uganda corruption - apatriotism and leadership issue
TRANSCRIPT
![Page 1: Uganda corruption - apatriotism and leadership issue](https://reader038.vdocuments.us/reader038/viewer/2022100803/5a6899df7f8b9a4a258b6679/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
‘CORRUPTION: A PATRIOTISM AND LEADERSHIP ISSUE’
BY Noah Pashapa; Bishop: Life and Liberty Churches International; Chairman: Zimbabwe Faith and
Ethics Association; Executive Chairman: Zimbabwe Prison Ministries International; Senior Lecturer:
University of Zimbabwe. ([email protected])
PATRIOCTIC AFRICANS FIGHT CORRUPTION It is a real concern that with so many high ranking public officials in African countries making so many claims and statements that they are committed to stamping out corruption in their sphere of public service provision, so much corruption goes on in those very same spheres and among their ‘footsoldiers’. The big question then is who is fooling who? Efforts to investigate, bring to book and name and shame corrupt public officials by relevant parliamentary committees, corruption commissions and the criminal justice systems are highly commendable and will go a long a way in reducing corruption among public servants and their counterparts in private business in our nations. Certain sections of the media, especially the print media, must be commended for their investigative, impartial yet ruthless reportage through which they have exposed, named and shamed corrupt public officials and their allies in the private corporate world. This must be commended and encouraged by every sane and sincerely patriotic African. CORRUPTION NOW ENDEMIC IN MANY AFRICAN COUNTRIES A regrettable yet unavoidable development characterizing our drive for selfrule and indigenization of the ownership of our Godgiven wealth is the way in which the indigenization agenda has been largely highjacked by selfserving hypocrites who pride themselves more in how many offshore foreign currency accounts, farms, houses and cars they own than in how many fellowAfricans they have genuinely empowered to sincerely seek the upliftment of all citizens regardless of tribe, religion or political party affiliation. A big lesson to be derived from the recent ‘foreclosuregate’ in the USA is that the rich and ruling classes have an irresistible tendency to connive and protect each other’s greedy, selfish and powerhungry interests through corrupt business dealings. In addition to the anticorruption efforts by institutions that have been put in place by ‘law’ to expose and punish corruption in ways that deter others from engaging in similar practices, it is necessary that more and more genuinely patriotic ordinary African nationals, especially those like myself who claim allegiance to Jesus and the Bible, should persistently desist from initiating it, abetting it or turning a blind eye to it. In a situation such as ours in my home country Zimbabwe today, where due to a business environment and economic conditions that have for the past three decades been characterized by revolutionary efforts to correct historical wealthownership issues, scarcity of foreign direct investment and sanctions challenges, economicsabotage by enemies of our independence and revolution, defactoonepartysm and cronyism in government, outright mismanagement of the economy by incapacitated political appointees, scrambles for material wealth by erstwhile deprived new ruling and rich elites and the skewedness that these factors generate, corruption becomes endemic. These conditions in my home country could be reflective of similar conditions in many other African states. ANTICORRUPTION: A MANDATE FOR BIBLEBELIEVING CHRISTIANS As such it would be outright naïve to ever imagine African countries becoming a corruptionfree nations yet it is important that authentically patriotic citizens especially those like me with Jesus’
1
![Page 2: Uganda corruption - apatriotism and leadership issue](https://reader038.vdocuments.us/reader038/viewer/2022100803/5a6899df7f8b9a4a258b6679/html5/thumbnails/2.jpg)
mandate to be spiritual and moral salt and light pursue with integrity and consistency the cause of keeping corruption levels at their lowest. This demands the adoption of a kingdom of God value system which fosters an approach to the production, distribution and consumption of wealth and material goods that fosters a Godworshipping, just, inclusivelydemocratic, participatory and sustainable society. If more and more of ‘us’ sincere Godfearing patriots who are in leadership and opinionshaping positions in the media, the church, in big business and in local and national government persistently and impartially resisted corrupt people and practices while supporting genuine efforts by the media and relevant institutions to impartially investigate, expose, name ,shame and punish corrupt acts, then we would together begin to shift our cultures from those that condone corruption as long as it is not either found out or perpetrated by ‘one of us’ to those that unhypocritically condemn it for the costly scourge that it is. The reality of the situation on the ground unfortunately is that most senior opinion shapers in the church, in high political office and in business rather pay lipservice to the anticorruption agenda while practicing the principle that says corruption becomes corrupt when perpetrated by ‘outsiders’ or when one is caught. HYPOCRICY AND PARTIALITY ABBETING CORRUPTION Most high ranking media practitioners, public officials, church leaders, community based leaders and leading business men and women in general in our countries in Africa, tend to pay only lip service to the anticorruption cause and this is demonstrated by the fact that despite so much talk about curbing it so much of it persists and just too few of the culprits, especially those occupying high and influential positions in the church, in politics and business are brought to book. Only the ‘small fish’ or perceived opponents and enemies of ruling political parties are usually sacrificed as tokens of hypocritical commitment to the anticorruption agenda. Sometimes one gets the impression that corruption by public officials has become a political campaign tool by which media houses and public service officials supporting different political parties only selectively expose and institute criminal justice processes against. There is a general tendency among African opinion shapers and policy makers and implementers to condemn corrupt practices perpetrated by those from the ‘other political party’ while turning a blind eye to similar corrupt practices by those from within their camp’. KEEPING CRIME AND CORRUPTION DISTINCT The cost of corruption to a continent with potential for development such as ours should turn every sincere Godfearing patriot into an anticorruption activist. Phyllis Dininio an anticorruption specialist and Sahr John Kpundeh , a consultant with experience in governance and anticorruption issues produced a handbook on corruption published in 1998. In it they highlight helpful insights on the nature and cost of corruption. ‘Corruption encompasses unilateral abuses by government officials such as embezzlement and nepotism, as well as abuses linking public and private actors such as bribery, extortion, influence peddling, and fraud. It arises in both political and bureaucratic offices and can be petty or grand, organized or unorganized. Though corruption often facilitates criminal activities such as drug trafficking, money laundering, and prostitution, it is not restricted to these activities. For purposes of understanding the problem and devising remedies, it is important to keep crime and corruption analytically distinct’. THE COST OF CORRUPTION
2
![Page 3: Uganda corruption - apatriotism and leadership issue](https://reader038.vdocuments.us/reader038/viewer/2022100803/5a6899df7f8b9a4a258b6679/html5/thumbnails/3.jpg)
In the following segment that highlights the cost of corruption to our countries and continent I
have borrowed extensively from the above mentioned handbook. Corruption poses a serious
development challenge. In the political realm, it undermines democracy and good governance by
subverting formal processes. Corruption in elections and in legislative bodies reduces
accountability and representation in policymaking. Corruption in the judiciary suspends the rule of
law; and corruption in public administration results in the unequal provision of services. More
generally, corruption erodes the institutional capacity of government as procedures are
disregarded, resources are siphoned off, and officials are hired or promoted without regard to
performance. At the same time, corruption undermines the legitimacy of government and such
democratic values as trust and tolerance. Corruption also undermines economic development by
generating considerable distortions and inefficiency. In the private sector, corruption increases the
cost of business through the price of illicit payments themselves, the management cost of
negotiating with officials, and the risk of breached agreements or detection. Although some claim
corruption reduces costs by cutting red tape, an emerging consensus holds that the availability of
bribes induces officials to contrive new rules and delays. Where corruption inflates the cost of
business, it also distorts the playing field, shielding firms with connections from competition and
thereby sustaining inefficient firms. Corruption also generates economic distortions in the public
sector by diverting public investment away from education and into capital projects where bribes
and kickbacks are more plentiful. Officials may increase the technical complexity of public sector
projects to conceal such dealings, thus further distorting investment. Corruption also lowers
compliance with construction, environmental, or other regulations; reduces the quality of
government services and infrastructure; and increases budgetary pressures on government. These
distortions deter investment and reduce economic growth.’ The cost of corruption to a continent
with serious potential for development such as ours could not have been better articulated. Let
every genuine and sincere African patriot ‘cut out the hypocrisy’ and ruthlessly deal with this
endemic disease that threatens the very ideal peaceful and prosperous Africa that we claim to be
ready to lay our lives down for.
CORRUPTION ULTIMATELY A LEADERSHIP ISSUE
Ultimately though, corruption is a leadership issue. If leadership is understood as the ability to
influence, motivate and enable subordinates and followers to contribute towards the effective
and successful accomplishment of a collective’s objectives then corruption is indeed a leadership
issue in Africa today. Ultimately, the levels of corruption our countries’ experiences reflects on the
ability of our leaders in the church, in politics and in business to influence, motivate and enable
business persons, law enforcement agencies, lawyers and judges, civil servants and the generality
of our populations to abhor, shun and punish corruption through institutions, policies, legal
frameworks, attitudes and social norms. If instead of paying hypocritical lipservice to the
anticorruption mantra and instead threaten or arrest journalists that expose corruption, as well
as threaten or frustrate whistleblowers, we all, church leaders, presidents, journalists, high
ranking politicians, law enforcement and justice civil servants and business leaders adopted the
‘impartial name, shame and punitivelypunish’ approach to corruption, our countries would
register low levels of it within months if not weeks. Singapore, which has been independent from
colonialism for almost as long as most African countries have been, is known as a ‘fine’ country
3
![Page 4: Uganda corruption - apatriotism and leadership issue](https://reader038.vdocuments.us/reader038/viewer/2022100803/5a6899df7f8b9a4a258b6679/html5/thumbnails/4.jpg)
because of its punitive court sentences against corruption, drugtrafficking and similar vices and
that culture has kept corruption levels low. I also recently heard about an incoming Taiwanese
topmost political leader who, many years ago, personally publicly shot his high ranking
politicianuncle who had become a kingpin in promoting corruption and harboring fellowcorrupt
top politicians and business tycoons, resulting in a drastic drop in corruption in the country. I also
recently heard about how a Ugandan president publicly shot convicted pickpockets resulting in a
drastic reduction in pickpocketing in that country during the rumble in the jungle boxing
tournament between the late Muhammad Ali and George Foreman. These are examples of
situations where topmost political leaders adopted ‘consistent, impartial, nononsense punitive
action’ against perpetrators and promoters of corruption resulting in practically curbing it
significantly in their countries. Though I would not advocate for the public execution of convicted
corrupt politicians, top civil servants, business leaders, religious leaders and rank and file African
citizens, I support punitive jail, fine and community service sentences that also require reparation
and restitution by convicted offenders.
LEADERSHIP, FOLLOWERSHIP AND CORRUPTION
The interplay between the leadershipstyle and how it is informed and shaped by the
subordinates’ and followers’ expectations within specific cultural situations is an important aspect
of the leadershipfollowershipcorruption dynamic. I have commented somewhere else that
‘exploitative leaders manipulate the ignorance and gullibility of subordinates and followers to
abuse and exploit them further while liberative leaders enlighten and empower authoritysubjects
to liberate and prosper them. In most African national cultural situations, subordinates and
followers, who can be described as authoritybearers, expect their leaders to play the role of
authoritarian, ‘forlife’ fatherfigure or motherfigure type leaders. That is why most Africans will
refer to their chiefs and headmen, presidents and their wives, topmost politicians and their wives
as well as to church leaders and their spouses as fathers and mothers. To borrow from Max
Weber’s sociological classification of leadershipauthority in three broad categories i.e. traditional,
charismatic and rational, one can suggest that the majority of Africans, who remain largely
ruralbased and traditionalminded, assume and expect leadershipauthority to be more
traditionalcharismatic than it is rationallogical. Traditionalcharismatic leadershipauthority is
assumed and expected to be spirituallysanctioned, benevolentlyauthoritarian, to be exercised by
the incumbent for the duration of their life on earth and to be characterized by a drastic
authoritydistance which discourages close interaction with or criticism of the authoritybearers.
Many African nationals who have adopted modern city lifestyles and tastes nevertheless expect
leaders to be more benevolentlyauthoritarian than rationallogical because they continue to exist
in both the traditional and modern worlds at the same time yet dominated by a traditional psyche.
Traditionalcharismatic leadershipauthority is also ‘the parentaltype’ in the sense that
subordinates and followers expect their leaders to treat them like minordependents whose
capacities to make independent, responsible judgment and choices are still at their formative
stages, resulting in subordinates and followers desisting from holding their leaders accountable.
Rationallogical leadershipauthority on the other hand functions through clearly defined and
rationalized efficient and effective institutions, policies and legalframeworks. Rationallogical
leadershipauthority prioritizes the rationalization of policy and legal frameworks to promote
4
![Page 5: Uganda corruption - apatriotism and leadership issue](https://reader038.vdocuments.us/reader038/viewer/2022100803/5a6899df7f8b9a4a258b6679/html5/thumbnails/5.jpg)
highest levels of responsibility, qualityservice, transparency, accountability and efficiency.
Rationallogical leadershipauthority prioritizes established governance and management
institutions and systems over elite individual or cabal interests, appetites for acquisitiveness or
preferences. Rationallogical leadershipauthority promotes impartial lawenforcement and justice
delivery systems wherein corrupt private business individuals’ connections with topmost
politicians or bribes to top civil agents will not be allowed to subvert, delay or deny justice to
offended parties. In our view corruption in its form as the abuse of public office, abuse of access to
governmentsponsored opportunities or assets in pursuit of personal or exclusivist group interests
is the worst kind because it victimizes and impoverishes citizens especially the poor and
powerless.
WHEN CITIZENS ARE MORBID IN THE FACE OF RAMPANT CORRUPTION
Recently I have been interacting with some ruralbased artisanal miners in my home country
Zimbabwe, who are struggling to regain their lucrative mining claims from VIP landgrabbers.
Though they possessed in their hands legal miningclaims’ certificates, they still got displaced from
their lucrative claims by corrupt, greedy and acquisitive high ranking politicians who hired drunken
thugs to threaten and chase them off their claims. Many African citizens are aware of similar cases
in their home countries where either mining claims or farming land has been grabbed from ‘little
people’ by ‘big people’, as demonstrated by a recent phonein program on a Zimbabwean radio
station called Star FM, yet, because they now know that most leaders occupying offices and
positions that preside over impartial investigations, prosecution and sentencing will not ‘act’
against certain ‘VIPs’, they have become morbid in the face of rampant corruption. African
political and church leaders that exploit authoritysubjects’ susceptibility to traditionalcharismatic
authority by not intentionally promoting a culture of impartially investigating, naming, shaming,
prosecuting and punitively sentencing corrupt fellowleaders thereby disqualify themselves from
holding public office. Subordinates and followers who adhere to the traditionalcharismatic
authority model assume and expect their leaders to exercise benevolent father or mothertype
authoritarianism, drastic authoritydistance which dissuades criticism or assessment of leaders
and ‘forlife’ leadership. Leaders who manipulate this authoritarianpsyche among
authoritybearers and promote a culture of greedy, acquisitive, entitlementoriented and
nonaccountable, clientelist leadershipculture which sanctions, by turning a blind eye to, and
promotes corruption among the ruling and rich elite thereby disqualify themselves from holding
public office.
CORRUPTION A PATRIOTISM AND LEADERSHIP ISSUE
Corruption is indeed a leadership and patriotism issue and patriotic African nationals must
intentionally make it an election issue by voting into political, civic and church leadership positions
only individuals with a proven record of desisting from, fighting and punitively punishing the
deadly scourge that corruption has become.
5
![Page 6: Uganda corruption - apatriotism and leadership issue](https://reader038.vdocuments.us/reader038/viewer/2022100803/5a6899df7f8b9a4a258b6679/html5/thumbnails/6.jpg)
6