. At the same time we must recognize our grave duty to hand the earth on to future generations in such a condition that they too can worthily inhabit it and continue to cultivate the values of sustainability. This means being committed to making joint decisions:


“after pondering responsibly the road to be taken, decisions aimed at strengthening that covenant between human beings and the environment, which should mirror the creative love of God, from whom we come and towards whom we are journeying”.288

We therefore come to the basic conclusion to say that this responsibility is a global one, for it is concerned not just with energy but with the whole of creation, which must not be bequeathed to future generations depleted of its resources. Human beings legitimately exercise a responsible stewardship over nature, in order to protect it, to enjoy its fruits and to cultivate it in new ways, with the assistance of advanced technologies, so that it can worthily accommodate and feed the world's population289.

Let us hope that the international community and individual governments will succeed in countering harmful ways of treating the environment. It is likewise incumbent upon the competent authorities to make every effort to ensure that the economic and social costs of using up shared environmental resources are recognized with transparency and fully borne by those who incur them, not by other peoples or future generations: the protection of the environment, of resources and of the climate obliges all international leaders to act jointly and to show a readiness to work in good faith, respecting the law and promoting solidarity with the weakest regions of the planet.290 One of the greatest challenges facing the economy is to achieve the most efficient use not abuse of natural resources, based on a realization that the notion of “efficiency” is not value-free.

288 Benedict XVI, Message for the 2008world Day of Peace, 7: AAS 100 (2008), 41. 289 Benedict XVI, Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate, 2009.

290 Cf. Benedict XVI, Address to the General Assembly of the United Nations Organization, New York, 18 April 2008.



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I agree with the Pope that the way humanity treats the environment influences the way it treats itself, and vice versa. This invites contemporary society to a serious review of its life-style, which, in many parts of the world, is prone to hedonism and consumerism, regardless of their harmful consequences.291

The conservation of nature must be vigorously pursued. It is not enough to intervene with economic incentives or deterrents; not even an opposite education is sufficient. These are important steps, but the decisive issue is how can it be influenced to a better end, the overall moral tenor of society.


“If there is a lack of respect for the right to life and to a natural death, if human conception, gestation and birth are made artificial, if human embryos are sacrificed to research, the conscience of society ends up losing the concept of human ecology and, along with it, that of environmental ecology”292.

This lose of conscience of society towards the concept of human ecology is even made more vulnerable by the type of education that are being propagated throughout the world. For instance, in my own country Nigeria, especially in Enugu state where I came from the state has destroyed the famous zoo which was there even before I was born. For the government in power, this has no value, and they also inculcate this wrong idea to the masses through the mass media.


“it is contradictory to insist that future generations respect the natural environment when our educational systems and laws do not help them to respect themselves. The book of nature is one and indivisible: it takes in not only the environment but also life, sexuality, marriage, the family, social relations: in a word, integral human development. Our duties towards the environment are linked to our duties towards the human person, considered in him and in relation to others.”293

Consequently, it would be wrong to uphold one set of duties while trampling on the other. Herein lays a grave contradiction in our mentality and practice today: one which demeans the person disrupts the environment and damages society. Pope Benedict XVI concludes by saying that,

“Truth, and the love which it reveals, cannot be produced: they can only be received as a gift. Their ultimate source is not, and cannot be, mankind, but only God, who is himself Truth and Love. This principle is extremely important for society and for development, since neither can be a purely

291 Cf. John Paul II, Message for the 1990 world Day of Peace, 13: loc. cit., 154-155. 292 Benedict XVI, Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate, loc, 47, 2009. 293 Ibid.



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human product; the vocation to development on the part of individuals and peoples is not based simply on human choice, but is an intrinsic part of a plan that is prior to us and constitutes for all of us a duty to be freely accepted. That which is prior to us and constitutes us subsistent Love and Truth shows us what goodness is, and in what our true happiness consists. It shows us the road to true development294”.

I agree with the Pope that all cultures, religions, and philosophies talk of love, love for other human beings. If love is the strongest motivating force, then let it join people in a movement of human development for the people, by the people, in partnership with the people. Let us proclaim our ultimate goal of bringing humanity together, and let all of our actions be guided by the saying, “If one human being suffers, the whole of humanity suffers.”295

We could easily say that the goals of Human Development are too lofty, and that average people are not equipped to shoulder this responsibility. And certainly we must acknowledge the many spheres of action that are controlled by national governments and even international powerbrokers (politicians). But we will miss the lessons of history if we underestimate the power of individuals when joined together for any cause.

It will be very good if we step up and take action to support all human development initiatives, anywhere in the world and let us strengthen each other through our words and actions and through the use of our resources. Those who run national governments and the international powerbrokers themselves are, after all, human beings. They ultimately face the same fate as the rest of humanity. Their opinions can be changed, altered or modified if we work diligently, consistently and in unity.

"Future changes will not depend exclusively on government. Instead they will come primarily from the actions of people at the grassroots; people who will hold their leaders increasingly accountable...The age of the people may have finally arrived."296

“When indeed shall we learn that we are all related one to another, that we are all members of one body? Until the spirit of love for our fellow men, regardless of race, colour or creed, shall fill the world, making real in our lives and our deeds the actuality of human brotherhood - until the great mass of the people shall be filled with the sense of responsibility for each other’s welfare, social justice can never be achieved.”297

294 ibid Benedict XVI, Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate, loc, 47, 2009. 295 ibid. 296 Mahbub ul Haq and Mrs. Khadija Haq, 2004, Human Development Foundation, Date/Time Last Modified:

3/7/2005 11:42 cooperation 15 AM. 297 Helen Keller (1880-1968, Human Development Foundation, Date/Time Last Modified: 3/7/2005 11:42:15 AM.



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Every hand should be on deck with HDF and help advance Human Development, the movement for positive social change and community empowerment.

5. CORRUPTION HINDERS THE COOPERATION OF THE HUMAN FAMILY

Corruption stands in the way of family development.

We cannot rightly speak of human development in the society without seriously referring to the Family.


“The family, the natural community in which human social nature is experienced, makes a unique and irreplaceable contribution to the good of society.” 298

The importance and centrality of the family with regard to the person and the society is repeatedly underlined by Sacred Scripture. It is not good that the man should be alone (Gen 2:18). The family unit in fact, is born from the communion of persons. Communion has to do with personal relationship between the ‘I’ and the ‘thou’ Community on the other hand transcends this framework and moves towards a society, a ‘we ‘. The family as a community of persons is thus the first human community299. Therefore, when one is outside the family, one becomes isolated.

Pope Benedict XVI maintains in his Encyclical Letters Caritas in Veritate that,

“One of the deepest forms of poverty a person can experience is isolation. If we look closely at other kinds of poverty, including material forms, we see that they are born from isolation, from not being loved or from difficulties in being able to love. Poverty is often produced by a rejection of God's love, by man's basic and tragic tendency to close in on himself, thinking him to be self-sufficient or merely an insignificant and ephemeral fact, a “stranger” in a random universe.”300



299 Ibid.

300 Benedict XVI, Encyclical Letter E, loc, 3, 2009.



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“A society built on a family scale is the best guarantee against drifting off course into individualism or collectivism, because within the family the person is always at the centre of attention as an end and never as a means”301.

What this simply means is that Man is alienated when he is alone, when he is detached from reality, when he stops thinking and believing in a foundation302. All of humanity is alienated when too much trust is placed in merely human projects, ideologies and false utopias.303 The reason is that Today humanity appears much more interactive than in the past: this shared sense of being close to one another must be transformed into true communion. The development of peoples depends, above all, on recognition that the human race is a single family working together in true communion, not simply a group of subjects who happen to live side by side.304

As St. Thomas Aquinas puts it,

“A metaphysical understanding of the relations between persons is therefore of great benefit for their development. In this regard, reason finds inspiration and direction in Christian revelation, according to which the human community does not absorb the individual, the family and annihilating his autonomy, as happens in the various forms of totalitarianism, but rather values him all the more because the relation between individual and community is a relation between one totality and another”305.

For this reason and when seen in the light of spiritual being, the human creature is defined through interpersonal relations. Therefore, the more authentically he or she lives these relations, the more his or her own personal identity matures. It is not by isolation that man establishes his worth, rather by placing himself in relation with others and with God. Hence these relations take on fundamental importance. The same holds true for peoples as well. Just as a family does not submerge the identities of its individual members, just as the Church rejoices in each new creation (Gal 6:15; 2 Cor 5:17) incorporated by Baptism into her living Body, so too the unity of the human family does not submerge the identities of individuals, peoples and cultures, but makes them more transparent to each other and links them more closely in their legitimate diversity.



302 Cf. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus, 41 loc. cit., and 843-845. 303 Cf. Ibid.. 304 Cf. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Evangelium Vitae, 20 loc. cit., and 422-424. 305 According to Saint Thomas Aquinas, “ratio partis contrariatur rationi personae”, In III Sent., d. 5, q. 3, a. 2; also

“Homo non ordinatur ad communitatem politicam secundum se totum et secundum omnia sua”, Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 21, a. 4, ad 3.



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“The theme of development can be identified with the inclusion-in-relation of all individuals and peoples within the one community of the human family, built in solidarity on the basis of the fundamental values of justice and peace”.306 According to him, this perspective is illuminated in a striking way by the relationship between the Persons of the Trinity within the one divine Substance. The Trinity is absolute unity insofar as the three divine Persons are pure relationally. The reciprocal transparency among the divine Persons is total and the bond between each of them complete, since they constitute a unique and absolute unity. From the above explanations, it can be seen that God desires to incorporate us into this reality of communion as well: “that they may be one even as we are one” (Jn 17:22). The Church is a sign and instrument of this unity.307

I therefore believe that the relationships between human beings throughout history cannot but be enriched by reference to this divine model. This mainly because, in the light of the revealed mystery of the Trinity, we understand that true openness does not mean loss of individual identity but profound interpenetration. This also emerges from the common human experiences of love and truth. Just as the sacramental love of spouses unites them spiritually in one flesh (Gen 2:24; Mt 19:5; Eph 5:31) and makes out of the two a real and relational unity, so in an analogous way truth unites spirits and causes them to think in unison, attracting them as a unity to itself308.


“Without families that are strong in their communion and stable in their commitment peoples grow weak. In the family, moral values are taught starting from the very first year of life, the spiritual heritage of the religious community and the cultural legacy of the nation is transmitted.”309

It is important to mention here that there are certain religious cultures in the world today that do not oblige men and women to live in communion but rather cut them off from one other in a search for individual well-being, limited to the gratification of psychological desires. For instance, Mmawu Religious Cult, this is a religious cult that separate men folk from female folk. They exist in many parts of Nigeria. For instance, in my own Local Government Area Ezeagu in Enugu state Nigeria, it is called Ibono Masquerade Religious Cult. The Christian revelation of the unity of the human race presupposes a metaphysical interpretation of the “humanum in which relationality is an essential element. Other cultures like Igbo culture in Nigeria and religions like Christian religion

306Benedict XVI, Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate 54, 2009 307 Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 1. 308 Benedict XVI, Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate, loc, 47, 2009.

309 Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, 200 4 no. 213 p125



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teach brotherhood and peace and are therefore of enormous importance to integral human development.


“Some religious and cultural attitudes, however, do not fully embrace the principle of love and truth and therefore end up retarding or even obstructing authentic human development. Furthermore, a certain proliferation of different religious “paths”, attracting small groups or even single individuals, together with religious syncretism, can give rise to separation and disengagement. One possible negative effect of the process of globalization is the tendency to favour this kind of syncretism by encouraging forms of “religion” that, instead of bringing people together, alienate them from one another and distance them from reality”.310

However, the relationship existing between the family and economic life is particularly significant. The home has been for a long time and in many religions still a place of production and the centre of life. The dynamism of economic life, on the other hand, developed with the initiative of people and is carried out in the manner of concentric circles, in ever broader networks of production and exchange of goods and services that involves families in continuously increasing measure.


“Family and work are united by a very special relationship. The family constitutes one of the most important terms of reference for shaping the social and ethical order of human work. This relation has its roots in the relation existing between the person and his right to posses the fruit of his labour and concerns not only the individual as a singular person but also as a member of a family, understood as a ‘domestic society’.311”

It should be noted that the violation of the dignity of human work is unjust, and should be condemned. And therefore, no consideration of the problems associated with development could fail to highlight the direct link between poverty and unemployment. It is for this reason, that on 1 May 2000 on the occasion of the Jubilee of Workers, Pope John Paul II issued an appeal for “a global coalition in favour of decent work,312 supporting the strategy of the International Labour Organization. In this way, he gave a strong moral impetus to this objective, seeing it as an aspiration of families in every country of the world.



312 Jubilee of Workers, Greetings after Mass, 1 May 2000.



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The question then is what is meant by the word “decent” in regard to work?


“It means work that expresses the essential dignity of every man and woman in the context of their particular society: work that is freely chosen, effectively associating workers, both men and women, with the development of their community; work that enables the worker to be respected and free from any form of discrimination; work that makes it possible for families to meet their needs and provide schooling for their children, without the children themselves being forced into labour; work that permits the workers to organize themselves freely, and to make their voices heard; work that leaves enough room for rediscovering one's roots at a personal, familial and spiritual level; work that guarantees those who have retired a decent standard of living”. 313

This above statements are worthy be taken into account especially in today’s world where some developed countries treat human beings as objects, especially the Asylum seekers. Some people seem to forget that man is created by One and Eternal God, therefore we belong to one family.

I think that it is important here to say that the global context in which work takes place also demands that national labour unions, which tend to limit themselves to defending the interests of their registered members, should turn their attention to those outside their membership, to include the family work and in particular to workers in developing countries where social rights are often violated. The protection of these workers, partly achieved through appropriate initiatives aimed at their countries of origin, will enable trade unions to demonstrate the authentic ethical and cultural motivations that made it possible for them, in a different social and labour context, to play a decisive role in development. The importance of Labour Union cannot be overemphasized. And that is why while reflecting on the theme of work, it is appropriate to recall how important it is that labour unions — which have always been encouraged and supported by the Church — should be open to the new perspectives that are emerging in the world of work314.


“Work is essential insofar as it represents the condition that makes it possible to establish a family, for the means by which the family is maintained are obtained through work. Work also conditions the process of personal development, since a family afflicted by unemployment runs the risk of not fully achieving its end”.315

313 Benedict XVI, Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate 64, 2009. 314 Ibid.




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This risk in the family due to unemployment should not be taken for granted. Since the family is seen as the centre or the hob of the society. It is important here to consider the wider concerns than the specific category of labour for which they were formed, union organizations are called to address some of the new questions arising in our society: I am thinking, for example, of the complex of issues that social scientists describe in terms of a conflict between worker and consumer.


“Without necessarily endorsing the thesis that the central focus on the worker has given way to a central focus on the consumer, this would still appear to constitute new ground for unions to explore creatively. The Church's traditional teaching makes a valid distinction between the respective roles and functions of trade unions and politics. This distinction allows unions to identify civil society as the proper setting for their necessary activity of defending and promoting labour, especially on behalf of exploited and unrepresented workers, whose woeful condition is often ignored by the distracted eye of society.”316

Furthermore, it can be seen that global interconnectedness has led to the emergence of a new political power, that of consumers and their associations. Therefore, if corruption is allowed to destroy the family due to unemployment and lack of work to sustain the family, we can imagine the extent of its destruction. The effect of course will be corrosial.

According to the Pope,

“This is a phenomenon that needs to be further explored, as it contains positive elements to be encouraged as well as excesses to be avoided. It is good for people to realize that purchasing is always a moral and not simply economic act. Hence the consumer has a specific social responsibility, which goes hand-in- hand with the social responsibility of the enterprise. Consumers should be continually educated regarding their daily role, which can be exercised with respect for moral principles without diminishing the intrinsic economic rationality of the act of purchasing. In the retail industry, particularly at times like the present when purchasing power has diminished and people must live more frugally, it is necessary to explore other paths: for example, forms of cooperative purchasing like the consumer cooperatives that have been in operation since the nineteenth century, partly through the initiative of Catholics. In addition, it can be helpful to promote new ways of marketing products from deprived areas of the world, so as to guarantee their producers a decent return.”317





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I want to point out that it is important here as we talk about fair trade among countries of the world, we should not forget even for a second, the responsibility to protect the poorer countries that are in most cases marginalized or even neglected.


“In the Face of all these problems, one also senses the urgent need to find innovative ways of implementing the principle of the responsibility to protect and of giving poorer nations an effective voice in shared decision-making. This seems necessary in order to arrive at a political, juridical and economic order which can increase and give direction to international cooperation for the development of all peoples in solidarity”.318

Again, the Pope continues,

“And also in the face of the unrelenting growth of global interdependence, there is a strongly felt need, even in the midst of a global recession, for a reform of the United Nations Organization, and likewise of economic institutions and international finance, so that the concept of the family of nations can acquire real teeth”.319

This economic reform is even more urgent this present time of global economic crisis. As we can see it, many countries including: United States of America, Britain, France, Greece, etc, have slacked into recession thereby causing untold harm to the Global world trade. So to manage the global economy; to revive economies hit by the crisis; to avoid any deterioration of the present crisis and the greater imbalances that would result; to bring about integral and timely disarmament, food security and peace; to guarantee the protection of the environment and to regulate migration: for all this, there is urgent need of a true world political authority.320

According to Blessed John XXIII,

“Such an authority would need to be regulated by law, to observe consistently the principles of subsidiarity and solidarity, to seek to establish the common good and to make a commitment to securing authentic integral human development inspired by the values of charity in truth”.321

318 Benedict XVI, Address to the Members of the General Assembly of the United Nations Organization, New

York, 18 April 2008. 319 Benedict XVI, Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate, 2009.

320 Ibid.

321 Cf. John XXIII, Encyclical Letter Pacem in Terris,, loc. cit., 293; Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church,, 441.



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For This law to be inspired by the values charity in truth, the integral development of peoples and international cooperation require the establishment of a greater degree of international ordering, marked by subsidiarity, for the management of globalization They also require the construction of a social order that at last conforms to the moral order, to the interconnection between moral and social spheres, and to the link between politics and the economic and civil spheres, as envisaged by the Charter of the United Nations.”322

According to the Second Vatican Council,

“Such an authority would need to be universally recognized and to be vested with the effective power to ensure security for all, regard for justice, and respect for rights”.323

Furthermore, it is important that such authority should be built on checks and balances. It would have to have the authority to ensure compliance with its decisions from all parties, and also with the coordinated measures adopted in various international forums. Without this, despite the great progress accomplished in various sectors, international law would risk being conditioned by the balance of power among the strongest nations.324

Unfortunately, several of the organisations that have been studied have not only emphasised but also discovered that corruption is one of the most important reasons for the lack of development and for poverty.

According to an analysis made by the World Bank, corruption is also considered to be the single most important obstacle to economic growth and social development. Most of the organisations included in the study were of the opinion that combating corruption is an absolutely essential component in the struggle against poverty.325

Corruption exists in all countries, regardless of whether they are developed or not. In all countries there are varying degrees of petty corruption or “greasing the palm”326, for example additional fees given to doctors nurses and teachers, bribes given to the police and courts, as well as extra fees given to the authorities that issue different types of licences. There are also varying degrees of


323 Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, Gaudium et Spes, 82.


325 Ibid.

326 JOAKIM ANGER, : Corruption – Working Paper No 3 Anti-corruption strategies in development JANUARY 2004, pg.2.



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large-scale corruption or “grand corruption”, for example when politicians and senior civil servants steal funds from the public treasury, rig procurements, and buy votes in connection with general elections.

6. THE DEVELOPMENT OF PEOPLES AND TECHNOLOGY

According to the Social Doctrine of the Church,

“Nature appears as an instrument in the hands of man, a reality that he must constantly manipulate, especially by means of technology. This reductionistic conception views the natural world in mechanistic terms and sees development in terms of consumerism. Consequently, Primacy is given to doing and having rather than to being, and this causes serious forms of alienation.”327

We owe a duty to ourselves, to others and to our environment. Our freedom is profoundly shaped by our being, and by its limits.


“No one shapes his own conscience arbitrarily, but we all build our own I on the basis of a self which is given to us. Not only are other persons outside our control, but each one of us is outside his or her own control. A person's development is compromised, if he claims to be solely responsible for producing what he becomes. By analogy, the development of peoples goes awry if humanity thinks it can re-create itself through the wonders of technology, just as economic development is exposed as a destructive sham if it relies on the “wonders” of finance in order to sustain unnatural and consumerist growth.”328

The development of peoples is intimately linked to the development of individuals.

For the Church,

“The advances of science and technology do not eliminate the need for transcendence and are not of themselves the cause of exasperated secularism that leads to nihilism. With the progress of science and technology, questions as to their meaning increase and give rise to an ever greater need to respect the transcendent dimension of the human person and creation itself”329.


328 Benedict XVI, Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate, 68, 2009. 329 Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, 200 4 no.462 p261.



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A correct understanding of the environment prevents the utilitarian reduction of nature to a mere object to be manipulated and exploited. At the same time, it must not absolutize nature and place it above the dignity of the human person himself. The Magisterium finds the motivation for its position to a concept of the environment based on ecocentrism and on biocentrism in the fact that it is being proposed that the ontological and axiological difference between men and other living beings be eliminated, since the biosphere is considered a biotic unity of undifferentiated value330.


“the human person by nature is actively involved in his own development. The development in question is not simply the result of natural mechanisms, since as everybody knows; we are all capable of making free and responsible choices. Nor is it merely at the mercy of our caprice, since we all know that we are a gift, not something self-generated. In the face of such Promethean presumption, we must fortify our love for a freedom that is not merely arbitrary, but is rendered truly human by acknowledgment of the good that underlies it. To this end, man needs to look inside himself in order to recognize the fundamental norms of the natural moral law which God has written on our hearts.”331

Again, according to the Pope,

“The human spirit, increasingly free of its bondage to creatures, can be more easily drawn to the worship and contemplation of the Creator'”332. Technology enables us to exercise dominion over matter, to reduce risks, to save labour, to improve our conditions of life. It touches the heart of the vocation of human labour: in technology, seen as the product of his genius, man recognizes himself and forges his own humanity”.333

Care for the environment represents a challenge for all of humanity. It is a matter of a common and universal duty, that of representing a common good, destined for all, by preventing anyone from using with impunity the different categories of beings, whether living or inanimate-animals, plants, the natural elements-simply as one wishes, according to one’s own economic needs. Programmes of economic development must carefully consider the need to respect the integrity and the circles of nature, because natural resources are limited and some are not renewable. The

330Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, 200 4 no. 463 p262 .

331 Benedict XVI, Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate , 2009.

332 Paul VI, Encyclical Letter Populorum Progressio, 41: loc. cit., 277-278; cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium et Spes, 57.

333 Cf. Caritas in Veritate, 2009.



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present rhythm of exploitation is seriously compromising the availability of some natural resources for both the present and the future334.

The challenge of development today is closely linked to technological progress, with its astounding applications in the field of biology. Technology it is worth emphasizing is a profoundly human reality, linked to the autonomy and freedom of man. In technology we express and confirm the hegemony of the spirit over matter. Technology is the objective side of human action whose origin and raison d'etre is found in the subjective element: the worker himself335. For this reason, technology is never merely technology. It reveals man and his aspirations towards development; it expresses the inner tension that impels him gradually to overcome material limitations.


“Technology, in this sense, is a response to God's command to till and to keep the land (cf. Gen 2:15) that he has entrusted to humanity, and it must serve to reinforce the covenant between human beings and the environment, a covenant that should mirror God's creative love”336

Just because social communications increase the possibilities of interconnection and the dissemination of ideas, it does not follow that they promote freedom or internationalize development and democracy for all. To achieve goals of this kind, they need to focus on promoting the dignity of persons and peoples, they need to be clearly inspired by charity and placed at the service of truth, of the good, and of natural and supernatural fraternity. In fact, human freedom is intrinsically linked with these higher values. The media can make an important contribution towards the growth in communion of the human family and the ethos of society when they are used to promote universal participation in the common search for what is just.

One of the most important and crucial battleground in today's cultural struggle between the supremacy of technology and human moral responsibility is the field of bioethics, where the very possibility of integral human development is radically called into question.


“ In this most delicate and critical area, the fundamental question asserts itself force-fully: is man the product of his own labours or does he depend on God? Scientific discoveries in this field and the possibilities of technological intervention seem so advanced as to force a choice between two types of reasoning: reason open to transcendence or reason closed within immanence. We are


335 Cf. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Laborem Exercens, 5: loc. cit., 586-589. 336 Benedict XVI, Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate 69, 2009.



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presented with a clear either/ or. Yet the rationality of a self-centred use of technology proves to be irrational because it implies a decisive rejection of meaning and value.”337

There is no doubt that closing the door to transcendence brings one up short against a difficulty: how could being emerge from nothing, how could intelligence be born from chance?338 Therefore, faced with these dramatic questions, reason and faith can come to each other's assistance. Only together will they save man. Entranced by an exclusive reliance on technology, reason without faith is doomed to flounder in an illusion of its own omnipotence. Faith without reason risks being cut off from everyday life.339

As we have seen, Paul VI had already recognized and drawn attention to the global dimension of the social question. Following his lead, we need to affirm today that the social question has become a radically anthropological question, in the sense that it concerns not just how life is conceived but also how it is manipulated, as bio-technology places it increasingly under man's control. In vitro fertilization, embryo research, the possibility of manufacturing clones and human hybrids: all this is now emerging and being promoted in today's highly disillusioned culture, which believes it has mastered every mystery, because the origin of life is now within our grasp.340


“In recent years pressing questions have been raised with regard to the use of new forms of biotechnology in the areas of agriculture, animal farming, medicine and environmental protection. The new possibilities offered by current biological and biogenetic techniques are a source of hope and enthusiasm on the one hand, and of alarm and hostility on the other341.”

This is a very dangerous ground and seriously delicate area that one must be careful about. Here above, we see the clearest expression of technology's supremacy. In this type of culture, the conscience is simply invited to take note of technological possibilities.


“Yet we must not underestimate the disturbing scenarios that threaten our future, or the powerful new instruments that the “culture of death” has at its disposal. To the tragic and

337 Benedict XVI, Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate 74, 2009. 338 Benedict XVI, Address to the Participants in the Fourth National Congress of the Church in Italy, Verona, 19

October 2006; Id., Homily at Mass, Islinger Feld, Regensburg, 12 September 2006. 339 Cf. Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Instruction on certain bioethical questions Dignitas Personae (8

September 2008): AAS 100 (2008), 858-887. 340 Encyclical Letter Populorum Progressio, 3: loc. cit., 258. 341 Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, 200 4 no. 472 p268.



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widespread scourge of abortion we may well have to add in the future indeed it is already surreptiously present the systematic eugenic programming of births. At the other end of the spectrum, a pro-euthanasia mind set is making inroads as an equally damaging assertion of control over life that under certain circumstances is deemed no longer worth living.”342

For the Church,

“The application of various types’ biotechnology, their acceptability from amoral point of view, their consequences for human health and their impact on the environment and the economy are the subject of thorough study and heated debate. These are controversial question the involve scientists and researchers, politicians and legislators, economists and environmentalists, as well as producers and consumers. Christians are not different to those problems, for they are aware of the importance of the values at stake”343.

The question then is, how can we be surprised by the indifference shown towards situations of human degradation, when such indifference extends even to our attitude towards what is and is not human? What is astonishing is the arbitrary and selective determination of what to put forward today as worthy of respect. Underlying these scenarios are cultural viewpoints that deny human dignity. These practices in turn foster a materialistic and mechanistic understanding of human life. Who could measure the negative effects of this kind of mentality for development? Insignificant matters are considered shocking, yet unprecedented injustices seem to be widely tolerated.

For the Church,

“The Christian vision of creation makes a positive judgement on the acceptability of human intervention in nature, which also includes other living beings, and at the same time makes a strong appeal for responsibility. In effect, nature is not a sacred or divine reality that human must leave alone. Rather, it is a gift offered by the creator to the human community entrusted to the intelligence and moral responsibility of men and women.”344

The Church maintains that for that reason, the human person does not commit an illicit act when, when out of respect for the order, beauty and usefulness of individual beings and their function in the ecosystem, he intervenes by modifying some of their characteristics or properties.


342 Benedict XVI, Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate 75, 2009. 343 Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, 200 4 no. 472 p268.




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“Human intervention that damage living beings or the natural environment deserve condemnation, while those that improve them are praise worthy”345.

We should realise that, God reveals man to himself; reason and faith work hand in hand to demonstrate to us what is good, provided we want to see it; the natural law, in which creative Reason shines forth, reveals our greatness, but also our wretchedness insofar as we fail to recognize the call to moral truth. Here the two opposite natures of man come to play in which we must be careful not to mismanage them346.

While the poor of the world continue knocking on the doors of the rich, the world of affluence runs the risk of no longer hearing those knocks, on account of a conscience that can no longer distinguish what is human.347

I want us here to note that the question of development is closely bound up with our understanding of the human soul, insofar as we often reduce the self to the psyche and confuses the soul's health with emotional well-being. These over-simplifications stem from a profound failure to understand the spiritual life, and they obscure the fact that the development of individuals and peoples depends partly on the resolution of problems of a spiritual nature. With this clear in our mind, we notice that another aspect of the contemporary technological mind set is the tendency to consider the problems and emotions of the interior life from a purely psychological point of view, even to the point of neurological reductionism.

For the Church,

“The acceptability of the use of biological and biogenic techniques is only one part of the ethical problem which, when compared with every human behaviour, is also necessary to evaluate accurately the real benefit as well as the possible consequences in terms of risk”. When we lose this sense of evaluation, then we are lost348”.

In the realm of technological-scientific interventions that have forceful and widespread impact on living organisms, with the possibility of significant long-term repercussions, it is unacceptable to act lightly or irresponsibly.

By following this line of thought, we find out that man's interiority is emptied of its meaning and gradually our awareness of the human soul's ontological depths, as probed by the saints, is lost.

345 ibid

346 Cf. Caritas in Veritate 2009.

347 Cf. Caritas in Veritate, 2009. 348 compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, 200 4 no. 473 p268



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Development therefore must include not just material growth but also spiritual growth, since the human person is a “unity of body and soul born of God's creative love and destined for eternal life.349 The human being develops when he grows in the spirit, when his soul comes to know itself and the truths that God has implanted deep within, when he enters into dialogue with himself and his Creator. When he is far away from God, man is unsettled and ill at ease.350

Social and psychological alienation and the many neuroses that afflict affluent societies are attributable in part to spiritual factors. “A prosperous society, highly developed in material terms but weighing heavily on the soul, is not of itself conducive to authentic development.351” Therefore, the emptiness, in which the soul feels abandoned, despite the availability of countless therapies for body and psyche, leads to suffering. There cannot be holistic development and universal common good unless people's spiritual and moral welfare is taken into account, considered in their totality as body and soul. The new forms of slavery to drugs and the lack of hope into which so many people fall, can be explained not only in sociological and psychological terms but also and essentially, in spiritual terms.

I want us in this situation to realise that knowing is not simply a material act, since the object that is known always conceals something beyond the empirical datum. All our knowledge, even the most simple, is always a minor miracle, since it can never be fully explained by the material instruments that we apply to it.

The supremacy of technology tends to prevent people from recognizing anything that cannot be explained in terms of matter alone. Yet everyone experiences the many immaterial and spiritual dimensions of life. In every truth there is something more than we would have expected, in the love that we receive there is always an element that surprises us.352 Owing to this reason, we should never cease to marvel at these things. In all knowledge and in every act of love the human soul experiences something over and above, which seems very much like a gift that we receive, or a height to which we are raised.

The development of individuals and peoples is likewise located on a height, if we consider the spiritual dimension that must be present if such development is to be authentic. It requires new eyes and a new heart, capable of rising above a materialistic vision of human events, capable of glimpsing in development the beyond that technology cannot give.353 By following this path, it is

349 Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium et Spes,

14. 350 Benedict XVI, Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate 75, 2009. 351 Ibid. 352 Ibid 353 Benedict XVI, Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate 75, 2009.



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possible to pursue the integral human development that takes its direction from the driving force of charity in truth.

7. CORRUPTION – A CHALLENGE TO DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION

According to JOAKIM ANGER,

“Corruption undermines development cooperation contributions and thereby the possibility of achieving stated goals. In turn, this creates the risk that the preparedness of tax-payers to support development cooperation will be negatively affected” 354.

All donors studied agree that corruption affects most sectors in development cooperation. For instance, corruption has a negative effect on health, education, infrastructure, the business climate, democracy and public institutions. Corruption thus constitutes a challenge to the very foundations of development cooperation.

Given the general trend in development cooperation in which an increasing amount of resources is being channelled to developing countries in the form of sector programme support or budget support, it will be increasingly difficult for individual donors to monitor and follow up what happens to their resources.

“NORAD, DFID and the World Bank have drawn special attention to this situation and have demanded that partner countries are able to show, in a credible way, that they are working to combat corruption in society, and that this is being done in their Poverty Reduction Strategies, Comprehensive Development Frame work”355.

354 JOAKIM ANGER: Corruption – Working Paper No 3 Anti-corruption strategies in development JANUARY 2004, Pg 5.

355 Ibid.



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8. RICH COUNTRIES CONTRIBUTE TO CORRUPTION IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Explicit interventions to combat corruption have now been in place for more than five years and it is quite obvious that this is a relatively new working field for the donor organisations. The donor community is constantly seeking more effective methods in this field. Policies and strategies that are three or four years old are now on the way to be re-evaluated.

According to Joachim,

“The large amounts of financial resources that make grand corruption possible, in developing countries often come from more highly developed countries. Moreover, it is often possible to find public assets that have been stolen from the poor countries in banks in the more highly developed countries”356.

Some of the organisations studied (particularly OECD, DFID and Transparency International) have chosen to work in different ways to stop the supply side of corruption, for example by trying to prevent companies that do business in developing counties from using bribes in connection with procurements.

However, there are still no specific models for ways in which effective anticorruption programmes can be implemented. In particular, there are not many evaluations of ways in which development cooperation contributions have affected the level of corruption in developing countries. Nor is there any specific evidence that development cooperation contributions can be a particularly effective instrument against corruption. Even development cooperation funds that are the subject of strict controls make other financial assets in the economy available (for example domestic tax revenues), and it can be difficult or impossible to monitor and follow up the use of these funds.

The donor organisations have still to make a critical analysis of the ways in which they themselves contribute to corruption in developing -countries. Corruption in developing countries is just as much a matter that concerns countries that provide support as the countries that receive it. DFID is the organisation that has most clearly chosen a broad approach. It works with the issue at home (for example through British legislation on corruption) and in developing countries.

356 Op cit. Pg. 7.



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9. THE PRACTICABLE METHODS TO COMBAT CORRUPTION AGAINST DEVELOPMENT

During recent years the donor organisations have emphasised that,

“There are no simple patent solutions that others can copy. Instead strategies to combat corruption should be tailor-made to meet the level of corruption in the country concerned, the symptoms of the corruption, and expectations of ways in which forms of corruption can change in the near future.”357

In as much as I agree that corruption control is not an easy task, it my belief however, that corruption can be drastically minimized by the anti-corruption strategy as I have proposed above as the way out.

There are no simple solutions to the problem of corruption but several donor organisations have nonetheless reached agreement that certain conditions must be in place if combating corruption is to be possible at all. There must, for example, be a genuine political determination to combat corruption in the recipient country, a broad anticorruption strategy that covers most of the public administration, an active civil society, and a free press that can keep a strict watch on the public sector, as well as flexibility in the ways in which interventions to combat corruption should be started (entry points).

During recent years, several organisations have chosen to integrate the corruption perspective in programme and project support in all sectors of development cooperation.

“Experience gained by NORAD, DFID and the World Bank shows that the organisation must allocate considerable resources to make it possible to integrate the issues in practice. There should, for example, be an autonomous group in the organisation that has the specific mandate and political support to pursue the issues, both inside and outside the donor organisation. The group should have a strategy that covers several years and contains a work plan with specific and measurable goals, as well as its own budget”358.

357 JOAKIM ANGER: Corruption – Working Paper No 3 Anti-corruption strategies in development JANUARY 2004.

358 Op cit Pg. 13.



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10. CORRUPTION – A GLOBAL PROBLEM THAT AFFECTS EVERYONE AND DEVELOPMENT

The causes and consequences of corruption constitute a genuine global problem that affects all countries, regardless of their degree of development. In order to give developing countries a realistic opportunity to combat the causes of corruption, it is also necessary to take action against the countries in the rich world that make corruption possible. An approach of this type necessitates cooperation and coordination of a number of different stakeholders and interested parties in society.

Corruption –and its consequences are the critical issues of our time. The issue transcends national borders and can neither be handled within the framework of the nation state nor merely within the framework development cooperation.

Governance, accountability, ethics, integrity, transparency, tradition and the honour of public officials. In the international debate, among donor organisations and in this report, that is, the anti-corruption strategy as the way out, corruption is not merely considered from the legal perspective. It is also regarded as a social problem with significant negative socioeconomic consequences.

The causal relationship between corruption and poverty has also been given a prominent position in the UN’s new convention against corruption. When the UN General Assembly adopted the convention in 2003, the General Secretary, Kofi Annan, maintained that:

“Corruption is an insidious plague that has a wide range of corrosive effects on societies. It undermines democracy and the rule of law, leads to violations of human rights, distorts markets, erodes the quality of life, and allows organized crime, terrorism and other threats to human security to flourish. This evil phenomenon is found in all countries – big and small, rich and poor – but it is in the developing world that its effects are most destructive. Corruption hurts the poor disproportionately – by diverting funds intended for development, undermining a government’s ability to provide basic services, feeding inequality and injustice, and discouraging foreign aid and investment. Corruption is a key element in economic under-performance, and a major obstacle to poverty alleviation and development”359.

All organisations included in the study state that corruption is one of the major causes of poverty. Combating corruption is consequently a decisive component in poverty reduction. The

359 UN General Assembly adopted the convention in 2003, on Its Corruption Perception Index, 2001.



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causal relationship between corruption and poverty has been well known for a long time, but it was only when the President of the World Bank, in a renowned statement in 1996, claimed that corruption is the main cause of shortcomings in economic and social developments, the causal relationship was also adopted by other members of the donor community. Shortly thereafter several other members of the donor community made a similar analysis360.

The poor are often directly affected by corruption (petty corruption) since they are often obliged to “grease palms” for social services which, according to the law, are free of charge, for example extra fees to doctors, nurses and teachers, and bribes to the police and courts and to the authorities that issue different types of licences. The poor are also affected indirectly by corruption (grand corruption), for example when politicians and senior civil servants plunder the national treasury, rig procurements, and buy votes in connection with general elections.

360 However, the relationship between corruption and strict economic growth and prosperity is not totally unambiguous. It is worth noting, for example, that Italy and Germany have lower rankings that Botswana and Chile on its Corruption Perception Index, 2001.



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CHAPTER 2

A. THE ETHICS OF HUMAN ACTS AS CONCEIVED BY THE CHRISTIAN ETHICS

1. WHAT IS HUMAN ACTS?

This is very important question here to be considered, since Corruption is not only a Social, Political, etc. problem, but also an ethical. This will help us to prove beyond reasonable doubts that man is culpable for man’s corrupt actions.

Pope John Paul II, in his encyclical letter “Redemptor Hominis” the Divine Dimension of the Mystery of Man, has this to say,

“We do not forget even for a moment that Jesus Christ, the son of the living God, became our reconciliation with the father. He it was, and he alone, who satisfied the father’s eternal love, that fatherhood, that from beginning found expression in creating the world, giving man all the riches of creation, and making him ‘little less than God’ in that he was created in the image and after the likeness of God. He and he alone satisfied that fatherhood of God and that love which man in a way rejected by breaking the first commandment.”361


“The fundamental message of Sacred Scripture proclaims that the human person is a creature of God (cf. Ps 139:14-18), and sees in his being in the image of God Imago Dei the element that characterizes and distinguishes him: God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Gen 1:27).362

It can be observed and rightly so that the term human act has a fixed technical meaning. It means an act (thought, word, deed, desire, and omission) performed by a human being when he is responsible; when he knows what he is doing and wills to do it. An act is perfectly human when it

361 Pope John Paul II, in his encyclical letter “Redemptor Hominis, Pg58.




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is done with full knowledge and full consent of the will, and with full and unhampered freedom of choice. If the act is hampered in any way, it is less perfectly human; if it is done without knowledge or consent it is not a human act at all. An act done by a human being but without knowledge and consent is called an act of a person but not a human act. In the terminology of classical realistic philosophy, a human act is actus humanus; an act of a person is actus hominis363.

Consequently, there was a fall of man from his original nature, a fall from grace. However, the Pope believes that man was not left in his fallen state but was lifted up through the redemption wrought by Christ. According to him,

“Because of the Redemption, the human person was newly created and restored to the dignity lost because of sin and made an heir of immeasurable greatness. Thus, he can draw near to Christ appropriating and assimilating the whole of reality of incarnation and redemption in other to find himself.364”

God places the human creature at the centre and summit of the created order. Man (in Hebrew, “adam”) is formed from the earth (“adamah”) and God blows into his nostrils the breath of life (cf. Gen 2:7).


“Therefore, being in the image of God the human individual possesses the dignity of a person, who is not just something, but someone. He is capable of knowledge, of self possession and of freely giving himself and entering into communion with other person”365.

Man therefore, possesses knowledge, freedom and the ability of choice. And with these special qualities given to him by God which distinguish him from the other beings in the universe, he is able to act responsibly in relation to one another, to other being and to God.

According to Ming, J.

“Acts are termed human when they are proper to man as man; when, on the contrary, they are elicited by man, but not proper to him as a rational agent, they are called acts of man”366.

For the Church,

363 Ming, J. (1907). Human Acts. In The Catholic Encyclopaedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved

June 26, 2008 from New Advent: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01115a.htm 364 Pope John Paul II, in his encyclical letter “Redemptor Hominis, Pg59.

365 Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, 200 4 no. 108 p 63.

366 Ming, J. (1907). Human Acts. In The Catholic Encyclopaedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved June 26, 2008 from New Advent: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01115a.htm



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“This marvellous vision of man’s creation by God is inseparable from the tragic appearance of original sin. With a clear affirmation the Apostle Paul sums up the account of man’s fall contained in the first pages of the Bible: Sin came into the World though one man and death through sin (Rom 5:12). Man, against God’s prohibition, allows himself to be seduced by the serpent and stretches out his hand to the tree of life, falling prey to death367. It is a sin of disobedience (cf. Rom 5:19) that separates man from God.368

The essential elements of a human act are three: knowledge, freedom, actual choice.

2. KNOWLEDGE.

A person is not responsible for an act done in ignorance, unless the ignorance is the person's own fault, and is therefore willed (vincible ignorance), in which case he has knowledge that he is in ignorance and ought to dispel it. Thus, in one way or another, knowledge is necessary for responsibleness.

3. FREEDOM.

A person is not responsible for an act over which he has no control, unless he deliberately surrenders such control by running into conditions and circumstances which rob him of liberty. Thus, in one way or another, freedom is necessary for every human act369.


368 Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2259-2261.

369 Ming, J. (1907). Human Acts. In The Catholic Encyclopaedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved June 26, 2008 from New Advent: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01115a.htm.



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4. ACTUAL CHOICES OR VOLUNTARINESS.

A person is not responsible for an act which he does not will, unless he wills to give up his self-control (as a man does, for instance, in allowing himself to be hypnotized, or by deliberately becoming intoxicated). Thus, in one way or another, voluntariness or actual choice enters into every human act.

Now, a human act is a willed act. It proceeds from the will, following the knowledge and judgment of the mind or intellect. Since what refers to the freewill is usually described as moral, a human act is a moral act. Since the will is free, a human act is a free act.

According to Ludwig von, Mises,

“Human action is purposeful behaviour or we may say: Action is will put into operation and transformed into an agency, is aiming at ends and goals, is the ego's meaningful response to stimuli and to the conditions of its environment, is a person's conscious adjustment to the state of the universe that determines his life. Such paraphrases may clarify the definition given and prevent possible misinterpretations. But the definition itself is adequate and does not need complement or commentary” 370.

For the Church,

“From revelation we know that Adam, the first man transgresses God commandment and loses the holiness and justice in which was made holiness and justice which were received not only for himself but for all of humanity: By yielding to the tempter, Adam and Eve committed a personal sin, but this sin affected the human nature that they would then transmit in a falling state”371.

He, Adam then becomes responsible for his actions as man because of the three Properties; Knowledge, Freedom and Choice that are involved in his actions.

As we can see, human act comes from the will directly or indirectly. This is because, when the act itself is the choice of the will, it comes directly from the will and is said to be willed in se or in itself. When the act comes indirectly from the will, inasmuch as the will chooses rather what causes or occasions the act than the act itself, it is said to be willed in its cause or in causa. Thus a man, who wills to become intoxicated, wills it directly or in se; a man who does not wish to

370 Mises, Ludwig von Human Action: A Treatise on Economics: The Foundation for Economic Education, Inc.

Irvington-on-Hudson, NY Fourth revised ed., 1996, printed 1998 1949, Pg.111. 371 Catechism of the Catholic, 404.



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become intoxicated, but who seeks entertainment where, as experience tells him, he is almost sure to become intoxicated, wills the intoxication indirectly or in causa372.

According to Ludwig von,

“Conscious or purposeful behaviour is in sharp contrast to unconscious behaviour, i.e., the reflexes and the involuntary responses of the body's cells and nerves to stimuli. People are sometimes prepared to believe that the boundaries between conscious behaviour and the involuntary reaction of the forces operating within man's body are more or less indefinite. This is correct only as far as it is sometimes not easy to establish whether concrete behaviour is to be considered voluntary or involuntary. But the distinction between consciousness and unconsciousness is nonetheless sharp and can be clearly determined”373


“Man can turn to good only in freedom, which God has given to him as one of the highest signs of his image: For God has willed that man remains ‘under the control of his own decisions’ (Sir 15:14), so that he can seek his Creator spontaneously, and come freely to utter blissful perfection through loyalty to him”374.

We can then rightly say that, man’s dignity demands that he acts according to a knowing and free choice that is personally motivated and prompted from within, neither under blind internal impulse or by mere external pressure375.

I wish to point out here, that the unconscious behaviour of the bodily organs and cells is for the acting ego no less a datum than any other fact of the external world. Acting man must take into account all that goes on within his own body as well as other data, e.g., the weather or the attitudes of his neighbours. There is, of course, a margin within which purposeful behaviour has the power to neutralize the working of bodily factors.376

It is feasible within certain limits to get the body under control. Man can sometimes succeed through the power of his will in overcoming sickness, in compensating for the innate or acquired

372 Mises, Ludwig von Human Action: A Treatise on Economics: The Foundation for Economic Education, Inc.

Irvington-on-Hudson, NY Fourth revised ed., 1996, printed 1998 1949, Pg.111. 373 ibid

374 Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, 200 4 no. 135 p75. 375 Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral constitution Gaudium et Spes, 17: AAS 58 (1966); cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1730-1732.

376 Ibid.



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insufficiency of his physical constitution, or in suppressing reflexes. As far as this is possible, the field of purposeful action is extended. If a man abstains from controlling the involuntary reaction of cells and nerve centres, although he would be in a position to do so, his behaviour is from our point of view purposeful377.

According to Catholic Encyclopaedia,

“it becomes necessary here that a distinction is made for more clarification, this distinction of direct and indirect willing (or direct and indirect voluntariness) raises a notable issue, and we have here two of the most important principles (that is, fundamental guiding truths) in all ethics. These are:

1. The Principle of Direct and Indirect Voluntariness: A person is responsible for the evil effect of a cause directly willed when three conditions are met: when he can readily foresee the evil effect, at least in a general way; when he is free to refrain from doing what causes the evil effect; and when he is bound to refrain from doing what causes the evil effect. But is the agent (that is, the doer of an act) not always bound to avoid what causes an evil effect? Is not the fact that the effect is evil a sufficient reason for rendering the act which leads to it unlawful? Not always, for sometimes the act has two effects, one good and one evil. In this case, the following principle applies:

2.The Principle of Twofold Effect: A person may lawfully perform an act which has two effects, one good and one evil, when the following conditions are met: when the act which has two effects is not in itself an evil act; when the evil effect does not come before the good effect so as to be a means to it; when there exists a reason, proportionately weighty, which calls for the good effect; when the agent B (that is, the doer or performer of the act) intends the good effect exclusively, and merely permits the evil effect as a regrettable side-issue. St. Thomas Aquinas and the scholastics in general regard only the free and deliberate acts of the will as human. Their view is grounded on psychological analysis. A free act is voluntary, that is, it proceeds from the will with the apprehension of the end sought, or, in other words, is put forth by the will solicited by the goodness of the object as presented to it by the understanding. Free acts, moreover, proceed from the will's own determination, without necessitation, intrinsic or extrinsic. For free acts, are those acts which the will can elicit, or abstain from eliciting, even though all the requisites of volition are present. They, consequently, are acts to which the will is determined neither by the object nor by its own natural dispositions and habits, but to which it determines itself. The will alone is capable of self-determination or freedom; the other faculties, as the understanding, the senses, the power of

377 Catholic Encyclopaedia, htt:www.newadvent.org/cathen/06259a.htm. Get the full contents of New Advent

(Catholic Encyclopaedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more) on CD-ROM.



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motion, are not free; but some of their acts are controlled by the will and so far share its freedom indirectly. The active indeterminateness of the will, its mastery over its own actions, is consequent upon the deliberation of reason``378.


“Man rightly appreciates freedom and strives for it passionately: rightly does he desire and must form and guide, by his free initiative, his personal and social life, accepting personal responsibility for it” 379.

I can say in fact, freedom not only allows man suitably to modify the state of things outside of himself, but it also determines the growth of his being as a person through choices consistent with the true good380. In this way, man generates himself, he is father of his own being381, and he constructs the social order382.

Sound human reason vindicates the value and trustworthiness of these two leading ethical principles (good and evil). The basic law of morals, called the natural law, is summed up in this plain mandate of reason: We must do good we must avoid evil. And, developing the second point, that is, the avoidance of evil, we have this basic rational principle: We must never do what is evil, even though good may be looked for and intended as a result of it. Human acts are modified, that is, affected, and made less perfectly human, by anything that hampers or hinders any of the three essentials of human action: knowledge, freedom, voluntariness. Chief of the modifiers of human acts are these.

“Ignorance is the absence of knowledge. In Ethics it regards two classes of objects viz., laws and facts. If a man does not know that marriage between third cousins is forbidden, he is ignorant of the law. If he is not aware that his betrothed is his third cousin, he is ignorant of the fact. Ignorance, whether of the law, or of the facts, is either vincible or invincible, when it cannot be overcome by the due amount of diligence, it is invincible; otherwise, it is vincible. The latter is said

378 Catholic Encyclopaedia, htt:www.newadvent.org/cathen/06259a.htm. Get the full contents of New Advent

(Catholic Encyclopaedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more) on CD-ROM. 379 Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, 200 4 no. 135 p75.

380 Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1733.

381 Cf. Gregory of Nyssa, de Vita Moysis, II, 2-3: p 44.

382 Cf, John Paul II Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus, 13: AAS 83 (1991), 808-810.



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to be gross or supine when scarcely an effort has been made to remove it; and if a person deliberately avoids enlightenment in order to sin more freely, his ignorance is affected”.383 And

According to Charles Coppens,

“Concupiscence is a strong impulse of the sensible appetite inclining the will to seek sensible good and to fly from sensible evil. When it arises unbidden by the will, it is termed antecedent; but when it arises at the command, or continues with the consent, of the will, it is called consequent. As soon as sensible good or evil is perceived, the appetite generally acts instinctively. This first impulse is not free, and consequently not imputable to us. In as far as concupiscence impels the will; it restrains our liberty, and thus lessens our accountability. Yet, unless the impulse be so violent as to deprive us for the time being of the use of reason, it does not dispossess our will of the power to refuse consent; hence, when the will yields, though its consent may be reluctant, it does so freely and we are responsible. Consequent concupiscence is a wilful intensification of consent, which therefore increases our responsibility”384

The ethical principle here is: Antecedent concupiscence lessens voluntariness and responsibility but does not take them away; consequent concupiscence does not lessen voluntariness and responsibility.

Of all the types of concupiscence which influence human acts, fear has a peculiar significance, and we have a special reasoned principle for it: An act done from a motive of fear is simply voluntary; the agent is responsible for it, even though he would not do it were he not under the sway of fear. Of course, if the fear is so great that it renders the agent insane at the moment of his act, he is incapable of a human act and is not responsible. Civil law makes provisions for the nullifying of contracts made under the stress of fear (that is, of threat, or duress), for the common good requires that people be protected from the malice of unscrupulous persons who would not hesitate to enforce harmful bargains by fearsome means.

1) Fear, “Fear arises from the apprehension of threatening evil, and prompts us to seek safety in flight. Our will is thus dragged along, as it were, and so its freedom is restricted and our responsibility is diminished to the same extent. Great fear sometimes exempts a person from acts enjoined by positive law.385”

383 JMC: Moral Philosophy/ by Charles Coppens, S.J. University of NOTRE DAME; Chapter 2. The Morality of

Human Acts, 62. I. http://maritain.nd.edu/jmc/etext/mp02.htm 384 Op cit. 65. II.

385 Op cit. 66. III.



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2. Violence. Coercion or violence is external force applied by a free cause (that is, by human beings) to compel a person to do something contrary to his will. The ethical principle with respect to violence is: An act owing to violence to which due resistance is made, is not voluntary, and the agent is not responsible for it. As Charles Coppens puts it386,

“Violence is an impulse from outside tending to force the agent to act against his choice. It cannot affect the will directly i.e., the elicited acts of the will for we cannot will that which at the same time we do not will. But violence can sometimes affect our external acts. In so far as the violence is irresistible, we are not responsible for the external act. If, however, the will yields a reluctant yet real consent, we are blameable, though in a lower degree than if there had been no reluctance.387”

1. Habit. Habit is a readiness, born of repeated acts, for doing a certain thing. The ethical principle is: Habit does not take away voluntariness; acts done from habit are voluntary, at least in cause, as long as the habit is permitted to continue.388

According to Charles Coppens, S.J,

“Habits are defined as more or less permanent qualities which dispose a faculty to act readily and with ease. A habit results naturally from frequent repetition of the same act. Thus, by constantly restraining the passion of anger, a person gains facility in doing so; or, in other words, he acquires the virtue of meekness. A habit is said to be "a second nature," because though not constituting nature it greatly facilitates certain operations of the natural faculties. Good habits or those inclining us to do what is morally right, are called virtues; bad habits, or tendencies to what is wrong, are called vices. Brute animals are incapable of moral acts; hence they cannot form moral habits. Their power of imitation or the influence of peculiar circumstances may, it is true, enable them to acquire ways of acting which are not ordinary, which may indeed seem unnatural; as, when a bird is made to pronounce words. The power to act thus may be termed a habit, but, of course, not a moral habit. Man may also acquire habits that are more or less mechanical; but, besides these, he can form

386 Catholic Encyclopaedia, htt:www.newadvent.org/cathen/06259a.htm. Get the full contents of New Advent (Catholic Encyclopaedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more) on CD-ROM. /JMC: Moral Philosophy/ by Charles Coppens, S.J. University of NOTRE DAME; Chapter 2. The Morality of Human Acts, 67. IV 387 JMC: Moral Philosophy/ by Charles Coppens, S.J. University of NOTRE DAME; Chapter 2. The Morality of Human Acts, 67. IV

388 388 Catholic Encyclopaedia, htt:www.newadvent.org/cathen/06259a.htm. Get the full contents of New Advent (Catholic Encyclopaedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more) on CD-ROM.



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moral habits by the frequent repetition of free acts; and in Moral Philosophy we are concerned with only the latter class of habits.389”

5. STRUCTURES OF SIN

I find it very important here to discuss the structures sin a little bit in detail. This is to help us understand more fully the devastating effect of the structures of corruption on the human development. I see Structures of sin as a kind of habit, when formed, is difficult to overcome or reverse.

According to DeBerri E.P & Hug J. E,

“Structures of sin/Structures of Grace, looked at from a faith-based moral perspective, structures that support and facilitate authentic human development is called structures grace. Those that obstruct authentic development and obscure the universal common good are structures of sin. While both types begin in individual acts, they are gradually consolidated into structures that make change more difficult. They then influence and shape the graced or sinful acts of others.”390

Furthermore, Pope John Paul II identified two major and intertwined structures of sin in

Contemporally life: on the one hand, the all consuming desire for profit, and on the other, the thirst for power with the intention of imposing one’s will upon others. (The social concerns of the Church Sollicitudo Rei Socialis).391

The question here is has habit anything to do Structures of sin and if yes, what is habit? As we have seen is relation to human act,

A habit is said to be "a second nature," because though not constituting nature, it greatly facilitates certain operations of the natural faculties. Good habits or those inclining us to do what is morally right, are called virtues; bad habits, or tendencies to what is wrong, are called vices. Brute animals are incapable of moral acts; hence they cannot form moral habits. Their power of imitation

389 Op cit. 72.

390 Edward P. DeBerri, James E. Hug. Catholic Social Teaching; Our Best Kept Secret, Orbis Books, Maryknoll, New York, 1985, P 24

391 Cf, Edward P. DeBerri, James E. Hug. Catholic Social Teaching; Our Best Kept Secret, Orbis Books, Maryknoll, New York, 1985, P 24



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or the influence of peculiar circumstances may, it is true, enable them to acquire ways of acting which are not ordinary, which may indeed seem unnatural; as, when a bird is made to pronounce words. The power to act thus may be termed a habit, but, of course, not a moral habit. Man may also acquire habits that are more or less mechanical; but, besides these, he can form moral habits by the frequent repetition of free acts; and in Moral Philosophy we are concerned with only the latter class of habits. (On quote).

According to Cork,

“Catholic Social teaching employs the phrase, ‘structures of sin,’ to describe those social structures that are rooted in human sin, structures that give concrete expression to, and are formed to enable and further, personal sin. See, for example, this from Pope John Paul II (Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, 36):

If the present situation can be attributed to difficulties of various kinds, it is not out of place to speak of structures of sin, which... are rooted in personal sin and thus always linked to the concrete acts of individuals who introduce these structures, consolidate them, and make them difficult to remove. And thus they grow stronger, spread, and become the source of other sins, and so influence other people’s behaviour. Sin and structures of sin are categories which are seldom applied to the situation of the contemporary world. However, one cannot easily gain a profound understanding of the reality that confronts us unless we give a name to the root of the evils which afflict us.”392

Cork explains,

“I think we can use this concept to understand what went wrong with religious order, The Legion of Christ. It was created by Fr. Marcial Maciel, who formed some of its practices to ensure that he could continue to cover up his own evil. The Vatican statement dated May 1 is blunt. Maciel was an evil man and structures that he created to facilitate his sin must be changed.”393

I think that it is important here to present the Vatican statement for better and deeper understanding of what structures of sin mean and be able to apply it in relation to corruption as follows;

The apostolic visit has been able to ascertain that the behaviour of Fr. Marcial Degollado has had serious consequences for the life and structure of the Legion, such as to require a process of in-depth revision.

392 John Paul II, Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, 36.

393 Bill Cork, wordpress.com/ecclesiastical structures of sin.



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The very serious and objectively immoral behaviour of Fr. Maciel, incontrovertible evidence has confirmed, sometime resulted in actual crimes, and manifests a life devoid of scruples and of genuine religious sentiment. The great majority of Legionaries were unaware of this life, above all because of the system of relationships built by Fr. Maciel, who had skilfully managed to build up alibis, to gain the trust, the confidence and the silence of those around him, and to strengthen his role as a charismatic founder.

Not infrequently, the lamentable discrediting and dismissal of whoever doubted his behaviour was upright, as well as the misguided conviction of those who did not want to harm the good that the Legion was doing, created around him a defence mechanism that made him untouchable for a long time, making it very difficult to know his real life.394

I want to say that the question facing us today in our various societies with regards corruption menace is similar if not the same with the question that faced Vatican at the time of Fr. Maciel. So for us to stamp out the corruption of this nature, we must be blunt. And be able to call a spade a spade no matter who it is. Just as the question that faced the Vatican was how to support those in the order who were faithful and sincere, that is, how to reform it and reorganize it so as to no longer facilitate sin, so also, we should fight hard to reform and organize our society battered by corruption.

As Cork puts it,

“I suggest the situation of the Legionaries can be considered a parable of the Reformation. The reformers of the 16th century looked at the evil of men like Leo X, Julius II, and other popes and said their personal sin influenced and helped to create the structures of the medieval church that inhibited the preaching of the Gospel. The medieval papacy as an institution, the corruption of votive masses that were bought and sold, the taxes and armies and everything else that was that was contrary to the spirit of Christ, all of this was a projection of human sin.”395

Consequently, just as the Catholic Church bluntly and positively stood their ground and condemned this regrettable behaviours without fear or favour, so also in the case of corruption, we all work together without fear or favour condemn corruption in all its forms, reform the society and punish the culprit adequately.

394 The Vatican statement dated May 1 is blunt. Maciel was an evil man and structures that he created to facilitate his sin must be changed.

395 Bill Cork, wordpress.com/ecclesiastical structures of sin.



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6. ENDS OF HUMAN ACTS

The great question here is, how can we determine the end of human act? The end is a purpose or goal. It is that for which an act is performed. It is the final cause of an act. An end intended for it is an ultimate end; an end intended as a measure or means of gaining a further end is an intermediate end. The first end (in order of attainment) is proximate; other ends are remote. An ultimate end is ultimate in a certain series of ends, or it is the crowning end of all human activity. The ultimate end of a series is called relatively ultimate; the crowning end of all human activity is called absolutely ultimate.396

For instance, “a young man entering medical school has, as proximate and intermediate ends, the passing of his exams, and the advance from the first to the second class; more remote ends are the exams and classes further on; the ultimate end of the whole series of his studies and efforts is the status of a physician. But this end is relatively ultimate, not absolutely so. Why does he wish to be a physician? Perhaps to do good and to have an honourable means of livelihood. But why does he want this for a full life, a rounded satisfaction in his earthly existence? But why does he want these things inevitably, in view of a still further end. For all human ends are directed, in last analysis, to an all-sufficing absolutely ultimate end. This is the completely satisfying end or good; it is the Supreme and Infinite Good; it is the Summum Bonum; and, for theists, it is God”. 397

This an end as a thing desired or intended is called objective. The satisfaction looked for in the attainment and possession of the objective end, is the subjective end.

For this reason, Man, in every human act, strives for the possession of good (for end and good are synonymous), and for infinite good or God. This is the absolutely ultimate objective end of all human activity. And man strives for the infinite good as that which will boundlessly satisfy; he looks for complete beatitude or complete happiness in the attainment and possession of God (bonum and bona). This is the absolutely ultimate subjective end of all human activity398.

These explanations are very important here because they explain the motive behind our corrupt and non-corrupt actions. And also explain why some actions are called corrupt and others not.

396 cf. Catholic Encyclopaedia, htt:www.newadvent.org/cathen/06259a.htm. Get the full contents of New Advent

(Catholic Encyclopaedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more) on CD-ROM. 397 Ibid.

398 Ibid.



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For instance, an applicant is looking for a good job, after finishing his university education for a better life, but he noticed that he is not qualified for the job he is looking for. But he desires the job to better his living. This applicant is faced with two problems, one, and the desire for a good job to better his life and two, the lack of qualification for the desired job. And this applicant knows that he is not qualified for the job. Here, comes the moral issue, he decides, whether to bribe his way through or not. If he decides, and gets the job through corrupt means, in which case, the means justifies the end, this immoral and corrupt act. And he is responsible for his corrupt actions.


“Saint and sinner alike are striving towards God. The Saint is striving in the right direction, and the sinner in the wrong direction. But it is the one Goal they are after, that is, the full, everlasting, and satisfaction of all desire. The good man in his good human acts and the evil man in his evil human acts are like two men digging for diamonds; the one digs in a diamond mine, the other perversely digs in a filthy heap of rubbish; the one works where diamonds are to be found, the other's work is hopeless of success. But it is to find diamonds that both are working”399.

Therefore, man necessarily (and not freely) intends or wills the supreme and absolute end of all human acts. Man freely (and not necessarily) chooses the means (that is, intermediate ends) by which he expects, wisely or perversely, to attain that end. Even in the case of the concept of pluralism, I believe that it is a matter of belief. In this belief in many gods, there are still gradations of these gods. For instance in our African traditional religion, where there are many gods, there are still Chukwu (chi-god, ukwu-big) that means the big god in contrast to the smaller ones. As the saying goes, all animals are equal, but some are more equal than others. These believers still ultimately desire the Chukwu.

7. NORMS OF HUMAN ACTS

simply speaking, we can say that a norm is a rule; it is the measure of a thing. The norm of human acts is the rule which shows whether the Human act measure up to what they should be, and indicates the duty of bringing them up to full standard of what they ought to be. The norms of human acts are law and conscience. More precisely, the one norm of human acts is law applied by conscience.400

399 Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, 200 4 no. 135 p75. 400 Catholic Encyclopaedia, htt:www.newadvent.org/cathen/06259a.htm. Get the full contents of New Advent (Catholic Encyclopaedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more) on CD-ROM. .



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For the Church,

“Law is an ordinance of reason promulgated for the common good by one who has charge of society. Fundamentally, law is an ordinance of Reason for all mankind and for every creature. In this sense, law means the Eternal Law which is God's plan and providence for the universe. Inasmuch as this law is knowable by a normal mind which reasons to it from the facts of experience, the Eternal Law is called the natural law. For when a person ceases to be a baby and becomes responsible, this is owing to the fact that he recognizes the following truth...There is such a thing as good; there is such a thing as evil; I have a duty to avoid evil and to do good."401

For this reason, a child of ten that knows no distinction between lies and truth, theft and honesty, obedience and disobedience, would rightly be classed as an imbecile. Indeed, we say that a person comes to the use of reason when he begins to have a practical grasp of three things: good, evil, duty. In other words, reason makes evident the basic prescriptions of the natural law.

The natural law is general. But man needs, in addition to general prescriptions for conduct, special determinations of the law such as, for instance, the enactments of the State in civil and criminal laws.

8. MORALITY OF HUMAN ACTS

It is important at this juncture to say morality is the relation of human acts to the norm or rule of what they ought to be. As we have seen, the norm of human acts is law applied by conscience. And the basic law is the Eternal Law, especially as this is knowable by sound human reason (it is then called the natural law). The squaring up of free and responsible human conduct with law as applied by conscience is the morality of human acts; the lack of such agreement of human acts with their norm is immorality. But, as we have indicated, morality is generally used to signify the relation (whether of agreement or disagreement) of human acts to their norm or rule. Thus we speak of morally good acts and of morally bad acts402.

“A morally good act requires the goodness of the object, of the end, and of the circumstances together. An evil end corrupts the action, even if the object is good in itself such as praying and fasting in order to be seen by men.403”

401 Catholic Encyclopaedia, htt:www.newadvent.org/cathen/06259a.htm. 402 Ibid.

403 Ibid.



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The object of the choice can by itself vitiate an act in its entirety. There are some concrete acts - such as fornication, that it is always wrong to choose, because choosing them entails a disorder of the will, that is, a moral evil.

It is therefore an error to judge the morality of human acts by considering only the intention that inspires them or the circumstances (environment, social pressure, duress or emergency, etc.) which supply their context. There are acts which, in and of themselves, independently of circumstances and intentions, are always gravely illicit by reason of their object; such as blasphemy and perjury, murder and adultery. One may not do evil so that good may result from it.404

A human act considered as such, as an act, as a deed performed, stands in agreement or out of agreement with the norm of what it ought to be. Thus it has objective morality. Many mistaken people of our day, especially those of university training, are fond of talking as though a human act took all its morality from the intention of the agent, or from his viewpoint. They are full of expressions such as,

"As I see it ...," "To my mind . . . ," "I don't look at it in that way . . . ," "It's all in the point of view . . ." etc”405.

Now, there is an immense field for human opinion. Where certitude cannot be had, opinion is the best man can achieve. But in matters of essential morals, certitude can be had (as we have seen, by direct method, or, this failing, by the reflex method). Hence the lawfulness or unlawfulness of an act, its morality, in short, -- is never a matter of opinion, viewpoint, prejudice, or preference. It is a matter of fact. It is an objective thing. Human acts have objective subjective morality.

A person blamelessly mistaken about the objective morality of an act is exempt (by reason of invincible ignorance) from responsibility for such an act. Thus, a person who is invincibly ignorant of the fact that a lie is always unlawful, and who is convinced with full certitude that in certain circumstances a lie is permissible, is not guilty of formal falsehood for telling such a lie. But this does not mean that the objective morality of a lie is a fiction or an illusion; it does not mean that the morality of an act depends on the agent's convictions. The lie is objectively evil and remains so. Only, in the case mentioned, invincible ignorance excuses the agent from responsibility for it. And so much the worse for the agent, for ignorance is always blight and a burden.

404 CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH : 1755 and 1756:http://www.chritusrex.org/www1/CDHN/part3.html.

405 Catholic Encyclopaedia, htt:www.newadvent.org/cathen/06259a.htm.



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9. PROPERTIES AND CONSEQUENCES OF HUMAN ACTS

A property of an act is anything that belongs by natural necessity to the act. Now, a human act is a free and deliberate act of a responsible being who is its author. It follows, that such an act is imputable to its author, to his credit or discredit, that is, as a merit or a demerit.

A human act once performed sets a precedent for the agent. It marks a path which he has traversed. It cuts a groove, so to speak, for his action. And therefore he tends to act in the same way again. In a word, human acts tend to follow patterns called habits. By habit in the present instance we mean an operative habit, a habit of acting. Such a habit is an inclination, born of frequently repeated action, for acting in a certain way.

An operative habit that is morally good is called a virtue. An operative habit that is morally bad is called a vice. Virtues and vices are the consequences of human acts and the antecedents.

The chief-virtues are prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance. These are called the cardinal virtues (from the Latin cardo, stem Cardin-, "a hinge") because all other virtues depend on them as a door depends on its hinges.

Vice, or habit of evil doing, is a habitual defect, a habitual failure to measure up to the norm of right conduct and of the virtues. A single bad act is a sin, but not a vice. Vice is the habit of sin. It stands opposed to virtue either by defect or by excess, for Virtue stands in the middle. But in either case it is a habitual failure (a negative thing) to measure up to the standard of what a human act ought to be.

The object, the intention, and the circumstances make up the three "sources" of the morality of human acts.

The object chosen morally specifies the act of willing accordingly as reason recognizes and judges it good or evil.

"An evil action cannot be justified by reference to a good intention." (cf. St. Thomas Aquinas, Dec. praec. 6). The end does not justify the means. A morally good act requires the goodness of its object, of its end, and of its circumstances together. There are concrete acts that it is always wrong to choose, because their choice entails a disorder of the will, i.e., a moral evil. One may not do evil so that good may result from it”.406

Examples of where vices are forced are:

406 Op, cit. Chapter 2. The Morality of Human Acts, 1757, 1758, 1759, 1760, 1761.



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9A. IN CASES OF STRCTURES OF SIN

Here, the victims are misdirected to thinking that they are doing the right thing. For example, the case of Fr. Maciel who deceived his followers into believing that they were in the right track. In this case, there seem to be violence/ habit which blur free choice of the right action.

9B. POLYGAMY AND EXTENDED FAMILY SYSTEM

Some cultural factors aid corruption. For instance, polygamy and extended family are among the African culture that have entrenched much corruption in the society. This is for the simple reason that many a times, the bread winners of the family find themselves in a fix regarding taking appropriate care of the family; consequently indulge in corrupt practices as a means of survival.

Again, when a public official has to take direct responsibility for extended family members; if his/her official income cannot meet their needs he/she will be enticed to convert public funds (if he/she happens to lay hands on it) for personal use. In this way, the official will be engaging in a corrupt act which could directly or indirectly harm the general public.

One observes here that this is a labyrinth issue because it is cultural. Public officials are sometimes pressurised into taking care of their extended family members even if their official or genuine income cannot realistically meet their needs. Unfortunately, communities believe it is their culture and should therefore not be discouraged. Any attempt at discouraging it, no matter the benefits it will accrue to the public, would be interpreted as an invasion or interference into their customs and traditions.

9C. POVERTY.

It should be noted that poverty is partly responsible for coercing somebody into corruption.

A public official who perhaps might have got some help from relatives when struggling to be what he/she is will find it extremely difficult to ignore their extra responsibilities. Communities generally see the issue of providing help (especially paying school or college fees for their promising children and/or relatives) as a form of safety net or life insurance. When these children become successful in life, they are expected to pay back what was expended on them. If they



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refuse, they are scorned and sometimes abhorred by their very relatives for being ‘ungrateful’ and ‘selfish.

This is very important point because, the fear of being rendered a ‘pariah’ usually coerces many public servants to embezzle public funds to meet the burgeoning or elaborate demands of their extended family members. Perhaps the only rift in the lute is for the government to create opportunities, for example, providing jobs for many able-bodied citizens to reduce the dependence that aids corruption.

10. SUMMARY

In this Section we have defined human act, and have determined its essential elements as knowledge, freedom, and voluntariness.

Also from the Catholic Encyclopaedia: We have considered the modifiers of human acts: ignorance, concupiscence, violence, habit. We have seen that a human act is necessarily directed to an end, and, in last analysis, to the absolutely ultimate end or Supreme Good which is God and that other names for the human act are free act, moral act, willed act.

And again have discussed voluntariness in see and in cause, and have learned two outstandingly important principles, viz., the principle of indirect voluntariness and the principle of twofold effect. We have noticed that man's freedom is freedom of choice of means to the ultimate end, not freedom to set up a new ultimate end and have learned the norm of human acts as law applied by conscience. We have also defined law, and have several classifications of it, and have contrasted it with precept. We have seen that conscience is the judgment of practical reason in matters of right and wrong, and not some mysterious inner voice like Kant's Categorical Imperative.

Furthermore and interestingly have noticed the necessity of man's acting with a certain conscience, and we have studied the direct and the indirect method of banishing doubt and achieving certitude. We have spoken of probabilism. We have defined the morality of human acts, and have investigated its determinants. We have indicated the properties of human acts as immutability, merit, and demerit; and we have seen that human acts tend to consequences called virtues and vices.407

I wish to point out here that, recent philosophic speculation discards free will conceived as capability of self-determination. The main reason advanced against it is its apparent incompatibility with the law of causation. Instead of indeterminism, determinism is now most

407 Catholic Encyclopaedia, htt:www.newadvent.org/cathen/06259a.htm.



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widely accepted. According to the latter, every act of the will is of necessity determined by the character of the agent and the motives which render the action desirable. Character, consisting of individual dispositions and habits, is either inherited from ancestors or acquired by past activity; motives arise from the pleasurableness or unpleasurableness of the action and its object, or from the external environment. Many determinists drop freedom, imputability, and responsibility, as inconsistent with their theory. To them, therefore, the human act cannot be anything else than the voluntary act408.

According to the Catholic Encyclopaedia,

“there are other determinists who still admit the freedom of will. In their opinion a free action is that which ´flows from the universe of the character of the agent`. And as `character is the constitution of Self as a whole`, they define freedom as the control proceeding from the Self as a whole, and determining the Self as a whole. We find freedom also defined as a state in which man wills only in conformity with his true, unchanged, and untrammelled personality”.

It can be observed here that, in like manner Kant, though in his `Critique of Pure Reason` he advocates determinism, nevertheless in his Fundamental Metaphysics of Morals` admits the freedom of the will, conceiving it as independence of external causes.

It is interesting to notice the will, for him, is causality proper to rational beings, and freedom is its endowment enabling it to act without being determined from without just as natural necessity is the need proper to irrational creatures of being determined to action by external influence. He adds, however, in explanation, that he must act according to unchangeable laws or else it would be an absurdity. Free acts thus characterised are termed human by these determinists, because they proceed from man’s reason and personality409.

But plainly they are not human in the scholastic acceptation, or in the full and proper sense. They are not such, because they are not under the dominion of man. True freedom, which makes man master of his actions, must be conceived as immunity from all necessitation to act. So it was understood by the scholastics. They defined it as immunity from both intrinsic and extrinsic necessitation. Not so the determinists. According to them it involves immunity from extrinsic, but not from intrinsic, necessitation. Human acts, therefore, as also imputability and responsibility, are not the same thing in the old and in the new schools410.

408 Ibid. 409Ibid. 410Catholic Encyclopaedia, htt:www.newadvent.org/cathen/06259a.htm. Get the full contents of New Advent

(Catholic Encyclopaedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more) on CD-ROM.



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Therefore, human acts are imputable to man so as to involve his responsibility, for the very reason that he puts them forth deliberatively and with self-determination. They are, moreover, not subject to physical laws which necessitate the agent, but to a law which lays the will under obligation without interfering with his freedom of choice. Besides, they are moral.

As the Catholic Encyclopaedia puts it.

“For a moral act are one that is freely elicited with the knowledge of its conformity with or deformity from, the law of practical reason proximately and the law of God ultimately. But whenever an act is elicited with full deliberation, its relationship to the law of reason is adverted to. Hence human acts are either morally good or morally bad, and their goodness or badness is imputed to man. And as, in consequence, they are worthy of praise or blame, so man, who elicits them, is regarded as virtuous or wicked, innocent or guilty, deserving of reward or punishment. Upon the freedom of the human act, therefore, rest imputability and morality, man's moral character, his ability to pursue his ultimate end not of necessity and compulsion, but of his own will and choice; in a word, his entire dignity and pre-eminence in this visible universe.”411

1. The circumstances under which one acts determines ones actions especially with regard to corruption. For instance, polygamous and extended family systems are circumstances where the bread winners in the family are most often due to hardship over stretched. For this reason, they are pushed into corrupt practices for survival.

2. The object: an end as a thing desired or intended is called objective. The satisfaction looked for in the attainment and possession of the objective end, is the subjective end. With regards corruption, the intended object must be good and this must be achieved through good means.

3. Free will: with regards corrupt actions, we must be free to exercise our freedom of choice in any given circumstances.

4. The way out: we should be responsible for our corrupt actions.

411. APA citation. Ming, J. (1907). Human Acts. In The Catholic Encyclopaedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved June 26, 2008 from New Advent: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01115a.htm.



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B. THE FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTION ABOUT CORRUPTION

The Social doctrine of the Church in the efforts to answer the question posed by Corruption, which has bedevilled the nations of the earth, for so many years (Gaudium et Spes) wrote,

“Among the numerous implications of the common good, immediate significant is taking on by the principle of the universal destination of goods: God destined the earth and all it contains for all men and all peoples so that all created things would be shared fairly by all mankind under the guidance of justice tempered by charity”412.

For the church this principle is based on the fact that the original source of all that is good is the very act of God, who created both the earth and man, and who gave the earth to man so that he might have dominion over it by his work and enjoy its fruit (Gen 1:28-29)413

For this reason, the universal right to use the goods of the earth is based on the principle of the universal destination of goods. This universal destination of goods stipulates inter alia that each person must have access to the level of well- being necessary for his full development. When this principle is undermined, most often due to corruption and injustice, the society suffers as the result and so man itself.

When J. Svensson an economist, was confronted with the question on how to solve the problem of corruption, he exclaimed:

“I hope to be reborn as a custom official.”414

He observed that,

“when a well-paid CEO wishes for a job with lower pay just like a lower official pay in the government sector, due to collection of bribes and outright theft of public funds, then corruption is surely intended!”415



414 Jacob Svensson is Assistant Professor, Institute for International Economic Studies, Stockholm University, and Stockholm, Sweden. He is also Senior Economist, Development Research Group, World Bank, Washington, D.C.; and Research Fellow, Centre for Economic Policy Research, London, United Kingdom. His e-mail address is [email protected]_. Journal of Economic Perspectives—Volume 19, Number 3—Summer 2005—Pages 19–42

415 ibid



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In this way, many people in the public offices are corrupt due to greed which leads them to outright stealing of public fund still more, the most devastating forms of corruption include the diversion and outright theft of funds for public programs and the damage caused by firms and individuals that pay bribes to avoid health and safety regulations intended to benefit the public. For instance, an internal IMF report found that nearly $1 billion of oil revenues, or $77 per capita, vanished from Angolan state coffers in 2001 alone.416

It is observed that this amount was about three times the value of the humanitarian aid received by Angola in 2001—in a country where three-quarters of the population survive on less than $1 a day and where one in three children dies before the age of five. And in Turkey, the effect of the earthquake that took thousands of lives in 2004 would have been much less severe, according to the government of Turkey, if contractors had not been able to pay bribes to build homes with substandard materials.417

I agree with J. Svensson that, extrapolating from firm and household survey data, the World Bank Institute estimates that total bribes in a year are about $1 trillion418. While the margin of error in this estimate is large, anything even in that general magnitude ($1 trillion is about 3 percent of world GDP) would qualify as an enormous issue.

Looting therefore becomes the order of the day in Africa, giving rise to poverty and under development. For example, Transparency International, 2004, reported that,

“A conservative estimate is that the former President of Zaire, Mobutu Sese Seko, looted the treasury of some $5 billion—an amount equal to the country’s entire external debt at the time he was ousted in 1997. The funds allegedly embezzled by the former presidents of Indonesia and Philippines, Mohamed Suharto and Ferdinand Marcos, are estimated to be two and seven times higher”.419

From the above discussion, we can see that giving and acceptance of bribes has cursed African continent a lot. This is because, according to public inquiry into Kenya Gold Scam, it was observed that,

416 Pearce, Justin. 2002. “IMF: Angola’s ’missing Millions.’” BBC News, October 18; Available at _http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/2338669.stm_.

417 Kinzer, Stephen. 1999. “The Turkish Quake’s Secret Accomplice: Corruption.” New York Times. August 29, sec. 4, p. 3.

418 J. Svensson, Journal of Economic Perspectives—Volume 19, Number 3—Summer 2005—Pages 19–42 419 (Transparency International, 2004).



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“In the Goldenberg scam in Kenya in the early 1990s, the Goldenberg firm received as much as $1 billion from the government as part of an export compensation scheme for fictitious exports of commodities of which Kenya either produced little (gold) or nothing at all (diamonds)420.”

It is my wish to discuss here, the following points regarding corruption:

The Reality of Corruption, examples and the way out, using the frequently public asked questions about corruption as conceived by Svensson.421

I wish point out straight away here that these questions are not meant to be exhaustive but it will help us to understand more fully what corruption is, for us to be able to tackle and fight it effectively.

1. THE REALITY OF CORRUPTION.

I wish to say that an unfair society is a fertile soil for corruption. This is because when a given society functions abnormally corruption creeps in and consequently creates disorder in the society. To buttress this fact,

The social science encyclopaedia more narrowly speaking, defines corruption as,

“Abandonment of expected standards of behaviour by those in authority for the sake of unsanctioned personal advantage... In the business sphere, a company director is deemed corrupt if he sells his private property to the company at an inflated price, at the expense of the shareholders whose interest he is supposed to safeguard”422.

420 Bardhan, Pranab. 1997. “Corruption and Development: A Review of Issues.” Journal of Economic Literature.

35:3, pp. 1320–346., & Rose-Ackerman, Susan. 1999. Corruption and Government: Causes, Consequences, and Strategies for Reform. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

421 Jacob Svensson is Assistant Professor, Institute for International Economic Studies, Stockholm University, and Stockholm, Sweden. He is also Senior Economist, Development Research Group, World Bank, Washington, D.C.; and Research Fellow, Centre for Economic Policy Research, London, United Kingdom. His e-mail address is [email protected]_ Journal of Economic Perspectives—Volume 19, Number 3—Summer 2005—Pages 19–42.

422 The Social Science Encyclopaedia, published by Routledge and Kegan Paul in 1995, edited by Adam Kuper and Jessica Kuper 1995, pg 164.



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According to this definition, lawyers, architects and other professionals are similarly guilty of corruption if they take advantage of their clients to make undue personal gains.

For the Church,

“Looking after the common good means, making use of the new opportunities for the redistribution of wealth among the different areas of the planet, to the benefit of the underprivileged that until now have been excluded or cast to the sidelines of social and economic progress. The challenge in short, is to ensure a globalization in solidarity, a globalization without marginalization. This technology progress itself the risk being unfairly distributed among countries.”423

Due to the corruption in the world especially among those who are in charge of the distribution of good, there exist, a clear marginalization of some poor countries of the world.

This unfairly distribution of the common good is mostly as the result of the unchecked injustices and corruption among the world leaders..

As we have seen, and for the purpose of emphasis, one can say that corruption

“is a behaviour which deviates from the formal duties of a public role, because of private [gains] - regarding (personal, close family, private clique, pecuniary or status gains. It is a behaviour which violates rules against the exercise of certain types of [duties] for private [gains] - regarding influence”424.

According to this definition such behaviour as,

“bribery (use of a reward to pervert the judgment of a person in a position of trust); nepotism (bestowal of patronage by reason of ascriptive relationship rather than merit); and misappropriation illegal appropriation of public resources for private uses are seen as corruption.”425

Again, one can also see corruption as an outcome—a reflection of a country’s legal, economic, cultural and political institutions. Corruption can be a response to either beneficial or harmful rules. For example, corruption appears in response to benevolent rules when individuals pay bribes to avoid penalties for harmful conduct or when monitoring of rules is incomplete—as in the case of


424cf Nye,1967. 425 Victor E. Dike, Democracy and Political Life in Nigeria (Zaria, Nigeria: Ahmadu Bello University Press) 2001.



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theft. Conversely, corruption can also arise because bad policies or inefficient institutions are put in place to collect bribes from individuals seeking to get around them.426

Many see public corruption as we have seen above, as the misuse of public office for private gain. Misuse, of course, typically involves applying a legal standard. Corruption defined this way would capture, for example, the sale of government property by government officials, kickbacks in public procurement, bribery and embezzlement of government funds.

There are numbers of parallels of definitions which have been proposed above for thinking about corruption,

“although each of these parallels can be illuminating in certain ways, none of them capture the phenomena perfectly. As one parallel, corruption is often thought of as like a tax or a fee. Bribes, like taxes, create a wedge between the actual and privately appropriated marginal product of capital. However, along with the obvious point that bribes bring no money to government coffers, bribes differ from taxes in other ways. Bribes involve higher transaction costs than taxes, because of the uncertainty and secrecy that necessarily accompany bribe payments.427

Unfortunately, corrupt contracts are not easily enforceable in courts. This is because an official may forge an agreement with the bribe-payer or demand another bribe for the same service.428

It is interesting to notice here that,

“Bribing also has parallels to lobbying in the form of campaign contributions or influence buying through other means, but again, they are not perfect substitutes. Consider a situation in which a country has enacted tariffs or licence requirements for imports that affect all firms in a sector. A firm can avoid paying the tariff or buying a licence by bribing a custom official. Alternatively, firms in the sector may collectively lobby the government to provide the license for free or to remove the tariff. One difference between bribery and lobbying in this case is that a change in the trade regime through lobbying affects all firms in the sector, as well as future entrants. However, the return to bribing is typically firm specific, although potential externalities may arise both for other firms and consumers”429.

I agree with Svensson that a second difference is that a change in the trade regime through lobbying tends to be more permanent, because there is some cost to re-enacting the original law, while a bureaucrat cannot credibly commit not to ask for bribes in the future. A third difference is

426 Djankov, Simeon, Edward Glaeser, Rafael La Porta, Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes and Andrei Shleifer. 2003. “The

New Comparative Economics.” Journal of Comparative Economics. 31:4, pp. 595–619. 427 Shleifer, Andrei and Robert Vishny. 1993. “Corruption.” Quarterly Journal of Economics. 108:3, pp. 599–617. 428 Boycko, Maxim, Andrei Shleifer and Robert Vishny. 1995. Privatizing Russia. Cambridge Mass.: MIT Press. 429Jakob Svensson. 2004. “Bribes, Lobbying and Development.” Mimeo, IIES, Stockholm University.



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that decisions about government rule making involve officials weighing the benefits of income from lobbying against the cost to the government of a rule change, while decisions about bribes are made by individual public officials who consider their private costs and benefits430.

I wish to observe here that, lobbying involves joint actions with associated collective action problems. The question why firms choose to lobby or bribe, and the consequences of this choice, is analysed in Harstad and Svensson.431 While corruption or more precisely bribes, is not the same as rent-seeking, although the terms are often interchanged. Rent seeking is the socially costly pursuit of rents, often created by governmental interventions in the economy, bribes are technically a transfer.

No definition of corruption is completely clear-cut. The emphasis here is on public corruption, but corruption can also take the form of collusion between firms or misuse of corporate assets that imposes costs on consumers and investors. As J. Svensson puts it,

“ Some activities will hover on a legal borderline: for example, legal payments that involve lobbying, campaign contributions or gifts can seem quite close to illegal payments that constitute bribery, or legal offers of postretirement jobs in private sector firms to officials and politicians assigned to regulate these same firms can seem quite close to illegal kickbacks”432.

430 Harstad, Bard and Jakob Svensson. 2004. “Bribes, Lobbying and Development.” Mimeo, IIES, Stockholm

University. 431 Ibid. 432 Jakob Svensson. 2004. “Bribes, Lobbying and Development.” Mimeo, IIES, Stockholm University.



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2. EXAMPLES: WHICH COUNTRIES ARE THE MOST CORRUPT?

The most important questions here are how do we know which countries are the most corrupt and what is the yard stick for the measurement? To measure corruption across countries is a difficult task, both due to the secretive nature of corruption and the variety of forms it takes. However, since corruption reflects an underlying institutional framework, different forms of corruption are likely to be correlated.

For the Church,

“An adequate solidarity in the era of globalization requires that human rights be defended. In this regard, the Magisterium points out that not only the vision of an effective international public authority at the service of human rights, freedom and peace has not yet been entirely achieved, but there is still in fact much hesitation in the international community about the obligation to respect and implement human rights. This duty touches all fundamental rights, excluding that arbitrary picking and choosing which can lead to rationalizing forms of discrimination and injustice. Likewise, we are witnessing the emergence of an alarming gap between a series of new rights being promoted in advanced societies-the result of new prosperity and new technologies-and other more basic human rights still not being met, especially in institutions of underdevelopment”433.

The Church mean here for instance, about the right to food and drinkable water, to housing and security, to self determination and independence-which are still far from being guaranteed and realized. The reason for all these inequalities and injustices are due to corruption434.

I wish to point out here that since ages people have made fruitless efforts on measuring the degree and level of devastating effects of corruption on different countries. But the past decade has seen an exponential growth in corruption cross-country studies on corruption of which three types of corruption measures have been exploited in the literature.

According to Keefer,

Knack, Mauro and Keefer the first type, used initially is based on indicators of corruption assembled by private risk-assessment firms”435


434 Ibid.



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It is interesting to note that, the corruption indicator published in the International Country Risk Guide has become the most popular, due to better coverage across time and countries. According to its creators, the International Country Risk Guide’s corruption indicator captures the likelihood that high government officials will demand special payments and the extent to which illegal payments are expected throughout government tiers.436

One important rating for me here is this second set of variables which is average of ratings reported by a number of perception-based sources. Among policymakers, the Corruption Perception Index produced by Transparency International is the most widely disseminated. The source of this index varies from year to year, but the data released in October 2004 are based on 18 rankings from 12 institutions.437

As Transparency International puts it,

“The essential conditions for inclusion are that a source must provide an ordinal measurement, or ranking, of nations and that the data must measure the overall extent of corruption and not the expected impact. For this reason, the corruption indicator published in the International Country Risk Guide is not included.”438

For the Transparency International, corruption indicator does not determine a country’s level of corruption, but the political risk involved in corruption.

According to Svensson,

“These two issues (perception index and the corruption indicator) can differ considerably, depending on, for example, whether public tolerance toward corruption is high or low. They derive a complementary measure, Control of Corruption, drawn from a large set of data sources. They have a broader definition of corruption and include most cross-country indices reporting ranking of countries on some aspect of corruption. They also use a different strategy than Transparency

435 Keefer. 1995. “Institutions and Economic Performance: Cross- Country Tests Using Alternative Institutional Measures.” Economics and Politics. 7:3, pp. 207–27. 436 The data are produced by Political Risk Services—a private firm providing risk assessments across countries,

_http://www.prsgroup.com/countrydata/countrydata.html_. According to Political Risk Services, over 80 percent of the world’s largest global companies (as ranked by Fortune magazine) use its data and information to make business and investment decisions. The current data are costly, although older versions are available on the web.

437 The Corruption Perception Index is produced by the University of Passau in Germany and by Transparency International. Data for 2004 and previous years back to 1996 are available for free at _http://www.transparency.org/surveys/index.html#cpi_.

438 The Corruption Perception Index is produced by the University of Passau in Germany and by Transparency International. Data for 2004 and previous years back to 1996 are available for free at _http://www.transparency.org/surveys/index.html#cpi_.



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International to aggregate the corruption indicators. In the end, definitions and aggregation choice seem to matter only marginally”.439

For Jacob Svensson,

“The simple correlation between Control of Corruption and the Corruption Perceptions Index (from 2003) is 0.97 and the correlation between Control of Corruption or the Corruption Perceptions and the corruption scores from the International Country Risk Guide (from 2001) is 0.75. The main difference between the three indicators is which countries and years are covered”.440

At this point, it is clear that the ranking assessment is not as simple as it appears. However, the subjective corruption measures discussed above are ordinal indices, although researchers have typically treated them as cardinal measures. At a minimum, this limitation should be kept in mind when interpreting changes in the indices across time and countries.

According to Jacob Svensson,

“At least two cross-country data sets on corruption provide cardinal measures of corruption, although few papers in the economic literature on corruption have utilized them. Both of them are based on survey data. The EBRD-World Bank Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Survey compile the experiences of more than 10,000 firm managers in 1999 and 2002. Firm managers were asked to estimate the share of annual sales firms like yours typically pay in unofficial payments to public officials”.441 And it is the perception of bribe or corruption that depends on the values of the respondent. Unfortunately, these data are only available for 26 transition countries.

It is very interesting to note that the International Crime Victim Surveys (ICVS), since 2003 under the responsibility of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, focus on individuals rather than firms. The surveys are designed to produce comparable data on crime and victimization across countries, using a combination of computer-assisted telephone interviewing techniques in

439 The Control of Corruption Index is available from the World Bank at _http://info.worldbank.org/ governance/kkz2002/tables. Asp_.

440 The aggregation procedures used by Kaufmann, Kraay and Mastruzzi (2003) and Transparency International presume that the measurement errors associated with each sub-indicator are independent across sources. This assumption allows them also to report measures of the precision or reliability of the estimates. In reality, the measurement errors are likely to be highly correlated, because the producers of the different indices read the same reports and most likely gauge each other’s evaluations. If the independence assumption is relaxed, the gain from aggregating a number of different reports is less clear. Moreover, the estimates would be less precisely estimated than the stated estimates suggest.

441 The data are available for free at _http://www.ebrd.com/pubs/econ/beeps/main.htm_.



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developed countries and face-to-face surveys in developing countries. In most developing countries, the survey data refer to the experience of urban households, since the surveys are only implemented in the capital (or largest) cities.

With respect to corruption, respondents were asked if government officials asked, or expected the respondent, to pay bribes for their service during the last year. These data can be used to derive the incidence of bribes across countries. To date, over 140 surveys in four waves have been done in over 70 different countries, although the latest round includes fewer than 50 countries. 442

Incidence of bribes is highly correlated with the subjective measures (simple correlation lies between 0.57 and 0.67), but the best predictor of the share of households that need to pay bribes is actually GDP per capita.443

Following this discussion closely, one can say that one obvious advantage with the EBRD-World Bank Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Survey and the International Crime Victim Surveys is that they provide hard evidence on corruption.

According to Jakob Svensson,

“But one must acknowledge the fact that collecting reliable data on corruption through traditional survey techniques is problematic. Respondents may choose to misreport or not report at all for many reasons. To the extent that these measurement error problems are not systematically related to country characteristics, however, this may be less of a concern when studying variations in corruption across countries”444.

But all hopes are not lost, this because the only disadvantage is that the hard evidence is only available for a smaller sample of countries. Moreover, the International Crime Victim Surveys only provide information on the incidence of corruption from a household perspective. The incidence and level of corruption are not necessarily highly correlated and may very well be driven by different factors. Clearly, they can also have differential impacts on economic and social outcomes. The subjective indices, on the other hand, are mainly constructed for the private sector, and particularly for foreign investors.

In this case as we have observed, the primary measure of corruption is related to doing business—but corruption may take other forms as well.

442 The data are available for free at _http://www.unicri.it/icvs/data/index.htm_. 443 In regressions using the incidence of bribes as the dependent variable and GDP per capita (in logarithms) and the

subjective corruption indices (each entered one at the time) as the independent variables, the coefficient on GDP per capita is highly significant while the corruption indicators are insignificantly different from zero.

444 Jacob Svensson, Centre for Economic Policy Research, London, United Kingdom. Journal of Economic Perspectives—Volume 19, Number 3—Summer 2005—Pages 19–42 mmer 2005—Pages 19–42



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As we shall see, in the sub-heading (What are the Common Characteristics of Countries with High Corruption?) here, Table 1 lists the 10 percent of countries that have the worst rankings for corruption according to the four measures with broad regional coverage: the Control of Corruption index, the Corruption Perceptions Index, the corruption score produced by the International Country Risk Guide and the Incidence of Bribes from the International Crime Victim Surveys. Note that not all countries are ranked and that country coverage differs. For example, the Control of Corruption index includes many more countries. All three measures are rescaled such that a higher value implies higher corruption445.

Table 1 the most corrupt countries

Country CC Country CPI Country ICRG Country ICVS Equatorial 1.9c,i,v Bangladesh 8.7v Zimbabwe 5.8v Albania 0.75 Guinea Nigeria 8.6 China 5v Uganda 0.36 Haiti 1.7v Haiti 8.5v Gabon 5c,v Mozambique 0.31 Iraq 1.4v Myanmar 8.4v Indonesia 5v Nigeria 0.30 Congo, Dem 1.4c,v Paraguay 8.4v Iraq 5v Lithuania 0.24 Rep. Angola 8.2v Lebanon 5v Myanmar 1.4v Azerbaijan 8.2 Myanmar 5v Afghanistan 1.4c,i,v Cameroon 8.2v Niger 5c,v Nigeria 1.4 Georgia 8.2i Nigeria 5 Laos 1.3c,i,v Tajikistan 8.2i,v Russia 5 Paraguay 1.2v Indonesia 8.2v Sudan 5v Turkmenistan 1.2c,i,v Kenya 8.1v Somalia 5c,v Somalia 1.2c,v Cote 7.9v Congo, 5c,v Korea. North 1.2c,v d’Ivoire Dem. Rep. Zimbabwe 1.2v Kyrgyzstan 7.9i, v Serbia and

Montenegro 5v

Indonesia 1.2v Libya 7.9v Angola 1.1v Papua New 7.9v Haiti 4.8v Bangladesh 1.1v Guinea Papua New 4.8v Cameroon 1.1v Guinea

445 Jacob Svensson, Centre for Economic Policy Research, London, United Kingdom. Journal of Economic

Perspectives—Volume 19, Number 3—Summer 2005—Pages 19–42 mmer 2005—Pages 19–42.



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Country CC Country CPI Country ICRG Country ICVS Niger 1.1c,v Sudan 1.1v Azerbaijan 1.1 Tajikistan 1.1i, v Sample size 195 133 140 44

(The bottom 10 percent most corrupt countries from each data set)

Notes: CC is the Control of Corruption Index for 2002 from Kaufmann, Kraay and Mastruzzi (2003). The index takes values between _2.5 to 2.5, with a higher score indicating higher corruption (rescaled). CPI is the Corruption Perception Index for 2003 from Transparency International. The index takes values between 0 to 10, with a higher score indicating higher corruption (rescaled). ICRG is the International Country Risk Guide’s corruption indicator for 2001 (average over 12 months). The index takes values between 0 to 6, with a higher score indicating higher corruption (rescaled). ICVS is the incidence of bribes in 2000 (share of households responding they need or are expected to pay bribes in 2000) from the International Crime Victim Surveys.

c indicates that the country is not included in the Corruption Perception Index ranking.

i indicates that the country is not included in the ICRG ranking.

v indicates that the country is not included in the ICVS survey446.

3. WHAT ARE THE COMMON CHARACTERISTICS OF COUNTRIES WITH HIGH CORRUPTION?

This is another question to which the answer is an uphill task but when we take a look at the lists of most corrupt countries it offers us some hints about what characterizes countries with high corruption.

With regards to the balancing economic development and social progress, Catholic Social thought has this to say,

Many believe that countries with the highest levels of corruption are developing or transition countries. Strikingly, many are governed, or have recently been governed, by socialist governments. With few exceptions, the most corrupt countries have low income levels. Of the

446 Cf. Jacob Svensson, Centre for Economic Policy Research, London, United Kingdom. Journal of Economic

Perspectives—Volume 19, Number 3—Summer 2005—Pages 19–42 mmer 2005—Pages 19–42.



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countries assigned an openness score by Sachs and Warner, all of the most corrupt economies are considered closed economies, except Indonesia.447

I wish to say here that, countries need to be open to other countries in their pursuit of wealth. In other words, they should not be closed to the international market as is the case with many corrupt countries. There should be justice in the distribution of the common good of the country.

According to the Catholic Social Thought,

“National wealth, in as much as it is produced by the common efforts of the citizenry, has no other purpose than to secure without interruption those material conditions in which the individuals are enabled to lead a full and perfect life. Where this is consistently the case, then such a people are to be judged truly rich. For the system where by both the common prosperity is achieved and individuals exercise their right to use material goods, conform fully to the norms laid down by God the creator.448”

Another very important question one would like to know about is how do these intuitive connections about the common features of countries with high levels of corruption compare with more systematic research? We can point out straight away here, that theories about the determinants of corruption emphasize the role of economic and structural policies and also the role of institutions. This is why, these theories are best viewed as complementary; after all, the choice of economic and a structural policy is one channel through which institutions influence corruption.

According to Lipset,

“the institutional theories can be decomposed into two broad groups. The first set of theories argues that institutional quality (and thus corruption) is shaped by economic factors. Simply put, institutions develop in response to a county’s income level and differential needs.”449

In the same way, the human capital theory—argues that,

447 The Sachs and Warner (1995) measure of openness considered an economy to be “closed” if it met any of five criteria: 1) average tariff rates above 40 percent; 2) nontariff barriers that cover more than 40 percent of all imports; 3) a socialist economic system; 4) a state monopoly of major exports; and 5) the black market premium exceeded 20 percent during the 1970s or the 1980s. Note that by construction, all socialist economies are defined as closed economies. Rodrı´gues and Rodrik (2000) argue that the Sachs-Warner indicator serves as a proxy for a wide range of policy and institutional differences, not only differences in openness to trade.

448 Catholic Social Thought: the Documentary Heritage/ edited by David J. O’Brien and Thomas A Shannon. Mary knoll, New York 1545. Eight printing, February 2001 no.74 pg 96

449 Lipset, Seymour M. 1960. Political Man: The Social Basis of Modern Politics. New York: Doubleday and Demsetz, Harold. 1967. “Towards a Theory of Property Rights.” American Economic Review. 57:2, pp 61–70.



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“growth in human capital and income cause institutional development. To buttress this fact, education and human capital is needed for courts and other formal institutions to operate efficiently, and government abuses are more likely to go unnoticed and unchallenged when the electorate is not literate”450.

These theories suggest that ‘looking at per capita income and education’ as causes of corruption.

The second set of institutional theories stress the role of institutions more directly as we have seen. These theories often emphasize that institutions are persistent and inherited.

For this, Acemoglu, Johnson and Robinson argue that,

“In former colonies, the institutions were set for the benefit of the colonizer and only when Europeans settled in large numbers did this also result in institutions aimed at benefiting residents of the colony. The disease environment in the colonies, in turn, explains why Europeans settled or not. Thus, according to Acemoglu, Johnson and Robinson, corruption should be more widespread in colonies with an inhospitable environment”.451 For instance, one case in question is Olo in Ezeagu local Govenment of Enugu State Nigeria.

On the other hand, La Porta, Lopez-de-Silanes, Shleifer and Vishny, point to the identity of the colonizer and specifically the legal system transplanted from the colonizer to the colonies. According to them,

“French and Socialist legal origin countries (as opposed to former English colonies) regulate more, and this regulation consequently leads to corruption.” 452 This is the problem in Senegal, where corruption is still ravaging the populace.

I agree with these views simply because, some of these colonizers import their corrupt ideas to the countries which they colonize due off course to their selfish interests.

Landes also argues that,

“the spread of education and learning was, and potentially is, slower in Catholic and Muslim countries. Thus, politicians and public officials might be challenged less in Catholic and Muslim countries than in Protestant countries”.453

450 ibid

451 Acemoglu, Daron, James A. Robinson and Simon Johnson. 2001. “The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development: An Empirical Investigation.” American Economic Review. December, 91, pp. 1369–401.

452 La Porta, Rafael, Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes, Andrei Shleifer and Robert Vishny. 1999. “The Quality of Government.” Journal of Law, Economics and Organization. 15:1, pp. 222–79.

453 Landes, David. 1998. The Wealth and Poverty of Nations. New York, N.Y.: W. W. Norton.



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Furthermore, another way in which historical traditions and colonization might affect the extent of corruption is through the influence of religion. For example, the institutions of the Protestant church, which arose in part as an opposition to state-sponsored religion, may be more inclined to monitor abuses by state officials.454

According to Besley,

“On the political side, a free press provides greater information than a government-controlled press to voters on government and public sector misbehaviour, including corruption.”455

I wish to observe that more generally, the right to re-elect politicians can provide incentives for the incumbent to reduce rent seeking and corruption. The form of political institutions—parliamentary versus presidential and proportional versus majoritarian—can also affect the level of corruption as it influences the incentives of politicians and voters’ ability to hold politicians accountable for abuse of power.456

According to Ades,

“Economic and political institutions, in the view of the second set of theories, influence the extent of corruption, especially in the ways that they restrict market and political competition. Variables that capture restriction in the marketplace include openness to external competition from imports and the extent of regulation of entry of start-up firms.”457

The important question one would be tempted to ask here is what is then the empirical evidence on these various hypotheses?

For Djankov,

“Figure 1(pg 126) plots the relationship between corruption, proxied by the indicator with the largest country coverage (Control of Corruption), and GDP per capita (in logarithms), and draws the line implied by the estimated regression of corruption on GDP per capita. The graph illustrates two facts. First, richer countries have lower corruption. Second, corruption varies greatly across countries, even controlling for income. Some of the countries far away from the regression line—

454 Treisman, Daniel. 2000. “The Causes of Corruption: A Cross-National Study.” Journal of Public Economics. 76:3, pp. 399–457.

455 Besley, Timothy and John McLaren. 1993. “Taxes and Bribery: The Role of Wage Incentives.” Economic Journal. 103:416, pp. 119–41.

456 Persson, Torsten and Guido Tabellini. 2004. “Constitutions and Economic Policy.” Journal of Economic Perspectives. 18:1, pp. 75–98.

457 Ades, Alberto and Rafael Di Tella. 1999. “Rents, Competition, and Corruption.” American Economic Review. 89:4, pp. 982–93.

The effect of corruption on Human development

and thus the most and least corrupt for a given level of developmentFor example, Argentina, Russia and Venezuela are ranked as relaincome. Countries in sub-Saharan Africa are typically aligned close to the regression line, which shows that their perceived corruption is close to the expected level given these per capita GDP”458.

I agree with Djankov the strong relationship between income and corruption is consistent with the theories of corruption that argue that institutional quality is shaped by economic factors. However, it is a weak test of these theories, since economic development not only may credemand for good government and institutional change, but may also be a function of the quality of institutions. Moreover, the huge

458 Djankov, Simeon, Rafeal La Porta,

Entry.” Quarterly Journal of Economics. 117:1, pp. 1



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and thus the most and least corrupt for a given level of development—are highlighted in the graph. For example, Argentina, Russia and Venezuela are ranked as relatively corrupt given their level of

Saharan Africa are typically aligned close to the regression line, which shows that their perceived corruption is close to the expected level given these per capita

e strong relationship between income and corruption is consistent with the theories of corruption that argue that institutional quality is shaped by economic factors. However, it is a weak test of these theories, since economic development not only may credemand for good government and institutional change, but may also be a function of the quality of institutions. Moreover, the huge variation around the regression line suggests that these theories are

Djankov, Simeon, Rafeal La Porta, Florencio Lopez-De-Silanes and Andrei Shleifer. 2002. “The Regulation of Entry.” Quarterly Journal of Economics. 117:1, pp. 1–37.

The way out.

are highlighted in the graph. tively corrupt given their level of

Saharan Africa are typically aligned close to the regression line, which shows that their perceived corruption is close to the expected level given these per capita

e strong relationship between income and corruption is consistent with the theories of corruption that argue that institutional quality is shaped by economic factors. However, it is a weak test of these theories, since economic development not only may create a demand for good government and institutional change, but may also be a function of the quality of

ariation around the regression line suggests that these theories are

Silanes and Andrei Shleifer. 2002. “The Regulation of



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at best incomplete. What can account for this variation?

Note: The graph depicts the regression line of corruption (CC 2002) on real GDP per capita (in logarithms) 1995.

According to Djankov,

“The explanatory variables in each regression include initial GDP per capita and initial human capital (both measured in 1970) as control variables”.459

Here, J. Svensson used a series of country characteristics, one at a time, and tested if the coefficient is significantly different from zero. These partial correlations, of course, do not identify causal effects. Even so, the correlations are interesting because they reveal something about common characteristics of corrupt countries, adjusting for initial income and human capital.”460

What are the results?

Kaufmann believes that,

“Table 2 shows that corrupt countries have significantly lower levels of human capital stock, proxied by years of schooling of the total population aged over 25. This relationship holds independent of what measure of corruption is used”461.

Table 2 Corruption of Country Characteristics: Human Capital

Control of Corruption

Corruption Perception Index

ICRG Corruption Score


IVSC Incidence of Bribes

Dep. Variable

(2002) (2003) (1982-01) (2001) (2000)

459 Djankov, Simeon, Rafeal La Porta, Florencio Lopez-De-Silanes and Andrei Shleifer. 2002. “The Regulation of

Entry.” Quarterly Journal of Economics. 117:1, pp. 1–37. 460 Jacob Svensson is Assistant Professor, Institute for International Economic Studies, Stockholm University, and

Stockholm, Sweden. He is also Senior Economist, Development Research Group, World Bank, Washington, D.C.; and Research Fellow, Centre for Economic Policy Research, London, United Kingdom. His e-mail address is [email protected]_. Journal of Economic Perspectives—Volume 19, Number 3—Summer 2005—Pages 19–42

461 Cf. Notes: Control of Corruption Index for 2002 from Kaufmann, Kraay and Mastruzzi (2003).

Figure 1 Corruption and Income



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Real GDP per capita (log)

_0.60***

_1.38*** _0.87*** _0.73*** _0.03**

(.123) (.33) (.20) (.19) (.01)

Years of schooling (log)

_0.62***

_1.53*** _0.53** _0.51*** _0.06*

(.18) (.52) (.27) (.28) (.03)

Sample size

91 79 83 83 26

Notes: Control of Corruption Index for 2002 from Kaufmann, Kraay and Mastruzzi (2003). The index takes values between _2.5 to 2.5, with a higher score indicating higher corruption (rescaled). Corruption Perception Index for 2003 from Transparency International. The index takes values between 0 to 10, with a higher score indicating higher corruption (rescaled). ICRG is the International Country Risk Guide’s corruption indicator for 2001 (average over 12 months). The index takes values between 0 to 6, with a higher score indicating higher corruption (rescaled). ICVS is the incidence of bribes in 2000 (share of households responding they need or are expected to pay bribes in 2000) from the International Crime Victim Surveys.

Real GDP per capita in 1970 is from the Penn World Tables. Years of schooling of the total population aged over 25 in 1970 is from Barro and Lee (2000). Robust standard errors in parenthesis.

*** Statistically significant at 1 percent level.

** Statistically significant at 5 percent level.

* Statistically significant at 10 percent level.

According to J Svensson,

“Corrupt countries do have some significantly different policy characteristics. Table 3 shows the regression results from a measure of openness to external competition from imports (imports of goods and services as percent of GDP).

Table 4 shows the regression based on the extent of regulation of entry of start-up firms (time it takes to obtain legal status to operate a firm).



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Table 5 shows regression results based on freedom of the press (a subjective score from Freedom House). The findings are robust across data sets, although the openness proxy is insignificant in some regressions.

Corrupt countries are less open and regulate both entry to the market and the press more. Replacing freedom of media with a broader measure of political freedom (like the broader Gastil index also produced by Freedom House) yields qualitatively similar results”.462

Table 3 Corruption and Country Characteristics: Openness






Dep. Variable

(2002) ( 2003) (1982-01) (2001) (2000)


_0.67*** _1.43*** _0.90*** _0.71*** _0.06**

(.12) (.32) (.21) (.20) (.01)


_0.51*** _1.36*** _0.47* _0.53*

(.18) (.50) (.27) (.28)

Imports/GDP

_0.01** _0.03*** _0.00 _0.01 _0.00

462 He also carried out parallel regressions using a variety of other explanatory variables that provided less robust results. Tables showing these regression results are in an appendix attached to the on-line version of this paper at the journal’s website, _http://www.e-jep.org_. A short summary of the results is that when settler mortality is included in this sort of regression (which is used as a proxy variable for whether it was attractive for Europeans to settle in a certain area), it cannot account for why some countries, given current levels of physical and human capital, are more corrupt than others. Countries with a French legal system or a socialist legal system tend to have more corruption, although the connection is not statistically significant in all data sets. The proportion of the population identified as Catholic is positively correlated with several corruption indicators; however, correlations between the proportion of the population that is Muslim and measures of corruption are not statistically significant. The religious and legal variables lose significance in a multiple regression with the policy variables as additional controls.



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(.00) (.01) (.00) (.00) (.00)

Sample size 89 77 83 81 44

Notes: For details on sources of data, see Table 2. Imports/GDP is imports of goods and services as

Percentage of GDP (average from 1980–2000) from World Development Indicators (2004).

*** statistically significant at 1 percent level.

** statistically significant at 5 percent level.

* statistically significant at 10 percent level.

According to J. Svensson,

“Using the incidence of bribes from the International Crime Victim Survey as the dependent variable, rather than one of the subjective measures of corruption, drastically reduces the sample size, as shown in the final column of the tables”463.

Somewhat surprisingly, only GDP per capita, the proxy for initial human capital stock, and regulation of the press remain significantly correlated with corruption. These associations suggest some general conclusions. First, corruption is closely related to GDP per capita and to human capital. These correlations are consistent with the economic and human capita theories of institutional development, but the correlations could also be driven by reverse causality or omitted variables.

Table 4 Corruption and Country Characteristics: Regulation of Entry






463 Jacob Svensson is Assistant Professor, Institute for International Economic Studies, Stockholm University, and

Stockholm, Sweden. He is also Senior Economist, Development Research Group, World Bank, Washington, D.C.; and Research Fellow, Centre for Economic Policy Research, London, United Kingdom. His e-mail address is [email protected]_. Journal of Economic Perspectives—Volume 19, Number 3—Summer 2005—Pages 19–42



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Dep. Variable

(2002) (2003) (1982-01) (2001) (2000)


_0.70*** _1.65*** _0.79*** _0.74*** _0.05***

(.17) (.37) (.24) (.22) (.01)


_0.18 0.12 _0.17 _0.03

(.31) (.61) (.40) (.34)

No. of business days to

0.33*** 0.98*** 0.27*** 0.34*** 0.01

obtain legal status (log)

(.09) (.20) (.10) (.10) (.01)

Sample size

61 60 61 61 35

Notes: For details on sources of data, see Table 2. Number of business days to obtain legal status is the time it takes to obtain legal status to operate a firm, in business days (a week has five business days and a month has 22) from Djankov, La Porta, Lopez de Silanes and Shleifer (2002).

*** statistically significant at 1 percent level.

** statistically significant at 5 percent level.

* statistically significant at 10 percent level.



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Second, for a given level of income, the extent of corruption still varies greatly. The cross-country evidence suggests that this variation can partly be accounted for by the degree of market and political competition”464.

Table 5 Corruption and Country Characteristics: Freedom of Media






Dep. Variable

(2002) (2003) (1982-01) (2001) (2000)


_0.55*** _1.29*** _0.81*** _0.68*** _0.06***

(.11) (.31) (.20) (.19) (.01)


_0.65*** _0.97* _0.18 _0.22

(.12) (.59) (.28) (.36)

Freedom of media index

_0.05** _0.10* _0.06** _0.05* _0.01**

(.02) (.06) (.03) (.03) (.00)

Sample size

91 79 83 83 44

Notes: For details on sources of data, see Table 2. Freedom of media index is the average score of the four criteria “Laws and regulations that influence media content,” “Political pressures and controls on media content,”

464 Svensson, Jakob. 2003. “Who Must Pay Bribes and How Much?” Quarterly Journal of Economics. 118:1, pp.

207–30.



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“Economic influences over media content,” “Repressive actions” for print and broadcast media, average over 1994–2001, from the Freedom House.

In conclusion, one can observe that some major factors were responsible for the persistence of corruption in the traditional colonial era. These factors include: 1. Low income level 2. Economic and structural policies, and also the role of institutions 3. Influence of religion and 4. Political factor.

1. We noticed that the most corrupt countries have low income levels, this is because the economy of these countries are considered closed economies, that is that these countries’ economies are not open to the international markets. This case with many corrupt countries. For us to solve the problem of persistent corruption in this regard, these countries concerned have to be open to the international market.

2. The role of economic and structural policies and institutions; they are viewed as complementary; after all, the choice of economic and structural policies is one channel through which institutions influence corruption. For instance, corruption should be more wide spread in colonies with an inhospitable environment. This due to the legal system transplanted from the colonizer to the colonies. French colonies regulate more and this regulation consequently leads to corruption. To reduce corruption in this regard, the colonizer should try to work together with the colonies, and avoid the introduction of foreign legal system.

3. The Religious Factor; another way in which historical traditions and colonization might affect the extent of is through the influence of religion. For instance, the institutions of the protestant church which arose in part as an opposition to state-sponsored religion may be more inclined to monitor abuses by state officials including the abuses of corruption. For corruption to be controlled in these countries concerned there should be no preferential treatment to any religion with regards to corruption control strategy.

4. On the Political factor; a free press provides greater information than government –controlled press to voters on government and public sector behaviours including corruption. For us to reduce corruption in this regard, free press is recommended.

Another question that one would be tempted to ask is; what is the magnitude of corruption? Following this,

I agree with J Svensson as we have seen above, that the rankings of countries as more or less corrupt are based on subjective judgments and as such cannot be used to quantify the magnitude of Corruption465. Comparism does not lead to an assessment of the amount of corruption.

As McMillan and Zooid puts it,


207–30.



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“Thus, until recently, the magnitude of corruption had to be assessed using anecdotal or case-study evidence.”466

I wish to point out here that although the survey was adjusted in several ways to encourage managers to report graft payments truthfully, some misreporting surely remains in the sample. Nonetheless, the results provide a gloomy picture of entrepreneurship in one of the fastest growing countries in sub-Saharan Africa in the last 10–15 years. For instance, in Ghanaian situation as we can see.

However, the past few years have seen a small but growing body of research on identifying and quantifying corrupt behaviour.467 For example, there is some firm-survey evidence on the magnitude of corruption. Svensson presents survey data from Ugandan firms.

According to J. Svensson,

“Over 80 percent of Ugandan firms reported needing to pay bribes. Avoiding graft comes at a cost, since the 20 percent of firms reporting that they had not paid, had also chosen to minimize contacts with the public sector. Of the graft-paying firms, graft, on average, corresponds to roughly 8 percent of total costs. Corruption is also widespread in public procurement and service delivery programs.”468

Furthermore, it is interesting to note that in another study in Uganda, Reinikka and Svensson examine a Public education program that offered a per-student grant to cover non-wage expenditures in primary schools. To estimate the magnitude of corruption, or diversion of funds, they compared the flows disbursed from the central government to the school districts with survey data from 250 schools on the actual receipts of cash and in-kind school material. Over the period 1991–1995, schools received only 13 percent of central government spending on the program. Most schools received nothing, and the evidence suggests that the bulk of the grants were captured by local government officials and politicians.469

466 As an example in this journal, see McMillan and Zooid (2004). They use recorded bribe transactions of and by

Peru’s former secret-police chief Montesinos and find that Montesinos paid television-channel owners 100 times in bribes what he paid judges and politicians. Using a revealed preference argument, they conclude that news media, consistent with the cross-country evidence discussed above, are the strongest check on the government’s power.

467 Again, the focus of this paper is on public corruption. There is a related literature on private corruption or collusion (for instance, McAfee, 1992; Porter and Zone, 1993; Duggan and Leavitt, 2002). There is also a related literature on the value of political connectedness (for instance, Fisman, 2001; Khwaja and Mian, 2004).

468 Svensson, Jakob. 2003. “Who Must Pay Bribes and How Much?” Quarterly Journal of Economics. 118:1, pp. 207–30.

469 Reinikka, Ritva and Jakob Svensson. 2004a. “Local Capture: Evidence from a Central Government Transfer Program in Uganda.” Quarterly Journal of Economics. 119:2, pp. 679–705.



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Subsequent studies have indicated that the situation is similar in other sub-Saharan African countries. Olken, using a similar methodology, finds that,

“29 percent of funds allocated to a road building project and 18 percent of subsidized rice in a large antipoverty program in Indonesia were stolen470”.

This is a very ugly situation because the poor people for which these funds were allotted to continue to suffer as the result of miss appropriation and the embezzlement of the mapped out fund.

It is observed also that price comparisons can be another fruitful method to infer the magnitude of corruption.

According to, Di Tella and Schargrodsky,

“Compare prices paid for basic homogeneous inputs at public hospitals in the city of Buenos Aires. They show that prices paid fell by 15 percent during the first nine months of a crackdown on corruption in 1996–1997, providing a lower bound of corruption in procurement in Buenos Aires hospitals in the late 1990s.”471.

It is important here to note that corruption control strategy is of immense help in the reduction of corrupt practices as is in the case of Buenos.

Again, Hsieh and Moretti estimate the extent of under-pricing of Iraqi oil during the United Nations Oil for Food Program by comparing the gap between the official selling price and various estimates of the market price of Iraqi oil during and prior to the program.

Hsieh and Moretti argue that,

“Under-pricing was a way for the Iraq regime to obtain illegal kickbacks from oil buyers and estimate that Iraq collected $1 to $4 billion in bribes from 1997 to 2001, or about 2–10 percent of the total amount spent under the auspices of the program.”472

Unfortunately, I can say that the literature on quantifying and identifying corruption is still at its infancy. As of now, the studies discussed above suggest a huge variation in corruption, ranging

470 Olken, Benjamin. 2003. “Corruption and the Costs of Redistribution: Micro Evidence from Indonesia.”

Manuscript, Harvard University. and Olken, Benjamin. 2004. “Monitoring Corruption: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Indonesia.” Manuscript, Harvard University.

471 Di Tella, Rafael and Ernesto Schargrodsky. 2003.and 2004 “The Role of Wages and Auditing during a Crackdown on Corruption in the City of Buenos Aires.” Journal of Law and Economics. 46:1, pp. 269–92.




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from a few percent in the Oil for Food Program that affected Iraq to 80 percent in the primary education program in Uganda.473

However, the existing contributions are scattered and often context specific. Still, the literature conveys that corruption can be quantified in a variety of ways. As more studies and data points become available, one should also be able to say something convincingly about aggregate corruption. When comparing numbers, it is important to keep in mind that most studies do not claim to capture all corruption within the program or sectors. For example, the hospital procurement study in Argentina estimates the extent of corruption affected by an increase in monitoring.

As Hsieh and Moretti puts it,

“note that there likely were other irregularities in the Oil for Food Program that allowed Iraq to siphon funds from the program. How do these micro findings on the magnitude of corruption relate to the macro literature on the institutional determinants of corruption? Here the evidence is even more limited.”474 For me this observation is in order.

This can be seen for example, in the study discussed above, Reinikka and Svensson estimate the extent of corruption in a national school grant program and argue that,

“Economic development, here conceptualized as the community’s ability to organize and exercise voice, affects the local government’s incentives for corrupt actions”.475

I agree with them(Reinikka and Svensson) that this hypothesis is confirmed in the data: schools in better-off communities, controlling for other community and school-specific fixed effects, experience a significantly lower degree of corruption, and the size of the effect is economically important. Di Tella and Schargrodsky and Svensson also relate quantitative measures of corruption to policy.476

Again, in a cross-section of Ugandan firms, Svensson finds that,

“the incidence of corruption is highly correlated with the extent to which rules and regulations give public officials the regaining rights to extort bribe payments from firms. It is also observed that the


474 ibid. 475 ibid 476 Di Tella, Rafael and Ernesto Schargrodsky. 2003. and 2004 “The Role of Wages and Auditing during a

Crackdown on Corruption in the City of Buenos Aires.” Journal of Law and Economics. 46:1, pp. 269–92.



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level of reported graft payment, on the other hand, is driven by firm-specific factors, suggesting that corrupt officials condition their bribe requests on the firm’s ability to pay bribes”477.

Therefore, when we look closely, we notice immediately that the implication of this finding is that research on corruption should focus not only on the macro question of how institutional frameworks affect corruption but also on the micro question of how corruption varies across a given institutional framework.

4. DO HIGHER WAGES FOR BUREAUCRATS REDUCE CORUPTION?

There are increasingly more suggestions that higher wages reduce corruption. Among these groups are Aid donors and international organizations who routinely recommend fighting corruption by paying higher wages to public servants. As a historical example of this policy, Sweden, which ranks among the least corrupt countries on all current cross-country rankings, was considered as one of the most corrupt countries in Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Increased remuneration of civil servants combined with deregulation have been put forward as important explanation for the emergence of an honest and competent public administration in Sweden in the late nineteenth century478

I believe that the problem here is that, does not means less corruption. This is because when some people receive more money, their demand also increases as well. Higher wages does not always mean less corruption, it depends on individuals inclinations. Rather, I can say that it is poverty that can as a consequent breed corruption. This is because, blurs free will in some individual and can push them into corruption. Therefore every effort should be made to reduce poverty in the world. Hence, according to the church,

“The social teaching of the Church continued its efforts to identify the structural dynamics by which poverty is perpetrated and to propose strategies for the eradication of such wide spread economic suffering.” 479


207–30. 478 Lindbeck, Assar. 1975. Swedish Economic Policy. London: MacMillan Press. 479 Mary E. Hobgood, Catholic Social Teaching and Economic Theory Paradigms in Conflict. Temple University press Philadelphia. 1991 pg 131.



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For this reason many people believed that poverty would be eradicated through the application of the first world technology to the ‘underdeveloped’ Third World. The rich nations could initiate social progress in the poor ones through technological management of economic and political activity. John XXIII, shared the same view when he said,

“Capitalist methods of production could create vast amounts of goods in an efficient way (MM 68, 94)... that the underlying causes of poverty were due to the primitive stage of Third world economies, and that science and technology held the key to the alleviation of poverty and the creation of human solidarity (MM 163).”480

The systematic evidence on the relationship between pay and corruption is ambiguous. It is important here to note that the analytical underpinning to the policy recommendation to increase public sector wages stems from a seminal paper by Becker and Stigler, who show that

“by paying the official a wage above the official’s opportunity wage, one can ensure, under certain conditions that the official will behave honestly.”481

I agree with Mookherjee, that, when the bribe level is not fixed and third-party enforcement does not exist, the theoretical relationship becomes ambiguous. For example, if the official and bribe-giver bargain over the bribe, a higher wage strengthens the official’s bargaining power as it raises the expected cost of being corrupt and thus leads to higher bribes.482

According to some authors who have dealt with this problem, for example, in cross-country studies, Rauch and Evans, and Treisman find no robust evidence that higher wages deter from corruption,483 while Van Rijckeghem and Weder find that it does.484 These cross-country studies, however, are fraught with problems. Measuring the extent of corruption using rankings is problematic. It is difficult to tell whether higher wages are a function of low corruption or vice versa. In addition, these cross- country studies have aggregate data on wages, so that the data on corruption and the data on wages may refer to different groups of individuals.

480 Op cit. Pg 133

481 Becker, Gary and George Stigler. 1974. “Law Enforcement, Malfeasance and the Compensation of Enforcers.” Journal of Legal Studies. 3:1, pp. 1–19.

482 Mookherjee. Dilip and I. P. L. Png. 1995. “Corruptible Law Enforcers: How Should They Be Compensated?” Economic Journal. 105, pp. 145–59.

483 Treisman, Daniel. 2000. “The Causes of Corruption: A Cross-National Study.” Journal of Public Economics. 76:3, pp. 399–457. and Rauch, James and Peter Evans. 2000. “Bureaucratic Structure and Bureaucratic Performance in Less Developed Countries.” Journal of Public Economics. 75:1, pp. 49–71.

484 Van Rijckeghem, Caroline and Beatrice Treisman, Daniel. 2000. “The Causes of Corruption: A Cross-National Study.” Journal of Public Economics. 76:3, pp. 399–457.



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It is interesting here to note how; Di Tella and Schargrodsky avoid most of these problems in their study of how a crackdown on corruption in Buenos Aires affected the procurement policies of public hospitals. They divide the 19 months of data into three distinct periods: a period with low, high and intermediate audit intensity from the city government. Linking the wage premium—the difference between the procurement officer’s wage and an estimated opportunity wage—to the price paid for a set of homogeneous hospital inputs, they conclude that higher wages have a negative and quantitatively important effect on procurement prices, but only when audit intensity takes intermediate levels.485

For me, these results are not indisputable; this is because, in particular, there is some concern that variation in the wage premium is driven primarily by variation in the determinants of the opportunity wage—and these determinants may have a direct bearing on the incentives for corrupts behaviour. Still, the findings provide fairly convincing evidence that paying higher wages can deter corruption under certain circumstances.

It is observed that many of these hypotheses are flawed in one way or the other, for instance, should countries facing a high level of corruption react with a policy of higher wages for bureaucrats? In this case, many poor developing countries with widespread corruption probably lack the third-party enforcement assumed in Becker and Stigler or the outside audits examined in Di Tella and Schargrodsky.486

According to Becker,

“Yet the effectiveness of anticorruption wage policies hinges on the existence of an honest third party that can monitor the agent. In a similar way, Besley and McLaren show that paying high wages maximizes tax revenues only when the share of dishonest employees available to the government is high and the monitoring apparatus is effective”.487

From the above arguments, one can therefore rightly say that wage incentives can reduce bribery, but only under certain conditions. In which case, this strategy requires a well-functioning enforcement apparatus; the bribe being offered (or demanded) must not be a function of the official’s wage; and the cost of paying higher wages must not be too high. In many poor

485 Di Tella, Rafael and Ernesto Schargrodsky. 2003. “The Role of Wages and Auditing during a Crackdown on Corruption in the City of Buenos Aires.” Journal of Law and Economics. 46:1, pp. 269–92.

486 Becker, Gary and George Stigler. 1974. “Law Enforcement, Malfeasance and the Compensation of Enforcers.” Journal of Legal Studies. 3:1, pp. 1–19. and Di Tella, Rafael and Ernesto Schargrodsky. 2003. “The Role of Wages and Auditing during a Crackdown on Corruption in the City of Buenos Aires.” Journal of Law and Economics. 46:1, pp. 269–92.

487 Besley, Timothy and John McLaren. 1993. “Taxes and Bribery: The Role of Wage Incentives.” Economic Journal. 103:416, pp. 119–41.



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developing countries where corruption is institutionalized, these requirements appear unlikely to be appropriate.

5. CAN COMPETITION REDUCE CORRUPTION?

To use competition to control Corruption is another aspect of corruption control that raises serious dust among various authors. This is because some people believe that another common approach to control corruption is to increase competition among firms. Among these arguments is that as firms’ profits are driven down by competitive pressure, there are no excess profits from which to pay bribes.488 In reality, the connections between competition, profits and corruption are complex and not always analytically clear. This why Bliss and Di Tella construct a model where public officials have the power to extract rents from firms.489

According to Bliss,

“In the model, corruption does not need any pre-existing rents or imperfect competition, since the excess profits from which to pay bribes may be created by the official by inducing exit. The level of graft demanded per firm depends on the likelihood that firms in the market are more or less likely

to exit due to a marginal increase in graft demand, not on the number of firms in the market or the degree of “natural” competition”490.

For me, this matter is not as simple as it appears to be. One is then faced with relevant questions regarding the relationships between corruption and regulation of markets.

According to De Soto, the question here is,

“What then can account for the positive relationship between corruption and regulation of markets discussed above? One plausible mechanism has to do with bureaucratic powers. Government

488 Ades, Alberto and Rafael Di Tella. 1999. “Rents, Competition, and Corruption.” American Economic Review. 89:4, pp. 982–93.

489 Bliss, Christopher and Rafael Di Tella. 1997. “Does Competition Kill Corruption?” Journal of Political Economy. 105:5, pp. 1001–023.

490 Bliss, Christopher and Rafael Di Tella. 1997. “Does Competition Kill Corruption?” Journal of Political Economy. 105:5, pp. 1001–023.



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regulations that raise barriers to entry are often enacted because they give public officials the power to demand and collect bribes”.491

In this way, one observes that deregulation may reduce corruption not so much by increasing competition, but by reducing the extent to which public officials have the power to extract bribes.

From the above discussion, we can say in theory that increased competition at the level of the official receiving the bribes may also reduce corruption.492

As Rose-Ackerman puts it,

“At least when officials dispense a government-produced good, such as a passport, the existence of a competing official to reapply to in case of being asked for a bribe will bid down the equilibrium amount of corruption.” 493

However, there is as yet no convincing empirical evidence that competition among officials actually reduces corruption. Moreover, the mechanism will only work if the multiple officials can individually produce the good. If multiple officials must sign off on the good, each with the power to stop a project, extremely high bribe levels may result.

It is observed in public service delivery that competition may not necessarily lead to lower corruption.494 This is more so when we consider a parent in Uganda, faced with the diversion of public funds from schools. In this case, such parents have two choices: voice and exit.495 That is, they can either voice a complaint with some formal or informal authority, or they can send their children to some other school (or have them drop out of school altogether). But if parents react to public corruption through exit and by sending their children to competing schools, the likelihood of voice as the response to corruption is reduced—and corrupt local officials may be able to extract an even greater share of the school’s entitlements.

I agree with Djankov, that increased competition, due to deregulation and simplifications of rules and laws, is negatively correlated with corruption. This is mostly because it can be a difficult task to strike the right balance between enacting and designing beneficial rules and laws to

491 De Soto, Hernando. 1989. The Other Path. New York: Harper and Row and Shleifer, Andrei and Robert Vishny. 1993. “Corruption.” Quarterly Journal of Economics. 108:3, pp. 599–617.

492 Rose-Ackerman, Susan. 1978. Corruption: A Study in Political Economy. New York: Academic Press. 493 and Shleifer, Andrei and Robert Vishny. 1993. “Corruption.” Quarterly Journal of Economics. 108:3, pp. 599–

617. 494 There is a large literature on school competition in developed countries focusing on other implications of

competition. As a starting point, see Hobby (2003) or the exchange between Ladd (2002) and Neal (2002) journal.

495 Hirschman, Albert O. 1970. Exit, Voice, and Loyalty: Responses to Decline in Firms, Organizations, and States. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.



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constrain private misconduct while also limiting the possibilities that such laws open the door for public corruption.496

6. WHY HAVE THERE BEEN SO FEW (RECENT) SUCCESSFUL ATTEMPTS TO FIGHT CORRUPTION?

For me the question as to why there are few successful attempts at the corruption control strategy did not come as a surprise. This is because so many efforts have been put in place to control corruption, but they seem to be fruitless. It can be seen that most anticorruption programs rely on legal and financial institutions, judiciary, police and financial auditors to enforce and strengthen accountability in the public sector. To date, little evidence exists that devoting additional resources to the existing legal and financial government monitoring institutions will reduce corruption. Hong Kong and Singapore are the most cited exceptions.

According to Klitgaard,

“In both countries, the reduction in corruption went hand in hand with the establishment and strengthening of an independent anticorruption agency with widespread powers. For example, in Hong Kong, the Independent Commission against Corruption created legal precedents such as “guilty until proven innocent”.497

The problem is that, the same types of anticorruption agencies have in many other countries been used as an instrument of repression against political opponents, not to fight corruption. Why then did they work in Hong Kong and Singapore?

For Klitgaard,

“In those countries, several reforms were implemented simultaneously, that is, comprising all corruption strategies with the strengthening of the enforcement agencies. For example, in Singapore, civil servants’ pay relative the private sector increased substantially; public officials were routinely rotated to make it harder for corrupt official to develop strong ties to certain

496 Djankov, Simeon, Edward Glaeser, Rafael La Porta, Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes and Andrei Shleifer. 2003. “The

New Comparative Economics.” Journal of Comparative Economics. 31:4, pp. 595–619. 497 Klitgaard, Robert. 1988. Controlling Corruption. Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press. and UNDP.

1997. “Corruption and Good Governance.” Discussion Paper No. 3, Management Development and Governance Division.



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clients; rewards were given to those who refused bribes and turned in the client; and importantly, rules and procedures were simplified and often published, permits and approvals were scrapped, and fees (including import duties) were lowered or removed. In both Hong Kong and Singapore, the top political leadership was committed to fighting corruption. In many developing countries, this commitment is also not taken for granted”498.

The tacit assumption is that more and better enforcement of rules and regulations will reduce corruption. It can be observed that in many poor countries, the legal and financial institutions are weak and often corrupt themselves. In such a setting, providing more resources to enforcement institutions may not be the right solution to the problem of corruption.

For Hay and Shleifer,

“When the elite units of the Russian police obtained more advanced guns to combat crime, they simply sold these guns to the mafia at higher prices than the previous, less powerful, weapons could fetch”. 499

We can also say that alternative ways to fight corruption exist. One method is to replace public with private enforcement of public laws through lawsuits, at least for a time.500 But litigation, just as deregulation, has its limitations.

Another complementary approach turns to citizen enforcement, by providing easy public access to information on the workings of public programs. This information enables citizens to demand certain standards, to monitor service quality and to challenge abuses by officials.

To the question how can one estimate the causal effects of improved access to public information? Reinikka and Svensson employ a two-step procedure.

First, they use a simple test administered to head teachers to measure knowledge of the program. Second, they measure the distance to the nearest newspaper outlet from the school. They find that head teachers in schools closer to a newspaper outlet know more about the rules governing the grant program and the timing of release of funds by the central government. Using distance as an instrument, they show that the more informed schools experienced a dramatic reduction in the share of funds captured by corruption. Importantly, prior to the newspaper

498 498 Klitgaard, Robert. 1988. Controlling Corruption. Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press. and UNDP.

1997. “Corruption and Good Governance.” Discussion Paper No. 3, Management Development and Governance Division.

499 Klitgaard, Robert. 1988. Controlling Corruption. Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press. and UNDP. 1997. “Corruption and Good Governance.” Discussion Paper No. 3, Management Development and Governance Division. 500 Hay, Jonathan and Andrei Shleifer. 1998. “Private Enforcement of Public Laws: a Theory of Legal Reform.”

American Economic Review. 88:2, pp. 398–403.



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campaign, it was discovered that proximity to a newspaper outlet and changes in capture were uncorrelated.501

It is important to note here, that some datum suggest that improving citizen access to information and giving citizens a greater right to action can reduce corruption.

As Reinikka puts it,

“In the mid-1990s, a survey revealed that primary schools in Uganda received only a small fraction of the funds allocated to them by the central government. As this evidence became known, the central government began to publish newspaper accounts of monthly transfers of the capitation grants to districts, so that school staff and parents could monitor local officials.502”

In this way, it becomes clear to Reinikka and Svensson that the newspaper campaign brought a large improvement. In 2001, schools received an average of 80 percent of their annual entitlements. 503

The success of the newspaper campaign happened in a particular context. The program was a simple entitlement program, which made monitoring easier, and parents and school staff in Uganda had institutions already in place to handle collective decision-making.

For Olken,

“In general, citizen enforcement or grass-root monitoring are subject to possibly large free-riding problems, that is, some problems that are left uncontrolled. At the same time, grass-root monitoring initiatives are becoming increasingly popular in many places. Examples include participatory budgeting in Porto Allegre, Brazil; citizen report cards in Bangalore, India; and right to information on public works and public hearings, or Jan Sunwais, in Rajasthan, India. Although there is no robust scientific evidence yet on the impact of these initiatives, the preliminary evidence suggests that corruption has been dramatically reduced”. 504

I agree with Yang, that another strategy to fight corruption is delegation of officials, or hiring people of integrity, from the private sector. In the past two decades, that is, from 1990s over 50

501 Ibid. 502 Reinikka, Ritva and Jakob Svensson. 2004b. “The Power of Information: Evidence from a Newspaper Campaign

to Reduce Capture.” Manuscript, IIES, Stockholm University. 503 Op cit 504 Olken, Benjamin. 2004. “Monitoring Corruption: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Indonesia.” Manuscript,

Harvard University.



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developing countries have hired private (international) firms to conduct pre-shipment inspection of imports and in few cases also handed over the responsibility for collecting customs duties.505

It becomes clear to me that, Pre -shipment inspection can reduce customs corruption in various ways: for example, it improves the monitoring ability of higher-level enforcers, and it generates independent information on the contents of a shipment that could increase the importer’s bargaining power vis-à-vis a corrupt customs officer. Yang finds that pre-shipment programs are associated with increases in the growth rate of import duties of 6 to 8 percentage points annually. The pre-shipment programs are accompanied by an increase in imports (possibly due to reductions in importers’ bribe payments) and a decline in measures of misreporting in customs506. Human resources are destroyed by corruption.

7. DOES CORRUPTION ADVERSELY AFFECT GROWTH?

This argument as to whether corruption adversely affects growth is a very important issue.

According to the Social Teaching of the Church,

“The extreme imbalance in the distribution of the word’s wealth requires not only a redistribution of that wealth but also a commitment to providing poor nations with the means of production necessary to move out of poverty. This means that the level of international collaboration must increase dramatically. Each nation must attain a sense of responsibility for all nations”.507

This provision of the poor nations with the means of production necessary to move out of poverty is very crucial to reduce corruption. This is mainly because Corruption could conceivably have a positive effect on economic growth.

And this is the obvious reason why the proponents of efficient corruption claim that bribery may allow firms to get things done in an economy plagued by bureaucratic hold-ups and bad, rigid

505 Yang, Dean. 2005. “Integrity for Hire: An Analysis of a Widespread Program for Combating Customs Corruption.” Manuscript, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan.

506 ibid

507 Modern Catholic Social Teaching; Commentaries and Interpretations- edit Kenneth R. Himes, O.f.M.(Ass. ed. Lisa Sowle Cahill, Charles E. Curran, David Hollenbeck, S.J., Thomas Shannon) Georgetown University Press Washington, D.C. 2004.Pg 304



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laws.508 It is interesting to observe these proponents maintain that, a system built on bribery for allocating licenses and government contracts may lead to an outcome in which the most efficient firms will be able to afford to pay the highest bribes.509 However, these arguments typically take the distortions circumvented by the corrupt actions as given. When the nation economy act in this then everything is wrong with the nation. In short, such nation is unhealthy. The world economy need to come together to resolve their problem.

According to the Social Teaching of the Church,

“Paul VI goes on in part 2 of PP to boldly assert that ‘the world is sick’. The source of this sickness not just the ‘unproductive monopolization of resources’ in the hands of a few, but rather a lack of a real sense of unity among individuals and nations.”510

This sense of unity among the individuals and nations are essential for us to solve the economic problem facing the world today.

Unfortunately and in most cases, distortions and corruption are caused by, or are symptoms of, the same set of underlying factors.

As Myrdal pointed out,

“Corrupt officials may not circumvent distortions, but instead actually cause greater administrative delays to attract more bribes”.511

One can observe here that in most theories that link corruption to slower economic growth, the corrupt action by itself does not impose the largest social cost. Instead, the primary social losses of corruption come from propping up of inefficient firms and the allocation of talent, technology and capital away from their socially most productive uses.512

In this way, when profits or potential profits are taken away from firms through corruption, entrepreneurs choose not to start firms or to expand less rapidly. Entrepreneurs may also choose to

508 Left, Left, Nathanial H. 1964. “Economic Development Behavioural Scientist. 82:2, pp. 337–41. and Nathanial H. 1968.

509 Lui, Francis T. 1985. “An Equilibrium Queuing Model of Bribery.” Journal of Political Economy. 93:4, pp. 760–81.


511 Myrdal, Gunnar. 1968. Asian Drama. New York: Random House. 512 Murphy, Kevin, Andrei Shleifer and Robert Vishny. 1993. “Why is Rent-seeking so Costly to Growth?”

American Economic Review. 83:2, pp. 409–14.



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shift part or all of their savings toward the informal sector, or to organize production in a way that the need or demand for public services is minimized.

According to Choi,

“If entrepreneurs expect they will be forced to bargain over bribes in the future, they have incentives to adopt inefficient fly-by-night technologies of production with an inefficiently high degree of diversibility, which allows them to react more flexibly to future demands from corrupt officials—and more credibly threaten to shut down operations.” 513

Furthermore, Corruption also affects the allocation of entrepreneurial skills.

As Murphy puts it,

“When corruption is widespread and institutionalized, some firms may devote resources to obtaining valuable licenses and preferential market access, while others focus on improving productivity.”514

It becomes clear to us that in some extreme cases, it may be financially more rewarding for an entrepreneur to leave the private sector altogether and instead become a corrupt public official.

What does the evidence say? The micro and case evidence tends to support to the theoretical predictions laid out above, but the macro evidence is inconclusive. This why, Bates, for example shows that,

“in many sub-Saharan African countries, peasant farmers avoided corruption by taking refuge in subsistence production, with a consequent subsequent decline in productivity and living standards”.515

Many formal sector firms, on the other hand, specialized in securing special advantages that they were unable to secure by competing in the marketplace. Again, De Soto documents similar effects in Peru, where high start-up costs due to regulatory constraints and corruption forced entrepreneurs to establish new firms underground and on a smaller scale.516

Another important question is, does corruption affect firms’ choice of technology and the allocation of talent?

513 Choi, Jay P. and Marcel P. Thum. 1998. “The 40 Journal of Economic Perspectives Economics of Repeated Extortion.” Columbia University Working Paper No. 9899-03. and Svensson, Jakob. 2003. “Who Must Pay Bribes and How Much?” Quarterly Journal of Economics. 118:1, pp. 207–30.

514 Murphy, Kevin, Andrei Shleifer and Robert Vishny. 1991. “The Allocation of Talent: Implications for Growth.” Quarterly Journal of Economics. 106, pp. 503–30.

515 Bates (1981). 516 De Soto, Hernando. 1989. The Other Path. New York: Harper and Row.



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According to Svensson,

“Exploiting firm-level capital stock data on reported resale and replacement values, provides evidence suggesting that the amount of bribes a firm needs to pay is negatively correlated with the degree of reversibility of the capital stock—a result consistent with the fly-by-night hypothesis.”.517

It is interesting here to note that the Fisman’s findings on political connectedness in Indonesia suggest that some firms do specialize in corruption and rent seeking as means of growth and Khwaja and Mian’s results on borrowing and default rates of politically connected firms in Pakistan suggest that one of the reasons politicians start firms, or join existing ones, is that it enables them to capture public resources through corruption.518

I agree with Wade that, specialization in corruption also occurs in the public sector. For instance, Wade’s vivid account of corruption in the canal irrigation department in a south Indian state describes how some irrigation engineers raise vast amounts in bribes from the distribution of water and contracts, and redistribute part to superior officers and politicians.519

Unfortunately in this way, the system of corruption is institutionalized, and there is even a second-hand market for posts that provide the holder an opportunity to extract bribes. Thus, politicians and senior officers are able to obtain for themselves part of the engineers’ income from corruption by auctioning available posts. Moreover, those specializing in corruption—and thereby able to earn many times their annual official income though bribes—will be able to outbid other contenders less able or less inclined to exploit their official powers to extract bribes. In this example, competition results in higher corruption.

I want to point out here that Micro studies on corruption have also yielded insights about the long-run cost of corruption. Reinikka and Svensson, building on the Ugandan newspaper campaign study find that the reduction in corruption caused by the information campaign had a significant and economically large effect on school enrolment and academic achievement.520

517 Svensson, Jakob. 2003. “Who Must Pay Bribes and How Much?” Quarterly Journal of Economics. 118:1, pp. 207–30.

518 Fisman, Raymond. 2001. “Estimating the Value of Political Connections.” American Economic Review. 91:4, pp. 1095–102.and Khwaja, Asim I. and Atif Mian. 2004. “Do Provision in an Emerging Financial Market.” Lenders Favour Politically Connected Firms? Rent Manuscript, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.

519 Wade, Robert. 1982. “The System of Administrative and Political Corruption: Canal Irrigation in South India. “ Journal of Development Studies. 18:3, pp. 287–328.

520 Reinikka, Ritva and Jakob Svensson. 2005. “Fighting Corruption to Improve Schooling: Evidence from a Newspaper Campaign in Uganda.” Journal of European Economic Association. Forthcoming. and Reinikka, Ritva and Jakob Svensson. 2004b. “The Power of Information: Evidence from a Newspaper Campaign to Reduce Capture.” Manuscript, IIES, Stockholm University.



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As Reinikka puts it,

“That human capital accumulation drives long-run growth; the results suggest an important mechanism through which corruption can hurt growth. Social service delivery in developing countries is often plagued by corruption of a variety of forms—bribes are charged for services to be provided and public funds are embezzled. Corruption is therefore a leading candidate to explain why the impact of public spending on growth and social welfare has been so disappointingly low in many countries.”521

I wish also to point out here, that some suggestive evidence also exists on the relationship between corruption and growth at the firm level.

For further clarification, I can say that it were, Fisman and Svensson use firm-survey data on the estimated bribe payments of Ugandan firms to study the relationship between bribery payments, taxes and firm growth over the period 1995–1997. Using industry-location averages to circumvent the potential problem of endogeneity, they find that both the rate of taxation and bribery are negatively correlated with firm growth. For the full data set, a one percentage point increase in the bribery rate is associated with a reduction in firm growth of three percentage points, an effect that is about three times greater than that of taxation.522

The question which comes to mind here is, what about the macro evidence? Many writers have contributed in different ways in the efforts to answering this, but in reality, Mauro is the first attempt to study the relationship between corruption and growth in a large cross-section of countries. Contrary to what is sometimes claimed, Mauro does not find robust evidence of a link between corruption and growth, although a broader measure of bureaucratic efficiency is correlated with investment and growth.523 I want to say here that corruption is like cobweb, it affects everything.

In

Table 6, as we shall see bellow, Jacob Svensson updated Mauro’s calculations. He ran regressions with economic growth (over the period 1980–2000) as dependent variable and

521 ibid

522 Fisman, Raymond and Jakob Svensson. 2001. “Are Corruption and Taxation Really Harmful to Growth? Firm Level Evidence.” Manuscript, IIES, Stockholm University.

523 Mauro, Paolo. 1995. “Corruption and Growth.” Quarterly Journal of Economics. 110, pp. 681–712.



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corruption (the international Country Risk Guide’s corruption indicator averaged over 1982–2000), initial GDP per capita and human capital as the explanatory variables524.

Table 6 Growth and Corruption

Dep. Variable Growth (1980–2000) Ordinary least squares

Growth (1980–2000) Fixed effects

Real GDP per capita (log) _0.82* _6.50*** (.47) (1.03) Years of schooling (log) 1.86*** 6.63*** (.66) (1.36) Corruption _0.33 0.11 (.24) (.24) Countries 85 86 Observations 85 335

Notes: For details on sources of data, see Table 2. Growth is growth in real GDP per capita over the period 1980–2000 in specification (1) and growth in real GDP per capita over the periods 1981–1985, 1986–1990, 1991–1995, 1996–2000 in specification (2). Real GDP per capita and years of schooling are measured at the start of the sample period (in 1980 for specification (1) and in 1980, 85, 90, 95 for specification (2)). Corruption is the International Country Risk Guide’s corruption indicator, average for 1982–2000 in specification (1) and average over 1982–1985, 1986–1990, 1991–1995, 1996–2000 in specification (2).525

I definitely agree with Svensson’s findings here, that the estimated coefficient on corruption in this regression is negative that is, that less corruption is correlated with higher growth but it is not significantly different from zero. He then added broad range of explanatory variables that have been suggested in the growth literature, but the coefficient on corruption remained insignificantly correlated with growth. Exploiting the panel dimension; that is, using five-year averages for


207–30. 525 Svensson, Jakob. 2003. “Who Must Pay Bribes and How Much?” Quarterly Journal of

Economics. 118:1, pp. 207–30.



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corruption and growth and country-specific fixed effects to control for time-invariant country characteristics, also yields insignificant results.526

When one has close look, one will notice that his finding seems to lead to a puzzle. This is simply because most of the theoretical literature as well as case study and micro evidence suggest that corruption severely retards development. However, to the extent we can measure corruption in a cross-country setting, it does not affect growth. We can also see that the puzzle may arise from econometric problems involved in estimating the effects of corruption on growth using cross-country data. In this way, for instance, the difficulties of measuring corruption may include omitted variables, like the extent of market regulation, and reverse causality, like whether modernization and rapid growth may increase corruption, as Huntington argued.527

Furthermore, another plausible explanation for the mismatch between the micro and macro evidence is that corruption takes many forms, and there is no reason to believe that all types of corruption are equally harmful for growth. Existing data, however, are by and large too coarse to examine different types of corruption in a cross-section of countries. I wish to affirm strongly that corruption must be condemned in all its ramifications; this is because corruption is an evil in itself.

8. CONCLUSION; THE WAY OUT

I found the frequently asked questions which Svensson posed about corruption very useful. However, some of the answers are often not clear-cut, and there are many issues about corruption we simply know too little about. As the study of corruption evolves, three areas are of particular importance. And it is my wish to discuss these areas.

Interestingly, I would say that the most urgent and very important observation he made is that, scanty evidence exists on how to combat corruption. Because traditional approaches to improve governance have produced rather disappointing results, experimentation and evaluation of new tools to enhance accountability should be at the forefront of research on corruption. This

526 Using the two other subjective corruption indicators yields, in some specifications, a statistically significant negative effect of corruption on growth. However, these indicators are measured at the end of the sample period, thus making it even more difficult to draw causal interpretations from corruption to growth.

527 Huntington (1968).



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observation is very important because it paved way for further research on corruption using new tools to enhance accountability.

Again, it should be observed that the differential effect of corruption is an important area for research. For example, China has been able to grow fast while being ranked among the most corrupt countries. Is corruption less harmful in China? Or would China have grown even faster if corruption had been lower? These types of questions have received some attention, but more work along what context and type of corruption matters is likely to be fruitful. This also a very important issue, especially when we look at the influence of culture and business behaviour regarding corruption.

Lastly and most importantly, It should be noted with particular attention that, the link between the macro literature on how institutions provide a more-or-less fertile breeding ground for corruption and the micro literature on how much corruption actually occurs in specific contexts is weak. As more forms of corruption and techniques to quantify them at the micro level are developed, it should be possible to reduce this mismatch between macro and micro evidence on corruption.

These and other shortcomings motivated me to continue to embark on all-encompassing Corruption Control Strategy “the Way – Out” as means of finding solution to the menace of Corruption on Human Development for which the Church calls us, and which she tirelessly promotes.528

(C) CORRUPTION CONTROL STRATEGIES IN GHANA

1. INTRODUCTION

According to the Modern Catholic Social Teaching,

“In the task of pursuing a complete human development, the ability to enter into healthy dialogue with others is essential. That is the way to draw people and nations together in solidarity.

528 Sollicitudo Rei Socialis,” cf. The Encyclicals of John Paul 11ed. By J. Michael Miller, C.S.B.Pg380-420. (§35.5), (§38.3). and (§40.4).



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That dialogue must first of all be based on the human person, not on commodities or things.”529(Populorum Progressio).

For the Church, what is at stake is not just material advancement but, more potentially human development. And for the Church, ‘development is the new name for peace’530.

This is why the social doctrine of the Church believes that the pursuit of peace requires a war on the ills of the society of which corruption, poverty, inequality etc, are not excluded.

According to the Modern Catholic Social Teaching,

“The pursuit of peace requires a war on poverty, human misery, and inequality.”531

It is on this note, that I deemed it necessary here to discuss the effect of Corruption on human development in Africa. And consequently suggest the way to declare war on (it) corruption. Etymologically, the word Corruption comes from “Corruptus” which means something that is broken and can be defined generally ‘as pervasion of standard.’532



530ibid




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Corruption, (Corruptus-Broken) as the name suggests, has devastating effect on the development of any country that contacts it. It therefore occurs, as earlier mentioned, in nearly all parts of the world to varied degrees, but is much more prevalent in less developed and developing countries.

For example, Sub-Saharan countries, except for the noticeable examples of Botswana, Namibian and South Africa, lie at the bottom of the pile and their Scandinavian counterparts make up the top of the listings. The higher occurrence of corruption in developing countries does not mean that Western countries are immune to such practises, large size scandals in France, the United States, Germany or Austria have appeared in the media to show this. For instance, in Austria we have seen in the Kleine Zeitung Graz, Sontag, 19. Feb. 2012: Die gekaufte Politik written by Prisching Manfred. Here, Manfred discussed in an Essay form the extensive damage done by corruption in the society especially in Europe.

To add to this, it must be said that the developed world, develop an organised type of corruption that makes it seem right. It might be hypocritical for one to say that corruption is more pronounced in the developing worlds. But corruption works differently in developed countries.

Mostly in Africa, people are sincere and straight-forward. They will like to tell you "give me this and it's done", they don't care whether they know you or not, whether you are a business partner or not but in the developed world it is different. The same things (corruption) that happen in Africa under broad day light happen in the developed world also but not under broad day light. That is often the difference.

I personally see corruption as an abuse of trust and power for self-enrichment, and it occurs worldwide.

2. SPECIFIC ASPECTS OF THE GHANAIAN SITUATION

In this draft, I follow Ayee and I discuss his idea533

The Church believes that human society ought to be one in which men communicate knowledge to each other in the light of truth, in which they can enjoy their rights and fulfil their duties and share the common good in justice and in love. As the Church puts it,

533 Ayee, J.R.A. Theories and concepts on why corruption occurs (especially in Ghana) A Decade of Public

Accountability under the PNDC Government in Ghana, Research Review, 1994, Vol. 10, and 2, pp. 61-71.



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“Human Society, venerable brothers and beloved children, ought to be regarded above all as a spiritual reality; one in which men communicate knowledge to each other in the light of truth; in which they can enjoy their rights and fulfil their duties, and are inspired to strive for the goods of the spirit. Society should enable men to share in and enjoy every legitimate expression of beauty. It should encourage them constantly to pass on to others all that are best in themselves, while they strive to make their own the spiritual achievement of others. These are the values which continually give life and basic orientation to cultural expression, economic and social institutions, political movements and forms, laws and all other structures by which society is outwardly established and constantly developed.”534

This statement by the Church is very important and helpful. I believe that because we do not most often see society in this way, that their abound many vices in the society including; injustices, lies, hatred, selfishness etc, and above all corruption.

According to Ayee, J, R, A.,

“The root causes of corruption in Ghana are believed to be attributed to a certain number of aspects, these include:

1) The persistence of traditional values which conflict with the requirements for a secular way of life

2) Poverty 3) Disrespect for regulations or legal requirements 4) Improper policies 5) Unqualified or unmotivated personnel 6) Ineffective supervision 7) Illegitimate laws and regulations 8) Contempt for constitutional requirements.”535

As Rose-Ackerman puts it,

“The notion that corruption adversely impedes development is no longer an issue of debate. Cross-country empirical work has confirmed the negative impact of corruption on institutions, growth and productivity, policy processes, property rights, and consequently, development.”536

534 Joseph Gremillion. The Gospel of Peace and Justice, Catholic Social Teaching. Since Pope John. November 1976 Orbis Books, Maryknoll, N.Y. 10545 no. 36 p 208-209.

535 Ayee, J.R.A. 1994, Ã Decade of Public Accountability under the PNDC Government in Ghana, Research Review, Vol. 10, and 2, p. 61-71.

536 Ackerman, 1999; Kaufmann 1997 and 1998; Mauro 1997; Wei, Shang-Jin, 1997, Knack and Keefer, 1995.



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This statement holds true for Ghana also. Since Ghana as a country was not exempt from the menace of corruption. Ayee J, R, A., put forward several theoretical approaches to corruption. These theoretical approaches include:

1. Revisionist approach;

The revisionist approach consists of explaining corruption as a divergence of behaviour from accepted norms within a society and its existence by reference to social mores and deficiencies in economic and political systems.

2. Systemic approach;

The systemic approach brings to light the fact that one’s deviant behaviour cannot be blamed solely on him or her, but on the whole faulty organisation, which in turn actually protects the systemic corruption that is happening within that organisation; this time being the government.537 According to Ayee,

“To understand corruption as a social phenomenon, several theoretical approaches have been brought forward; one of them being the revisionist approach and another one the systemic approach. The revisionist approach consists of explaining corruption as a divergence of behaviour from accepted norms within a society and its existence by reference to social mores and

deficiencies in economic and political systems. Non-revisionists accept the revisionist approach’s explanations of what corruption is but believe that the revisionists’ approach even though it uses social variables; lacks the understanding that corruption does not occur in an individual form, or within individual terms but occurs within a system; that is, it does not recognise the existence of systemic corruption.”538

It is interesting here to note that corruption, under the revisionists approach, would be simply uprooted by chasing the ones accused because of its incidental nature instead of it being a structural one. He goes on to say that for revisionists, corruption is not the norm; it is by their own definition, exceptional. Once corruption is widespread enough not to be considered exceptional it ceases to exist because it has become the norm itself. The inadequacy of public institutions brings corruption as an alternative mean of allocation or of access to decision making539.

537 Ayee, J.R.A. 1994, Ã Decade of Public Accountability under the PNDC Government in Ghana, Research

Review, Vol. 10, and 2, pp. 68. 538 Ayee, J.R.A. 1994, Ã Decade of Public Accountability under the PNDC Government in Ghana, Research

Review, Vol. 10, and 2, pp. 61-71. 539 ibid



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For Ayee,

“Corruption comes about also possibly because of the too large influence a government can have on a society; coupled with excessive red tape and bureaucracy as well as a higher value placed on kinship and tribal attachments rather than a sense of nation. A sensible gap between government and citizens accentuates the possibility of occurrence of corruption; another cause of corruption may be the inadequate way in which the law is written, especially if deriving itself from colonial times, and are thus ‘irrelevant to the needs of society”540.

According to Lipset and Lenz,

“Corruption has been ubiquitous in complex societies from ancient Egypt, Israel, Rome, and Greece down to the present”541

According to Ayee,

“Corruption comes about as a tool to direct public procedures to one’s own favour, to ‘get around unrealistic administrative norms, to bridge lags in the value system of the community, to reallocate resources and services when disequilibrium arises between supply and demand, to stabilize the political system, to cut down uncertainty in decision making, to cut through bureaucratic red tape, and to increase the responsiveness and sensitivity of public organizations.”542

If there is a lack of control of corruption in every sphere in the nation, it is then like the old saying:

“When water chokes you, what do you take to wash it down?”543

From the above discussion, I can say that corruption can be regarded as the result of modernization in the absence of political institutionalization. Corruption can occur because of the lack of chances outside of the governmental posts to build personal fortunes, which, in effect, promotes corrupt activities. Corruption could arise, viewed from a perception of systemic corruption, because the society it is happening in thinks higher of organisational loyalty than of public interest. It also arises when notions of one’s responsibility for the good of the public is overshadowed, or brushed aside, for the exploitation of public function for private gains.

This true, for according to Ayee,

540 ibid

541 Lipset and Lenz 2000, pp. 112-113. 542 Ayee, J.R.A. 1994, Ã Decade of Public Accountability under the PNDC Government in Ghana, Research

Review, Vol. 10, and 2, pp. 61-71. 543 The Philosophy of Aristotle, 451-ME2783, p.355.



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“The systemic approach brings to light the fact that one’s deviant behaviour cannot be blamed solely on him or her, but on the whole faulty organisation, which in turn actually protects the systemic corruption that is happening within that organisation; this time being the government. Two of the main points of the functioning of systemic corruption are that: violators are protected, and when exposed, treated leniently; their accusers are victimized for exposing organizational hypocrisy, and are treated harshly. Collective guilt finds expression in rationalizations of the internal practises and without strong external supports there is no serious intention of ending them.”544

I wish to assert that, the different concepts of corruption all come to the conclusion that corruption occurs more in a society or organisation that does base its belief in duties to the public but rather to private ends. Corruption seems to work better in a system where many engage in such activities, where corruption does not stem out as coming only from certain individuals but rather from many working within the same system. This is when corruption becomes of systemic nature; and it seems not unfair to describe Ghana’s governmental system as being riddled from the interior because of systemic corruption.

It should therefore be noted that corruption is a behaviour which deviates from the formal duties of a public role, because of private gains regarding personal, close family, private clique, pecuniary or status gains. It is a behaviour which violates rules against the exercise of certain types of duties for private gains regarding influence545

I wish to conclude by saying that, for corruption to be uprooted in Ghana there is the need for a critical overhaul of the Ghanaian culture that provides a fertile ground for corruption. The Guamanian culture unfortunately does base its belief in duties to the public rather to private ends. And it is observed that corruption seems to work better in a system where many engage in such activities, where corruption does not stem out as coming only from certain individuals but rather from many working within the same system. And this is why corruption in Ghana is of systemic nature; for this reason, one can rightly describe Ghana’s governmental system as being riddled from the interior because of systemic corruption. For instance, the revisionist approach consists of explaining corruption as a divergence of behaviour from accepted norms within a society and its existence by reference to social mores and deficiencies in economic and political systems. Non-revisionists accept the revisionist approach’s explanations of what corruption is but believe that the revisionists’ approach even though it uses social variables; lacks the understanding that corruption

544 Ayee, J.R.A. 1994, A Decade of Public Accountability under the PNDC Government in Ghana, Research

Review, Vol. 10, and 2, pp. 61-71. 545 Nye, J. S., Corruption and Political Development: A Case-Benefit Analysis, The American Political Science

Review, 1967, pp. 417-427



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does not occur in an individual form, or within individual terms but occurs within a system; that is, it does not recognise the existence of systemic corruption.

I want also to blame the colonial masters in part for this unfortunate corruption situation in Ghana this is because, the colonial masters instead of fighting corruption or better put, create the awareness of corruption in Ghana as and when due, they were busy maximising profits for their own countries interest and agenda. They were interested in building the state that is public based and neglected the society and the individual. This attitude of the colonial master aggravated the corruption menace in the country.

3. HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE OF CORRUPTION IN GHANA AND THE GOLD COAST

My aim for tracing the historical perspective of corruption in Ghana is to conclude whether or not the occurrence of past corruption issues have affected seriously the government’s role in levels of corruption around the country and whether or not there is enough conclusive evidence to say that Ghana has an inherent culture of political corruption. Corruption is as old as humans can remember, so its incidence in Ghana must have appeared,

according to Ayee,

“at the same time as the implementation of some type of state and government or even just some chiefdom was created on the land that is now Ghana. This may even have started by the gift of extra cattle to get through a border of an area controlled by someone else, or some extra beads to ensure one’s home from theft by the chief’s guardsmen.”546

Unfortunately, but very interesting to know that proper recording of corruption instances in Ghana was not there till 20th century. This does not mean that there was no corruption but as is in many other countries, the effects of corruption menace in these countries were not taking seriously.

According to Ayee,

“Many variant possibilities are plausible; nevertheless, these imagined examples are there to show that the first happenings of corruption in Ghana have no recordings. Apparently too, there are no recordings or reports of allegations or accusations of corruption in the Gold Coast before


Review, Vol. 10, and 2, pp. 61-71.



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the start of the 20th century. The oldest reports that are existent are the series of reports by the principal auditors of governmental accounts for the Gold Coast.”547

However, much evidence indicates that corruption has been around for thousands of years, but in recent years it has increasing attention. Does the attention reflect an increasing awareness or an increasing scope of problem?

According to Ayer,

“It has been impossible for researchers to inspect the recordings of these audits for the years preceding 1939. It is only after 1966 and Nkrumah’s fall that there is considerable literature because of a Commission of Inquiry appointed by the National Liberation Council (NLC). This shows there is no evidence for possible corruption cases before World War II in the Gold Coast Colony. The evidence for a historical and thus possibly cultural background for corruption is therefore slightly hampered by the lack of information available, though it is still sufficient to make possible suggestions on how corruption became such a public issue for Ghana mainly since the fall of ex-president Kwame Nkruma, and whether or not there is proof or evidence that political corruption dates back from an earlier period than the independence of Ghana.”548

How do we understand culture and the role it plays in the society in relation to corrupt practices? I believe that there has to be an inquisition into the role and function of culture in society to understand the importance of it within everybody’s daily life.

According to Ayee,

“Culture is the background in which one is born; it could be the familial culture as well as the community’s culture, which may differ ostensibly. The end result of culture on one’s behaviour is the way of life one has, which is woven around certain values, aesthetics and intellectual principles that produce a unique point of view on the world.”549

Culture has thus multiple dimensions a mental image and a material end. It is therefore a creation to keep social interactions working and it is worth noting that culture is thus functional, it plays a major role in the individuals psychological development. Indeed, there exists a functional relationship between the institutions of society and the intellectual make up of its members to the extent that each side affects the other in maintaining the status quo and bringing about historical


Review, Vol. 10, and 2, pp. 64-71. 548 ibid

549 Ayee, J.R.A. 1994, Ã Decade of Public Accountability under the PNDC Government in Ghana, Research Review, Vol. 10, and 2, pp. 61-71.



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process of change. In this case, it is to see whether the behaviour of past governments have affected the way the incumbent government acts when having to make statements or proceeds that are in relationship with corruption.

4. PRE- COLONIAL YEARS

It is very interesting and significantly important to observe her that not much impact of corruption menace were recorded or noticed during colonial era in Ghana.

As Ayee puts it,

“The reports of Commissions of Inquiry, which are the basis of inquiry into the existence of a cultural background of practises of corruption, were only highlights of the central governments responses to it, and are thus not totally complete and are circumstantial by nature. Mr. Osei (The chairman, Research Review, a Decade of Public Accountability under the PNDC Government in Ghana) has to be credited with consistent good research; he was praised for his longevity, his tone and his careful manners since he was able to stay in his position long after the fall of Nkrumah in 1966. The overall trend that has been found in these reports from the years 1939 to 1956 is a general steady increase in corruption that coincided with the ‘Ghanaization’ of the civil service.”550

The question then is, were there no corruption menace in these colonial eras or were people ignorant of it or were they afraid to say it. Thanks to Amundsen who as early as 1938 had reports on corruption in Ghana.

According to Amundsen,

“The findings for the years 1938 to 1943 show no notable cases that could imply fraud or mismanagement of entrusted power except for some cases of purloining government stores. In the 1943-1944 report, there were thirty one cases brought to light, with irregularities going from £ 3 to £ 6,500, the latter being the theft of payment vouchers in the Medical Department. Out of the thirty other cases, twenty were incurred by officials where it was carrying strong implication that political corruption was involved. The 1944-1945 report talks of twenty six cases, where sixteen are cases of possible corruption. The 1945- 46 report has no precise number but describes a not

550 Amundsen, I. 1999, ˜Political Corruption: An introduction to the Issues of corruption. Pg 68 – 91.



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inconsiderable number of fraudulent acts. The 1946-1947 report denotes thirty seven cases, of which twenty could be considered as possible corruption.”551

From Amundsen, I validly infer there were Progressive increases in the awareness of the gravity of the corrosial effect of corruption in Ghanaian society.

According to Ayee,

“In the 1950-1951 report, there is a considerable leap in the number of cases, as they rise up to 152 cases, of which 88 are considered possible cases of corruption. The director of audit, Mr. Osei, describes the year’s situation on corruption as having a more frequent occurrence but having a similar nature, and points the finger to the Public Works Department’s cash and the deceitful cash removals from the Post Office Saving Bank. It has to be noted that by 1951 the Watson Commission Report had been published, and this document showed a deep belief that ‘a dereliction of responsibility …to ignore the existence of bribery and corruption in many walks of life in the Gold Coast and that the spread of corruption was predictable as further responsibility devolved upon the African.”552

For me, Mr. Osei’s audit report is an ‘Eye opener’ to many Ghanaians. This is because, the Watson Report concluded, with a foreboding warning, that the system of trade had brought upon itself ‘great abuses and encouraged bribery and excessive charges.’

According to Ayee,

“In the 1953-1954 report, 230 cases were reported, of which about 150 represented acts of corruption. An interesting detail is the fact that most irregularities were to be found in the Public Works, the Post Office, and the Health departments of the government.”553

I wish to observe with Ayee that, the latter two departments had already been cited and the other one (the public works department) is to become a major source of corruption allegations and outcries in the past couple of years. In the report of the 1954- 55 fiscal year, there were so many cases of fiscal irregularities that only cash losses over £ 10 and store losses over £ 25 were deemed valuable enough to be considered. The director of audit was once again sending a warning message through his reports indicating the steady and continuous rise of corruption cases and how the lack of sufficiently trained supervisors would pose a problem to the government. It is the reason why there has been (in about 1952) a decrease in the number of cases, down to 130, of which 85 could

551 Amundsen, I. 1999, ˜Political Corruption: An introduction to the Issues of corruption. Pg 68 – 91. 552 Ayee, J.R.A. 1994, A Decade of Public Accountability under the PNDC Government in Ghana, Research

Review, Vol. 10, and 2, pp. 61-71. 553 Ayee, J.R.A. 1994, Ñotes on the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice under the 1992

Ghanaian Constitution, Verfassung Und Recht In Ubersee, Vol. 27, n.2, pp. 159-170.



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be linked to corruption practises. This steady increase in instances of corruption has to be questioned as to why it has been happening. It has been suggested that it is because of the increase in state corporations and marketing boards.554

It is interesting to notice that it is only then that the people of Ghana see the need to ask questions regarding corruption, and were requesting for better trained supervisors to look into the activities of these corrupt officials. But there were still so many loop holes created that are conducive for corruption to grow even more due to lack of effective corruption control strategy.

According to Ayee,

“In 1947, the Gold Coast Cocoa Marketing Board and in 1949, the Gold Coast Agricultural Products Marketing Board were created. These boards arose to give a large amount of opportunities to divert state money because of the extended nature of their bureaucracy, which only really gave corruption opportunities to lower level officials. The boards had to deal with petty traders, small farmers associations and many other forms of very small trade people. Some of them had built near monopolistic markets on certain commodities before the boards were set up; they were thus understandably unwilling to give up control of these markets. They were unable to compete with state marketing cartels, [so] they resorted to manipulating the boards’ grass-roots activities. This shows that by the early 1950s, before Nkrumah’s regime was set up, widespread amounts of ill-natured traffics involving large sums of money were taking place. The growth of corruption in the colony was clearly related to the increase in state activity: The scope for corrupt patronage has expanded with the state itself.”555

Another very interesting period in Ghana, I would say was when the Convention People’s Party (CPP) came to power; they wanted to take control of at least one of these boards(the Gold Coast Cocoa Marketing Board and the Gold Coast Agricultural Products Marketing Boards. Between 1952 and 1954, they obtained control of the Cocoa Purchasing Company, an auxiliary part of the Cocoa Marketing Board, one of the principal state agencies, and a major source of funding. One of the roles of this company was to give out loans for cocoa farmers, which meant they could effectively decide who was worthy enough to receive one. This usually included two criteria of major importance. These are the farmers’ loyalty to the party, which means the insurance of their vote and support whenever needed; and the farmers’ capacity to make bestowals to the CPP.

According to Ayee,


Review, Vol. 10, and 2, pp. 61-71. 555 Ibi.



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“ This had three resulting effects: firstly, that the CPP had effectively taken over the Cocoa Marketing Board; secondly, that the former could now mount considerable pressures on farmers that were unwilling to submit to corrosive practises; and finally that they received access to a near unlimited source of funds. The corruptive nature of Nkrumah and his political party had already started encroaching itself on the whole nation.”556

I agree with Ayee that the 1955- 56 report was the last one of the Gold Coast before its independence as Ghana. There were 156 cases that year, with more than half being corruption acts. The losses were starting to be of considerable nature, with a recorded £ 45,000 in losses, and that is not including undisclosed losses nor district or municipal council losses due to poor data collection. What is most interesting in this report is,

as Ayee puts it,

“Osei’s finger pointing at the then Prime Minister Kwame Nkrumah for overspending. He had exceeded the official budget by 200%, or threefold; showing already his natural capacity for weighty spending of the public money. A good explanation of in what state Ghana was at the turn of independence is that, historical precedent and conditions, combined with the logic of contemporary bureaucratic expansion in the developing countries, have fostered the growth of extensive amounts of systemic corruption.”557

5. THE KWAME NKURUMAH YEARS (1957 – 1966)

Fortunately enough, at the time of independence, the 6th March 1957, Ghana was in a relatively prosperous financial situation; especially when compared with the monetary state of most sub-Saharan countries at the time of their independence. Ghana had a large foreign exchange balance, a good budgetary surplus, a relatively good economy and, moreover, a surfeit in tax revenues due to changes in the tax system.558

But according to Osaba,

556 Ayee, J.R.A. 1994, Ñotes on the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice under the 1992

Ghanaian Constitution, Verfassung Und Recht In Ubersee, Vol. 27, n.2, pp. 160. 557 Ibid.

558 Ibid.



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“Any society faced with the challenges of corruption will continue to find ways to break the circle...and cannot effectively control the menace of corruption in the nation by merely instituting probe panels” 559.

The corruption situation was becoming more apparent an unbearable that the Ghanaian society has started to feel the pinch of it on their skins.

According to Ayee,

“The Commission’s first report published after independence gives a chilling forewarning of the next years to come under Nkrumah’s rule: ‘The habit of liberality with Government funds, acquired during this period of buoyant revenue, is difficult to reverse whilst the formidable list of losses and frauds gives a disquieting commentary on standards of integrity. On the 1957- 58 report, some 202 cases are brought up to light, and over half of them could be attributed to corrupt dealings. These cases still amounted for total losses of approximately G£ 78,000. The 1960- 61 report starts showing that signs of extensive corruption practises were becoming the norm. Large scale defaults on loans and the failure of at least six governmental corporations are mentioned as being clear cases of corruption.”560

I believe that to fight corruption, one must be able to face the bitter side of the ‘truth’ and call a spade a spade, otherwise, we will achieve nothing at the long run.

According to Osoba,

“one of the reasons why the measures against corruption have not been fruitful... is that they have operated at a level of mere symbolism. Yes, in this way, corruption has defied all measures adopted to combat it..., apparently, because those wagging the corruption-wars are themselves corrupt”561.

No wonder then, according to Ayee, another

“report also gives a foretaste of the 1966 Commission of Inquiry by listing the different ill-natured practises among the government’s officials: excessive mileage claims, disproportionate family allowances, unnecessary contract payments, over inflated building contract estimates, purchase of goods out of Ghana that would be cheaper in Ghana, excessive accommodation

559 Osaba, Journal of Modern African Studies, 3, 2, 1996, p. 385.

560 Ayee, J.R.A. 1994, Ñotes on the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice under the 1992 Ghanaian Constitution, Verfassung Und Recht In Ubersee, Vol. 27, n.2, pp. 164.

561 Osaba, Sklar, Richard L., Contradictions in the Nigerian Political System, Journal of Modern African Studies, 3, 2, 1965, p. 385, Lewis, Peter, The Politics of Economics, African Report, May/June, 1994, p.47 and Adam, Paul, Nigeria: Next Pariah? African Report, May-June, 1995, and 19 96 p.43; p.45.



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purchases, as well as many others. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is pointed at for its financial debauchery, as is shown by the London High Commissioner for that year, claiming near £ 19,000 simply for taxi and car rental in only four months. The 158 extra cases, of which 87 seem to be corruption acts, with losses of G£ 107,559 are said to be insignificant compared to the rest of the listings. A G£ 210,230 fraudulent payment for an agricultural scheme seems barely noteworthy.”562

It then became crystal clear that corruption has been eating deep into the fabrics of the Ghanaian society and must be taking seriously. This is because the situation of corruption has become a canker – worm that is about to destroy the society.

As Murphy puts it,

“When corruption is widespread and institutionalized, some firms may devote resources to obtaining valuable licenses and preferential market access, while others focus on improving productivity.”563

At this juncture, it does appear to me that the people at helm of affairs in the government have lost their ethical values and are now pursuing their own personal ego.

According to MacIntyre,

“without ethics, set of moral principles or values or principles of conducts governing an individual or a group in the conduct of the affairs of the nation, public and business, the apparent wars on corruption... will not be successful.”564

As Ayee puts it,

“The 1961- 62 and 1962- 63 reports show a similar pattern of behaviour amongst Ghana state officials, but with an even darker portrayal; frauds and irregularities being the norm. The total losses for each of the financial years are of over G£ 600,000. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs once again drew astringent comments because ‘Corrupt practises and financial maladministration in state corporations and boards now begin to come to light in the audits.’ The state of affairs was such that even the Public Accounts Committee of the National Assembly, supporters of the government, were starting to show great dismay in 1963- 64; nevertheless, powerful officials, such


Ghanaian Constitution, Verfassung Und Recht In Ubersee, Vol. 27, n.2, pp. 168. 563 Murphy, Kevin, Andrei Shleifer and Robert Vishny. 1991. “The Allocation of Talent: Implications for Growth.”

Quarterly Journal of Economics. 106, pp. 503–30. 564. MacIntyre 1981; Liebig 1990; Frankena 1963; Dike 2001, pp.103-104.



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as the Minister for Information, always made sure that the Committee’s capacity to enquire was always somewhat limited.”565

For me, what was startling was that the president’s contingency fund was not investigated, as some other agencies that trained guerrillas as well as spread Nkrumahist thought were not either. These were simply too dangerous if not impossible to investigate. In some cases, corruption cases became public affairs and Nkrumah had to intervene personally, but this was not to combat corruption, it was to avoid a dangerous political situation for the government in place.566

Consequent upon this, the Ghanaian finances were in a clearly crippled state by 1963, and it was widely accepted that the misappropriation of public money was the root cause for the near bankrupt situation of the country. There were two commissions created, one in 1964, the other the following year, to – officially – investigate into corruption allegations; but were in reality ‘two government attempts to find scapegoats for its own policy failures (the then government). Several commission reports, to be published in the later years of Nkrumah’s presidency, were censored, or at least the parts containing possibly embarrassing information about higher level officials were willingly left out of the public eye. The reports that were published could in reality only accuse low to middle level officials because they were not directly protected by the very highest levels of officials.567

It can be observed here that available evidence on Ghanaian political corruption up to 1966 is sketchy. In these documents, there is a lack of details of Nkrumah and his associates’ doings; however, the quantitative and qualitative data are sufficient enough to consider political corruption and personal enrichment with public money a usual practise amongst all levels of officials, be it from the president to the smallest state representative.

I wish to say here, that it is not surprising to know that when Nkrumah was overthrown by the police and the military on February 24, 1966 in a CIA backed coup, some more revelations about his financial whereabouts were to be made. He had inherited one of the richest countries of Africa, with a large reserve of foreign money; but because of his financial dilapidating habits that he went on with for nine years, Ghana was bankrupt, food and consumer goods were in short supply, and all government services had deteriorated beyond recognition.568


Ghanaian Constitution, Verfassung Und Recht In Ubersee, Vol. 27, n.2, pp. 159-170. 566 Ayee, J.R.A. 1994, Ñotes on the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice under the 1992

Ghanaian Constitution, Verfassung Und Recht In Ubersee, Vol. 27, n.2, pp. 167. 567 Ayee, J.R.A. 1994, Ñotes on the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice under the 1992

Ghanaian Constitution, Verfassung Und Recht In Ubersee, Vol. 27, n.2, pp. 169. 568Ibid.



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Naturally, and as one would expect, the NLC appointed a Commission of Inquiry within three weeks of its seizure of power to investigate into the former president’s assets. This was to be the first of more than forty commissions and other investigative bodies that were to scrutinize into public and private activities of Nkrumah during his presidency. There were two main reasons for the establishment of these inquisitive bodies, the first was to discredit Nkrumah’s regime as much as it was possible, and, secondly, resultantly legitimate their(the Military) own seizure of power.

According to Ayee,

“The Ghanaians were not surprised that the findings were plentiful; it seems as if the only advance this commission made was to provide a profusion of details of corruption acts and its main final use was to confirm the rampant nature of corruption among Ghanaian state officials. Nkrumah seemed to be involved in a number of acts of corruption, and apparently, the assassination attempt in January 1964 may have ‘unhinged him somewhat.”569

The former president did set up, during the pinnacle years of his regime, a special governmental agency to deal with the collection and the handling of bribes and other so-called gifts. Overall, it shows evidence that unmistakably proves that Nkrumah was personally involved in several corruption cases. One of the other many commissions came to prove that most, if not all of Nkrumah’s colleagues were too directly involved in corrupt transactions.

According to Myrdal,

“Corrupt officials may not circumvent distortions, but instead actually cause greater administrative delays to attract more bribes”.570

It turned out that at least five governmental bodies, officially legitimate, were in fact agencies institutionalised specifically for political corruption. These bodies neither had dubious funding sources, no rational employment policies nor were economically viable; moreover, they were all under the direct or near direct hand of Nkrumah to control them. The pre-coup commission always found it hard to get evidence, but the post-coup ones found plentiful amounts of data to discredit Nkrumah.

As Ayee puts it,

“This was specifically true with the scandal of grants for import licenses. This one commission listed 52 different corruption transactions with a total value exceeding five million Ghanaian Pounds, showing the incredible extravagance of the government under that regime but not


570 Myrdal, Gunnar. 1968. Asian Drama. New York: Random House.



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indicating any remedies as to how to combat this behaviour that was becoming nearly natural to officials now; this is only considered to be the tip of the iceberg in fraudulent affairs of the time.”571

Unfortunately but undeterred, still, the commission overtly showed the mechanisms of it all or instance, the Minister of Foreign Trade levied, if deemed needed, a commission on a transaction. The least connected one was to the government, and then to the party, the higher the commission percentage was on the transaction. The money was then dished out according to the number of people involved, to Nkrumah’s knowledge of the transactions and thus the need to put money into the party’s accounts. This shows a well-run and organised mechanism oiled from top to bottom so as to satisfy all levels of officials and agents involved in affairs of political corruption.572

I wish to recall here the words of Kofi Anan on the infectious nature of corruption. For Kofi Annan:

“Corruption is an insidious plague that has a wide range of corrosive effects on societies. It undermines democracy and the rule of law, leads to violations of human rights, distorts markets, erodes the quality of life, and allows organized crime, terrorism and other threats to human security to flourish. This evil phenomenon is found in all countries – big and small, rich and poor – but it is in the developing world that its effects are most destructive. Corruption hurts the poor disproportionately – by diverting funds intended for development, undermining a government’s ability to provide basic services, feeding inequality and injustice, and discouraging foreign aid and investment. Corruption is a key element in economic under-performance, and a major obstacle to poverty alleviation and development”573.

The post-coup commissions came to find that political corruption was widespread among other governmental and quasi-governmental agencies and corporations, in municipal and urban councils, and in the country’s three universities. This shows that absolutely all parts of the Ghanaian society were riddled with corruption as being the normal way of life.

According to Azfar,


572 Ibid.

573 Cf. Kofi Annan Speech at UN General Assembly adopted the convention in 2003, on Its Corruption Perception Index, 2001.



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“In the 1965- 66 report by Mr. Osei, a description of the most corruption-ridden state agency, namely the State Farms Corporation, the root causes for such humongous deficits are: Political decisions, deficits on the revaluation of assets, lack of labour control, unproductive projects undertaken, bulk purchases of unsuitable vehicles and plant and machinery, poor management, inadequate control over expenditure and an inefficient accounting system were among the other factors which contributed to this colossal loss.”574

I agree with Ayee that the 1966 Commission of Inquiry report seems to have accomplished what it set out to do, that is to discredit Nkrumah’s regime; nevertheless it also seems quite clear that its task of finding old accounts of corruption have been completely inefficient in combating corruption in a country where not only the former party in government were involved in acts of corruption. It is believed, among scholars, that the recommendations of these commissions were regarded as a post-mortem without any positive effects on corruption.575

6. THE NATIONAL LIBERATION COUNCIL AND THE BUSIA YEARS (1966- 1972)

The debate about the fragile future of Africa and the Africans is closely related to the failure of the state in Africa and Ghana’s case is not different. The reasons for our political failure have been variously advanced, but there are still conflicting positions.

According to Kukah M. H.,

“While these ideological disputations go on over cause and effect, one fact remains incontestable. On all fronts, according to the World Bank reports, the coefficient indices for any modicum of development remain abysmal, life expectancy is in the decline, poverty rages on, death, despair and destruction hunt the continent and infrastructural designs are in decay.”576

In Ghana, this menace of corruption becomes more eloquent. In Ghana, according to Ayee,

574 Azfar, O. and Lee, Y. and Swamy, A. 2001, ˜The Causes and Consequences of Corruption, Annals of the American Academy of Political Science, vol.573, January, pp,42-56.


576 Democracy and Civil Society in Nigeria, Published by Spectrum Books limited Spectrum House Ring Road. Ibadan Nigeria 1999. Pxiii.



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“The military rulers of the NLC wanted to legitimise their coup d’état by bringing to shame Nkrumah’s regime because of its state of hopelessness and by proving that there was no possible way to resolve corruption as long as the defunct government was still in power. This was done also in a way that implied that the new regime was fit to do so because it wanted to show that it was free from corruption itself.” 577

It has to be remarked that the military in Ghana did have a pretty clean past before the governmental overthrow, at least officially, except for the Awaithey corrupt dealings allegations in 1958, and some other rather insignificant instances of petty corruption. Once in power, the whole integrity of the army was shaken up when the then incumbent president of Ghana, Gen. Joseph Ankrah, was thrown into the midst of a scandal when it was revealed that he had wittingly sanctioned a covert collection of moneys on behalf of his own possible candidature for the country’s presidency. There were no other major scandals that came up to public eye during the NLC’s stay in power.578

It is interesting to observe that the 1972 military coup also immediately demanded an inquiry into the past government’s financial whereabouts, quite certainly for the same reasons as they had implemented their own coup d’état. The three interim reports of the Anin Corruption Inquiry showed that corruption was still existent among the Busia government, but that the level of its common nature had slightly decreased compared to the ones incurred when Nkrumah was in office.

In the pursuit of the fight against corruption, Busia himself was asked to testify before the Taylor Assets Committee and he subsequently refused to do so, which meant he came to be officially under presumption of illegal acquirements, due to political corruption acts until proven otherwise. Many of these inquiries were about dubious cash deposits, gifts to friends and relatives, and overspending on property acquisition. All of these matters have become, over only a few decades in Ghana, the usual material ends one gets when he or she ends up in a position of power.

Unfortunately, and as one would expect, the reports from 1967 to 1969 reveal that in reality nothing or, at maximum, very little had changed since the Nkrumah years. In the 1967- 68 report, 102, and in the 1968- 69 report, 90 out of 142 local government units did actually give reports on

577 Ayee, J.R.A. 1994, Ñotes on the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice under the 1992 Ghanaian Constitution, Verfassung Und Recht In Ubersee, Vol. 27, n.2, pp. 159-170.

578 Ibid.



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the state of their accounts, showing the already decrepit nature of the institutions in Ghana, supposed to be powerful vectors of the societal construct of the country.579

As Ayee puts it,

“Over two years, out of the government units that did give reports, 65 percent showed losses, in total amounting for over $465,000; moreover, an estimated 90 percent of them were due to corruption acts made by officials, in total representing 15 to 25 percent of the budget of most government’s local units. For the 1967 to 1969 period, the total amount of losses for absolutely all public instances was of nearly $38,000,000; near five percent of the expenditures for the entire government body. These figures were not even included in the $161,000,000 two-year national budget deficit. This shows the huge scale to which political corruption had encroached itself on the Ghanaian society, and how it was becoming, or had already become a culture of itself. It is believed that it would be quite literally impossible to assess the entire costs of corruption because of its widespread nature.”580

From this, one can infer that Ghana, by 1972, was said to have a culture of political corruption. It appears that the documentary evidence permits the conclusion that a case (a case of political corruption) has been established for the existence of an incipient Ghanaian culture of political corruption. This embryonic culture grew because of the effects of rationalising corruptive behaviour, such as was done by Nkrumah and his specially appointed government body to deal with and handle bribes in a near official manner. In the same year, a work was published that discredited the functionality of the commissions into bribery and corruption it is firmly believed that even when the motives for these official investigations of corruption are not suspect, they are seen as futile.

It seems the fight against corruption has since then, and probably before, been taken with a cynical approach, because now the people involved in researching and thus combating corruption were also involved in Ghana, at least, statutes appear to have had relatively little effect thus far on corruption. One reason may be that in Ghana those charged with eliminating corruption were themselves tainted with it. Indeed, under such circumstances both investigations and remedial legislation tend to be ineffective and pointless, or to become elaborate exercises in hypocrisy. The people who were caught seemed unashamed by their actions and came back to plunder some more once freed and given the opportunity to do so.

579 Ayee, J.R.A. 1994, Ñotes on the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice under the 1992 Ghanaian Constitution, Verfassung Und Recht In Ubersee, Vol. 27, n.2, pp.171.

580 Ibid.



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The implementation of commissions, however much a deterging effect they had, were or might have been of complete uselessness, as the auditor’s report clearly denotes between 1967 and 1997 the persistence of such disquieting practises as award of contracts without recourse to tender procedures, payments unsupported by any contract agreement, expenditure in excess of agreed contract prices, and fraudulent substitutions of inflated quotations for prices originally quoted by contractors.

7. THE RAWLINGS YEARS AFTER HIS 2ND COUP (1981- 2000)

JERRY RAWLINGS was born on 22 June 1947 in Accra, Gold Coast Ghana. He is a former leader of Republic of Ghana and now the African Union envoy to Somalia. Rawlings ruled Ghana as a military dictator in 1979 and then as the first elected president of the Fourth Republic of Ghana from 1993 to 2001. He initially took over the power in a coup d’état, but in the 1990s following sustained political and economic pressure from international institutions and the governments began a process of economic and political liberalization. He founded the National Democratic Congress which won the 1992 general election. He took office in 1993, and was re-elected in 1997.

However, Rawlings appeared on the Ghanaian political scene on May 15, 1979, leading a group of junior officers in the Ghana Air Force in a Coup attempt on the regime of Fred Akuffo which resulted in his (Jerry Rawlings) arrest and imprisonment. He was court martialled in public and sentenced to death.581

It is interesting to note that on the June 4 military officials overthrew Akuffo government and released the Rawlings group from prison just weeks before general elections were scheduled.

Furthermore, it is important here to mention that Rawlings and company formed the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) and conducted what it termed a housecleaning exercise where large sums of stolen government money were retrieved into government coffers and inflation was stabilized.

According to Chinua Achebe,

“It is totally false to suggest, as we are apt to do that Nigerians are different fundamentally from any other people in the world. Nigerians are corrupt because the system under which they

581 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/jerry_Rawlings.



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live today makes corruption easy and profitable; they will cease to be corrupt when corruption is made difficult and inconvenient.”582

This is true also with Guamanian society. The system is corrupt and therefore makes it almost impossible for the people to be free of corruption.

According to Jeong, H.,

“Rawlings' second coup, on December 31, 1981, was later claimed to have been undertaken because of the growing amount of evidence of corruption in public office under Limann’s rule. Ironically, a large number of Ghanaian citizens were starting to feel antagonistic towards Rawlings in particular for having deprived others of their economic resources as a result of his anti-corruption campaigns of 1979”.583

I wish to conclude that these contradictory behaviours tend to prove that the incipient culture of corruption that existed at the start of the seventies in Ghana was by the start of the eighties a fully grown culture. This is because its participants could claim to have been placed in a disadvantageous position by having been removed from their functions for acts they did not deem corrupt, thus immoral and illegal.

Rawlings, once in office again, pledged for a holy war on corruption, accusing the PNP of being criminals unable to keep their promises concerning their house-cleaning exercise. When the Provisional National Defence Committee (PNDC) came to power, the first issue they discussed was to bring according to Khan, M.H.,

“A new system of justice by establishing the means not only to bring those guilty of corruption to trial but also to ensure constant monitoring of public officials”.584

Consequently, two institutions were quickly created to deal promptly with the problems; these were the People’s Defence Committee (PDC) and the Workers Defence Committee (WDC). The role of the former was to protect local people from abusive local officials, and the latter’s role was to protect workers from mismanagement and corruption. Unfortunately, these

582 Chinua Achebe, the Trouble with Nigeria (Enugu: Fourth Dimension Publishers, 1983), p. 37.

583 Jeong, H. 1995, Liberal Economic Reforms in Ghana: a Contested Political Agenda, Africa Today, n.4, pp. 82-103.

584 Khan, M.H. 1996, Ã Typology of Corrupt Transactions in Developing Countries, IDS Bulletin, Vol. 27, n.2, pp.12-21.



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committees did not meet any more success than the previous attempts. The PDC ended up engaging in personal vendettas, harassment and intimidation actions.585

The WDC ended up ousting managers of factories and then trying to manage them even though they had no skills to do so.

As Ayee puts it,

“The worthiness of these committees was once again underpinned by their own leaders because they had engaged in corrupt activities such as illegally accessing commodities and embezzling funds for themselves. The PDC and the WDC were merged to try to keep governmental control upon them, as well as being renamed to the Committee for the Defence of the Revolution (CDR) in November 1984. This renamed committee became more a mean to explain the aims of the revolution to the people than a way to ensure accountability and fight corruption, becoming thus more of an agent of propaganda for the government than anything else.”586

These committees could not achieve the purpose for which they were set, and one would expect,

in 1982, the public tribunals, another institution, were set up as a supposed catalyst to fight corruption. The harsh sentences that were pronounced by them had, at best, a deterrent effect on people engaging in such practises.

According to Ayee,

“With no surprise, these tribunals ended up being useless because some of the chairmen and people involved were ejected from their positions due to the undertaking corrupt practises. In the same year, the Citizens Vetting Committee (CVC) was created. It was an institution working on investigating people whose assets were way beyond their official means of acquisition. It was an investigative body, thus it found much evidence of corruption and tax evasion, kept records of those who travelled by air, but it seems as if it never really engaged in legal procedures with the evidence found.”587

1982 which is a year marked by the creation of so many anti-corruption bodies, saw the creation of yet another of them, this time under the name of the National Investigation Committee

585 Ayee, J.R.A. 1994, Ñotes on the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice under the 1992 Ghanaian Constitution, Verfassung Und Recht In Ubersee, Vol. 27, n.2, pp. 159-170 .

586 Ayee, J.R.A. 1994, Ñotes on the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice under the 1992 Ghanaian Constitution, Verfassung Und Recht In Ubersee, Vol. 27, n.2, pp. 159-170 .

587 Ibid.



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(NIC), and supposed to investigate corruption in public office. The whole effectiveness and purpose of this body was annihilated when it was carrying out its own implementation because,

as Lui, F.T. puts it,

“A bizarre provision stipulated that those being investigated had the right to confess their guilt or sins and offer reparation to the state in atonement for their crimes. This provision is in itself a corrupt loophole to escape justice; it is a way of corrupting justice against corruption”588.

Rawlings decided, after an attempted in 1982, to go against his façade ideologies and made heavy handed economic reforms with a helping hand from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, mostly leaning towards economic liberalisation. By 1992, the results were disappointing: foreign investment was low; Ghana was still overly dependent on cocoa and gold as export goods; international recession obviously not helping.

For seven years as the head of state, Rawlings had gone to great lengths to combat corruption by creating institutions made to fight it;

“Nevertheless, corruption, bribery, embezzlement and injustice were still part of every day’s life for Ghanaians, especially if they were part of the civil service. Rawlings admitted that corruption and injustice were still rampant in a speech given the same year: There is still injustice and corruption…we have not learned in the past 10 years how to build a just and decent society in which every patriotic Ghanaian can find avenues to exercise his or her responsibility and moral authority. […] Indeed, it is quite intimidating to recognize how much there is still to be done.”589

In 1992, a new constitution was approved by consultative assembly and with it came the start of the 4th Republic of Ghana. The concerns Rawlings had expressed in 1989 were still valid enough for there to be a Code of Conduct for Public Officers as an integral part of the constitution. The fight against corruption had never attained such a high profile institutionalisation.

According to Ayee,

“The financial disclosure of the code demanded that every single public officer gave a written declaration of their assets, and for those in office at the time, they had three months to comply and give them to the Auditor-General. The ones not complying would be regarded as contraveners and

588 Lui, F.T. 1985, Ãn Equilibrium Queuing Model of Bribery, The Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 93, nÂ°4, pp.760-781.




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would thus be put under investigation by the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ); the anti-corruption agency able to prosecute them.”590

As one would expect considering the corrupt situation of the country, this new provision under the constitution faced many problems from the moment it was supposed to be enforced. Firstly, within three months, most civil servants had failed to produce the written evidence that was demanded from them; moreover, six months after the enforcement of the new constitution, 75% of public officers still had not declared by writing the origin of their assets. Secondly, the Auditor’s reports up from 1993 to 1998 have pointed the finger to a continuation of the expansion of all types of ill-gotten wealth that are related to corruption practises.591

I wish to say here that the corrupt situation has reached a height that the government offices have become a do or die affair where people do whatever they like and go away with it unabated. This is an ugly situation and worthy to be worried about.

According to Odey O.J,

“I am worried because things have not gone the way we thought they would if the military vacated. The military has been replaced by another set of people – Lions and Tigers in sheep’s skin. That is the unfortunate thing. So since the commencement of democracy, we have gone into one trouble or the other with the Shylocks – people who think that they can only make a living being in government and that if they are not in the government, that government must not survive.”592

This is true of the leadership and politicians of Ghana Society.

According to Ayee,

“The CHRAJ, unhappy with the enduring unethical behaviour of the government, started investigating ten top officials in January 1996. One of the ones investigated had an annual expenditure nearly seventy times larger than his annual salary. The results provided found that some were implicated in corrupt activities whilst others were not; nevertheless, the government did

590Ibid.


592 Odey O.J ‘This Madness Called Election 2003’. Printed by Snaap Press Limited Enugu, Nigeria. pg. 24.



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not take action against any of them for apparently not finding enough evidence against them even though some of the top officials involved did resign from their office.”593

Unfortunately, the Code of Conduct was not helpful in its implementation because the civil servants of Ghana earn one of, if not the, lowest salaries on the African continent. This induced the public officials to not only turn a blind eye on certain practises but also to take advantage of their positions for personal ends. This implementation of the code in the constitution marks in some way the last step of institutionalising corruption within the Ghanaian society. It did not promote ethical behaviour because the government has never shown political will to do so. The code, in itself, is nothing more than a mere list of prohibitions; it does not give an actual code of conduct for officials to follow, thus having the similar useless and ineffective purpose as most, if not all, commissions were found to have previously. It has even been argued that, and correctly, that these codes are ‘counterproductive, unenforceable and meaningless.594

This list of codes of conduct was in fact already covered by other legal codes and statutes. After nearly twenty years in office, Ghana was still in a state of economic decrepitude; as Ayee puts it,

“Rawlings and his government had failed to ‘slay the monster of political corruption’ and his governmental system was unmoved because it was still burdened with ‘excessive corruption, embezzlement, misappropriation, misapplication, and mismanagement – the very things he usurped the throne and leadership to conquer.”595

I agree with Ayee finally, that corruption in Ghana has outlived every single government and their economic and political reforms. Social agitation has never uprooted either what is in reality a culture that was emergent already thirty five years ago. A generation to be generous has since then lived on a land where bribery, embezzlement and all types of corruption have thrived for so long. Societal and moral values are cankered by habit that, for the most, advantages only the ones that are already in a position of convenience. The different governments have, in reality, only institutionalised behaviour of unethical nature that has made society suffer enormously despite resenting it, whilst at the same time, in a resigned manner, tolerate and accepts it. This is an unwilling and unyielding society that can conveniently accommodate corruption or dishonesty.”596



595 Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Summary Record of Proceedings of a Workshop to review the Commission Guidelines on Conflict of Interest, 26 October 2005, Accra, Ghana

596 Fage, J.D. with Tordoff, W. 2002, A History of Africa, Routledge, London, UK.



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My own advice to the Ghanaians is that they should never lose hope in their efforts to wage war against corruption,

for according to Fredrick Douglass,

“If there is no struggle there is no progress. Those who profess to favour freedom and yet deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without ploughing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Men may not get all they pay for in this world, but they must certainly pay for all they get. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.”597

8. ROLE OF ANTI-CORRUPTION BODIES AND THEIR EFFECTIVENESS

The first few commissions that were set up might have been done in an, at least at start, honest manner with a real belief that they would change Ghanaian society for the better. But this were not true because the elected leaders were more interested in acquiring power than helping the people for whom they were elected.

According to Dare Babarinsa,

“The elected leaders of the people are more interested in the theatre of power than in creating enduring structures. That is the lure of sirens, the long convoys of cars howling through the cities that are jungles, and jungles that are barren lands, it is such a shame that we have learnt very little from our strings of tragedies and downfall.”598

I agree with Ayee that,

“Throughout the fifty years of its independence, Ghana has shown a tremendous ability in implementing an amazingly large number of different commissions of inquiry into bribery and corruption. Most of the ones set up before the investiture of the 4th Republic, if not all, were done so for the nearly unique reason of discrediting the pre-incumbent regimes. The more commissions

597 Cf. Odey O.J ‘This Madness Called Election 2003’. Printed by Snaap Press Limited Enugu, Nigeria. pg. 19.




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were set up the less the higher ranked officials of the government were threatened by them; at least as long as it was the same government in place.” 599

The reports of the Auditor-General not only document, and thus prove, the widespread nature and growing evolution of corruption in Ghana throughout time but also show that from the start, the capacity of people or commissions inquiring into corruption allegations and accusations was very limited. Their capacity was, at best, giving some proof about corruption allegations but rarely bringing the accused to justice. The accused people, even if brought to justice, would not contribute to the combating of corruption; they would merely represent a fraction of the wrong doings of so many officials.

I agree with Soyinka that most of our problems stem from arrogance of an insensitive government. According to him,

“When the arrogance of power, even where hidden, becomes institutionalized in politics to an extent that it glorifies, or even merely appears to glorify criminality, we recognize immediately the preliminary steps towards the enthronement of fascism.”600

This is true because, the fact that by the 1970s, the ones in charge of inquiring into fraudulent behaviour would in reality only bring the middle and low level officials who had been involved in cases of bribery and embezzlement to light shows that the inquisitors also were involved in corruption. And they were working hard to make sure that neither they nor their colleagues at the highest levels of officialdom would become involved in publicly known allegations of corruption. This shows that the earlier commissions were factually inefficient in rooting out corruption of Ghanaian society.601 According to Wikipedia,

“Rawlings did create, like his predecessors, a near unquantifiable number of bodies that were supposed to deal with corruption. Once again, it seems that these anti-corruption bodies actually helped in doing the contrary of what they were originally set out to do; it would not be






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unfair as to say that the more anti-corruption bodies were created, the more institutionalised corruption became in Ghanaian civil society”. 602

I believe that this statement might not be entirely true; still, it demonstrates that these anti-corruption bodies have overall been completely inefficient in uprooting corruption evils out of Ghana. Today’s agencies, such as the CHRAJ, seem to be able to get some results, because of, for example their ability to bring down major actors of the Ghanaian civil society, such as Mr. Anane, the ex-Minister for Road Transport; nevertheless, the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), a local chapter of Transparency International (TI), published a corruption perception survey of southern Ghanaian urban households with raw data and charts as well as their findings, conclusions and recommendations – which are to be useful in the different corruption perceptions section that bring up to light Ghanaian citizen beliefs on corruption in their country in a very dry and statistical manner603.

According to Wikipedia,

“The exact same findings were then published in their (TI) quarterly newspaper over three pages only two months later, this time in a more journalistic style. This shows that the anti-corruption bodies are very good at recycling data for different usages, highlighting their still existent inefficiency in combating corruption and its root causes, as well as helping cure the problem that corruption brings to any society; Ghana, this time, being the unfortunate example.”604

I can say that the CHRAJ and the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) constitute the two main anti-corruption bodies actively existing in contemporary Ghana. The former has pretty much the same role as all other commissions of inquiry that have existed in the past, its role is to investigate deeply into all types of allegations of corruption and report their findings to the Attorney General who then decides of the procedures to be undertaken under legal requirements. It has nevertheless a role that was not given to any other precedent commissions, that is a mission to educate the public on their human rights and freedom. Its jurisdiction is limited because it cannot investigate certain matters which are, overall, to prevent it to engage in unnecessary litigation and confrontation with the government of the day.

However, I wish to acknowledge that the unique praise that was possible to give to the CHRAJ was its mission to educate the masses about their civil and human rights as well as about the evils of corruption. The only section existing on education was a series of nine educational leaflets, aimed at the younger, about corruption and published in cooperation with the World Bank and the

602 Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia, 2007. ‘Historical and cultural perspective of corruption in Ghana and the Gold Coast’.

603 Op, cit. 604 Ibid.



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Department for International Development (DFID). The best example that can be given to show the CHRAJ’s ineffectiveness in this domain is the fact that the first two leaflets in the series were inexistent in the library and that the librarian seemed utterly unconcerned of their whereabouts and, moreover, that the author (these educational leaflets were published in cooperation with the World Bank and the Department for International Development (DFID) actually cared about them. This is to show that, even internally, the CHRAJ does not seem overly concerned about educating the masses on corruption, and thus combating corruption and its root causes because it has been institutionalised into Ghanaian society.

In conclusion, I agree with Ayee that, the point that has been argued throughout this work, is to show that anti-corruption bodies have not only been ineffective in combating corruption but furthermore that they helped with the high tolerance level of corruption in Ghana as well as, in a word, institutionalising corruption in Ghanaian society is backed by this single summarising quote: The establishment of the SFO (its role as an agency of the government – under the responsibility of the Minister of Justice – is to monitor, and possibly prosecute the ones committing serious frauds that would be financially or economically consequential to the state) seems to be an institutionalisation of corruption.605

9. POINT OF VIEW OF INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS

It is important at this point to see the role played by the International Community through some of its agencies in effort to control Corruption menace in the Society.

According to Ayee,

“The Transparency International (TI) has been, on a yearly basis, trying to inform all the ones interested about the state of corruption in as many countries as it is possible for them to pursue studies on this subject. This is a table showing the result found for the last ten years: (The table of corruption ranking of countries.)




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Table 8, is very useful in showing us the evolution, or in this case more the non-evolution of Ghana in the matter of corruption. The first score Ghana recorded in 1998 was 3.3/10, which is identical to the score registered in 2006.”606

Table 7 Corruption in Ghana

Year of study

Corruption Perceptions Index Score (Out of a maximum score of 10)

Ranking of Ghana in the study

Number of countries involved in the study

Ranking of Ghana amongst African countries

Number of African countries involved in the study

2006 3.3 70th 163 7th tied with

Egypt 46

2005 3.5 65th 158 7th 44

2004 3.6 64th 146 6th 35

2003 3.3 70th 133 6th tied with

Egypt and Morocco

29

2002 3.9 50th 102 6th 21

2001 3.4 59th 91 6th 17

2000 3.5 52nd 90 6th tied with

Senegal 21

606 Cf. Ayee, J.R.A. 1994, Ñotes on the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice under the 1992 Ghanaian Constitution, Verfassung Und Recht In Ubersee, Vol. 27, n.2, pp. 159-170.



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Year of study

Corruption Perceptions Index Score (Out of a maximum score of 10)

Ranking of Ghana in the study

Number of countries involved in the study

Ranking of Ghana amongst African countries

Number of African countries involved in the study

1999 3.3 63rd 99 11th tied

with Egypt 19

1998 3.3 55th 85 10th tied

with Senegal 18

1997 Ghana not

included into the study that year.

Ghana not studied that year so not ranked.

52

Ghana not studied that year so not ranked.

2

I wish to remark here that these ratings from the Transparency International are very important for us to know where Ghanaian society stands compared to other countries of the world in relation to their corruption status. This will enable them (Ghanaian society) to find the means of tackling this endemic disease called corruption. It is interesting to find out in the ranking that there are not many changes for the better noticed for some number of years.

According to Ayee,

“The same score was given to Ghana another two times within a nine year period; even though a 3.9/10 was awarded in 2002, this table is a clear indication that little has changed over the last decade in terms of combating corruption in this country. Ghana’s gradual fall in the placement from 55th to 70th in corruption ranking can be solely attributed to the addition of so many other countries in the studies over the years. The fact that Ghana was incorporated into the study in 1998 shows it is relatively easy to obtain information about corruption in this country.”607




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One can see that the ranking of Ghana within African countries went from around tenth to around sixth between 1999 and 2000; nevertheless, this should not be thought of as being a positive evolution for Ghana. The fact that Ghana is tied amongst African countries with Senegal and Egypt when around the tenth position as well as when around the sixth position shows that it is a worsening of affairs for other African countries rather than a progression in combating corruption in Ghana, especially when taking into account the stagnation of Ghana’s score throughout the decade.608

This table has provided us with an array of facts that confirm the argument put forward regarding the endemic corruption in Ghana; that is that different Ghanaian governments have set up anti-corruption bodies to tackle corruption, but these bodies have been ineffective and very nearly useless in doing so. As Oliver, puts it,

“The only effect these anti-corruption bodies have had, especially talking of those active in the last ten years, is that of making people believe that the Ghanaian society are useful and effective when all they do is institutionalising corruption by actually not tackling corruption and its root causes but helping corruption continue by making more complex the road to combat it”609.

The social perceptions of corruption in Ghana are two-fold. In Ghana, on one hand, there is a clear perception that many institutions are corrupt and that a majority of people have to contend with it on a near regular basis; on the other hand, there is a clear lack of understanding by the majority, slight as it be, that these anti-corruption bodies are not totally independent and thus that they are not able to correctly fight away corruption and its evils from the Ghanaian society

10. CONCLUSION

I agree with Ayee that in this dissertation, a definition of corruption has been made, assembling other definitions into a single clear and simple one, thus providing the reader with an understanding of what corruption is. The presence of corruption worldwide has been shown, as well as its high level of occurrence in sub-Saharan countries.

608 Ibid.

609 Oliver, A.O. and Atmore, A.E. 2005, Africa Since 1800, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.



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The different concepts and theories brought forward in this work have come together to conclude that corruption has to be understood not only in individual terms but more as part of system that feeds and grows on corruption from the inside.

The historical perspective has been able to uncover details about corruption from before Ghana’s independence, and has shown that when Nkrumah inherited of the country, its monetary funds were plentiful and very healthy to say the least. Nkrumah dilapidated Ghana’s finances in his nine years rule, and was ousted by a coup because of the numerous allegations of corruption that surrounded him and his government. Successive governments have since then implemented a near incalculable number of commissions of inquiry and other anti-corruption bodies to investigate and discredit previous governments. It was found that by the start of the 1970s, an incipient culture of corruption existed in Ghana but it was also founded on the colonial tradition.. This burgeoning culture grew steadily larger and larger throughout time, and it was found that the numerous anti-corruption bodies actually helped corruption grow to such proportions, even up until nowadays.

The anti-corruption agencies, their role and their effectiveness have been carefully scrutinised and criticised to finally conclude that they were an agent, if not a catalyst, in the institutionalisation of corruption within the Ghanaian society. They have been found to never have been entirely independent and that the incumbent governments could easily apply pressure on them so as to nullify their efforts. Finally, the study of the state of corruption in contemporary Ghana has brought up to light certain facts; firstly that corruption is present widely and is accepted as a part of the society Ghanaians live in, secondly that there is very little will, even from the society itself to uproot the causes of corruption in their own country, thus helping the ones in government to be able to continue with their malevolent practises.

Overall, this study has proven that the implementations of anti-corruption agencies have institutionalised corruption and that they have fooled to some extent people into believing that their governments were actually trying to combat corruption, which is very debatable.



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D. CORRUPTION CONTROL STRATEGIES IN SIERRA LEONE

1. REPORT ON THE GOVERNMENT’S FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION IN SIERRA LEONE AS CONCEIVED BY THE NATIONAL ANTI-CORRUPTION

STRATEGY (NACS)610

The report on the Governments of Sierra Leone fight against corruption shows that they (Sierra Leone) are not immune from the menace of corruption which has bedevilled the countries of the world. Corruption affects everybody including the atheist.

According to Juan Arias, as an atheist, he loves justice and progress but hates enslavement which people experience due to corruption.

As he puts it,

“I am an atheist. This does not mean that I believe in nothing. But the only reality I accept is what I can see and touch. I accept man, who is always both an exploiter and the exploited at the same time. My God is struggle, justice and progress. He is the opposite of the world’s mad rush of anger, of hatred, of vengeance, of oppression, of fear, of war, of neurosis, of pain, of sorrow, of death. For the moment, however, all I can do is cry to you, the unknown and still undiscovered God, my uncertainty and the anger that wells up from the hearts of men enslaved.”611

From this, we can see that corruption is great enemy to be fought by everyone and every nation. This is because if it is allowed to creep in, it can shatter the whole fabric of a nation.

As we have seen, corruption can simply be defined as the abuse of power, most often a time for individual gain or to benefit particular group(s) of which the individual owes allegiance. While politicians or civil servants most often interpret the term corruption to mean the abuse of public power, it goes beyond that in Sierra Leone, because it includes also a pattern of bad, unacceptable and harmful behaviour that affects the public virtually in every sphere of life.

For The National Ant-Corruption Strategy (NACS),

610 “The NACS is the manifestation of the political will and commitment of the Executive arm of government to fight corruption at all levels in the Sierra Leone society”. Abridged Version of the NACS report page - 1

611 Juan. A.T. Robinson, Honest To God, (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1963), p. 8.



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“The ten years civil war with its attendant imbroglio and savagery violently rocked the Sierra Leonean state thereby disrupting lives and activities and reversed the development of the country for perhaps one generation. The war has ended and the country now found itself at the bottom of the UNDP Human Development Index. The country has been occupying this unenviable position in recent years and in spite of the plethora of efforts that seem to have been made by the government, donors and other stakeholders to reverse this negative trend, very little has been achieved so far.” 612

This is an unfortunate development, because as the result of corruption, many in the society became so poor that it became almost impossible for them to eat one square meal a day.

In the words of Martin Luther King Junior,

“like a monstrous octopus, poverty seem(s) to have spread its reprehensible and choking tentacles to every hamlet and city...”613

According to the UNDP Human Development Assessment during 1990-2002,

“about 57 percent of the population lived below US$1 a day and about 75 percent lived below US$2 a day . This can be interpreted to mean that the majority of Sierra Leoneans are marooned in the doldrums of poverty.” 614

Again, the 2002 General Elections were more crucial in a sense because they were the first democratic elections held after the decade long war.

According to NACS,

There was mass participation of the people in the political processes and this was widely acclaimed nationally and internationally as democratic. Very recently also, (May 2004) Local Government Elections were held country-wide after a long lapse of 32 years. The resuscitation of Councils marked a new epoch in the new democratic process in the country since power and authority would eventually have to be transferred from Freetown to the provincial areas. It should be borne in mind that the rejuvenation of these Councils is intrinsically part of the post-war rebuilding process whereby citizens after four years would have to elect local representatives (Councillors) to undertake development programmes gearing towards the interests of the people in their localities.”615

593 The National Ant-Corruption Strategy (NACS), Anti – Corruption Commission Annual Report 2003, p.6.

613 Martin Luther King Jr. A Testament of Hope. P 46. 614 Sierra Leone Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper Page-20 5. 615 The National Ant-Corruption Strategy (NACS), Anti – Corruption Commission Annual Report 2003, p.14.



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It is important here to note that the terms ‘Transparency’ and ‘Accountability’ have become more popular in the new democratic discourse in Sierra Leone and other new democracies.

One is tempted here to ask the critical questions, why the increasing uses of the terms ‘Transparency’ and ‘Accountability’ in almost every facet in the public and even private sectors. What is the level of Transparency and Accountability in the public and private sectors? What is it that people want transparent and accountable?

According to NACS,

“The underpinning reason for the increasing use of these terms in recent years stem from the historical track-record the country has of ingrained institutional corruption. During past regimes it was somewhat anathematic for people to publicly question the unchecked spate of corruption that was prevalent in the country. With the ushering in of a democratic regime in 1996, freedom of expression was to a very large extent respected, and so there was and is still a clarion call by citizens and donors to ‘clean up’ public institutions of dampened and decayed corruption.”616

Most Sierra Leoneans and donors realised that if serious efforts are not made to mitigate, or if possible eradicate corruption in the country there is virtually very little hope to salvage the vast majority of people from the sharp clutches of poverty. It was as a consequence of the cries from many citizens for the government to do more to halt corruption; backed with pressure from Sierra Leone’s development partners which in recent times has risen to astronomical proportions that greatly compelled the present government to establish the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) which is a partly government funded agency officially charged with the responsibility to design strategies and undertake programmes to curb corruption.

According Franz Fanon,

“Each generation must, out of relative obscurity, discover its mission, fulfil it.”617

It is on this note that it becomes imperative if not mandatory for the people of Sierraleone to take the fight against corruption seriously. It is on this note that the then government of Ghana decided to inaugurate another commission of inquiry known as Anti-Corruption Commission. It should be noted that the mission of the Anti-Corruption Commission is,

“the effective prevention and control of corruption in all its forms and at all levels in Sierra Leone”618.

616 The National Ant-Corruption Strategy (NACS), Anti – Corruption Commission Annual Report 2003, p.22. 617 Cf. Odey J.O. The Ant –Corruption Crusade- The Saga of a Crippled Giant, pub., in Eboyi State Nigeria, 2001. Pg 82.



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The ACC was formally launched on the 7th July 2001 which legitimised its drive to fight corruption in all spheres in the country.

According to NACS,

“The existence and the work of the ACC are known by many Sierra Leoneans especially in Freetown and other big towns like Bo, Kenema and Makeni in the provinces. In spite of the operations of the ACC over the past years however, most people seem to be disillusioned with what they perceive to be the inadequate progress it has made so far in curbing corruption in the country.”619

For this reason, most people have a pervasive (especially enlightened/educated ones who live in bigger towns where corruption is rampant) feeling that it is a losing battle being fought. Some people have even gone as far as to say that the Commission itself is corrupt and that there is no political will by the government to bolster its work; and consequently its plan to check corruption might soon collapse. These are just some of the biting indictments that the Commission has to or is presently contending with.

I wish to point out here that the mistrust among the populace is not unfounded; this is because establishment of commissions of inquiry is no more news to them. Many of these commissions of enquiry did nothing or not enough to bring them out of poverty. They needed justice; they needed to come out of poverty. They have had enough of stories without positive result.

As Fanon puts it,

“What counts today, the question which is looming on the horizon, is the need to redistribution of wealth. Humanity must reply to this question, or be shaking to pieces by it.”620

In Sierra Leone, according to NACS,

“corruption is most likely to occur where the public and private sectors interface - especially where there is a direct responsibility for the provision of a desired service or the application of specific regulations or levies. This includes, for example public procurement and contracting, licensing activities such as the granting of import or export permits, the re-zoning of land and the collection of revenue, whether through taxation or customs duties.” 621

618 Anti-Corruption Commission Annual Report, 2003 p 6 . 619 The National Ant-Corruption Strategy (NACS), Anti – Corruption Commission Annual Report 2003, p.24. 620 Cf. Odey J.O. The Ant –Corruption Crusade- The Saga of a Crippled Giant, pub., in Eboyi State Nigeria, 2001. Pg 106.

621 The National Ant-Corruption Strategy (NACS), Anti – Corruption Commission Annual Report 2003, p.30.



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It should be noted that generically and as we should expect, systems to collect taxes or customs revenue in most developing countries are particularly vulnerable to corruption especially in a country like Sierra Leone where some past governments have cared very little about instituting measures to reduce/eradicate corruption at best or worst, condoning/pampering the act. Corruption is also frequently reported in the appointment or election of public officials. At the basement of the pyramid, but one that directly and seriously affects the public, corruption involves incalculable unpaid services such as the granting of driver’s licences, passports and business permits. Such activities which unfortunately have been practiced on a colossal scale have effectively hampered the socio-political and economic wellbeing especially of the already powerless and marginalized sectors of the society.

However, I agree with NACS, that most Sierra Leoneans have come to accept, even expect corruption to take place (as a way of satisfying their individual interests). The poor who constitute over half of the country’s population suffer the most. They are denied access to education, health care and medicine, due to their inability to make the extra payment demanded by some corrupt officials. They are too often denied justice in the courts more so when the legal system has also been stigmatized as being corrupt and hampering access to justice for the poor. They also suffer when as a consequence of corruption scarce resources end up in the pockets of some public officials instead of executing pro-poor development projects that could serve the dual purpose of removing the poor from the pool of poverty and attracting essential domestic and international investments. The ACC Act provided for among other things the formation of a national Anti-Corruption Commission with a mandate which includes powers to prevent and investigate all corrupt practices in the country.622

According to NACS,

“This research will therefore seek to discover how far the then government (through the ACC) has gone to actualize one of its key pro-poor policy pronouncements to fight corruption in the country.”623

622 The National Ant-Corruption Strategy (NACS), on Anti – Corruption Commission Annual Report 2003, p.26 623 ibid



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2. PROJECT OBJECTIVES

According to NACS,

“The overall objective of the project was to assess how far the government (through the ACC) has gone to fulfil its promise to fight corruption in Sierra Leone; proffer recommendations that could be used by the ACC and other relevant stakeholders to design new strategies to tackle corruption in the country.”624

3. METHODS OF DATA COLLECTION

Data for this research were gathered from both primary and secondary sources as conceived by National Anti-Corruption Strategy Ghana.625

I am particularly impressed by the depth of research order, the precise detailed account given and enormous amount of efforts put forward by this group in other to achieve the set objectives. This is impressive though they are not without limitations as one would expect. They were able to explore both the primary and the secondary sources. The primary and the secondary sources according to ACC are as follows;

1. “For primary sources, consultations were held with staff members of the ACC headquarters in Freetown who provided valuable information about the work of the Commission.

Focus group discussions were also organized in the North, South and Eastern Regions of the country. The six districts used as pilot areas were Bo and Moyamba (in the South); Kambia and Bombali (in the North); and Kenema and Kailahun (in the East). The selection was mainly to have

624 ibid

625 The National Ant-Corruption Strategy (NACS), on Anti – Corruption Commission Annual Report 2003, p.26



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a more representative sample of the country’s population. A total of one hundred and twenty (120) communities (ten per district) were surveyed.”626

I wish to point out here that I am impressed by the openness of the NACS to form discussion group involving the North, the South and the Eastern Regions of the country. This involvement gives room for objectivity. According to NACS,

“It was agreed that the researchers for the project should have at least resided in the districts for a considerable period and have worked on issues bordering around transparency and accountability. A total of thirty carefully selected prospective researchers were given two days of intensive training on the rubrics of conducting research of this nature”627.

Furthermore, the NACS here showed the necessity of training and of experience regarding the issues bordering around transparency and accountability with respect to corruption control strategy. This quite encouraging because in this light, they were taught the general techniques involved in conducting social research, the purpose of the research; generally how to deal with answer sheets; how to select participants for the focus group discussions; and the significance of meeting deadlines in research.

According to NACS,

“Two researchers (per district) were eventually contracted to do the work. Each researcher randomly selected ten communities in their respective districts where they conducted focus group discussions and administered questionnaires that entailed both pre-coded and open-ended questions. Great efforts were made to ensure that each group comprised of at least ten participants from different walks of life, sex and age in order to elicit the views of all shades of society.”628

Again,

“A different set of questionnaires was administered to the head of the ACC branch office in Bo Town.”629

I believe that this method of involving the local people in the inquiry is very laudable. This is because it gives the local community the sense of belonging and participation and will help them to open up to the members of the ACC.

626 The National Ant-Corruption Strategy (NACS), on Anti – Corruption Commission Annual Report 2003,

627 ibid

628 ibid

629 During the period this research was undertaken, Bo had the only functioning ACC office outside Freetown



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As NACS puts it,

“The reason for administering this questionnaire was to assess the level of corporation between the local people and the ACC field staff; and to know the prospects and challenges that lie ahead. Perhaps it would have been much simpler to get the broad information about the work of the ACC office from its head office in Freetown, but to obtain it first-hand from field staff made a great difference. For example, questions relating to collaboration/networking with community people (which are very essential to the Commission’s work) can better be answered by the staff on the ground.”630

2. For secondary data, textbooks, published reports and the internet were utilized. Some of the main reference materials used for this exercise was the Anti-Corruption Act, the Abridged Version of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy - NACS, and the Commission’s annual reports”.631

I wish to say that these three major sources used by ACC in the course of their work, showed that, ACC were not parochial in their views, rather they extended their research to most of the major sources of information available to them. With the use of internet, they can gather and disseminate information faster. This will make the people of Sierra Leone to see the ACC report on corruption as credible.

4. LIMITATIONS TO THE STUDY

I am not surprised that the people of Sierra Leone were disgusted with their politicians and consequently politic. One would expect their negative feelings when yet new enquiries launched. Most did not waste time to reject the idea of new inquiries.

According to NACS,

“Most respondents from the six pilot districts bluntly expressed their disillusionment with the research topic (government’s fight against corruption in the country) which according to them was a ‘wild goose chase’ and therefore no need to waste their precious time canvassing something they knew was unattainable. As a consequence, it took a painfully long time for the researchers to be


631 ibid



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able to convince them to participate in the exercise. Given the tight schedule of the research, the long time it took to get them interested was disheartening because it was not a constraint that initially had been for-seen. The domino effect of this state of affairs was that the researchers were unable to meet their deadlines to submit the research findings, which in turn put inordinate pressure on the lead researcher to compile and publish the report.632

I wish to observe here that, for the fact the politicians were not living up to the standard, should not be enough reason for one to run away from the problem which corrupt politicians brought upon the society or could make one run away from politics. This is because if things are left the way they are, the situation in the society will get worse.

As Odey puts it,

“If people turn their backs against politics because it is a dirty game, they are implicated by political decision made without their contribution. When they become part and parcel of the political machinery that makes decisions, they are involved in politics. In brief, therefore, we all are politicians in certain degree. As long as we are part and parcel of our larger societies, subject to the laws and the ordinances that govern them, we cannot escape from all that will accrue to that membership.”633

I wish to agree with Odey that politics is not dirty in itself; it is some politicians who play politics who are dirty and corrupt. I encourage good people to enter politics so as to not allow the corrupt politician to come into politics.

Since the government’s pledge was to fight corruption in its entirety in the country, it would have been prudent to conduct the research in every district so as to get a more representative data, but there was not adequate funding to go that far. A country-wide assessment would have enhanced a more comparative analysis, especially so when opinions and perceptions would have been analysed district by district


633 John Odey, Mahatma Ghandi: A Profile in Love, Peace and Nonviolence (Enugu: Snaap Press, 1996), p. 234.



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5. A BRIEF ASSESSMENT OF THE NATIONAL ANTI-CORRUPTION STRATEGY (NACS).

“The NACS is the manifestation of the political will and commitment of the Executive arm of government to fight corruption at all levels in the Sierra Leone society”.634

I want to observe that although; the NACS examined the following areas: Health, Education, The Judiciary, Agriculture, Local Government and Mineral Resources. This was commendable but not sufficient. Though surveys have deemed these areas to be hotspots of corrupt practices, it could have been better if other public institutions were examined as well so as to provide a comprehensive strategy to combat corruption in the public sector. It is pertinent to note that the NACS only looked at corruption in the public domain.635

It would have been more appropriate for it to examine the private sector where it interfaces with the public sector. To examine the public and private sectors in juxtaposition would have been a Herculean task however due to the inadequate resources (especially human and material) that are required for the exercise. If corruption is to be addressed with the seriousness and timeliness it deserves, that both the public and private domains should come under examination by a reputable and competent agency to ensure accountability and transparency in the delivery of goods and services to the public.

It is important to point out here that, the summarized version of the NACS report provided a series of recommendations (by sector) to address corruption in the public sector. The report did not only provide invaluable recommendations, but also painstakingly identified hotspots in these institutions that are worth looking at as well. In one sense, the NACS report is like the torch that identifies the grey areas in these institutions so as to enable the relevant stakeholders to take measures to forestall corruption. The report identifies at least some of the major areas that should come under thorough scrutiny in these public institutions.636

Furthermore, the report among other things provides the basis for knowing the form/manner in which corruption is practiced in these sectors which makes it a little easier to address them. A few concerns have however been raised: are staff of the Investigation Department of the ACC now ready to utilize the report and work assiduously to checkmate anomalies in these identified trouble spots? Is this report (like many other well-researched documents) going to meaninglessly occupy a

634 Abridged Version of the NACS report page – 1. 635 ibid .

636 Abridged Version of the NACS report page – 1.



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space on office shelves? Are there plans for taking serious and honest measures to address corrupt practices in these public institutions? As in many other reform documents in Sierra Leone, the implementation phases are the most crucial.

I wish to confirm that, the NACS report clearly identifies areas where opportunities exist for corrupt practices to take place; how corruption occurs in the public sector; how Sierra Leoneans perceive corruption, the manner in which it is practiced in their different localities; and above all the reports provide a gamut of cogent recommendations/suggestions to tackle corruption in the identified institutions and areas.

For the Commission in tandem with partners (both state and non-state) to research, compile and submit the NACS report at such a material moment when corruption in the country is rife, was a laudable idea. The publishing of the report however should not be misconstrued to mean the only answer to solving the issue of corruption in the public sector. A lot still has to be done.

The NACS at the moment is an eye-opener and a morale booster to curb corruption in the country. It should be noted that the report is comprehensive but new, and that people should not expect miracles to take place immediately. The onus rests mainly on the shoulders of the Commission’s staff to convince Sierra Leoneans that this time round rock-hard efforts would be made to stem corruption in the public domain. Due to the rampant nature of corruption in the country, and the (right or wrong) perception and conviction of most Sierra Leoneans that senior public officials do often engage in serious corrupt practices like the siphoning or deliberate misappropriation of public funds and get away with it, it is needless to emphasize that a lot still has to be done to change the mind set of people to think that corruption cannot only be drastically mitigated, but that the ACC has the propensity and capacity to do it.

According to NACS,

“Most people are expecting the ACC to make immediate follow–ups on the report, conduct investigations, prosecute and punish those that could be found culpable of engaging in ‘destructive’ corrupt practices. If this does not seem to happen, unfortunately most people (especially those who are convinced that endemic corruption is responsible for their impoverished state) will lose faith in the work of the Commission altogether.”637

Most people are anxious and even desperate to see corruption hastily brought down to its knees. It is therefore important for the Commission to note that expectations are very high and these needs to be managed effectively.

637 The National Ant-Corruption Strategy (NACS), on Anti – Corruption Commission Annual Report 2003, p.41.



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I wish to point out here that some people because of the negative things they have already experienced about politics made them doubt and suspect almost all government proposals. According to Olisa Agbakoba,

“Partisan politics is not the same as human right activism. It is about lying, cheating, deceiving, disloyalty and all other evil things we have in this world. The only way you can win politics today is to have money. And you must be ready to do anything including killing and maiming people. I predict that Nigeria will not begin to turn around in 30 to 50 years. Good men don’t thrive where there is evil. So, unless there is a kind of revolution things will not change.”638

This is true also in Sierraleone, as some critics constantly accuse the government of not properly harnessing the 2001, 2002 and 2003 Public Expenditure Tracking Survey (PETS) reports, most are still pessimistic that the NACS report could suffer the same fate. For example the 2001, 2002 and 2003 PETS reports consistently showed discrepancies in the allocation of public funds from Freetown to the provinces especially in the education and health sectors.639

I agree with NACS, that even if appropriate measures were taken against those public servants who might have been found culpable of misappropriating public funds, perhaps because they were not publicly named and shamed (as most people would have preferred), consequently they frequently unequivocally and frustratingly accuse the government of at best not setting bright examples to halt corruption in the country or at worse covering up its supposed corrupt officials. These are burning feelings that should not be ignored, especially as some people are convinced that corruption is responsible for their indigent state.640

The NACS report defines corruption as,

“the misuse of public office for private gains.”641 It is significant when the report states ‘The strategy is a responsibility that falls on all of us, with the sincerity of purpose and commitment of all Sierra Leonean the tasks ahead are hardly insurmountable.”642

638 Cf. Odey J.O. The Anti –Corruption Crusade- The Saga of a Crippled Giant, pub, in Eboyi State Nigeria, 2001 Pg 74.



641 Op cit-42.



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This clearly shows that it is not only the ACC that has the responsibility to fight corruption – Civil Society, government, donors, and the general public should put their shoulders to the wheel as well. This is all the more important when the report states that

“…it is not a static document but one that will be constantly updated as measures are implemented and new possible threats are identified….”643

Because as methods are employed to investigate and where necessary punish corrupt public officials, it would not be uncommon for public officials to alter their behaviour. They may still engage in corrupt practices and attempt to cover up their tracks in the process. In this vein, it is but proper for the strategies to be periodically revisited in order to address future corrupt threats.

It is also significant when the report mentioned that the NACS is not “a magical wand for solving all forms of bad governance”644.

I believe that this point is noteworthy because there seems to be a perception by some people that the ACC strives to ameliorate all forms of poor governance, which is obviously not the case. The ACC has its areas of focus and limits. There are confirmed reports of members of the public taking cases/reports to the Commission that do not fall within its purview. For example, civil cases instead of being reported to the Police are said to be frequently reported to the Commission. When advised to take these reports to the appropriate institution (the Police) they usually end up feeling disappointed that their issues were not taken ‘seriously’ or were ignored. One thing is certain though, the ACC does not have answers to some of the questions, let alone all the answers to all the questions.

6. AN ANALYSIS OF THE 2001, 2002 AND 2003 ACC ANNUAL CASELOAD.

According to Odey,

642 Ibid. 643 Ibid. 644The National Ant-Corruption Strategy (NACS), on Anti – Corruption Commission Annual Report 2003, p.43.



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“One of the greatest sources of fear for the common man is that those who make laws to

protect common interest have their easy ways and means of circumventing the same laws.

Having been deceived so many years, the masses see so much discrepancy between word,

creed and deed.”645

But for the case of the ACC, there appeared to be some rays of hope, for the simple fact that the ACC has a precedent of publishing annual reports is indicative of its poise to be transparent to the public. The reports though not very widely disseminated, do get accessed by most government ministries/institutions/agencies, civil society, and development partners. Through these aforementioned institutions, some members of the public have had the opportunity to examine these annual reports. Since information is power, it was in this light that the Commission thought it prudent to annually inform the public of its strategies, methods, successes, constraints and recommendations.

I agree with ACC, that these reports facilitate public discussions and contributions, which correspondingly helps to make the fight against corruption more transparent in the country. These reports also inform development partners and other stakeholders of its areas of intervention; the types of cases frequently investigated; common cases at a particular period; and the status of unfinished cases towards the end of the year. The commonly investigated cases include: accepting bribes; evasion of customs duties; fraudulent conversion; perjury; offering bribes; misappropriation of government funds; false report to ACC; soliciting bribes, misappropriation of public funds, accepting an advantage, falsification of teacher certificate; false pretences and misappropriation of subvention.646

Another quite important thing I want to point out here is that, the reports also gives the public the opportunity to know which person, group of people, or institutions that are being investigated and for what, and the level of punishment inflicted on convicts. The reports also shed floodlight on the ACC Auditor’s Report which enables the general public, government and donors to at least have some knowledge of the Commission’s income and expenditure periodically.

Let us at this point examine, the 2001, 2002 and 2003 ACC Annual Caseloads.

According to the ACC reports,

645 Odey J.O. The Anti –Corruption Crusade- The Saga of a Crippled Giant, pub., in Eboyi State Nigeria, 2001. Pg 106.

646 ACC 2001 Annual Report pages – 31-34.



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“the year 2001, twenty-two (22) cases were investigated. Eight (8) among the twenty-two (22) cases were being charged to court; eight (8) were never prosecuted at all; and only one (1) conviction was made.”647

I wish to observe here that, though only twenty-two (22) cases were investigated that given year it is nevertheless appreciable given the time (7 July 2001) the Commission was officially launched. The fact that only one among the twenty-two (22) cases investigated led to conviction is less encouraging, if not a cause for concern. Even the one conviction was hanging because the accused sought an appeal (which was still pending at the time the report was published). Eight cases were still in court whose outcomes were uncertain.

As ACC puts it,

“It was difficult to prognosticate whether any of the eight cases would have led to conviction. Eight of the twenty-two (22) investigated cases were never prosecuted.”648

Unfortunately, this shows that either these cases were not properly investigated before being taken to the Attorney General’s (AG’s) desk or the AG’s office, in his wisdom, deemed them unfit for prosecution.

Again, according to the ACC,

“for the year 2002, forty-three (43) cases were investigated. Among the 43(forty-three) cases investigated it is pertinent to note that only one (1) reached conviction stage; ten (10) were still in court; twenty-eight (28) awaited the Attorney General’s (AG) decision; two were never prosecuted; one (1) was eventually handed over to the Police while another awaited the AG’s confirmation to be handed over to the Police at the time the report was published.649

Writing under the caption, A Nation On Trial, the famous writer, Pat Utomi, argued that,

“When the NET building went ablaze, the conscience of a nation burnt with it. Not even the tortured cry of an angry and bereaved nation could ameliorate the collective guilt that we share for the touching of our grandest national edifice and the premature and unwarranted cremation of our fellow citizens who died in the towering inferno. Nigeria is on trial...As a society grew more to identify with material success, scrutiny of how such material was acquired declined. Therein lies

647 ACC 2002 Annual Report pages – 49-54.

648 Ibid.

649 Ibid.



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the fire that has burnt our conscience to the point that human life and wanton destruction of property is not found repugnant if it can protect our dirty part to displayable wealth.”650

In these statements, were contained the microcosm of the wide spread anger and despair that gripped the people of Sierraleone. Due to the great expectations Sierra Leonean have in the ACC to curb corruption; among a number of forty-three (43) cases investigated for there to be only one conviction should not be a cause for jubilation. It shows the arduousness of the task at hand, and the unbearably long period it might take Sierra Leone to be a corrupt-free society.

This brings to mind the comment made by The President Tejan Kabbah that,

“The problems faced by the Anti-Corruption Commission are many and varied. I expect that the Commission would be the first to accept that there are still shortcomings to be addressed.”651

Unfortunately again, for up to twenty-eight (28) cases to be awaiting the AG’s decision is symptomatic of the delay inherent in the procedures in dealing with corruption cases. If cases continue to delay in this way people might lose faith in the efforts of the Commission, and might think that the Commission will not actualize its vision of seeing

“…a Sierra Leone that is free from all forms of corruption to enhance the rule of law in order to create an environment of good governance and reform, which is the cornerstone for development and the eradication of poverty for the benefit of all its citizens”652

I want to make it clear here that this critical way of analysing the issues should not be mistaken to mean a deliberate attempt to trigger hysteria in the reader but rather for them to understand the true situation of things.

Quite interestingly again, for the year 2003, the Commission investigated forty-three (43) cases. Sixteen (16) of these cases were never prosecuted (as per the AG’s advice); Six (6) awaited the AG’s decision; one (1) appeal was pending; two (2) on the AG’s advice were passed over to the Police; thirteen (13) were still in court; and eleven (11) were eventually convicted and punished by the law at the time the report was published.653

It is significant to note, according to NACS that,

650 The National Concord, February 12 1983, p 3.

651 15th Presidential Address on the Occasion of the State Opening of Parliament, June 2003. 652 ACC Annual Report page – 2.

653 Ibid pages –42-49 16.



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“in both the 2002 and 2003 Annual Reports an equal number of forty-three (43) cases were investigated. With a dramatic increase from one (1) conviction in 2002 to eleven (11) in 2003 it is an appreciable achievement. At least it shows that efforts are being made by the Commission and other partners to curb corruption in the public sector. The sixteen (16) cases that were never prosecuted at all are still a cause for concern. It repeatedly shows over the years that the ACC’s mechanisms for reviewing cases before sending them to the AG’s desk still need further improvement.”654

The above reports are impressive, but I wish to add that a lot needs to be done if the scourge/vestige of corruption is to be effectively removed from the Sierra Leonean society. The ACC should however not be judged solely on the basis of its weaknesses, but on its strengths as well. When it started operations in 2001, it was bargaining with a series of problems including limited capacity, logistics and funding among others to execute its work. It has been able over the years to make incremental successes. It should be credited for that. It is a praiseworthy initiative for the Commission to be annually publishing its reports which could invariably invite criticisms, comments and recommendations that could be harnessed to improve its work.

7. ANALYSIS OF RESEARCH FINDINGS

I agree with NACS that the government’s bold pledge to tackle corruption in a holistic way is a prudent and bright initiative. In this light, the people’s awareness of the existence of the corruption as ‘plague’ is the key to its eradication. If people for example, do not have knowledge of what corruption is, they might be engaging, condoning or failing to report damaging corrupt practices which could lead to the country’s underdevelopment.655

According to the NACS report,

“communities were asked whether they actually know what is meant by the term corruption. The majority of respondents in one-hundred-and-nine (109) communities stated that they did whilst the minority/majority in eight (8) said they did not know; and three (3) were unsure of what to say.



655 Op cit –p 24



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This result is positive. It shows that the Commission has largely done its work of sensitizing the Sierra Leonean public about corruption.”656

I wish to say here that this result is indicative of the fact that most Sierra Leoneans now know what corruption is, which is the first successful step to its reduction/eradication. The public can only be meaningfully enlisted in the fight if they are aware of the issue(s) at play. This is a commendable achievement made by the Public Relations Department of the Commission.

I want to draw our attention to the fact that though similar, there is a marked difference between these two questions: what in your opinion is a corrupt act; and how does corruption take place in your community? People were asked both. The tendency existed for some respondents to have a panoramic/global view of corruption (especially those who have access to radio/television/satellite) or do travel to other places where they could have the opportunity of seeing how corruption is unfolding; but not necessarily as it happens in their immediate localities. It was therefore considered important to document the manner in which corruption is practised in the communities.

The reason for that is, according to NACS report that,

“since corruption is multidimensional, and people have a way of looking at issues with peculiar lenses, what perhaps one person, a group of people or one community could interpret as a corrupt act would not be the same for another. Conversely, what perhaps a person, group of people or a community could consider an acceptable way of living could be perceived as a corrupt act by another. The inference this analysis is drawing is that corruption is a matter of perception. By getting the views and perceptions of people living in different settings, it could greatly help the government agency responsible for fighting corruption to design peculiar strategies to address corruption in different areas of the country.”657

I definitely agree with this view, this is because; some are influenced by the environment in which they are. And this environment automatically affects the way they see things and even their actions.

According to the research findings,

“the majority of respondents within seventy-three (73) communities cited misuse/misappropriation of public funds or property; whilst most in twenty-seven (27) mentioned bribery; and twenty (20) said that the misuse of power constitutes a corrupt act. The fact that a colossal number of seventy-three (73) communities mentioned that what they see mainly as a

656 ibid




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corrupt practice is the misuse/misappropriation of public funds or property is perhaps rooted in their conviction that corruption is responsible for their present impecunious state.”658

Unfortunately, this is not surprising, given their knowledge (through the mass media and other means) of huge sums of money given to senior public officials or allocated to government ministries/agencies/departments to undertake well-publicised projects in certain areas without seeing tangible results at the end of it. People have seen and heard in the past, and are still seeing and hearing on a regular basis of public servants converting huge public funds for personal aggrandisement, risking very little or no punishment at all. It is an open secret that the expenditures of some public servants are not commensurate with their official income. In other words, their expenditures sometimes far outweigh their official income; which raises questions as to where they usually obtain the extra money to finance their private projects.

As NACS report puts it,

“Systems to monitor the outcomes of government projects are very ineffective, at best. Aside from the new Local Government Act, an only official who have been nominated by the Executive to a public position and have to present themselves to parliament need to declare their assets and so as one of the main tools of transparency and accountability this is proving to be largely ineffective.”659

It is interesting to point out here that, the so-called declaration of asset(s) system which has been practised in the past; and is still practised especially in government circles; and was supposed to be one of the main tools of accountability and transparency is ineffective. Assets need to be checked during their stay in office and on leaving office if this method is to have any effect at all.

Again, I want to bring to your notice that the twenty-seven (27), communities that identified bribery as constituting corruption underpins the fact that it is a crucial issue that should be addressed urgently. Bribery could facilitate square pegs in round holes in public or private institutions; allowing the rich to trample upon the poor; letting criminals get away with their infamous acts etc. which could correspondingly lead to instability and underdevelopment. Ten communities affirmed that the misuse of power is what constitutes a corrupt act. This might seem comparatively small, but it is significant.

The survey reveals that communities are greatly concerned over the issue of political leaders misusing their positions for whatever reasons there are. When these powers are grossly misused it is the masses that bear the brunt of it. Communities are convinced that the misuse of power is one

658 Ibid.




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of the many ways corruption is practised, as is reflected in the results. Measures should be instituted to address this.

I wish to affirm that this is true taking cognisant of the fact that a lot of the times there are entrenched cultural practices especially in the rural communities that could encourage or discourage corrupt practices; communities were asked to list and explain these practices. The rationale was to ascertain whether there are existing cultural practices in the target communities that could be utilised to fight corruption. In the same vein, the question was geared towards identifying bad or harmful cultural practices that could fuel corruption, and see how they could be harnessed best to muzzle corruption in the communities.


“Most of the respondents in sixty-five (65) communities of a total of one-hundred-and-twenty (120) communities identified the extended family-system; whilst the majority within thirty-five (35) communities demanding or sometimes compulsorily collecting “gifts” from people to prepare for political visitors; and most in twenty (20) stated polygamy as cultural practices that encourages corruption.”660

I agree with the ACC report that, some cultural factors aid corruption. For instance, polygamy and extended family are among the African culture that have entrenched much corruption in the society. This for the simple reason that many a times, the bread winners of the family find themselves in a fix regarding taking appropriate care of the family, consequently indulge in corrupt practices as a means of survival.

There are yet other cultural factors that appear to be fetish but are effective in corruption control strategy in some societies. For instance, are public mockeries, cultural practices that discourage corruption, e.g. Mystical powers, etc.


“the majority in seventy (70) communities among the one-hundred-and-twenty (120) communities said public mockery–through singing of provocative songs against culprits; thirty (30) cited swearing; and twenty (20) mentioned identifying wrongdoers with mystical powers as cultural practices that discourages corruption. This clearly shows that before the setting up of the ACC, Sierra Leonean had their own ways of addressing unacceptable behaviour in their communities. Conversely, some of their cultural practices have unfortunately been aiding, and are still aiding what they deem to be corrupt practices.” 661


661 NACS report p 27.



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I wish to say here that the opportunity the ACC now has is to critically examine these cultural practices to see whether it could improve on any, some or all of them to form part of the strategy to tackle corruption. It should also look into some of the cultural practices that encourage corruption especially the one relating to compulsory collection of “gifts” to prepare for political visitors, which if given serious attention can be mitigated. The majority that cited the extended family system are of the opinion that when a public official has to take direct responsibility for extended family members; if his/her official income cannot meet their needs he/she will be enticed to convert public funds (if he/she happens to lay hands on it) for personal use. In this way, the official will be engaging in a corrupt act which could directly or indirectly harm the general public.662

One observes here that this is a labyrinth issue because it is cultural. Public officials are sometimes pressurised into taking care of their extended family members even if their official or genuine income cannot realistically meet their needs. Unfortunately, communities believe it is their culture and should therefore not be discouraged. Any attempt at discouraging it, no matter the benefits it will accrue to the public, would be interpreted as an invasion or interference into their customs and traditions.


“Poverty is partly responsible for this. A public official who perhaps might have got some help from relatives when struggling to be what he/she is will find it extremely difficult to ignore their extra responsibilities. Communities generally see the issue of providing help (especially paying school or college fees for their promising children and/or relatives) as a form of safety net or life insurance. When these children become successful in life, they are expected to pay back what was expended on them. If they refuse, they are scorned and sometimes abhorred by their very relatives for being ‘ungrateful’ and ‘selfish’.”663

This is very important point because, the fear of being rendered a ‘pariah’ usually coerces many public servants to embezzle public funds to meet the burgeoning or elaborate demands of their extended family members. Perhaps the only rift in the lute is for the government to create opportunities, for example, providing jobs for many able-bodied citizens to reduce the dependence that aids corruption.

Another cultural factor which I consider very important is ‘gift’.


662 ibid




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“The fact that when people are compelled to give ‘gifts’ to political and other high-powered visitors was ranked second as a cultural practice that aids corruption is serious. Most community people are very poor and if they are going to be constantly taxed for making preparations for especially political visitors, this is unacceptable. It is a subtle scheme to rob the poor to satisfy mostly well placed people in society.”664

Fortunately and quite encouraging to, some communities are becoming more strongly averse to this, as was reflected in the number of communities that brought it up. Even some local leaders are alleged to be using this practice as a vehicle to improve their lot (using some of the money or goods collected for themselves). Some of these ‘gifts’ are compulsorily demanded from people, and it is from this point of view that communities stated that it is a form of corruption.

Furthermore, I see public mockery as another powerful cultural factor of corruption control strategy.

As NACS puts it,

“The fact that a majority of the communities attested that the most effective cultural practice that discourages corruption is public mockery; should be used by the Commission as part of its overall strategy to curb corruption. For example, at the national level, if public officials are investigated and proved in a Court of Law, to be corrupt, this information should be made very public. People by disposition are averse to or loathsome to public shaming; and therefore the Commission should utilize this cultural practice to discourage corruption in the public sector.”665

I agree With NACS that the people’s knowledge of the existence and work of the Commission is vital in the fight against corruption. If people for example know what the ACC stands for and the kinds of cases or issues it is dealing with it would definitely energise them to render whatever help they could offer. They need to be able to distinguish the kinds of cases they should report to the Police or the ACC. In this light, communities were asked as to whether they had heard of the ACC, and through which means; and whether they know its main function666.


“One-hundred-and-five (105) among the one-hundred-and-twenty (120) communities surveyed stated that they had heard of the ACC; three (3) said they had not; and two (2) commented that they were unsure of their answer. When further asked to state through which means they had first

664 the NACS report p 28

665 ibid




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heard of it, and through which channel they regularly heard of its work, sixty (60) said through the local F.M radio; forty-five (45) through word of mouth; and fifteen (15) through workshops. The data clearly showed that most communities were aware of the existence of the ACC.”667

Quite interestingly, this shows that the public awareness arm of the Commission has been quite successful in its work. For most communities to have first heard of the ACC through the radio is a pointer to the fact that the Commission has been harnessing one of the fastest mediums of communication to disseminate information to the public. I believe that this is a good initiative which should be exploited further to get more Sierra Leonean involved in the fight.

For the Commission,

“Community people were given the opportunity to assess the rate of corruption in their localities themselves. They were therefore asked to use their own lenses to assess whether there was an increase or decrease in the rate of corruption in their communities. Most within seventy-five communities affirmed that there was an increase; while the majority in forty-five (45) stated that there was a decrease.”668

It is glaring from the data that most Sierra Leonean is convinced based on experiences that corruption is rampant in the country. Though the communities were not using any scientific method to measure the rate of corruption, through the local F.M radio stations, public discussions and personal experiences they were able to assess whether it was increasing or decreasing.

Considering the fact that ‘ordinary people’ themselves could partake in corruption in their own ways, a question was carefully designed to elicit information on whether they sometimes engage in corrupt practices in order to access public services in their communities.


“The majority of people in eighty-five (85) communities noted that they are sometimes compelled by circumstances to engage in corrupt acts while most in forty-five (45) communities said they had never been forced at any point in time to indulge in the act. This data unfortunately reveals that due to the corrupt practices of some public officials; most Sierra Leoneans have at one time or the other been forced by circumstances to engage in corrupt practices as well.”669

667 The NACS report p. 34.

668 Ibid.


669The NACS report p 29.



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This presents a conundrum. The paradox here is that the very communities the ACC relies on tremendously for information and other kinds of support to fight corruption have been forced to be corrupt. The communities should not be blamed entirely for this ugly situation because if for example, an individual is sick he/she might be forced to go to a government hospital/clinic for treatment. All that the patient will seek is the regaining of his/her health. Even if the treatment is supposed to be free, and he/she is told to bribe before obtaining it, though he/she may know that bribery is a form of corruption, in order to get well he/she will be compelled to consciously engage in a corrupt act. This example is just one of the many cases where citizens do engage in corrupt practices. The ACC therefore has to grapple with the dual responsibility of “cleaning up” public and private institutions from corruption whilst entreating ordinary citizens to desist from contributing to the quagmire of corruption.

When questioned, according to NACS,

“to show the frequency in which they do engage in these corrupt practices, most within sixty-five 65) communities said very frequently; most within fifteen (15) said not too frequently; and forty (40) said not at all.”670

Here again, the data shows that the majority of Sierra Leoneans does not only indulge in corrupt acts, but they do so frequently. Therefore, the majority of people in a total out of one-hundred-and-five (105) out of the one-hundred-and-twenty (120) communities surveyed do engage in some form of corrupt practices whether frequently or infrequently to access public services. This is a scaring proportion. The ACC should therefore move at full throttle to prevent corrupt practices in order to facilitate socio-economic development.

Interestingly, communities were asked as to whether they will be willing to provide support to the ACC, and if yes, what kind of support they could provide. The majority of respondents in one-hundred-and-eighteen (118) communities commented that they would be willing to support the ACC. This is remarkable. It is indicative of the willingness of Sierra Leonean to join hands in the fight against corruption. Though most people seem to be pessimistic about the ACC’s objective to eradicate corruption, they are nonetheless willing to support it in their own way. The ACC should make use of this opportunity. This overwhelming support is not surprising given the belief that the drastic reduction/eradication of corruption could pave the way for socio-economic development and this shows that most Sierra Leonean look at corruption as a national concern that should not be handled only by the ACC.



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When further asked according to NACS,

“to state what kind of specific support they could provide, most within ninety-eight (98) communities stated that they could support through the timely reporting of suspected cases of corruption to the ACC; while the majority in twenty-two (22) communities mentioned that they could help through sensitisation of other people. These are two realistic ways the people can simultaneously help the ACC in its work.”671

I believe that with this kind of overwhelming willingness from the vast majority to support the Commission especially in information sharing, the ACC will indirectly have eyes in every corner of the country.672

In addition, the fact that many showed a willingness to educate others about the ills of corruption is good because in spite of the proliferation of radio stations across the country not all Sierra Leonean have access to the radio to get information.

Again when asked according to NACS,

“ whether they are convinced that the ACC will be able to prevent/stop country in the country, most in sixty-five (65) communities noted that they are not; the majority in fifty-one (51) communities said they are; and four (4) were unsure of what to say.”673

As one would expect, the majority of Sierra Leonean surveyed did not seem to have faith in the ACC’s work. What should however be noted though is that the ACC is at its embryonic stage and is grappling with challenging problems which makes it difficult despite its remarkable progress for the majority of people to have faith in its work. Understandably, most Sierra Leonean are desperate to see corruption drastically reduced or eliminated so expectations also need to be managed by both the ACC and the government generally.674

For NACS,

“ fifty-one (51) communities manifested their confidence in the Commission that it will be able to eradicate corruption.”675


672 The recent offer by the Commission, of a reward of up to Le 20,000,000 (Twenty million Leone’s) for those who report corrupt officials can only serve to further bolster people’s willingness to partner with the ACC.


674 Ibid.




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I want to point out here that the fifty-one (51) communities that do manifest their confidence in the ACC do not represent the majority view, but the proportion is encouraging. The Commission should seek some solace in this because it shows that a good number of people still have faith in the Commission. The level of trust can rise or fall contingent upon the degree of progress being made to fight corruption. Though it is the responsibility of every Sierra Leonean to help in the fight, the onus mainly rests on the shoulders of the Commission to work laboriously and gain public confidence and support thereby promoting socio-economic development.

The recent offer by the Commission, according to NACS,

“of a reward of up to Le 20,000,000 (Twenty million Leonean) for those who report corrupt officials can only serve to further bolster people’s willingness to partner with the ACC. It was realised that eliciting data from the average Sierra Leonean alone would not make the research balanced. The need to get information on the activities of the only functional district ACC office in Bo Town67620 was seen and it was from this perspective that a separate questionnaire was designed and administered to the head of the office there. When he was asked to state some of the activities that they had undertaken in the fight against corruption, the personnel responded that they have radio discussions, community education meetings and, community theatre activities. They stated that they had established integrity clubs and coalition building with institutions that have regional offices in the south, all geared towards reducing or eradicating corruption in the country.”677

I can say that from the above expositions therefore, it is noteworthy that the office has been and is still undertaking many activities in the Southern Region to fight corruption. As has been extensively dilated above, radio discussions, community theatre activities and community education/sensitization programmes are vehicles for carrying information to the people. With these activities, especially the radio sensitization, a large number of people can be reached and educated within a short period and with little cost. This is a good technique to sensitize people especially those living in distant areas that are not motor able. Coalition building with institutions in both the public and private sectors which the Commission is embarking on are crucial to the eradication of corruption. This is a way of involving other established institutions that have a reach in remote areas help in the fight.

Again, when asked whether the office had been working with local people to curb corruption, the reply was positive (yes). When further asked to show the way(s) that this was done it was noted that the community people have been providing useful or meaningful

676 At the time this survey was conducted. 677 Ibid.



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suggestions/recommendations at community education meetings; reporting suspected corrupt practices within their chiefdoms to the office; and educating the masses through theatre performances during community meetings. This patently shows the willingness of the masses to help the Commission.678

I wish to add that this information is also in agreement with what the communities stated that they had been helping the Commission through information-sharing, which involves the reporting of suspected cases of corruption; and embarking on sensitization ventures. The recommendations provided by the people during community education meetings help the Commission in designing strategies to curb corruption. Information sharing is very essential in this kind of battle. It is only when people willingly share information that the office will get to know of certain harmful corrupt practices especially in areas that they are not present. If the majority of citizens are willing to report suspected cases of corruption in a timely manner (as the survey has revealed) it will put fear in some people who may want to engage in corrupt practices like the embezzling of public funds.

However, when asked to comment/explain more on some of the factors that limit or have the potential to limit these CBOs, NGOs, and other partners from providing help to the ACC the head of the office commented,

“that the nature of ACC’s work itself warranted a lot of caution since the tendency exists for non-ACC staff to impersonate as staff members perhaps with the aim of taking bribes from people to satisfy their selfish interests. This will invariably tarnish the Commission’s image which staff members are keen to protect.”679

I have the feeling that perhaps their great caution stems from the myriad of usually unfounded allegations that ACC staff is themselves corrupt. Therefore, this kind of caution has been counterproductive to the Commission’s work because it has been limiting its coalition partners’ level of support. In other words, due to ACC’s principles/regulations coalition partners have been hampered from providing full support that could have made a great difference in its work. It is therefore pertinent for the Commission to put mechanisms in place to deal with the problem of impersonation while simultaneously harnessing the full support of coalition partners.680

In another note, when asked According to NACS,


679 The NACS Report p 36.

680 Op cit.



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“ to show some of the challenges/difficulties (if any) that they face in the execution of their duties in the district the reply was that illiteracy, tension between Councillors and traditional authorities affects communities and the ACC’s work. Most communities according to him only want to corporate in activities that could give them immediate benefits. This immediate benefit issue is a relic of the ten years civil conflict that made many communities gets used to relief supplies.”681

I agree with NACS that these are very grave challenges. The Commission can better deal with corruption in communities where there is political stability. Political squabbles between local leaders will invariably starve the Commission of corporation from both the community leaders and the people. This immediate benefit issue is also symptomatic of the endemic poverty situation in the country which makes some people care only about ways of satisfying their immediate personal interests. The unflinching fact is that these challenges are natural and it is only with socio-economic development that they might be eliminated. Communities should realise however that it is only with their corporation that corruption can be reduced/eradicated in the country, which will in turn propel growth and development. Community leaders, according to the head of the office are very supportive because they serve as Chairmen in meetings and they articulate messages and disseminate information to the people.682

8. CONCLUSION

I wish to affirm that from the forgoing analysis, it is crystal-clear that eradicating corruption in the country is a daunting exercise. The ACC has the unenviable task of reducing/eradicating corruption in a country that has a seemingly unparalleled track -record of endemic and systemic corruption perfected over thirty years of misrule. This research has been able to collect a gamut of information including the Commission’s methodologies, successes and constraints in its fight against corruption in the country; the willingness or non-willingness of citizens, coalition partners and local leaders to join in the fight, and a lot of other issues.

The survey according to NACS shows that,

“there is an agreement between the data collected in the communities and the district ACC office. It revealed that collaborative work has been going on between community people and the


682 The NACS Report p 39.



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District ACC office towards eradicating the vestige of corruption in the Sierra Leonean society. Though the research revealed that many Sierra Leoneans are pessimistic about the Commission’s mission to eradicate corruption in the country, they are nonetheless willing to provide their invaluable support through timely reporting of suspected corrupt cases; mass sensitization of other people through theatre performances during community education meetings and on a one to one basis.”683

In other words, the research affirms that the majority of people are willing to render pro-bono services to fight corruption. It also graphically reveals that most Sierra Leoneans are convinced that corruption is on the increase and that the misuse or embezzlement of public funds or property is one of the main ways corruption is being practised in the country. Another conclusion from the research findings is that most people are being led into corrupt acts by public servants due to their quest to satisfy their own private interests.

I am particularly impressed by the commission due to the very fact the Commission has made some remarkable progress in the fight especially in the areas of sensitization because the result of the survey confirms that most Sierra Leoneans know what corruption is; how it is practised in their communities; and some of the important ways they could contribute towards its eradication in the country. The majority of Sierra Leoneans however still have no confidence that the ACC is up to the task at hand. The communities have valuable cultural practices that if improved upon could help mitigate corruption in the country. There are also certain cultural practices in the communities that create the opportunities for corrupt practices to take place. What the ACC ought to do is harness some of these cultural practices to form part of the overall strategy to fight corruption in the country.

Impressively also the research shows that local F.M radio stations are very effective tools for filtering down information to communities, as the survey revealed that it was through the local F.M radios that they first got to know of the existence of the ACC and the general understanding of corruption. The research also concluded that the majority of Sierra Leoneans indulge in some form of corrupt practice either frequently or infrequently.

The fact that the Commission has published the NACS report is symptomatic of its readiness to take the challenge of fighting corruption very seriously, although it was meant to have been written at least one year into the establishment of the Commission.

I wish to point out however, that it is also clear that much progress has not been made in the area of investigating cases that could lead to conviction, which could have a multiplier effect by scaring other corrupt officials from engaging in the act. The war on corruption has not yet been

683 Ibid.



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won and it will be unrealistic to give a deadline as to when it will be minimised within Sierra Leonean society despite the fact that much has been done.

It is my conviction however, that if the Commission is provided with additional support by the government, international donors, other relevant stakeholders, and the people of Sierra Leone it will accelerate its drive to dramatically reduce corruption at least to an affordable level.

E. CORRUPTION AND CORRUPTION CONTROL IN NIGERIN SOCIETY

It is very important to discuss the situation of corruption in Nigeria and the untold damage it has done in Nigerian society. Corruption situation in Nigeria is deplorable. Anyone who has visited, stayed or lived in Nigeria observes that becoming corrupt in Nigeria is almost unavoidable, as morality is relaxed, because to survive people have to make money. Corruption so to say has become the order of the day in Nigeria. However, that does not mean that everybody or everything in Nigeria is corrupt. There are people just like in every country of the world who are good and who condemn corruption no matter the situation. This group of people feel very bad about the degree of corruption in the country.

I wish to say that some factors just like other countries of the world are particularly responsible for corruption menace in Nigeria. The Factors include; 1. Social structure 2. Tribalism 3. Poverty and Political factors

These factors are responsible for the corruption that has eaten deep into the society. Though it was they before, but in 1996 the Transparency International opened the wound.

For instance, according to Moore,

“The 1996 Study of Corruption by Transparency International and Goettingen University ranked Nigeria as the most corrupt nation, among 54 nations listed in the study, with Pakistan as the second highest.”684

684 Moore, Stephen, Power and Corruption, Visions Paperback, 1997. pg.4.



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As one would expect, this ranking was devastating and discouraging for many Nigerians. This is because, though many people know that there is corruption, but not this extent as declared by the Transparency International.

As if this was not bad enough, the 1998 Transparency International corruption perception index (CPI) of 85 countries, Nigeria was 81 out of the 85 countries pooled (Error! Reference source not found. column 2001).685

Furthermore, as many Nigerians were asking why the situation of corruption in Nigeria is becoming deplorable it was even clear that more corruption was looming. And some started to point accusing fingers on government and some individuals, things continued getting worse, to the extent that; again, in the 2001 corruption perception index (CPI), the image of Nigeria slipped further down south (ranked 90, out of 91 countries pooled), with second position as most corrupt nation, with Bangladesh coming first (Error! Reference source not found. column 2003)686.

Table 8 Corruption Perception Index (The top 10 and bottom 10 countries)

1998 2001 2003 Country Rank Country Rank Country Rank Denmark 1 Finland 1 Finland 1 Finland 2 Denmark 2 Iceland 2 Sweden 3 New Zealand 3 Denmark 3 New Zealand 4 Iceland 4 New Zealand 4 Iceland 5 Singapore 5 Singapore 5 Canada 6 Sweden 6 Sweden 6 Singapore 7 Canada 7 Netherlands 7 The Netherlands 8 The Netherlands 8 Australia 8 Norway 9 Luxembourg 9 Norway 9 Switzerland 10 Norway 10 Switzerland 10 Vietnam 75 Russia Angola 124

685 Lipset, Seymour Martin, and Gabriel Salman Lenz, Corruption, Culture, and Markets, in Culture Matters, Lawrence E. Harrison, and Samuel P. Huntington, eds., (New York: Basic Books, 2000), p.112.

686 The Transparency International Corruption Index, 1998; and Lipset, Seymour and Salman Lenz, "Corruption, Culture, and Markets," (2000), In Culture Matters, Harrission and Huntington (eds.), 2000, and 2003, p.113, The Transparency International Corruption Index, 2001; pp. 234-236.



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Russia 76 Tanzania 82 Azerbaijan Ecuador 77 Ukraine 83 Cameroon Venezuela 78 Azerbaijan 84 Georgia Colombia 79 Bolivia Tajikistan Indonesia 80 Cameroon Myanmar Nigeria 81 Kenya Paraguay Tanzania 82 Indonesia 88 Haiti 131 Honduras 83 Uganda Nigeria 132 Paraguay 84 Nigeria 90 Bangladesh 133 Cameroon 85 Bangladesh 82

© Source (s): The Transparency International Corruption Index, 1998; and Lipset, Seymour & Salman Lenz, "Corruption, Culture, and Markets," (2000), In Culture Matters, Harrission & Huntington (eds.), 2000, p.113 The Transparency International Corruption Index, 2001; pp. 234-236

I want to say unequivocally and without mincing words that Corruption upsets ethnic balance, and exacerbates problems of national integration in developing countries. For instance, if a corrupt but popular ethnic leader is replaced in his or her position, it may upset ethnic arithmetic and the cohorts may revolt. This is the case with the Nigerian society, when Moshood Abiola won an election but due to corruption, this election was cancelled. But this cancelation was met with strong resistance from the Nigerian public.

According to Suberu,

“The social brawl that followed the Moshood Abiola's 1993 elections rebuff is one of the many cases dotting Nigeria's political landscape. Southerners (mainly Yoruba from ethnic Southwest) rioted, as they felt they were mistreated by the northern oligarchy. Similarly, some politicians from the northern part of the country seem to have forgotten the atrocities committed by Generals Buhari, Babangida, and Abubakar during their regime (they even refused to testify before the Oputa Panel), because they are their home boys. Any attempt to bring them to justice would lead their cronies to ethnic and social conflicts and possible loss of innocent lives”687

687 Suberu, Rotimi T., The Democratic Recession in Nigeria, Current History, May 1994, p, 216; p.213. 687 Ibid.



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Furthermore it is observed that Corruption can destroy the legitimacy of a government. The Shehu Shagari administration was written off as inept because of the magnitude of corruption in the administration, and its lack of policy direction.688

Again, corruption may alienate modern-oriented civil servants and may cause them to reduce or withdraw their service or to leave the country. Corruption is one of the reasons for the 'brain drain' phenomenon in Nigeria (talented professionals leaving the country in search of employment somewhere else).

As Oloja puts it,

“In Nigeria, you can hardly enter an office and get your file signed except you drop some money. Even the security personnel at the door of every office will ask for (bribe) tips? In other words, corruption leads to slow moving files that get through the desk of officers once the interested parties have compromised themselves. It also leads to missing files that [would] resurface immediately the desk officer is settled, unnecessary bureaucracy and delays until fees are paid.”689

Unfortunately, by dolling out money to politicians, General Abacha got many of the nation's political class to commit political suicide in 1998. Many of them lined up en masse to proclaim him as a 'dynamic leader' and the only person qualified to lead Nigeria. Similarly, recently according to Oloja,

“Many politicians from the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) recently trooped to President Obasanjos Ota Farm in Ogun State to beg him to run for a second term. Even General Abubakar's visible timidity to address the issue of corruption in Nigeria was alarming and discouraging, as he retained the military officers accused of looting the national treasury with General Abacha.”690

Again, it is clear that Corruption is also destructive to governmental structures and capacity. The NEWS, in its July 11, 1999 issue ‘The Face of a Liar’, broke the news of forgery and perjury committed by the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Ibrahim Salisu Buhari. Through corrupt means, Alhaji Ibrahim Salisu Buhari amassed wealth (he made millions working for NEPA), and bribed his way to the fourth highest position in the land.691

688 Ibid.

689 Oloja, Martins, How Civil Servants Engage In Corruption, By Experts; The Guardian Online, April 21, 2002 690 Ibid.

691 The NEWS a weekly Magazine (Nigeria), The Face of a Liar, July 11, 1999.



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This scandal dominated the political agenda of Nigeria for some time. It is a national shame that a crook was in-charge of the House of Representatives the body that makes the laws of the land. What type of laws could he have made for Nigeria?

As Richard puts it,

“President Olusegun Obasanjo disappointed the world by granting Alhaji Salisu Buhari a state pardon, despite his apparent campaign to transform Nigeria into a corruption-free society”692. The Buharigate, as the scandal was called latter, nearly destroyed Nigeria’s democracy-experiment.

However, corrupt military is not peculiar to Nigeria.

According to Osoba,

“Juan D. Peron of Argentina and Batista of Cuba, among others, were also known to have deposited their ill accumulated wealth in Swiss banks and other foreign financial institutions, instead of investing the loots in their local economy”.693

In the similar way, it is observed that with brute force Augusto Pinochet of Chile bastardized the nation’s economy, and killed many of the people who opposed his regime694.

Again, during one of his Inaugural Speeches on May, 29, 1999, Olusegun Obasanjo vowed to tackle the menace of corruption in Nigeria, he said:

"Corruption will be tackled head-on. No society can achieve its full potential if it allows corruption to become the full-blown cancer it has become in Nigeria." And he vowed that "there will be no sacred cows in his (President Obasanjo) process to stamp out corruption in the society”.695

But it is self evident that the corrupt big cows are still walking freely in the streets of Nigeria.

In summary, corruption diverts scarce public resources into private pockets, literally undermines effective governance, endangers democracy and erodes the social and moral fabric of nations. As it has been noted the lust for power and corruption is not strictly a Nigerian problem.

692 Sklar, Richard L., Contradictions in the Nigerian Political System, Journal of Modern African Studies, 3, 2, 1965,

p. 385, Lewis, Peter, The Politics of Economics, African Report, May/June, 1994, p.47 and Adam, Paul, Nigeria: Next Pariah? African Report, May-June, 1995, p.43; p.45.

693 Osaba, Sklar, Richard L., Contradictions in the Nigerian Political System, Journal of Modern African Studies, 3, 2, 1965, p. 385, Lewis, Peter, The Politics of Economics, African Report, May/June, 1994, p.47 and Adam, Paul, Nigeria: Next Pariah? African Report, May-June, 1995, p.43; p.45.

694 Ibid. 695 Obasanjo, Obasanjo Inaugural Address May 29, 1999.



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Corruption is a global phenomenon and manifest in both Petty and Grand forms. Will it be possible for Nigeria to effectively tame the scourge of corruption in the society?

1. Democracy, the Military Dictatorship, the Common Good, Religion and the Anti-corruption Strategy in Nigeria.

National, communal and family values seem to have become the first victims of the long drawn of crisis of the Nigerian State. Tragically, rather than consolidating the gains of nationhood, the country has experienced severe internal civil wars as nationalities, tribes and clans constantly clash in search of new identities and frontiers.

I want to point out here that so much has been written about democracy that it is not really of much use for us to start a process of seeking definitions.

According to Kukah M.H.,

“The quibbling among scholars has taking enough time, energy and space. At the level of the daily lives of ordinary citizen, it is even doubtful whether our people really interested one way or the other in what the intellectual ideas may really be. It is the manifestation of their collective cynicism towards these laudable I feel ought to worry us. Unless we are able to capture the reason for this drift, we run the risk of merely speaking to ourselves.”696

Consequent upon this, if one were to conduct a survey on what ordinary Nigerians imagine democracy mean to them, there are many chances that the researcher will be met with many derision. This is irrespective of whether it is on the streets or classrooms. Most respondents will, proverbially, do what Nigerians love doing best; answering questions by asking other questions. In response to the question what is democracy, most Nigerians would simply shoot back, ‘Can democracy feed us’? Wetin be dat (what is that?).

696 Fela Anikulapo Kuti (1938-97), Africa’s acclaimed Afro beat musician stands out as one of the most eccentric personalities on the Nigerian social and political scenes During his time he was imprisoned scores of times by Federal Govenment of Nigeria. Such records of his like Zombie, ITT, Coffin for Head of State took on themes that ordinary Nigerians were afraid to address.



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But on the other hand, some other respondents might just find the acerbic Fela Anikulapo Kuti’s definition of democracy as “dem-all-crazy”697 (they are all crazy) to be a much more befitting summary than any pre-occupation with Platonian, Aristotelian or Athenian conceptions.

Youth everywhere are occasionally lullabied by such concepts as leaders of tomorrow, treasures/owners of the future, as a means of firing them to higher dreams and idealism, but here in Nigeria, cynicism has become so deep that they seem to have also disengaged from the nation-state. Talk of the need for the cultivation of keen interest in such aspects of national life like politics, civics, governance, leadership, which should serve as the platform for some form of training for our youth, only draws a sceptical yawn from them.

According to Kukah M.H, for example,

“Sometime in 1996, Mr. Frank Olize, the affable anchor man of a popular Nigerian television programme (Newsline), devoted to public service; set out to deal with this problem. On that programme, one of the reporters went on the streets and to the University of Lagos where she spoke to a wide range of ordinary Nigerians on the issue of leadership. The question went something like this: “What is the name of your state? What is the capital and who is the present governor of your state” It was shocking to many viewers that some of the well-dressed ladies and gentlemen, many of them with university education, admit that they did not know the name of the military governors of their states.”698

What was even more outstanding was the fact that they all showed absolutely no emotional feelings of remorse or embarrassment at the thought that they had been caught out in public glare! In fact, the most telling comment came from a pretty female undergraduate. When she could not name the governor of her home state, the reporter tried to impress upon her the fact that this was not a laughing matter. The reporter was rather surprised that the young lady was laughing, insisted that as a student, she ought to have known the names of the leaders in government as a part of her general knowledge programme. The young girl stopped smiling, and now went on the offensive. She told the reporter,

“I have more important things to do with my brain than to waste it memorising useless things. Learning these useless things is not what brought me here. I am not just interested. What use is it anyway? After all, you can memorise all of them today and tomorrow you have to start all over again. They either keep changing them, or you hear that there has been a coup. As far as I am concerned, it is a waste of time.”699

697 Kukah, M.h, Democracy and Civil Society in Nigeria. 2003. p. 219.

698 Kukah, M.h, Democracy and Civil Society in Nigeria. 2003. p. 2. 699 Op cit.



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The tragedy of this situation lies in the fact that this cynicism has become an all-encompassing phenomenon. For example,

According to Kukah,

“even among so-called politicians themselves, there is no much self-deplication, self-immolation, stone-throwing, name-calling, buck-passing, bickering, treachery, blackmail and wrangling that there are many who would argue that it is their incoherence, more than anything else, which has made the epileptic military interventions become so much part of our nation’s political life.”700

Unfortunately enough, I want to point out here that the average Nigerian politician does not seem to know how to spell failure as far as the contest for office is concerned. They apportion blame on everything but themselves.

As Kukah puts it,

“Those who lose elections blame first, their opponents, then local government, state government, the electoral commission and its security agencies, the polling booth, the date, date and time of the elections, the weather or the heavens (too much rain or sunshine) etc. In an environment saturated by suspicion such as ours, where Nigeria have a tendency to resort to the native ways when the going gets really tough and conventional means fail, your fortune or misfortune in any venture could be hinged in seemingly innocuous event such as time of the day when you act, gender or physical state of the first person sighted in the day (a blind or lame woman or man), a snake crossing your path from the left or right etc. As such, the political state is sometimes a pantheon inhabited by deities of various shapes, sizes, persuasions or tongues.”701

I agree with Kukah that from this view of his, it becomes clear that the Nigerian politician has no time for the thought that being a gallant loser or a magnanimous victor are the bricks for the foundation on which democracy is built. He can only take responsibility for winning, but not for losing. Losing an election is the handiwork of evil extra-terrestrial species or their agents employed on earth by the enemy inform of any of the agents listed above. That is why the common expression of contestants who lose in any election is, I was rigged out, the enemies have done their worst, etc.702

700 Ibid.

701 Kukah, M.H, Democracy and Civil Society in Nigeria. 2003. p. 3.

702 Ibid.



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Although the above observations are not meant to be a final judgement of the electoral conduct of Nigerian politics per se, its violent characteristics line in the uneven nature of the landscape of expectations of the participants and the observers.

The war to keep Nigeria one seemed to have ironically been a test run! Everywhere has become a battleground. Unfortunately, political instability which military rule introduced is at the heart of all our violence and incoherence.

As Kukah puts it,

“By dabbling into politics, the military lost its professional sense. By resorting to banditry, and looting of the nation's wealth, it lost its concentration and moral authority to administer. By creating a climate of violence, it succeeded in traumatising and militarising the nation. By abandoning its vocational duty post, it has left its flanks open and various foot soldiers have therefore moved in search for territory to conquer and control the emergence of new enemies.”703

The military, by gaining legitimacy through violence, have psychologically elevated and institutionalised as part of the artefacts on the altar of the quest for power at all levels. That is why for any loser, waiting till tomorrow for another election is seen as an exercise in futility.

Those who wine spend so much time, energy and resources building barricades to defend their newly conquered fiefdoms that by the time the electoral wheel turns, the gap between them and their losers/enemies becomes insurmountable. Even the process of this greedy construction by a vulnerable political class is very often interrupted by soldiers who come bandying a superior architectural design through their coups. Yet how one would wish that the Nigerian political class, or what is left of it, could heed the words of Edward Judson, who once said,

“Success and suffering are vitally and organically linked. If you succeed without suffering, it is because someone else has suffered before you, if suffer without succeeding, it is that someone else may succeed after you.”704

Clear enough; Nigerians have tended to shift the focus of the debate over the anarchical behaviour of their political classes and the attendant instability by resorting to all forms of excuses. Basically, it is agreed that the quest for blind, naked power and the drive towards primitive accumulation are the driving forces for politics in Nigeria. That is why politics is an end game. However, according to Kukah,

“There are tendencies which overarch the political spectrum across ethnic, religious, or regional lines in Nigeria. These tendencies constitute a cabal of sorts, and their project is the control and

703 Ibid. 704 Paul Lee Tan: Encyclopaedia of 7700 Illustrations, signs of the times.(Assurance Publishers New York.) p1372.



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domination of power in Nigeria. The nature and character of these cabals have not been clearly defined in objective terms. It is however held that the interests of the members of these cabals, being largely accumulation of wealth and power, cut across politics.”705

Quite interestingly, these cabals see political stability only as the protection and preservation of their interests. When the interests are threatened by major political realignments, a coup could be engineered as a means of derailing these fundamental structural realignments.

Very unfortunately, in this way they engineer anarchy within the political system when their interests are endangered.

Unmistakably, according to Bala, Takay and Soni Tyoden,

“this reference is always made to the Northern Nigeria where this perceived power is said to reside in the puppet strings of a cabal known by various names. Sometimes it is called the Hausa/Fulani Ruling Class, the Northern Oligarchy, the Caliphate or the Kaduna Mafia.” 706

This thesis is plausible and in many instances is cited to justify the seemingly intractable hold which the so-called Northern ruling Class over the rest of Nigeria in matters of political power; I believe it leaves many questions unanswered!

I wish to say here straight away that we can raise some other observations regarding this whole debate about a mafia and it’s seemingly influence in Nigerian politics like military interventions. Nigerian military coups cannot be explained by one cause. However, certain trends are discernible.

The coup that overthrew General Ironsi in July 1967 was engineered by Middle Belt officers who saw in the coup, an attempt to overthrow the existing social order which had humiliated northerners and threatened to reduce them to the periphery, though so many Nigerians did not seem to understand the hidden agenda.

According to Kukah,

“The fact that the first coup (January 1966) had been led by young Igbo Military officers and that an Igbo man benefited from it have been used to explain why the successful coup of 1967 was referred to as a return march. The installation of a Middle Belt Christian as the head of state was a


706 Bala, Takaya and Soni Tyoden, The Kaduna Mafia: A Study in the Rise, Development and consolidation of a Nigeria Power Elite (Jos University Press, 1987).



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statement of the strength of the soldiers from that part of Nigeria at the time as opposed to a Kaduna Mafia motif.”707

Secondly, the coup of December 31, 1983 overthrew the civilian government of the period, but although it installed a military government, two things were instructive, as now.

For Kukah,

“First of all, if we argue that the coup was engineered by the above cabal as has been popularly explained; later developments still left many unanswered questions. For example, although the coup brought in two fierce soldiers who were both Muslims and northerners, there was no open negative reaction against the government from any section of the country. In any case, the government it had overthrown had itself been led by a northern Muslim (Aljahaji Shuhu Shagari) who had been careful enough to have a southern Christian, Dr. Alex Ekwueme, as his Vice.”708

Consequent upon the frequent coups and instabilities, lost for power and power struggles, selfishness, avariciousness, Corruption and ethnicism that engulfed Nigeria, I am compelled to agree with Kukah,

“that the social cost of military rule can be calculated on the basis of the new identities which have emerged: tribal war-lordism, secret societies, cults, ritual murders, human traffic, street children, `àrea boys, `` to name a few. The nation is confused and everyone wonders what the ancestors would have thought.”709

Even the new religions which we have adopted to replace traditional ones have offered very little succour as Christians and Muslims have spent more time in internal wars than rebuilding the nation. Indeed, the words of Yeats made famous by Chinua Achebe seem to be apt: Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold.

Claude Ake has therefore captured this Hobbesean choice which we face by arguing as follows:

“The only thing we seem committed to is unrelenting cynicism which we parade as a mark of honour. Scratch the surface however and you will see that it is only the other side of insecurity and despair, we wear it like a protective armour against the discomfort of looking at reality in the face, against the obligation of caring and of the burdens of taking responsibility...The Nigerian ruling elite survives against all odds. There is no legitimacy to draw on. It has run out

707 Matthew Hassan Kukah: Religion, Politics and Power in Northern Nigeria (Spectrum Books Ltd., 1993) p 39.





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of ideas, even bad ones...we are always looking up to some else, forever, searching for good leaders to see us through... The Nigerian state is a negative unity of takers in which collective enterprise is all but impossible”.710

In summary, the sense of what we shall refer to here as the Common Good is threatened. Here we are forced to ask a very important question. Under this condition, how do we make progress towards creating a civil society that can enable us to respond to the challenges of building a democratic polity in Nigeria that can help us fight the menace of Corruption adequately? To answer this question, I wish to go back at the question raised about the implications of our deep cynicism and fatalism on the project of civil society and democracy. I do not see how we can make progress until we seriously address these questions and give people a sense of meaning and belonging in their lives.

I want to argue that this sense of belonging has to be developed by Nigerians before they can mobilise for action in any direction. After all, when the Igbo’s felt threatened as a people, they mobilised themselves under the banner of a Biafran nation. The myth of Biafra would later become an idiom for galvanising them into action when the Igbo youths pleaded with Ojukwu to give them guns.

Similarly, the rest of Nigeria mobilised to defend Nigeria as an undivided entity under the banner that `` to keep Nigeria one is a task that must be done. `The sense of pride that exists from belonging does not seem to exist in Nigeria any more. Nigeria has become totally alienated from the Nigerian state and they now experience it only at the level of its oppression from taxation, law infringement, arbitrary detentions, and various manifestations of scarcities of various items of personal, domestic and national survival, unemployment among others. What can restore the sense of belonging in our nation again? I argue that what we need is to restore the balance arising from the ideals of the social contract thesis.

I wish to further argue here, that the civil society can only function within the context of a clear appreciation of the concept of the Common Good. To address this, I will use the Catholic Church's Social Teaching on this theme to call attention to the fact that whether we call it the social contract, the Common Good, or Good Governance, the idea is the same: namely, the attainment of the good of the whole. But first of all, I will try to address the failure of the Government to achieve the Common Good by relating the fall of civil society to the emergence of military dictatorship which engendered high rate of Corruption in Nigeria.

710 Claude Ake: „The Nigerian Federation. Its foundation and Future Prospects “in Omafune Onoge: Nigeria the Way forward, (Spectrum Books, Ibadan.1993 pp. 14 -25.



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2. MILITARY DICTATORSHIP; CIVIL SOCIETY AND THE COLLAPSE OF THE COMMON GOOD IN NIGERIA.

The first lesson that anyone involved in the struggle for the evolution of a vibrant civil society must learn is the fact that civil society and dictatorship cannot co-exist. This includes any form of dictatorship at all, be it military or civilian, benevolent or tyrannical. Unless we make this connection, no number of transition programmes will bring us democracy in the real sense of the word. Civil society is the engine of democracy, and since dictatorships destroy civil structures, it is expected that unless we put the structures of the civil society back on track, we can only have truncated dictatorship masquerading as democracies. So important is the project of civil society that Crawford Young literal ascribes a certain level of nobility to its cause when he says:

“Civil Society is indeed an elusive concept and a more fugitive reality...The quest for a civil society that can reinvent the state of its own admittedly idealized image is a drama of redemption whose potential nobility commands our admiration.” 711

Giving the lack of conceptual clarity, the fragility and fractured nature of our land scape, these realities dictate that this struggle has to assume the characteristics of a long distance runner. It has been noted that the years of military rule managed to completely destroy civil society in Nigeria. It can therefore be said of our situation what Gellner has said of civil society under the various dictatorships across the world in the last two centuries, namely, that;

“Civil society seemed distinctly covered with dust...it has been taken out and thoroughly dusted, and has become a shining emblem.” 712

Gellner Further argues:

“The absence was felt acutely in societies which has strongly centralised all aspects of life, and where a single political-economic-ideological hierarchy tolerated no rivals and a single vision defined not only truth but also personal rectitude. This caused society to approximate an atomised condition, and dissent then became a mark of heresy or, in the terminology of modern democracy, an enemy of the people.”713

In a society where the one in government is seen and cast in the mould of a man of the people, the one who opposes in any shape or form is naturally considered to be an enemy of the people. This should not be so. Since dictators do not want to tolerate any form of opposition to their views

711 Crawford Young; „In search of Civil Society” in John Herbeston et al: Civil Society and State in Africa, op. Cit.p.48.

712 Enest Gellner: Conditions of Liberty: Civil Society and its Rivals. (Hamish Hamilton. London. 1996).p.1. 713Enest Gellner: Conditions of Liberty: Civil Society and its Rivals. (Hamish Hamilton. London. 1996).p.1.



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or programmes, the relationship between various organs of civil society, rather than complementing one another end up being conflictual. Yet, in its proper understanding, As Gellner puts it,

“Civil Society is that set of diverse non-governmental institutions which is strong enough to counterbalance the state and, while no preventing the state from fulfilling its role of keeper of the peace and arbitrator between major interests, can nevertheless prevent it from dominating and atomising the rest of society.”714

With the intensity of military rule, we have now come to witness a retreat of the state in Africa. This, no doubt, has immense implications for citizens. Where the states attempted to democratise, the elite tended to embark on a bloated state ostensibly to create more jobs for the boys and their cronies. The bloated state would later create contradictions that would weaken the state and reduce its structures to caricatures of the real thing. This partly explains why this bloated state is always the first line of attack by international financial organs like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) or the World Bank.

In mono economies like Nigeria, according to Kukah,

“we notice that the personalisation of power is indeed an attractive position. This is what military dictatorship has successfully done in Nigeria. The retreat of the state has witnessed the subsequent retreat of the government from areas of public welfare. The result has been the resort to what one might call contractocray as a form of governance. This is a government by contract, for contractors, by contractors and with contractors. The result of all this for us in Nigeria is that the entire civil service has been reduced to a charade as morale has falling low.”715

The Nigerian state, in its quest for the personalisation of the instruments of power, has sought to domesticate every area of national life, especially those areas considered to be juicy by the elite. The retreat of the state coincided with the convergence of the instruments of power into the bosom of the ruler.

This leads to what according to Kukah,

“ may be called M̀yownisation of power’. Power becomes my own, and because I am the one who has taken control.”

The Myownisation of power in Nigeria came to a head under the regime of General Babangida and has continued. It can be argued that although corruption has been with us and has been accepted as

714Ernest Gellner: Conditions of Liberty, Op. Cit. P 5. 715 Kukah, M.H, Democracy and Civil Society in Nigeria. 2003. p. 4



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part of the political process, there have been dramatic divergencies over time. For this reason, according to Kukah,

“Major Chukwuma Nzeogwu, sated his coup ostensibly to rid Nigeria of those he called ‘ten percenter,’ these are the corrupt officials who collect 10% money equivalent of every contract that is giving through their influence directly or indirectly. The poor man would turn in his grave because access to these resources has now become raison d´être for military intervention in our polity.” 716.

It is from this view that Nigerians generally seem to be of the opinion that the military took corruption to new highs in Nigeria. But every author has this opinion.

That is why for Tom Forest,

“This may be so but, it does not address other issues as to why the same degree has manifested itself in almost all other facets of the Nigerian national life. Many commentators argue also that corruption in Nigeria came to a vicious head under the dictatorship of General Babangida. Again, although there was certainly a quantum leap in its score, we have to address two questions, namely, the roles of various segments in the Nigerian society and the issue of personal responsibility.”717

The legendary ubiquity of corruption in Nigeria is not something we can explain by resort to monocausality. Clearly, President Babangida's administration, by manipulating the economy under the infamous Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP), flooded the country with bad money. In fact even the President himself did say in a national interview at the height of this charade,

‘’That he was shocked by the fact that despite the blatant mismanagement of the Nigerian economy, the nation has not grounded to a halt. “718

The main question is after all said and done, what we shall do to remedy this utterly ugly situation of corruption in the Nigerian Society. One may be tempted to ask further, what is the place of religion and its prophetic mission vis- a- Vis Nigeria Corrupt situation?

I find the words of Pope St Gregory to be remarkably relevant to our discussion in this Chapter. In one of his Pastoral rules, he observed that:


717 Tom Forest: Politics and Economic Development in Nigeria. (West view Press, London. 1996) p.246

718Kukah, M.h, Democracy and Civil Society in Nigeria. 2003. p. 219.



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‘’A religious leader should be careful in deciding when to remain silent and be sure to say something useful when deciding to speak. In this way, he will avoid saying things that would better not be said, or leaving unsaid...ill advised silence can leave people in error when they could have been shown where they were wrong. Negligent religious leaders are often afraid to speak freely and say what needs to be said for fear of losing favour with the people... they are acting like hirings, because hiding behind the wall of silence is like taking flight at the approach of the Wolf. If a religious leader is afraid to say what is right, what else can his silence mean but that he has taken flight? Whereas if he stands firm in defence of his flock, he is building up a wall for the house against its enemies. Anyone entering the Priesthood accepts the office of herald and must by his words; prepare the way for the terrible judgement of the one who follows. If then the Priest neglects his preaching, what sort of warning cry can he, a dumb herald give? That is why the Holy Spirit settled on the first religious leaders in form of tongues: because those whom he fills, he fills with his own eloquence. “719

Again, many people, I am sure, are familiar with the famous statement credited to Stalin who was said to have asked: HOW MANY DIVISIONS HAS THE POPE? Well, that question was revisited when the Catholic world woke up to the News that his Eminence, Karol Cardinal Wojtyla, had been elected the Pope on Oct. 17 1978 the first Polish Pope in world history. He has lived through and suffered terribly under Communist rule in his native land Poland. His election excited the entire world, being the first non-Italian to be elected Pope in 445 years!

But it was his own country that served as a sounding board for the battles that lay ahead. His experiences with the politics and history of his country drew him closer to the heart of battle for the soul of Poland.

As Kukah puts it,

“More importantly, unlike a lot of men in his position, having been a man of the Arts, History and Literature of Poland, he was deeply patriotic and concerned about political future of his homeland. His coming to the Papacy would set in motion a chain of events that would later turn the world history around. In the process, it would once again rekindle the debate about the role and place of religion in the social and political transformation of society. After he had conquered Communism with the sword of faith, many Christians, nay, Catholics began to discuss the possibility of transforming their society with the same tools.”720

719A Reading from the Pastoral Rule of Pope Gregory. Divine Office, Book Two, (Vatican City. Vol. 3, 1974.) p. 609.




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3. THE CRAKS ON THE WALL

If things are allowed to continue the way they are now, according to the Catholic Bishops of Nigeria,

“corruption will bring about the death both of the individual Nigerians and the nation itself because corruption always kills ultimately. It destroys both its victim and its perpetrator in the long run.”721

Many years ago, after he has closely studied the life of the Hindu saint, Mahatma Gandhi, Louis Fisher, an American journalist, wrote:

“At the root of innumerable wrongs in our civilization is the discrepancy between word, creed and deed. It is the weakness of Churches, states, parties and persons. It gives men and institutions split personalities. Gandhi attempted to heal the split by establishing harmony in place of discrepancy....in him; word, creed, and deed were one.”722

This of marching word and action has not been met with, as Fisher rightly pointed out above. This is because; UNO has not succeeded in making true their promises. Some looted monies are still dumped in the foreign banks where they have been deposited. An example of such country is Nigeria. Let us here examine some of these resolutions.

To buttress this point of marching word and actions, the UNO QATAR: draft resolution , 2004 for preventing and combating corrupt practices and transfer of funds of illicit origin and returning such assets to the countries of origin has this to say,

“The General Assembly, recalling its resolution 58/205 of December 2003, on preventing and combating corrupt practices and transfer of funds of illicit origin and returning such funds to the countries of origin, recalling also the Monterrey Consensus of the International conference on Financing for Development,723 which underlined that fighting corruption at all levels is a priority, and the Plan of implementation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (“Johannesburg Plan of Implementation.”724

721 The Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria, Lagos Nigeria, 2010

722 Louis Fisher, ‘Gandhi’ : His Life and Message for the World (New York: Mentor Books, 1954) p.40. 723 On behalf of the States Members of the United Nations that are members of the Group of 77 and China. Report of

the International Conference on Financing for Development, Monterrey, Mexico 18-22 March 2002 (United Nations publication Sales No E.02.II.A.7), chap I, resolution 1, annex

724 Report of the World Summit on Sustainable Development, Johannesburg, South Africa, 26 August-4 September 2002 (United Nations publication, Sales No E.03.II.A.1 and corrigendum), chap I,



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I wish to say here that the recognition of the negative impact of corruption on the world order by the UNO is very much appreciated. Most especially the diversion of money and resources away from the various countries concerned with particular reference to Nigeria is a thing of concern. This type of corruption has adversely affected almost all the levels of the society negatively. This why according to the UNO Draft Resolution,

“recognizing that corruption at all levels is a serious barrier to development and diverts resources away from activities that are vital for hunger and poverty eradication and economic and sustainable development, reiterating its concern about the seriousness of problems posed by continuing corrupt practices, which may endanger the stability and security of societies, undermine the values of democracy and civil ethics and jeopardize sustainable and political development, in particular when an inadequate national and international response leads to impunity, Considering that the prevention of corrupt practices and transfer of assets of illicit origin and the return of such assets to the countries of origin have not been adequately regulated by all national legislations and international legal instruments,

Takes note of the report of the Secretary-General on preventing and combating corrupt practices

and transfer of funds of illicit origin and returning such assets to the countries of origin; Recognizes the efforts of Member States that have enacted laws to prevent and combat corrupt practices and the transfer of illicitly acquired assets and for the return of such assets to the countries of origin, in accordance with the United Nations Convention against Corruption and encourages Member States that have not yet done so to enact such laws;

Also encourages all Member States that have not yet done so to require financial institutions to properly implement comprehensive due diligence and vigilance programmes that could facilitate transparency and prevent the placement of illicitly acquired funds.”725.

Like Louis Fisher, I wish to say that even here in Nigeria, one of the greatest sources of fear for the common man is that those who make laws to protect common interests often have their easy ways and means of circumventing the same laws. As Louis Fisher puts it,

“Having been deceived for so many years, „the masses see so much discrepancy between word, creed and the deed in the lives of our leaders that it is very difficult for them to

725 Above is a cache of http://www.un.org/esa/documents/draft87cCorruptpractices.pdf. United Nations general assembly c 2 59 l agenda 87 October 2004. The web site itself may have changed. You can check the current page (without highlighting) or check for previous versions at the Internet Archive.



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vouch for the sincerity and the credibility of their leaders until they have seen their action become louder than written anti-corruption slogans”726.

The following is enough to illustrate what I mean. According to Kukah,

“At the height of Sani Abacha's numerous crimes against Nigeria and Nigerians, when he looted our money with demonic insatiability, imprisoned some people, maimed some, killed others and planted bombs here and there to distract our attention from his venal atrocities, the same Abacha had the delusive tendency to set up a fake human right commission to confuse the world by selling his image as a benevolent human right defender. Yet that did not stop him from declaring war against corruption and sending the real human rights and pro-democracy activists who clamoured for justice and equity in the country either to prison, to exile or to the grave, leaving a medley of military millionaires, civilian sycophants, political crowns, spineless mediocrities, mindless opportunists and other accomplices who teamed up with him to impose an unspeakable decree of distress on the nation.”727

Driven by his survival instinct, the same Sani Abacha equated his morbid obsession for personal security with national security. Hence,

“in addition to the existing security networks such as the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI), the State Security Services (SSS), the Federal Intelligence and Investigation Bureau (FIIB), he created the most dreaded Presidential Body Guards and the Strike Force’’ 728.

Kukah goes on to compare Abacha’ insensitivity to human sufferings to that of Hitler’s;

“Like Adolf Hitler's SS men, both the Body Guards and the Strike Force provided the killing machinery which facilitated the assassination of all those only sin was that they did not like Abacha's evil ways.”729

We need brave and honest people who are ready to stand up in the face of evil and condemn it ought rightly. For that, J.Odey exclaimed!

“I respect Gani Fawehinmi (a Nigerian Politician and human right activist). I found it impossible not to be impressed by his altruistic approach to our country's social, economic, political and religious malaise. In a word, I am one of his millions of admirers all over the world. Whether you

726 Odey J.O, Anti-Corruption Crusade-The Saga of a crippled Gint, 2001.P 106 727 Kukah, M.H, Democracy and Civil Society in Nigeria 2003 p 202.

728. Odey J O Anti-Corruption Crusade-The Saga of a crippled Gint, 2001.P 107 729 Kukah, M.H, Democracy and Civil Society in Nigeria 2003 p .202.



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admire him as I do or not, the truth remains that Gani is a man you cannot afford to ignore as far as the struggle for better Nigeria is concerned.”730

Take for instance in Nigeria, when Ibrahim Babangida came under the camouflage of a saviour, riding roughshod on our right to exist, our right to choose a leader, our right to be free and on our right to own and enjoy the abundant resources God has bestowed on us, Gani was the first person who openly and fearlessly told him that he came to destroy and not to save us. If we were in need of a saviour, certainly it was not the type of Babangida. Babangida did not take the warning as his regime plunged the nation from one major economic and political disaster to another.

In March 1989, Gani declared that,

“his government was infested with socio-economic AIDS. And as a result, it was not going to deliver a socio-economic-free civilian regime.”731

He berated the regime as the first military government in the country that had openly legitimized corruption and consciously initiated programmes for the total collapse of the Nigerian economy and consciously implanted high-grade poverty amongst our people. He predicted that Babangida's sham transition programme would be aborted by Babangida himself through his neurotic ambition to be in power732.

For being so daring, Babangida's government taught him a lesson by arraigning him to court charged with saying things according to Babangida,

“calculated to encourage the Nigerian Public and particularly the military to prejudice and undermine the realization of the political programme as set out in the schedules to Transition to Civil Rule (Political Programme) Decree 1987.“733

As soon as Babangida's time was up, he was pushed aside by the people’s verdict. Then came Sani Abacha.

In the embattled political history of Nigeria Abacha's regime has remained the worst as far as the sins against humanism are concerned. In April 1998, Pope John II paid his second visit to Nigeria. His special appeal to Sani Abacha to release innocent political prisoners and reduce the economic and other unbearable hardships he inflicted on the nation fell on deaf ears.

For defying the People’s pleas, Gani likened Abacha to

730 J.O the Odey Anti-Corruption Crusade-The Saga of a crippled Gint 2001.P. 107

731Odey J.O The Anti- Corruption Crusade-the Saga of a Crippled Giant 2001.p.58 732New Horizon, March1989, p. 6. 733New swatch, February 12, 1990, p 4.



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“a mad dog that has gone astray and would no longer listen to the whistle of the hunter.”734

Barely two months later, had divine providence proved Gani right when Abacha went to the yonder world to give account of his stewardship.

As Odey writes,

“Today it is my firm conviction that if we must recover our honour, our hope and our dignity which has been destroyed by the military in this country, we must listen to the people like Gani Fawehinmi. Since God does not speak to us directly but through the instrumentality of our very selves, I see Gani as the greatest prophet of our time and circumstance. I see him as God's message to a tortured Nigeria, to a bleeding Nigeria, to a dying Nigeria. If we ignore what he says, we might do so to our collective peril. If we leave him to struggle alone, we do so to our collective peril.” 735

The violent military fashion with which the president handled the crisis of Odi, Bayeslsa State in June 1999 confirmed Gani's view. This made him to describe the president as a civilian dictator or a military dictator in a civilian garb. Explaining further, he said that,

“the president is not the proper and the fit person for the running of a democratic apparatus because, as somebody who had spent his entire life physically and psychologically in bloodletting, it is in his blood to kill.”736

In his assessment of the president's leadership after one year, Gani says,

“It is a nasty grill of failure, hopes shattered, expectations dashed. Nigerians have moved from hatred for the military to disenchantment with the politicians, from opposition to the military to frustration to the civil rule; one year of disaster, one year of debacle and Insecurity of lives and property have heightened. Mayhem has taken over. Ruthless religious bigotry, insensitive bloodletting, continual assassinations and incessant robberies becomes the order of the day. Life is cheap, brutish and in a primitive state. “737

Similarly, he has a lot of misgivings about the present's anti-corruption crusade. He has the following poser for the president:

“How do you talk of anti-corruption, how do you set out to abolish corruption, how do you now want to tell the Nigerian people that corruption does not pay when those men who made corruption to thrive in our society are not touched and have become sacrosanct, sacred cows in the

734TELL April 27, 1998 p. 21. 735John Odey, Christians, Politics and the Nigerian Dilemma (Enugu: Snaap Press, 1999) pp. 69-70. 736The Source, January 17, 2000, p. 12. 737The Source, June 5 2000, p, 10.



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society? Those who made away with our resources, either the Gulf war oil scoop or the bogus IMF conditionality’s that attracted so much money to them or plain stealing of the resources, just because one of them bank-rolled his election, he suddenly became a saint when every Nigerian smells faeces of corruption on his body, except you the head of state...are the only one who is not smelling the faeces on Babangida's body, the faeces of corruption.”738

The irrepressible legal icon and voice of the voiceless is yet to know from the president why

“no single military man, no single ex-general, no single ex-head of state, no single ex-commissioner, no single ex-military Administrator and no single ex-minister who have been architects of all the country's corruption tragedies has been taken to court within the 365 days of Obasanjo's administration”.739

Based on all these and many more, Gani draws the following startling conclusion:

“If there is one enemy of this civil rule, it is the president.”740

While taking over the mantle of leadership from General Abdul salami Abubakar on May 29, 1999 President Obasanjo expressed his awareness of the wide spread cynicism and total lack of confidence in all, of which arose as a result the bad faith, deceit and evil actions that characterized the many years of ruthless military administrations.

According to ‘The News’,

“Where official pronouncements are repeatedly made and not matched by action, said the president, government forfeits the confidence of the people and their trust.”741

In view of this, he assured Nigerians that his administration was determined to implement quickly and decisively measures which would restore confidence in governance. To achieve the desired aims and objectives of his administration, he listed among other things, the following priority issues that would need his immediate attention:

“The crisis in the oil producing areas, Laws and order with particular reference to armed robbery and Cultism in our educational institutions. Exploration and production of petroleum, Macro-economic policies, particularly, exchange rate management, Supply and distribution of petroleum products, Corruption, drugs, organized fraud such as the 419 activities and crimes leading to loss

738. The Source, June 5 2000, p. 11. 739Ibid. 740John Odey Anti-corruption crusade-The Saga of A crippled Giant.2001, p.,67. 741 The News, June 14, 1999, p. 24.



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of lives, property and investment, Job creation and creation of conducive environment for investment and Poverty alleviation.”742

Having listed these priorities, the president raised our hopes more by assuring us that he was determined to make significant changes in them within one year of his administration.

According to Odey J,

“Despite all these bogus ideas and its non-fulfilment, the lack of confidence exacerbated by bad faith has continued to hunt the administration. Moreover, the administration wobbled so much in the face of so many national hiccups that it does not seem to possess the knowledge, the skill and the courage needed to bring the country out of the woods and thus realize its good intentions for the citizenry.”743

It should be noted that the crisis in the oil-producing areas reached its climax under this administration. Armed robbers have virtually taken over the country. This has not only raised so many questions about the usefulness of police, it has given rise to emergence of parallel vigilante groups and or ethnic militias. These militias include, the Oodua People's Congress (OPC) and the Bakasi Boys who have become the people's darling to the consternation of both the federal government and the police.

In the same vein, as Odey, puts it,

“the menace of cultism in our educational institutions has remained one of the greatest thorns in the flesh of the president's administration. Far from curbing the menace, the administration has been perching on the fringe like a lame duck watching the gruesome drama.”744

At the inception of the administration, it seemed to have possessed all that was needed to drive out the demon behind the persistent fuel scarcity that has paralyzed the nation for so many years. Unfortunately, we went back to where we were as the biting and inexplicable scarcity of petroleum products in the country remained one of the greatest shames of the administration.

According to the TELL,

“to this insult, the president added injury when he raised the pump price of petrol from N20.00 to N30.00, diesel from N19.00 to N29.00 and kerosene from N17.00 toN27.00 on June 1, 2000. The wrong timing of the price increase which came at the wake of his offer of N10 billion with which to

742Ibid. 743 John Odey Anti-corruption crusade-The Saga of A crippled Giant.2001, p., 67.

744 Ibid.



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alleviate poverty among over 150 million Nigerians did not help matters. It was due to corrupt tendency and by a cruel and grossly miscalculated political naivety that the president so aggravated the poverty he claimed to have come to alleviate.”745

Among other reasons, we were made to believe that the rise in the prise became necessary because it would act as a deterrent to smugglers. A very good reason indeed! However, the president and his advisers seemed to have forgotten that they were addressing people who have some level of intelligence, so that by giving such a spurious reason as a justification for the price hike he was indirectly telling us that he was no longer in control. That reason did not go down well with Nigerians who immediately pointed out that smuggling is one of the most sickening forms of corruption and that it is wrong for the president to leave those who committed the crime to go free only to punish the innocent masses who bore the brunt of the price hike.

Furthermore, according to Odey,

“people asked the president to tell them what the security men guarding our seas and our territorial borders do each time that the smugglers carry on their illicit trade along the seas and along the borders. They reminded him that hiking fuel price because those guarding the borders had colluded with smugglers to carry on their nefarious trade was like punishing some poor villagers during a war because the soldiers detailed to guard their village were asleep when enemies came, took over and lavished the village. They reminded the president that smugglers are not spirits but Nigerians who’s God-fathers hold key positions in government and so are covered no matter what they do.”746

In the final analysis, the president was compelled by the masses of the people, who always feel the pinch of executive high-handedness to swallow his words as he shaved off as at that time, according to the TELL,

“N8.oo from the N30.00 he announced for petrol price, making it N22.00 per litre. Kerosene came down to its original price of N17.00 per litre while diesel came down to N21.00 a litre. The people's spontaneous reaction and his concession are a big lesson which we should never lose sight of. No leader particularly, in a democratic setting, has the right to do whatever he likes. A leader's main job is to be the servant of the people and not their master.”747

745 TELL April 27, 1998 p. 21.

746 John Odey Anti-corruption crusade-The Saga of A crippled Giant.2001, p., 75.

747 TELL April 27, 1998 p. 21.



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The positive impacts of the administration's much vaunted macro-economic policies were yet to be felt by the people as the astronomical devaluation of the naira becomes more and more a matter of an economic disaster. Currently it is exchanging at N200.00 or more to a dollar. What a national tragedy!

Despite the good intentions of the government, the poverty alleviation scheme was yet to achieve its grandiose aims and objectives as the only things majority of Nigerians have in common are poverty and hapless future.

Then come as one would aspect, the hydra-headed monster called corruption into the Nigerian society. As if to tell the president that his touted ant-corruption crusade has remained a mere populist political racket, in September 2000, the transparency international, the very anti-corruption body that helped to raise him to a very high pedestal, delivered its bombshell that Nigeria is the most corrupt country in the world.748

This is certainly painful and it is a big dent on an administration which expects the world to recognize it as seven-horned dragon that has come to eat up all the demons of corruption in the country. It is most painful when one recalls that prior to Obasanjo's assumption of office; Nigeria occupied the 27th position on the corruption chart.

According to Odey,

“It is very sad. The passage of every day brings us closer to the bitter truth that in spite of the president's stunning moral courage and commendable effort to fight against corruption, there are still many cracks in the wall. And these cracks, if not checked, will mar the Nigerian resolve the discard the old wine in Nigeria's system of governance and build a new system of ethics and morals to suit an age which abhors oppression and corruption but yearns for freedom, justice and fair play, probity and accountability.”749

Apart from the problems mentioned above, the first and the greatest threat to the president's war against corruption is his marriage of convenience with Ibrahim Babangida and his voluminous silence over the popular clamour to probe him. The president is treating Babangida as a sacred cow in spite of his assurance to the nation that there would be no room for sacred cows in his administration. In his book, The Sharia And The Rest Of Us, Odey J. Enumerated what Nigerians

748 The News, February 28 2000, p. 13.

749 John Odey Anti-corruption crusade-The Saga of A crippled Giant.2001, p., 75.



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pointed out as ample evidence of Babangida’s corruption that makes it impossible for them to swallow the president's claim that those who say that he is corrupt are „just malicious.“750

In the book, Odey J. Pointed out that the most stunning revelation of Babangida's corruption was made by Alfred Rewane in September 1995 shortly before he was assassinated by Abacha's killers when he made the following generous assessment of what Babangida would have earned as salary for the 30years he served the nation as a military man:

“Ibrahim Babangida joined the Nigerian army in 1964. When he retired in 1993, he has served for nearly 30years. Assuming that he was paid N1 million per month while he was in the service and did not spend one kobo from it, he would have earned N 12 million a year or about N360 million for the whole period of nearly 30years. The question may be asked; where and how did Babangida then find the money to build his 50-bedroom castle at Mina in Niger State, estimated by some sources to have cost up to N2.6 billion, to which he has retired and where he now lives. L`quenement du Jeudi, a French weekly, in 1998 put Babangida's net worth at 30 billion French francs (about N450 billion).”751

Granted that the president still believes there is no evidence to prove that Babangida was corrupt, he is challenged to uncover the big riddle surrounding how he was able to make such a huge amount of money. Does the President wish to convince us that the alleged corrupt role which Babangida played in Nigeria can be treated with kid-gloves, brushed under the carpet and trampled into the oblivion? If he does, that in itself looks like a high level corruption because it is a direct attack on all that we value and cherish as a people. If he does, that is a big dent on Nigerian anti- corruption crusade.

But as if to add insult to injury, while Nigerians pensively watched to see whether the president would harken to their call to probe Babangida, he rather went ahead and appointed him to head a university.

At the end of his eight years of dictatorship in office, Babangida bequeathed to us a legacy that has put this country in a coma. By banning the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) and ASUU, he castrated education and left the nation in intellectual darkness. What legacy then did the president wish him to bequeath the young ones in the university who are the future leaders of this country? How a person like Babangida could be put in a position to direct the educational policy and values of a new Nigeria that is struggling to repair the damage that the same Babangida and his likes inflicted on her.

750 The News, February 28 2000, p. 13.

751 Ibid.



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For me, the writer Chukwudum Ikeazor most aptly depicted the wrathful feelings and the righteous indignation which Nigerians harbour for those corrupt persons who are shielded by presidential immunity in this way,

“The leader may be forgiven for the mistakes of the head, in his efforts to steer the ship of state, but the people condemn themselves to Psychological enslavement, abuse of office and corruption when they appear to forgive a commander-in-chief, a presidential liar and robber...for crimes of...grand corruption and theft, corruption of the value system and all those that damage the very fabric of society, no one is authorized or equipped to forgive. No one. If Nigeria is unwilling to bring to book, not a few token figures, but all the knaves and villains that have brought ruin to the country, the country is unfit to survive.”752

If Obasanjo means well for Nigeria, he should have harkened to people's feeling about corruption in high places, and among the big fish and not simply in the low places and among the small fish. If Nigeria must be rid of corruption, every one of us must be exorcised of the evil spirit of corruption. This can be done by building up a good valued-system for example, truth guided in charity. But for an effective, positive and lasting result, the exorcism which has begun with small fish must continue with the big fish.

Unless this is done, we shall only be scratching the tip of the iceberg. And no matter how many years it takes us to do so, we may end up being completely destroyed by corruption rather than eradicating it.

I want to say here right away, that selective Justice leads to bad leadership and enhances lack of trust in governance. In his book, Mahatma Gandhi: A Profile in Love Peace and Nonviolence, Odey. Writes:

“Some people are bound to be richer than others as long as the world lasts. Inequality is an irreversible part of social existence, but living and thriving at the expense of others is a crime.”753

But we must continue the fight against corruption, injustices and for freedom. Aime Cesair, the Martinique-born West Indian Poet, is known to be one of the earliest persons who injected some vibrant blood into the veins of Comatose black people, particularly in Africa, to fight for their God-given freedom. While he was still a student in France, he introduced and developed the idea of negritude into an indomitable black consciousness ideology which eventually paved the way for the political independence that swept through the whole of Africa in 1960s.

In his book, Black Skin, White Masks, Franz Fanon quoted Cesaire as follows:

752The Source, June 5, 2000.p.8 753Odey J the Ant-corruption Crusade-The Saga of a crippled Giant 2001. p. 100.



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“When I turn on my radio, when I hear that Negroes have been lynched in America, I say that we have been lied to: Hitler is not dead; when I turn on my radio, when I learnt that Jews have been insulted, mistreated, persecuted, I say that we have been lied to. Hitler is not dead; when, finally, I turn on my radio and hear that in Africa forced labour has been inaugurated and legalized, I say that we have certainly been lied to: Hitler is not dead.”754

After reading the above, I could not but discover a startling similarity between what Cesaire said many years ago vis-a-vis the fate of the oppressed races, the blacks and the Jews, and the fate of Nigerians before their corrupt leaders and after the reign of terrible human being called Abacha and his likes.

Certainly, according to Odey,

“Abacha and his likes are Nigerian version of Germany's Adolf Hitler. While Hitler was the terror of the Jews, these corrupt leaders like Abacha represent the terror of Nigerians. Hence, when he died on June 8, 1998 Nigerians heaved a big sigh of relief that he also could surrender to the cold grip of death and thus, give way for goodness, justice and equity to reign in the land.”755

While we are certainly better off today than we were in the days of Abacha and Obasanjo, the truth remains that we still have a long way to go in terms of realizing our lofty dreams to a better Nigeria.

In other words, As Odey puts it,

“like Cesaire, I am tempted to say that when I read The NEWS magazine and hear that Nigerian Senators and legislators, have abandoned their sacred duty of making laws that would bring hope and succour to a people so badly battered by many years of military madness and turned into an assemblage of greedy and fraudulent contractors, I say we have been lied to: Sani Abacha is not dead.”756

When I think about the allegation that the speaker of the House of Representatives awarded a contract to the tune of N28 just for the planting of flowers within the corridors of the of the legislators' chamber alone, and that his travel expenses as at December 1999 stood atN180 million, I say to myself, they have lied to us: Sani Abacha is not dead.

754Ibid. 755 Ibid.

756 John Odey Anti-corruption crusade-The Saga of A crippled Giant.2001, p., 102



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When I think of the same person inflating a Street Lighting project contract from N57 million to N175 million and inflating an office complex contract from N4 million to N11 million,757 I to I, they have lied to us: Sani Abacha is not dead.

When I think of reading the News watch magazine and discover that the senators who were sent to Abuja to fashion out ways and means of repairing the great harm inflicted on this country by the military have decided to plunder the nation with reckless abandon, I say we have been lied to: Sani Abacha is not dead. He is still alive and prowling like a rapacious wolf.

When I read the TELL magazine and find out that the Senate president allegedly used a whopping sum of N70 million to buy Salah cow for some senators, (that is, at the cost of N660.000.00 per cow assuming that each of the senators got a cow),758

When I look around and discover that any typical pauper who joins politics today automatically becomes a millionaire tomorrow, who can boast of a fleet of private and public vehicles, many houses in London, Paris, New York and Canada, I say that we have been lied to: Sani Abacha, the greatest thief that ever ruled this country, is not dead.

When I look around and see that many workers' salaries are not paid for many months while many political thugs who have become Lords within the rank and file of the ruling party, carry home allowances that could pay thousands of workers, I say to myself that they have lied to us: Sani Abacha, the man whose government had billions of naira to spread on the youths who were rented to earnestly ask for him to continue to rule us against our will but had no money to pay poor workers their pitiable wages, is not dead.

When I look around and see that many honest business men and women are dying in abject hunger and poverty on daily basis for lack of fund and material while almost every lazy man who is a political sycophant is swimming in affluence, I say to myself, they have lied to us: Sani Abacha is not dead.

When I think of reading the Punch newspaper only to be informed that a state governor who claims that he has no money to pay workers a minimum wage of N5,000.00 can afford to spend N50 million in a single overseas trip, I say to myself that we have been lied to: Sani Abacha is not dead.

When I read about how governor Ahmed Sani Yerima of Zamfara state, the Sharia guru who presented religious intolerance as food and shelter to his poor people, angered his people to no end by spending a month overseas with a large entourage, and how his people would want him to tell

757Op. cit. p 101. 758Op .cit 102.



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them where he got all the money that financed his globe-trotting spree,759 I say to myself, Sani Abacha, the man who wanted to blackmail God, is not dead.

When I think about the fact that more than a half of Nigeria's over 150 million people live below the poverty line and that in this same Nigeria very few people called legistrators, who live in the palatial city of Abuja every conceivable comfort is provided, instead of caring and feeling the pinch of that poverty, which they are largely the cause of, play the Oliver Twist by asking for more, I say to myself that they have lied to us: Sani Abacha is not dead.

When I think of the fact that inspire of the Universal Basic Education (UBE) scheme, no president, no minister, no state governor, no commissioner, no local government chairman has dared to put his child in the common primary or secondary school, that instead of doing so, they use billions of naira to build exclusive elite school for their children/and or send them overseas to study at our collective expense while the rest of the nation's children are left to make do with ramshackle schools, I say that they have lied to us. Sani Abacha is not dead.

When I think of reading the Champion newspaper and find out that some of our senators collect fat estacodes for scheduled trip overseas but simply put all in their pockets and sleep soundly at home, I say to myself, they have lied to us: Sani Abacha is not dead.

When I read on the pages of the Vanguard newspaper about some of our senators awarding contracts and inflating contracts sums by about 300t 400 higher than what the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA), the agency responsible for such matters estimated them, I say to myself, they have lied to us: Sani Abacha is not dead. He is still arriving and the sordid drama of the Ajaokuta steel complex still goes on.760

In a situation whereby majority of Nigerians have found themselves in another messy political and economic mix-up, where their unanimous response to the activities of their representatives is a barrage of a nagging questions such as who gave what approval, how many billions were approved, were the normal procedures followed, who will account for the missing millions and so forth, we are compelled to conclude that we have been lied to: Sani Abacha is not dead.

One therefore wonders, when the spirit of Sani Abacha that has continued to wreak an appalling havoc on the nation through some of our honourable legislators will be exorcized to enable Nigeria rise up once again and to ensure that generations yet to be born will not have a cause to look back to say that this generation discovered its mission but betrayed it.

One of the major problems according to Odey J,

759Odey J The Anti-corruption Crusade-The Saga of a Crippled Giant 2001, p 103. 760 Ibid.



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“ is that That Third World Presidents including Nigeria hardly stay in their own countries with the result that they hardly know what the countries truly look like or what actually happen in them. They are unfortunately more familiar faces in London, America, Canada, France and so forth, but strangers in their own countries.”761

Like many other heads of state president Obasanjo has equally fallen into the temptation of too much travelling within the short period of his presidency. In his article, FOREVER ABROAD, a journalist, Calistus Oke, gave a run-down of the president's foreign trips within sixteen months of his administration and came out with the startling revelation that within those sixteen months, the president made about forty-five foreign trips.

Hereunder is the list of such trips, including countries visited and dates of visit:

1) Republic of Benin March 12, 1999 2) Tanzania March 13, 1999 3) Mozambique March 14, 1999 4) Kenya March 14-15 1999 5) Egypt March 14, 1999 6) France March 18, 1999 7) United Kingdom March 20-23, 1999 8) Italy ( Rome) March 26, 1999 9) United States of America March 26-30, 1999 10) Brazil April 4-5, 1999 11) China April 11-12, 1999 12) Japan April 14-15, 1999 13) South Africa June 16, 1999 14) Algeria July 12-14, 1999 15) Morocco July 23, 1999 16) New York Sep. 23-27, 1999 17) Washington D.C. Oct. 28.Nov. 1, 1999 18) Sierra Leone Nov. 5, 1999 19) Guinea & Liberia Dec. 3, !))) 20)

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