adminRudo Gwata-Charamba
Correspondent
The term corruption is a frequently used word and with numerous definitions that include the abuse of office, the absence of laws for penalising and preventing such abuse as well as the lack of enforcement of laws or the total absence of justice.
However, it basically relates to deliberate effort aimed at deceiving or bringing about a calculated unjust outcome to any situation and a moral evil ascertained the greatest impediment to the growth of developing nations.
The notion is generally defined as a pervasive, multi-dimensional problem that permeates the entire society and impacts on all issues in people’s lives namely legal, social, economic, political, cultural and religious matters. It ordinarily hurts daily transactions in all areas and thus undermining good stewardship of resources and ultimately development or the well-being of society.
It is often said the plea for responsible citizenship is vital in the pathway to combating corruption. This is because responsible citizenship implies comprehending plus abiding by all the rules and regulations governing the nation and commitment to development towards a peaceful and prosperous nation.
The associated individuals are determined to act in the best interest of human and ecological communities, for social, environmental, and economic benefits. In addition, the notion calls for ethical decision-making with an understanding that one’s actions have effects, both direct and indirect, on humans and environments.
Responsible citizens dutifully love people and the environment, are trustworthy, always considering the needs and feelings of others, answering for all forms of their behaviour.
Accordingly, they strongly uphold virtues that encompass honesty, compassion, hard work, self-control, responsibility, respect, cooperation, perseverance and commitment to excellence; all antidotes of corruption. Furthermore, they consistently participate in providing solutions to societal problems, including corruption itself.
Nations consistently make efforts towards combating corruption through strategies that include the amendment of laws and regulations, governance methods and mechanisms, the establishment of commissions to review performance and hold corrupt entities accountable for their actions. Regrettably, most of these efforts have not yielded the expected outcomes as performance improvement nor reduction in corruption were not readily evident.
Evidence of corruption is repeatedly revealed and discussed in numerous settings, with government and public institutions being central to the issue, and many expressing disappointments about the limited progress in fighting this widespread menace. A shortcoming, relating to strategies employed in combating corruption, that is consistently identified in research is the focus of most crusades solely on government and public institutions when systemic corruption goes far deeper than that.
Corruption involves other individuals plus private sector institutions and citizens at all levels with far less or no accountability for their actions than public officials. That is, anyone from state officials, business leaders, bank personnel and all groups of citizens can be involved in corrupt activities. Not-for-profit institutions, including religious organisations, manned by professional religious practitioners, that are meant to champion sound morals, are also prone to accountability deficiencies plus corruption.
It is this collective and systemic character of the menace that makes it so deep-rooted and difficult to address, implying the need for more complex strategies as well as enhanced participation of a wider range of stakeholders.
Explicitly, corruption exists and continues to be a nuisance primarily because there is both consistent demand for and supply of the same while everyone gets impacted by its occurrence. Citizens readily offer corruption packages to role players demonstrating likelihood to accept such offers. For example, citizens are often compelled to pay for expensive privatised water and other utilities after public institution officials work in cahoots with these alternative suppliers.
Similarly, prices get manipulated in auction houses while attached or repossessed assets, in legal cases, are disposed of buyers corruptly working with the associated legal or financial systems. It creates additional transaction costs and disincentives in national and international systems while slowly undermining the entire functioning of the moral climate, economy plus political and legal institutions within societies.
Accordingly, the responsibility for fighting corruption thus rests upon every individual in a society as is the responsibility for national development. However, many people often choose to look the other way or even disregard corruption or reduce its importance as well as responsibility to fight the same to only specific entities within the economy. Typical examples of such entities include the Government, the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) and the Auditor General’s Office. On the contrary, responsible citizens recognise that corruption is universal, a consequence of personal choice that adversely impacts everyone, in one way or the other, and a violation of the law written in one’s heart. Accordingly, they strongly believe that the menace should be fought against viciously by everyone.
Both literature and experiential evidence clearly show that focusing on preventing and fighting corruption among government officials plus institutions only, emphasizing the rule of law as well as the use of checks and balances helps to reduce cases of corruption, but can never be sufficient. This is primarily because the menace affects all sectors of society and every member of society is prone to engage in it. Basically, the fight requires a multifaceted approach that facilitates maximum collaboration among all sectors, with every individual assuming full responsibility and accountability for actions towards fellow citizens as well as society in general.
Consequently, championing the development of responsible citizenship, which implies focusing on the common good, morality, the rule of law as well as meaningful personal involvement has proved to be a more effective strategy as it involves everyone and has the potential to transform whole societies. Such participation of responsible citizens in both the identification of the root causes of corruption, notably their input into the design of strategies to tackle the same. The practice helps to promote the potential for success for these strategies as well as their trust in the sincerity of the fight against corruption notably where their opinions are respected and acted upon apart from being listened to.
Additionally, education, which has proved to be highly effective in developing responsible citizenship, starting from childhood, is equally effective in combating corruption. In this regard, parents and teachers, symbolically representing other adults encompassing guardians, extended family members plus neighbours, are the key players with the highest capacity to influence children. This is in line with the African proverb, “It takes a village to raise a child,” again supporting the need for everyone to contribute to the fight against corruption through responsible citizenship and ultimately a healthy, prosperous society.
These adults can model, teach and influence the children to hate corruption, instil the values of responsible citizenship that encompass hard work and determination plus the benefits of reaping what they sow. Accordingly, the children grow to appreciate the essence of integrity, transparency, accountability, and hard work which will guide their entire livelihoods, thus effectively combating corruption, though the creation of a clean, disciplined and honest as well as responsible society.
In the same context, behaviour that incorporates self-examination before pointing fingers at others, amicable correction plus drawing attention to improper behaviour whenever it is evident, would help to improve the quality of combat. In addition, the moral climate in families, communities, nations and every place across the globe would be appropriately shaped with stakeholders being mindful of the fact that our Creator is always fully aware of everything including that which fellow humans cannot see. That is, to effectively fight corruption we all need to be responsible citizens, doing everything out of love for each other rather than selfishness and spite which characterise most behaviour today.
Dr Rudo Grace Gwata-Charamba is an author, researcher and development consultant. She can be contacted on [email protected]
Online Reporter