By Steve Bishop
According to Transparency International (TI), the leading global civil society organisation fighting corruption, more than two thirds of the world’s nations, making up 79% of the world population, can be deemed ‘corrupt’. On this basis corruption is by no means a phenomenon confined to Africa.
Professors Ali and Alao argue in this work however that the issue is of particular concern across the African continent, due to the acceptance of corruption across a wide range of political and civil institutions, as well as in the minds of the public. As Ali and Abao state in their introduction,
“…scholars are increasingly emphasising that scholarship needs to move away from studying corruption as individualistic acts of deviant behaviour and instead acknowledge that corruption can become institutionalised as informal rules and routines…” (p.11/12)
To a great extent this debate plays out throughout the book; are institutions across African states inherently corrupt, or does corruption thrive due to public acceptance and powerlessness in the face of weak enforcement?
Inevitably this is a fine line to tread, with evidence to support both sides of the debate highlighted, including detailed examples from a number of African countries, from Egypt in the North all the way through to South Africa.
The authors argue that,
“…the reasons for this post-independence increase in corruption activities are multifarious and diverse, but they centre largely on the weakness of institutional structures across countries, the inherited handicap of colonialism, recalcitrant cultural norms, the greed of its political elites and the impunity that has come to be associated with crimes committed in this sector.” (p.32)
Ali and Abao work through different aspects of the economic and social dynamics of African nations, examining how corruption has a distorting and detrimental effect upon the development potential of a significant number of African states.
The impact of corruption upon national economies is highlighted stating that,
“For most developing nations, the impact of corruption on the economy has been the most devastating and telling.” (p.58)
While Ali and Abao acknowledge that corrupt practices existed in the pre-colonial period they are also clear that the impact of colonialism, and the distortion of African economies as a consequence of imperialist plunder, has been a major factor in preventing those nations developing their own economic paths.
As well as considering the economic impact of corruption Ali and Abao assess corruption in the judicial systems in African states; the legislatures of African nations; corruption within the civil service; tertiary institutions; and corruption across religions.
Examples in each sector are cited from a range of African nations and paint a picture of a frustrating struggle to be free from the legacy of colonial structures and practices which have become, in many cases, and endemic part of the functioning of many African states.
The picture is not a wholly bleak one however. The authors recognise the importance of the role of anti-corruption agencies at international, regional and national level. The United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC), which came into effect in 2004, is the only legally binding universal anti-corruption instrument.
Obligations upon state parties include to have an independent body to enforce clear anti-corruption policies and take steps to increase and disseminate knowledge about the prevention of corruption. The work of UNCAC is supplemented by the International Association of Anti-Corruption Agencies (IAACA) which the authors argue,
“…has been effective in promoting the effective implementation of UNCAC and fostering international anti-corruption collaboration.” (p.165)
Also significant is the Global Anti-Corruption Consortium, “launched in 2016 to accelerate the global fight against corruption by combining hard hitting investigative journalism with skilful civil society advocacy.” (p.165)
The issues of corruption and how to tackle and eradicate it are clearly not confined to Africa, as the Transparency International data suggests. The challenge of tackling embedded post-colonial structures, the continuing reality of neo-colonialism and the attitudes embedded in neo-liberal economic structures remain significant for many African nations.
The authors have produced a thorough treatise on the symptoms and day to day impact of corruption within African states but are less inclined to delve into an analysis of the reality that corruption is an endemic part of the capitalist system. Any real programme for the eradication of corruption in Africa, or elsewhere in the world, must challenge entire economic and political structures.
Corruption within the political system invariably functions to maintain an elite and retain that elite in power. The challenge for the people of Africa, and those suffering in corrupt states elsewhere in the world, is to recognise and rise to that challenge and ensure that corruption has no part to play in economic, political or civil society.
Steve Bishop is a Liberation member and senior executive member of Liberation affiliate CODIR.
State, Society and Corruption in Africa: The evolution of corruption from the pre-colonial period to the present by by Yusuf Ali & Abiodun Alao is published by Bloomsbury.
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