Corruption in Africa: A cancer that won't go away
Lord Aikins Adusei
May 08, 2009
Corruption is one of the most formidable challenges to good governance, development and poverty reduction' in Africa says 2008 Transparency International Report.
It has been said that corruption in Africa is like an advanced cancer or tumour that cannot be treated. Like cancer, corruption has tragically devastated African societies and made millions of people destitute. From South Africa to Egypt the tentacles of corruption reaches every where. From the offices of presidents and prime ministers to the smallest administration unit of government corruption is everywhere. According to the Africa Union (AU) around $148 billion are stolen from the continent every year by its leaders, the business elite, civil servants and multinational corporations. The recent Forbes' list of most corrupt nations had 9 out of the first 16 countries coming from Africa.
In Africa, very few government officials and civil servants perform services for free. You cannot get your birth certificate, passport, receive treatment, get your goods from the harbour unless you grease the palm of officials. Anything involving signing of documents involves paying inducements. In Africa you can hardly find someone who has not paid bribe either willingly or unwillingly.
In Ghana, officials illegally charge 15 and 150 Ghana cedis for a birth certificate and a passport respectively. Again in Ghana Police officers openly ask bus and taxi drivers to pay bribe before they are allowed to cross mounted road blocks. Customs officials adopt all manner of tactics in order to collect money from importers and exporters before their goods are allowed to leave the ports.
Most projects in Africa are carried out by corrupt contractors who collude and connive with public officials to inflate project cost in order to enrich themselves. As a result every project carried out cost three times the usual cost and it is always the tax payers who bear the brunt of it. Due to corruption, project inspectors fail to do their job and allow substandard work to be done at the expense of the people and the nation.
In Africa, it is totally useless to bid for contracts because contracts are awarded to the contractors who are able to pay the biggest bribe (commission). In most countries there are no advertisements for tenders rather contracts are awarded to companies who secretly pay large sums of commission to government officials.
For example on 17th September 2002 a Canadian Engineering company called Acres International was convicted by a High Court in Lesotho for paying $260,000 bribe to secure an $8 billion dam contract in the tiny Southern African nation of Lesotho.
Achair Partners a Swiss company and Progresso an Italian company have been accused of bribing Somalia Transition Government officials in order to secure contracts to deposit highly toxic industrial waste in the waters of Somalia.
In 2002 Halliburton a US company, was accused of establishing $180m flush fund and using it to bribe Nigeria officials in order to secure a $10 billion Liquefied Gas Plant contract.In response to the accusation the company fired Mr. Albert Jack Stanley who pleaded guilty for orchestrating the flush fund. Even though Halliburton denied any knowledge of such a fund a report by the company later named Jeffrey Tesler as the middleman behind the bribery. Such corrupt practices by western companies seeking contracts in Africa are not uncommon.
In Africa contracts are awarded to party faithfuls who in turn make handsome financial contributions to the party in power. Because of corruption and nepotism anyone can become a contractor in Africa. In Africa, state coffers or the treasury are the personal property of the president/prime minister, his family, his cronies and his political party.For example Omar Bong of Gabon and his family have been accused of withdrawing directly from the state coffers. In most African countries there is no difference between state and ruling party resources.
Corruption is so endemic in African societies that, some political parties have won power just by pledging to combat it.Mwai Kibaki of Kenya became president by promising to tackle the menace but today he is increasingly seen as corrupt and President Obama has made fighting corruption a condition for helping the country. When former president of Ghana John Kuffour took office he said 'there will be zero tolerance for corruption' in his government but his party recently lost power amid accusation that he was unable to tame his corrupt officials.
Despite years of exports of oil, gold, diamond, bauxite, tin, coltan, uranium, manganese timber and several other valuable minerals the continent continue to be ranked as the poorest on earth because most of the revenue from these exports do not get to the people but find its way into private bank accounts of corrupt government officials, civil servants and their allies.
Since oil was discovered in Nigeria 50 years ago, over $400 billion have been realised from its sale but today the whole population continue to live in abject poverty and the country has nothing to show or account for the billions of dollars she has received. Those who have benefited from the oil are corrupt politicians, civil servants, a shadow economy, armed bandits, army generals and the big oil corporations such as Shell, Mobil, BP and their American counterparts. As a result able men and women are battling dangerous seas just to enter Europe and try their luck. Others have resulted to 419 a popular internet scam used to trick people into giving out their money and valuables. In fact Nigeria has consistently featured in the Transparency International's top 1% of the most corrupt nation.
Between 2005 and 2007 several state governors and their immediate families were arrested by Scotlandyard in London on corruption and money laundering charges.
Among them are James Ibori of oil rich Delta State and his wife Theresa who had their $35m asset frozen by the English court. Another corrupt governor is Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, governor of oil-rich state of Bayelsa who was also arrested in London for money laundering charges. Another governor who was arrested in England was Joshua Dariye of Plateau State. He was arrested in a London hotel for stealing money meant for development of his state.
But these thieves have no rank compared to the heavyweights like Abacha, Mobutu, Eyadema, Lansana Conte, Obiang Nguema, Omar Bongo, Mubarak and Arap Moi.Together these tyrants have assets totalling over $20-billion stashed in foreign accounts notably Switzerland, Britain, Luxembourg, Leichteinsten and France. Abacha and Mobutu alone stole $10-billion.
In the 1990s economic hardship, abject poverty and destruction of the environment forced the people of Ogoniland in Nigeria to demand a say in which Shell operates but the military regime led by Gen. Sani Abacha arrested the environmentalists led by Ken Sorowiwa and executed them. You may wonder why Abacha killed his country men instead of protecting and providing for their needs. According to available data Nigeria government Lawyers within the period that Abacha became Head of State i.e. between 1993 and 1998 he stole $4 billion of Nigeria's oil money and stashed it in several secret bank accounts in Switzerland, Britain, Luxemburg, Jersey Island and Liechtenstein. In April, 2002 these countries agreed to return $1 billion of the stolen money to the people of Nigeria. So far about $2 billion have been returned to the government of Nigeria and the rest of the money is still sitting in bank accounts in Western countries notably Switzerland and Britain.
A visit to the Niger Delta region of Nigeria shows that majority of the people especially the youth are unemployed. Years of oil spills have made the soil unfit for any agricultural activity. Their streams and wells are polluted and the people have no access to basic necessities of life because their leaders have enriched themselves with the money.
The late Lansana Conte ruled Guinea for 24 years from 1984 to 2008 and 70% of all revenue from bauxite and other minerals such as gold, nickel went to his private accounts. Even though Guinea is the world's biggest exporter of bauxite, decades of corruption and nepotism have made the nation tragically poor.In fact according to a report by UN, Guinea ranks 160th out of 177 in the UN's Development scale. Today the people lack portable water, electricity, roads, rail lines, telecommunication, schools and hospitals.
According to the Guardian a 110 page report prepared by international risk consultancy firm Kroll exposed Arap Moi and his family and accused them of banking £1 billion in 28 countries including Britain. The report went further to say that the family used Shell Oil Company, secret trusts, front men and his entourage to siphon the money.
Apart from the money, the Moi family also bought several multimillion pound properties in London, New York, South Africa including 10,000-hectare ranch in Australia and £4m home in Surrey and £2m flat in Knightsbridge.It is on record that Mr. Moi's sons Philip and Gideon are wealth £384m and £550m respectively. Arap Moi's 24 year rule was largely corrupt and contributed to endemic poverty seen in Kenya today.
In South Africa a corruption case against Jacob Zuma was dropped but he has been badly damaged by the allegations.
In 2006 former president of Malawi Bakili Muluzi was arrested for pocketing $12m donated to his poor country by foreign governments. Again former Zambia president Frederick Chiluba was arrested together with two business men Aaron Chungu and Faustin Kabwe and charged with 11 counts of stealing money meant for the Zambia's development.
In Equatorial Guinea where oil export has earned the country billions of dollars, the 600,000 people living in the country continue to live in poverty while Teodoro Obiang Nguema and his cronies continue to siphon the oil revenue with no accountability.
Gabon and Angola both Oil exporting countries are no different. In fact, the governments in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea can best be described as Kleptocracy.In countries such as Nigeria, Egypt, Cameroon, The Gambia, Sudan, Uganda, Libya, Tunisia a Kleptocracy class of people have replaced anything democracy. In these countries very few people continue to remain in power and the people have no say in the way their countries are governed. For example Gaddafi of Libya has been in power for 39 years now. Omar Bongo of Gabon 42 years, Teodoro Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea 28 years, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe 28 years, Hosni Mubarak of Egypt 27 years and the list is unending.
What is clear is that these unelected leaders continue to amass wealth at the expense of their poor countries and continue to mismanage whatever remains of their corrupt activities. Because most of the leaders are former military officers or former rebels with no grasp of economics and management, they are unable to formulate any good economic policies that will transform and grow their economies hence the endemic poverty we see in the continent.
In DR Congo it is estimated that gold and diamond deposits alone could fetch the country $23 trillion not to mention the abundance of timber and other several minerals that are found in large quantities such as coltan and tin ore yet years of corruption, mismanagement, conflicts and foreign involvement have made this resource rich nation one of the poorest in the world. There are no schools, hospitals, roads, telecommunication, rail, electricity and potable water. And where are the billions of dollars from the sale of these minerals? The answer lies in the history of the nation which is endemic corruption, colonialism, armed conflicts and foreign involvements. Mobutu in his 32 year reign is believed to have taken $6-billion from the treasury and deposited it in his numerous Swiss bank accounts.
Everyday in Walikale about 16 aircraft fly out of the city with loads of minerals bound for Rwanda. These stolen minerals further find their way in the western mineral markets in London and Switzerland. The proceeds are shared by the Generals, politicians, western companies the businessmen in Rwanda, the warlords in Congo who use part of their share to acquire weapons that are used to terrorise the people and prolong the war. Watch the video below about Congo. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Io8c81xHLmw
How can this cancer be treated?
It has been said that corruption in Africa is like an advanced cancer or tumour that cannot be treated. Like cancer, corruption has tragically devastated African societies and made millions of people destitute. From South Africa to Egypt the tentacles of corruption reaches every where. From the offices of presidents and prime ministers to the smallest administration unit of government corruption is everywhere. According to the Africa Union (AU) around $148 billion are stolen from the continent every year by its leaders, the business elite, civil servants and multinational corporations. The recent Forbes' list of most corrupt nations had 9 out of the first 16 countries coming from Africa.
In Africa, very few government officials and civil servants perform services for free. You cannot get your birth certificate, passport, receive treatment, get your goods from the harbour unless you grease the palm of officials. Anything involving signing of documents involves paying inducements. In Africa you can hardly find someone who has not paid bribe either willingly or unwillingly.
In Ghana, officials illegally charge 15 and 150 Ghana cedis for a birth certificate and a passport respectively. Again in Ghana Police officers openly ask bus and taxi drivers to pay bribe before they are allowed to cross mounted road blocks. Customs officials adopt all manner of tactics in order to collect money from importers and exporters before their goods are allowed to leave the ports.
Most projects in Africa are carried out by corrupt contractors who collude and connive with public officials to inflate project cost in order to enrich themselves. As a result every project carried out cost three times the usual cost and it is always the tax payers who bear the brunt of it. Due to corruption, project inspectors fail to do their job and allow substandard work to be done at the expense of the people and the nation.
In Africa, it is totally useless to bid for contracts because contracts are awarded to the contractors who are able to pay the biggest bribe (commission). In most countries there are no advertisements for tenders rather contracts are awarded to companies who secretly pay large sums of commission to government officials.
For example on 17th September 2002 a Canadian Engineering company called Acres International was convicted by a High Court in Lesotho for paying $260,000 bribe to secure an $8 billion dam contract in the tiny Southern African nation of Lesotho.
Achair Partners a Swiss company and Progresso an Italian company have been accused of bribing Somalia Transition Government officials in order to secure contracts to deposit highly toxic industrial waste in the waters of Somalia.
In 2002 Halliburton a US company, was accused of establishing $180m flush fund and using it to bribe Nigeria officials in order to secure a $10 billion Liquefied Gas Plant contract.In response to the accusation the company fired Mr. Albert Jack Stanley who pleaded guilty for orchestrating the flush fund. Even though Halliburton denied any knowledge of such a fund a report by the company later named Jeffrey Tesler as the middleman behind the bribery. Such corrupt practices by western companies seeking contracts in Africa are not uncommon.
In Africa contracts are awarded to party faithfuls who in turn make handsome financial contributions to the party in power. Because of corruption and nepotism anyone can become a contractor in Africa. In Africa, state coffers or the treasury are the personal property of the president/prime minister, his family, his cronies and his political party.For example Omar Bong of Gabon and his family have been accused of withdrawing directly from the state coffers. In most African countries there is no difference between state and ruling party resources.
Corruption is so endemic in African societies that, some political parties have won power just by pledging to combat it.Mwai Kibaki of Kenya became president by promising to tackle the menace but today he is increasingly seen as corrupt and President Obama has made fighting corruption a condition for helping the country. When former president of Ghana John Kuffour took office he said 'there will be zero tolerance for corruption' in his government but his party recently lost power amid accusation that he was unable to tame his corrupt officials.
Despite years of exports of oil, gold, diamond, bauxite, tin, coltan, uranium, manganese timber and several other valuable minerals the continent continue to be ranked as the poorest on earth because most of the revenue from these exports do not get to the people but find its way into private bank accounts of corrupt government officials, civil servants and their allies.
Since oil was discovered in Nigeria 50 years ago, over $400 billion have been realised from its sale but today the whole population continue to live in abject poverty and the country has nothing to show or account for the billions of dollars she has received. Those who have benefited from the oil are corrupt politicians, civil servants, a shadow economy, armed bandits, army generals and the big oil corporations such as Shell, Mobil, BP and their American counterparts. As a result able men and women are battling dangerous seas just to enter Europe and try their luck. Others have resulted to 419 a popular internet scam used to trick people into giving out their money and valuables. In fact Nigeria has consistently featured in the Transparency International's top 1% of the most corrupt nation.
Between 2005 and 2007 several state governors and their immediate families were arrested by Scotlandyard in London on corruption and money laundering charges.
Among them are James Ibori of oil rich Delta State and his wife Theresa who had their $35m asset frozen by the English court. Another corrupt governor is Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, governor of oil-rich state of Bayelsa who was also arrested in London for money laundering charges. Another governor who was arrested in England was Joshua Dariye of Plateau State. He was arrested in a London hotel for stealing money meant for development of his state.
But these thieves have no rank compared to the heavyweights like Abacha, Mobutu, Eyadema, Lansana Conte, Obiang Nguema, Omar Bongo, Mubarak and Arap Moi.Together these tyrants have assets totalling over $20-billion stashed in foreign accounts notably Switzerland, Britain, Luxembourg, Leichteinsten and France. Abacha and Mobutu alone stole $10-billion.
In the 1990s economic hardship, abject poverty and destruction of the environment forced the people of Ogoniland in Nigeria to demand a say in which Shell operates but the military regime led by Gen. Sani Abacha arrested the environmentalists led by Ken Sorowiwa and executed them. You may wonder why Abacha killed his country men instead of protecting and providing for their needs. According to available data Nigeria government Lawyers within the period that Abacha became Head of State i.e. between 1993 and 1998 he stole $4 billion of Nigeria's oil money and stashed it in several secret bank accounts in Switzerland, Britain, Luxemburg, Jersey Island and Liechtenstein. In April, 2002 these countries agreed to return $1 billion of the stolen money to the people of Nigeria. So far about $2 billion have been returned to the government of Nigeria and the rest of the money is still sitting in bank accounts in Western countries notably Switzerland and Britain.
A visit to the Niger Delta region of Nigeria shows that majority of the people especially the youth are unemployed. Years of oil spills have made the soil unfit for any agricultural activity. Their streams and wells are polluted and the people have no access to basic necessities of life because their leaders have enriched themselves with the money.
The late Lansana Conte ruled Guinea for 24 years from 1984 to 2008 and 70% of all revenue from bauxite and other minerals such as gold, nickel went to his private accounts. Even though Guinea is the world's biggest exporter of bauxite, decades of corruption and nepotism have made the nation tragically poor.In fact according to a report by UN, Guinea ranks 160th out of 177 in the UN's Development scale. Today the people lack portable water, electricity, roads, rail lines, telecommunication, schools and hospitals.
According to the Guardian a 110 page report prepared by international risk consultancy firm Kroll exposed Arap Moi and his family and accused them of banking £1 billion in 28 countries including Britain. The report went further to say that the family used Shell Oil Company, secret trusts, front men and his entourage to siphon the money.
Apart from the money, the Moi family also bought several multimillion pound properties in London, New York, South Africa including 10,000-hectare ranch in Australia and £4m home in Surrey and £2m flat in Knightsbridge.It is on record that Mr. Moi's sons Philip and Gideon are wealth £384m and £550m respectively. Arap Moi's 24 year rule was largely corrupt and contributed to endemic poverty seen in Kenya today.
In South Africa a corruption case against Jacob Zuma was dropped but he has been badly damaged by the allegations.
In 2006 former president of Malawi Bakili Muluzi was arrested for pocketing $12m donated to his poor country by foreign governments. Again former Zambia president Frederick Chiluba was arrested together with two business men Aaron Chungu and Faustin Kabwe and charged with 11 counts of stealing money meant for the Zambia's development.
In Equatorial Guinea where oil export has earned the country billions of dollars, the 600,000 people living in the country continue to live in poverty while Teodoro Obiang Nguema and his cronies continue to siphon the oil revenue with no accountability.
Gabon and Angola both Oil exporting countries are no different. In fact, the governments in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea can best be described as Kleptocracy.In countries such as Nigeria, Egypt, Cameroon, The Gambia, Sudan, Uganda, Libya, Tunisia a Kleptocracy class of people have replaced anything democracy. In these countries very few people continue to remain in power and the people have no say in the way their countries are governed. For example Gaddafi of Libya has been in power for 39 years now. Omar Bongo of Gabon 42 years, Teodoro Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea 28 years, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe 28 years, Hosni Mubarak of Egypt 27 years and the list is unending.
What is clear is that these unelected leaders continue to amass wealth at the expense of their poor countries and continue to mismanage whatever remains of their corrupt activities. Because most of the leaders are former military officers or former rebels with no grasp of economics and management, they are unable to formulate any good economic policies that will transform and grow their economies hence the endemic poverty we see in the continent.
In DR Congo it is estimated that gold and diamond deposits alone could fetch the country $23 trillion not to mention the abundance of timber and other several minerals that are found in large quantities such as coltan and tin ore yet years of corruption, mismanagement, conflicts and foreign involvement have made this resource rich nation one of the poorest in the world. There are no schools, hospitals, roads, telecommunication, rail, electricity and potable water. And where are the billions of dollars from the sale of these minerals? The answer lies in the history of the nation which is endemic corruption, colonialism, armed conflicts and foreign involvements. Mobutu in his 32 year reign is believed to have taken $6-billion from the treasury and deposited it in his numerous Swiss bank accounts.
Everyday in Walikale about 16 aircraft fly out of the city with loads of minerals bound for Rwanda. These stolen minerals further find their way in the western mineral markets in London and Switzerland. The proceeds are shared by the Generals, politicians, western companies the businessmen in Rwanda, the warlords in Congo who use part of their share to acquire weapons that are used to terrorise the people and prolong the war. Watch the video below about Congo. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Io8c81xHLmw
How can this cancer be treated?
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