African Corruption

The paradox of plenty is the idea that resource rich countries are, paradoxically, the least developed nations. Talk about Africa for long enough and you will eventually stumble upon the topic of corruption, a plague that has affected the entire continent for far too long now.

History of corruption

It’s important to note that this isn’t some sort of cultural issue, Africans are not just inherently corrupt. Before colonialism there were plenty of kingdoms and clans like the Zulu kingdom, Luba kingdom and Oyo empire that had their own languages, cultures, traditions and were involved in trade with western Asia and the India Ocean region¹. Rather, corruption is a socioeconomic issue that has its roots in colonialism.

When colonizers first came to the African continent, their intent was to extract resources, particularly minerals and slaves. They began by trading with the people there, foreign jewellery was of particular interest. Eventually the colonizers presented written treaties in foreign languages, like English or French, which the African leaders could not read at the time, stating that they give up the rights to their land and minerals. One might ask why the leaders would sign such an agreement, well, some wanted the gifts, but most were told lies about the exact details of the treaty. Most individuals that tried to resist were killed² or kidnapped and exiled. This went on and eventually by 1914 Europeans controlled about 90% of the continent.

European powers destroyed the existing systems in order to setup their own. Before there was typically a chain of power, with the chief being held accountable by a group of high ranking elders. But now power was held by a few specific individuals picked by the colonizers. This started a cycle of corruption as the leaders were not held accountable by any of the citizens and only answered to the colonizers.

Colonial times were harsh, plenty of systems were put in place to oppress the colonized people³. Harsh times create people that are in survival mode, who don’t always have the luxury of morality.

Present day

In the present day, government officials tend to be corrupt and there’s a few reasons for that. One reason is lack of education. Unfortunately, a lot of African countries have lower education rates than the rest of the world. Lower education rates mean that people can’t always understand the policies and intentions of well-meaning electoral candidates. As such, elections become a shouting contest, with the loudest, proudest candidate usually emerging the victor.

Another reason is that power corrupts. There have no doubt been some very intelligent, good-willed people that have become leaders in their country. However, when you have that much power, it becomes easy to overlook corruption for your own comfort; even becoming corrupt yourself. People in power also have to fight the existing system of corruption, you might not be corrupt, but if your entire parliament is, it makes it even harder to get real work done.

A lot of African countries are poverty stricken, and poor people tend to be more corrupt. They are corrupt because they are poor, not the other way around. When people’s needs are met they have little reason to be corrupt.

African countries are unique when speaking about corruption, in that they are resource based economies: the majority of their GDP comes from natural resources. In contrast to other economies that have a more diversified GDP. This means you do not need to adhere to society’s standards, instead if you control the resources you control the entire economy.

Systemic corruption continues to exist because there are little to no institutions to fight it. Those that do exist are corrupt themselves.

1. Contrary to popular belief African societies were already trading iron, steel and cloths with other parts of the world.

2. King Jaja of Opobo is a glaring example. He was invited to have negotiations and was abducted upon arrival and exiled.

3. Like Hut tax, which was a mandatory payment that had to be made by everyone of working age.