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Christopher Farai Charamba Correspondent
Corruption hurts the poorest and erodes development, adding to basic daily costs and taking money away from fighting poverty and delivering services.
Corruption in Zimbabwe is growing and becoming endemic. Successive Auditor-General reports over the last three years have shown an increase in poor corporate governance, flouting of procurement procedures and misappropriation of funds at parastatals and Government ministries.
The effects of corruption include inefficiency, depleted resources, inequality and other such social ills that have a negative effect on the State and its citizens.
While the Auditor-General and the media have exposed instances of what one could deem corruption, there seems to be little follow through action, investigations, suspensions, firings and even arrests. One might actually think that corruption is not a criminal offence in the country.
Perhaps the issue is that the definition of corruption is complex. It is both a private and public sector problem and occurs at all levels of society in both the developed and the developing world.
In Zimbabwe corruption is not defined as one thing. The Prevention of Corruption Act (Chapter 9:16) lists corrupt acts as soliciting or giving a gift or consideration as an inducement or reward. It also includes intention to deceive one’s principal, falsifying documents and failure to disclose full information relating to a transaction to one’s principal.
The Act goes on to state that an “agent”, who may be accused of corruption, is a person employed by or acting for another in any capacity whatsoever, and including, the trustee of an insolvent estate; the liquidator of a company that is being dissolved; the executor of the estate of a deceased person; the legal representative of a person who is a minor or of unsound mind; a public officer and a member of a board or a committee of a body corporate.
Advocate Prosper Maguchu pointed out, however, that “the legal definition of corruption in our laws is very narrow because it punishes only criminal abuse and it applies only to prosecute public officials”.
Perhaps this is one reason why there have been few corruption charges laid against individuals following the Auditor-General’s reports.
Transparency International defined corruption as “any behaviour on the part of officials in the public sector, whether politicians or civil servants in which they improperly and unlawfully enrich themselves or those close to them by the misuse of public power entrusted to them”.
Senior Lecturer in the Department of Public Administration at the University of Ghana Business School Dr Abdul-Gafaru Abdulai explains that corruption can be categorised into three main groups, petty/bureaucratic, grand/political and systemic with examples of corrupt behaviour including bribery, extortion, embezzlement, nepotism and patronage, misappropriation of public assets, kickbacks, insider trading and influence peddling.
Petty corruption takes place at lower levels and usually involves lower level officials and civil servants for small amounts. In contrast, grand corruption involves senior political officials and usually involves large amounts or affecting great influence in situations. When both petty and grand corruption are pervasive in a country, corruption is said to be systemic.
The manner in which corruption manifests itself varies and is dependent on circumstances and the social and political environment of a state. One of the more common types of corruption is bribery. This is committed when a public servant is offered, promised, or granted a benefit in return for an action already carried out or is to be expected.
Another common type of corruption practised in some African countries is nepotism. This is a form of favouritism based on kinship and usually occurs where a relative of a top political official is appointed to a high level position ahead of more qualified individuals or receives preferential treatment in business.
Misappropriation of state resources is another common place form of corruption in African countries. This is brought about by self-aggrandisement under the belief that political office is a means of self-enrichment.
Other forms of corruption familiar to African countries include collusion, patronage, embezzlement and theft. These take place at the grand level with political officials the main culprits.
Another important bit of information that needs to be considered though is that corruption also takes place outside the public sphere in private entities, even in churches.
For corruption to be quelled, political actors at all levels, particularly at the top must commit to a process that exposes corrupt officials and punishes them accordingly.
Having understood that corruption is an abuse of power for personal gain, it can be argued that one of its key causes is greed. Political office has been seen as an avenue for self-enrichment and thus greedy individuals seek such positions as a means of getting wealthy.
Greed it can be argued affects bribery and misappropriation of funds as individuals see their importance above that of the state and its inhabitants.
Another root cause of corruption is weak governments and weak economies. This situation creates an environment where state officials are able to abuse their offices without fear of the repercussions.
Weak economies also influence civil servants to search for alternative to supplement their income, due to inefficient bureaucracies, corrupt practices become an option.
Weak economies and governments contribute to corruption becoming systemic as vast citizens at all levels find themselves affected by high unemployment and inefficient state institutions. State inhabitants find themselves practising corruption as willing or unwilling participants as unlawful corrupt practices become the status quo.
Corruption undermines governance, democracy and the rule of law, intensifying injustice and conflict. Corruption hurts the poorest and erodes development, adding to basic daily costs and taking money away from fighting poverty and delivering services.
It also destroys investor confidence, raising the costs of doing business, driving investors and employers away as well as limiting donor aid as amounts are feared to be lost to corrupt officials.
In some instances it also opens the door to criminal activity providing an attractive environment for terrorists, drug traffickers, money launderers and other criminals.
There are various ways in which countries can attempt to combat corruption such as increasing accountability. Public sector reform in addition to working with various support agencies as well as civil society interest groups can work towards creating accountable systems.
Accountability will reduce opportunities for corruption in ministries and makes Government spending more transparent.
Other efforts in that can be used to quell corruption are increasing transparency and funding civil society efforts to raise public awareness and increase demands for accountability. These efforts are necessary as with more participation from civil society, corrupt officials are placed under more scrutiny and thus are deterred from committing corrupt practices.
Public scrutiny and media exposure also alerts the general populous as to the depth of corruption and helps to bring about necessary change.
Abdul-Galufi Abdulai notes that “a lack of political will to combat corruption is commonly found in countries where political office is seen as a quick route to acquiring personal riches”. Political will in this instance refers to the sincerity of a government’s pledge to control corruption both in words and by deeds.
Action is therefore necessary for corruption to be deterred. This effort must begin at the upper echelons of government and trickle down to the bottom.
Government must take considerable efforts to expose those corrupt officials and investigate anyone accused of such practices. Without political will and commitment to this endeavour, corruption will remain a pandemic and Zimbabwe’s progression hindered.
Online Reporter