Then she gave examples; Mobutu's Zaire, Omar Bongo's Gabon, Mugabe's
Zimbabwe, Moi's Kenya, Museveni's Uganda etc. before concluding that
the logical thing was for such countries is to crumble under the weight
of their own inefficiency.
The rather nave assumption here is that citizens who are affected by
the absence of social services eaten away by corruption will at most
rise up and kick the government out of power or at least vote it out of
office.
Before mulling over this question that helps broaden the understanding
of corruption as a tool of governance, there are some striking
observations.
Besides these countries not being democracies worth mentioning, they
are endowed with enormous natural and human resources yet they are home
to hordes to some of the poorest people on earth whose affinity to
accept bad leadership is overwhelmingly high.
Corrupt governments thrive very favourably in this environment because
corruption per se is not an end result of failure by a government that
has tried all it can to deliver; it is the sum total of deliberate
actions meant for empowering the leaders by creating a wide gap between
them and the vastly impoverished and deprived mass of ordinary citizens.
The economic equation here sees to it that an economy is crudely placed
in the hands of a few individuals who easily and fraudulently access
public finance with impunity while the majority are pushed onto the
fringes barely surviving and desperately waiting for hand outs by being
nice to those who rob them masquerading as their leaders.
A small but influential clique of individuals emerges with the top most
leader (President, King or Prime Minister) impressing mainly two
important facts upon the privileged ruling class that first he is the
source of their wealth. Secondly, that in the interest of protecting
their possessions, it is important that he (the Supreme leader) is
protected and remains in charge for as long as possible.
In other words, working in the President's interest is the same as working for one's own concerns and vice versa.
That then sets off the blatant thievery. Reprimanding the corrupt becomes the equivalent of working against the President.
It is this attitude that once prompted Uganda's Prime Minister Prof.
Apolo Robin Nsibambi to caution the ruling party's MPs who sit on
oversight committees of Parliament not to be too harsh on corrupt
government officials when they appear before them because it spoils
the name of the government and jeopardises government programmes.
But it is what happens to the victims of corruption (the ones who may
not access drugs, or whose children receive shambolic education because
someone high up has pocketed the money intended for the same) that is
even more fundamental in this set up.
These people are ever desperate, sick, tired, hungry, frustrated and
angry; conditions which make them grateful for merely existing to the
next poor meal and next day if it comes. They are physically weak and
carry crushed spirits leaving them no time to spare to effectively
understand their plight and hold those that subjugate them accountable.
Another small group that would be of use, the elite are equally
powerless for the reason that most of them are employees also known as
corporates.
Since the major part of the economy in these sorts of corrupt countries
is either controlled by privileged government supporters or by pampered
foreign investors, it is easy to muzzle most of the workforce and keep
them in check by simply calling on their employer to sack of demote
them.
The self employed on the other hand are in no better position either.
Because these economies are small it is possible to trace those that
they deal with and threaten them with sanctions.
One of the most common examples of this is seen in private and
independent newspapers that are often described as anti-government.
Several public and even private businesses which claim to be apolitical
are reluctant to place adverts in such papers for fear of being seen as
supporting the government's enemies. For this reason many stories
even in the public domain are either watered down or never see the
light of day.
So the next time you hear a minister presenting another anti corruption
bill in Parliament to add onto the long list of laws that have
miserably failed to fight the vice, take him seriously at your own risk
and peril. There is such a thing as playing to the gallery. The only
way an inept ruling clique also known as a government can stay on top
of you for long is by robbing you and leaving you with nothing.
Daily Monitor (Uganda)
Post published in: Zimbabwe News