The Economy of corruption
By Emmanuel Monychol
April 2, 2012 — When I met him in Kuacjok recently, John Agei’s views have matured asours here in Juba narrowed. In Juba wesay corruption is prevalent at the highest level of our society. However, inMr. Agei’s view, it is the reverse now or rather a carry-over of what the eliteand the military elders of South Sudan havestarted six years ago. Without knowing, they had started with corruption firstand nation building last. The youth hunger for that same way, – to corrupt thethings first and then, build for the nation later.
Mr. Agei is a young man, drained by writing of community based projectsand work. By choice, he wore tattered clothes and shoes with broken soles. Hewalked with pride, warm smile and open heart. He is dropped out of Law Schoolas he is been sick for five years now. The doctors have failed to diagnose hisillness here in Juba and in Kampala. He had no money to go abroad or India. In Warrap State,Mr. Agei had thrown his little strength of body and mind to work as a civilrights activist, writing community-based projects and so he makes millions ofSouth Sudanese Pounds. But he neither swindles to treat himself nor does hesucceed in his making projects achieve the objectives for which they werewritten. His project committee members (100% youth) constantly drain theproject finances by means of corruption or outright grabbing as he watches onhelplessly. Because of these corrupt youth committee members he forms from timeto time, for three years now, community based project after community based projectcollapses. By the time we met in Kuacjok, Mr. Agei was on the verge ofresignation as chairperson from the Warrap Civil Society Land Network(WASCLAN), whose objective was to promote fair distribution of land to thecivil society in Warrap State, with a projecthandsomely sponsored by some Non-Governmental Organization.
According to Mr. Agei, corruption is not something light. Also, it issomething we do without being aware that we are doing it. Therefore, in his ownview, it is not enough to say “let us stop corruption” and it stops. Corruptionhas emerged more prominently with a generation of people battered by war andpoverty, who after the CPA, immediately went into blind competition for wealth.Each one wanted to be better than other and the only way to make quick riches wereto corrupt things either blindly or deliberately. For example, the “elite andmilitary elders” of South Sudan are now fully satisfied as they have establishedbusiness empires, fleet of cars and fat bank accounts abroad that were obtainedby means beyond individual understanding. Right now, these elders’ aim is“Building the Nation”.
And to build a nation, it requires a loyal and patriotic youth, who havethe strength of mind and body to work for the young nation. Unfortunately, theyouth grew up in a society battered by war and poverty. They too, have seen howduring the pre-Naivasha days, most of us hardly had shoes on or wore decentclothes or rode bicycles. The best shoes in the pre- Naivaisha days were thecar tyres sewn into sandals. Those who could not afford tyre sandals woreslippers. But within a very short time, after the CPA, some of us, (especially,the elderly elites and military); have shed off poverty and replaced it withbusiness empires and political power by means outside the capacity of thisshort piece. So now, here is a young man, who wants to build a nation: whichroad should he take? Should he model himself after this thief who owned fleetof cars, business empires and fat bank accounts, who now calls himself an eliteor military elder worth emulating? Or should he seek comfort in text books,novels and the Bible or the Koran that spoke of better days to come?
According to Ali Mazrui, corruption is the “blind urge” to be economicallybetter than the others. Hence, the corrupt people do not know that they areactually corrupt, because they have been driven by a blind urge to beeconomically better than others.. on the other hand, Dr. John Garang statesthat in “Sudan and ( “may be”South Sudan), government is looked at as anobject to be looted”. These two perspectives show that corrupt people do notknow that they are corrupt and if they know, they are being encouraged by thecivil society to be corrupt or to loot the government. Mr. Agei states thatcorrupt people and their sympathizers outnumber the few who are not corrupt”. Whichmeans, the one who claims not to be a corrupt person, will always be a victimof the corrupt people and their sympathizers.
From this short writing, we candeduce that corruption has broken the norms. The norms are the social fabrics. Socialfabrics and resources are intertwined. Social fabrics are either tied togetheror dismantled by way society shares resources and the way an individual isallowed access to those resources. If there is a monopoly of resources of theminority through illegitimate means, it undermines the cohesive power of norms,leading to general insecurity issues, such as, grabbing, resentments, disharmony and inevitably, chaos that fit theDarwinian philosophy of the survival for the fittest. Finally, the assumptionthat corruption exists at the highest level of our society and that the peopleat the lower level of our society are victims of corruption is a case thatneeds an empirical evidence to fully comprehend the essence of its veracity.
The author can be reached at [email protected]