Analysis of Cases of Corruption Across the African Continent: A Phenomenology Study

Introduction

The African continent has become synonyms with underdevelopment, poverty, and inequality. Corruption in Africa has been described as ‘AIDS of democracy’. Over the years, African nations have been tumult by disasters both natural and manmade that makes the continent further isolated from the rest of the world in term of human and material development. As at the time of writing this chapter, there is no region of the continent that is not ravaged by any one of the following issues if not of all them put together: food scarcity, poverty, war, diseases, poor infrastructures, unemployment, high birthrate, high illiteracy, to mention just a few. But, corruption in Africa has become the mother of all problems; the incubator that gives rise to other challenges Africa is currently battling with. Corruption in Africa can be seen at the level of politics, bureaucracy and economy; the fact of the matter is that corruption is everywhere in Africa. Most scholarly and public attention on corruption has focused on political and bureaucratic corruption neglecting corruption at the economy wide level particularly the private sector. Many different factors have come to play a role in influencing the level of corruption in Africa.

These factors are both internal (that originated from Africa) and external (that originated from somewhere outside of Africa). Anti corruption agencies in Africa have been accused of acting the script of whosoever is in power in the various countries of the continent. Thus, these anti corruption agencies fight whosoever the government wants them to fight, neglecting corruption perpetrated by those connected with the government. This explain why corrupt politician struggle to be in government, if not for anything, in order to protect their ill gotten wealth. In the African continent, corruption has become a tool in the hands of the bourgeoisie who use it to perpetuate themselves in power and to be in control of means of production, as a way to ensure the poor in Africa remains where he is, at the bottom of the hierarchy. Despite the hundreds of billions of Dollars borrowed from the outside world by African nations, corruption and mismanagement have ensured that Africa remains where it has been for decades now: as poverty capital of the world. The challenge of development in Africa is the challenge of kicking corruption out of the continent.

It is estimated that over the years hundreds of billions of dollars has been stolen by African leaders and stashed elsewhere in various parts of the world. Money stolen from Africa usually finds their way into Europe and North America, despite the claims of Western countries of helping to fight corruption in Africa. Corrupt money stolen from Africa can be categorized as capital flight. This type of capital flight is very surprising in a continent that has deficiency of capital; but money is being stolen from the continent and invested where they least needed it. Corruption has cost Africa a lot in term of foreign investment. No good investor will put his money where corruption is the order of the day. Investors are ruthless calculators of risks and gains, where they perceive risks to be higher than gains; they usually turn their backs, moving to where they consider risk to be manageable. Over the years, the African continent has experienced a kind of vicious cycle of poverty and corruption where each causes the other. Corruption as many studies have shown makes nations and their people to be poor; while poor people on their part are easily convinced to jettison any ideal they previously held against corruption provided they will get what they need to feed their families. In many places in Africa, poor people pay bribes in order to get services that are supposed to be delivered fairly and freely without any bribe been paid. The development gap between Africa and the developed world is unimaginable. Poor Africans usually watch in TVs what is meant for a country to be developed; whenever they see how the riches of this world are lavishly consumed by ordinary citizens in these developed countries. This explains the continue migration of Africans into Europe and North America to share in the wealth and abundance of these places. Hence, corruption helps explain migration from Africa to Europe. But, it not only stops there, the environment tends to suffer where corruption is rampant. Money means for the protection of the environment has at various times been reported missing. Officials that are tasked with the responsibility of protecting the environment do collect bribe and look the other way when the environment is being damaged. Corruption has the effect of killing willpower and productivity. Its emphasis on bribe collection and the ability to pay kickback has helped destroy competency and merit. Some African leaders have legitimized corruption as a powerful means of staying in power.