The World vs. Corruption
17 February 2014 By Abi Giwa
A 19 years old man employed as an iron bender at a construction site, a novice, but witnessed what he would hardly forget in life. A truck load of iron rods had arrived at the construction site late in the night, led by a short man, who spoke a crude form of English language to the construction company’s supervisor, and the matter was settled. The counting of the iron rods waived, papers signed - acknowledging delivery of rods far above the numbers delivered - and money changed hands.
The above occurrence in Lagos, Nigeria, several years ago, is a reminder of the EU home affairs commissioner, Cecilia Malmstrom, recent statement reported by the BBC saying that the extent of corruption in Europe is breathtaking, and that it costs the EU at least 120bn Euros ($99b) annually.
Malmstrom’s assertion is based on a survey in all 28 EU member states. The first time the commission has done such a survey that reveals bribery as widespread. Yet, all the EU countries ranks high among countries that are least corrupt. Malmstrom confirms Transparency international’s words in its report that bribery remains widespread worldwide.
Transparency International has what can be described as a catalogue of the evil of corruption on its website under ‘What We Do.’ According to some of them, many countries rich in oil and gas are home to some of the world’s poor, where wealth stays corruptly in the hands of the elite. In a globalized world, corruption travels easily and finds haven in countries with lax rules. Millions of dollars are spent annually on public procurement, which corruption raises its costs by up to 50 percent and it also cost lives. Corruption in health means the difference between life and death and poor people are worst affected. Corruption causes poor teachings and unequal access to schooling and corruption makes water undrinkable.
Many African and Third World countries are ranked high among countries that are corrupt by Chart-bin and the Transparency International, while New Zealand ranks first among least corrupt countries. However, the Integrity Plus 2013 New Zealand National Integrity System Assessment released by Transparency International in New Zealand on International Anti-Corruption Day, 9 December 2013, reveals... in the words of Co-Director Suzanne Snively, "Our report finds that the mechanisms that support a high integrity and high trust society, and that facilitate social and economic development, remain generally robust but are coming under increasing stress. There has been complacency in the face of increased risks,” showing that no country is completely immune from corruption.
Anup Shah writes in Global Issues that corruption is both a major cause and a result of poverty around the world. It occurs at all levels of society, from local and national governments, civil society, judiciary functions, large and small businesses, military and other services and so on. Corruption affects the poorest the most, in rich or poor nations, though all elements of society are affected in some way as corruption undermines political development, democracy, economic development, the environment, people’s health and more. Around the world, the perception of corruption in public places is very high.
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Corruption says that economic corruption is an important form of corruption. However, it says it is not the only form of corruption and that there are non-economic forms of corruption, including many types of police corruption, judicial corruption, political corruption, academic corruption, and so on. Indeed, there are at least as many forms of corruption as there are human institutions that might become corrupted. It captures what the scripture says, “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart is continually evil.”
One major difference between developed countries that are least corrupt and poor countries that are corrupt is that most of the developed countries have welfare programs that are non-existing in poor countries. In developed countries, a man just out of college does not have to be breadwinner for all members of his family – parents, brothers and sisters, because the State in most cases provides financial aid for schooling. Unlike the case in poor countries where college graduates provide for parents, brothers and sisters, because mostly poor parents are sponsors of their children in college in the drive to lift the family out of poverty and the beneficiaries are expected to give back after school.
Only Ghana has a considerable percentage of control over corruption and has no welfare program. A respondent to a question for this story said that a college graduate joining the elite in a poor country is faced with a challenge to providing for his parents and siblings to avoid negative labeling of abandoning parents and siblings in a society where extended family plays the role that the welfare system plays in developed countries. He says that the worst scenario is that the extended family system is dying in poor countries, and yet governments in those countries have no wisdom of developing welfare programs to detach the elite from propensity to corruption through which they earn money to play the role of breadwinners to large family, and at times a whole community. The transparency International says the wealth in poor countries stays corruptly in the and of the elite.
Many people believe that so much money are spent in poor countries in the war against corruption, when such money should have been channelled to address how to introduce welfare programs that will take away additional family responsibilities off the shoulder of young men coming out of college. Now that most of these men cannot even get employment, any opportunity to get placement in a public office is seen as an avenue of personal enrichment. It is why corruption is endemic more in public offices in poor countries than in the private sector. It does not mean that the private is completely immune from the travesty.
The Transparency International started a worldwide campaign against corruption in December 2013. The campaign will continue through to October 2014, sensitising people around the world against corruption. It says its partner in South Africa - Corruption Watch - has produced a series of articles paying tribute to local whistleblowers that have exposed public-sector corruption in the country. The series focuses on the lives of ordinary people, who are demanding that money lost to corrupt activities be channeled back into development, and that the perpetrators are held accountable.”
Corruption best explains the human situation as contained in the scripture before the flood; after the flood, before the Ten Commandments and after the release of the commandments, when humans begin to add their own commandments in a bid to cut corners against the original commandments.
The above occurrence in Lagos, Nigeria, several years ago, is a reminder of the EU home affairs commissioner, Cecilia Malmstrom, recent statement reported by the BBC saying that the extent of corruption in Europe is breathtaking, and that it costs the EU at least 120bn Euros ($99b) annually.
Malmstrom’s assertion is based on a survey in all 28 EU member states. The first time the commission has done such a survey that reveals bribery as widespread. Yet, all the EU countries ranks high among countries that are least corrupt. Malmstrom confirms Transparency international’s words in its report that bribery remains widespread worldwide.
Transparency International has what can be described as a catalogue of the evil of corruption on its website under ‘What We Do.’ According to some of them, many countries rich in oil and gas are home to some of the world’s poor, where wealth stays corruptly in the hands of the elite. In a globalized world, corruption travels easily and finds haven in countries with lax rules. Millions of dollars are spent annually on public procurement, which corruption raises its costs by up to 50 percent and it also cost lives. Corruption in health means the difference between life and death and poor people are worst affected. Corruption causes poor teachings and unequal access to schooling and corruption makes water undrinkable.
Many African and Third World countries are ranked high among countries that are corrupt by Chart-bin and the Transparency International, while New Zealand ranks first among least corrupt countries. However, the Integrity Plus 2013 New Zealand National Integrity System Assessment released by Transparency International in New Zealand on International Anti-Corruption Day, 9 December 2013, reveals... in the words of Co-Director Suzanne Snively, "Our report finds that the mechanisms that support a high integrity and high trust society, and that facilitate social and economic development, remain generally robust but are coming under increasing stress. There has been complacency in the face of increased risks,” showing that no country is completely immune from corruption.
Anup Shah writes in Global Issues that corruption is both a major cause and a result of poverty around the world. It occurs at all levels of society, from local and national governments, civil society, judiciary functions, large and small businesses, military and other services and so on. Corruption affects the poorest the most, in rich or poor nations, though all elements of society are affected in some way as corruption undermines political development, democracy, economic development, the environment, people’s health and more. Around the world, the perception of corruption in public places is very high.
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Corruption says that economic corruption is an important form of corruption. However, it says it is not the only form of corruption and that there are non-economic forms of corruption, including many types of police corruption, judicial corruption, political corruption, academic corruption, and so on. Indeed, there are at least as many forms of corruption as there are human institutions that might become corrupted. It captures what the scripture says, “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart is continually evil.”
One major difference between developed countries that are least corrupt and poor countries that are corrupt is that most of the developed countries have welfare programs that are non-existing in poor countries. In developed countries, a man just out of college does not have to be breadwinner for all members of his family – parents, brothers and sisters, because the State in most cases provides financial aid for schooling. Unlike the case in poor countries where college graduates provide for parents, brothers and sisters, because mostly poor parents are sponsors of their children in college in the drive to lift the family out of poverty and the beneficiaries are expected to give back after school.
Only Ghana has a considerable percentage of control over corruption and has no welfare program. A respondent to a question for this story said that a college graduate joining the elite in a poor country is faced with a challenge to providing for his parents and siblings to avoid negative labeling of abandoning parents and siblings in a society where extended family plays the role that the welfare system plays in developed countries. He says that the worst scenario is that the extended family system is dying in poor countries, and yet governments in those countries have no wisdom of developing welfare programs to detach the elite from propensity to corruption through which they earn money to play the role of breadwinners to large family, and at times a whole community. The transparency International says the wealth in poor countries stays corruptly in the and of the elite.
Many people believe that so much money are spent in poor countries in the war against corruption, when such money should have been channelled to address how to introduce welfare programs that will take away additional family responsibilities off the shoulder of young men coming out of college. Now that most of these men cannot even get employment, any opportunity to get placement in a public office is seen as an avenue of personal enrichment. It is why corruption is endemic more in public offices in poor countries than in the private sector. It does not mean that the private is completely immune from the travesty.
The Transparency International started a worldwide campaign against corruption in December 2013. The campaign will continue through to October 2014, sensitising people around the world against corruption. It says its partner in South Africa - Corruption Watch - has produced a series of articles paying tribute to local whistleblowers that have exposed public-sector corruption in the country. The series focuses on the lives of ordinary people, who are demanding that money lost to corrupt activities be channeled back into development, and that the perpetrators are held accountable.”
Corruption best explains the human situation as contained in the scripture before the flood; after the flood, before the Ten Commandments and after the release of the commandments, when humans begin to add their own commandments in a bid to cut corners against the original commandments.
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