Good governance in sub-Saharan Africa: Recipe for poverty reduction and development (2)

Introduction

The  inaugural part of this treatise was necessarily introductory as it explored the concept of good governance, its meaning, the test for determining its presence (its main indicators) and its incidence on a country-by-country basis. This week, we shall examine the themes of governance, democratuzation, followed by a discussion of corruption as the enemy of good governance. Enjoy.

GOVERNANCE, DEMOCRATIZATION AND AFRICAN REALITY

A. The Link between Corruption, Governance and Economic Growth

Corruption poses a serious developmental challenge. In the political realm, it undermines democracy and good governance by flouting or even subverting formal processes. Corruption in elections and in legislative bodies reduces accountability and distorts representation in policymaking; corruption in the judiciary compromises the rule of law; and corruption in public administration results in the inefficient provision of services. It violates a basic principle of republicanism regarding the centrality of civic virtue. More generally, corruption erodes the institutional capacity of government as procedures are disregarded, resources are siphoned off, and public offices are bought and sold. At the same time, corruption undermines the legitimacy of government and such democratic values as trust and tolerance (Wikipedia, the free online encyclopaedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_corruption#Electoral_fraud).

When the Berlin-based anti-corruption organization, Transparency International, issued its 1998 Corruption Perceptions Index (“CPI”), its Vice Chairman Frank Vogl made the following observation: 

The CPI scores, with their shocking portrayal of so many countries perceived to be home to rampant corruption will spur Transparency International to be even more aggressive in mobilizing initiatives to counter corruption worldwide. Securing democracy, alleviating poverty and human suffering, and sustaining investment and commerce, are inextricably dependent upon curbing corruption in most of the developing nations and across Central and Eastern Europe (See TI Press Release: 1998 Corruption perceptions Index.).

Transparency International’s pronouncement was merely echoing others previously made by members of the international community in recent years. Together, they boldly underscore the universal condemnation of corrupt practices by public officials and a general interest in cooperating to suppress them. This widespread condemnation of acts of corruption is reflected in the preambles of a number of multilateral anti-corruption conventions and resolutions of international organizations. Reading through them leaves one in no doubt as to the seriousness with which the international community as a whole views the problem of corruption as a subject of global concern.

The Council of Europe’s 1999 Criminal Law Convention on Corruption set out in its preamble a concise outline of the serious and varied forms of damage caused by corruption and the urgent need to combat it through a multi-disciplinary national and international approach.  The Parties to the Convention expressly acknowledge that corruption “threatens the rule of law, democracy and human rights, undermines good governance, fairness and social justice, distorts competition, hinders economic development and endangers the stability of democratic institutions and the moral foundations of society.” In the 1994 Summit of the Americas Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action, the Heads of State of 34 nations of the southern hemisphere pointedly linked the survival of democracy and good governance to the eradication of corruption. “Effective democracy,” they declared, “requires a comprehensive attack on corruption as a factor of social disintegration and distortion of the economic system that undermines the legitimacy of political institutions (Summit of the Americas: Declaration of Principles and Plans of Action, December 1994).”

In the preamble to the Inter-American Convention Against Corruption (Adopted at the third plenary session, held on March 29, 1996), which followed on the heels of the 1994 summit, again the leaders of the Organization of American States came back to the theme of corruption as a phenomenon that “undermines the legitimacy of public institutions and strikes at society, moral order and justice, as well as the comprehensive development of peoples.”

On December 16, 1996, the United Nations General Assembly, acting on an earlier recommendation of the Economic and Social Commission, adopted the United Nations Declaration against Corruption and Bribery in International Commercial Transactions. Member States pledged in the Declaration to criminalize bribery of foreign public officials in an effective and coordinated manner and to deny the tax deductibility of bribes paid by any private or public corporation or individual of a Member State to any public official or elected representative of another country. Corruption was also the subject of a 1997 United Nations General Assembly Resolution entitled “Action Against Corruption”. This resolution underscored the General Assembly’s concern about the serious problems posed by corrupt practices to the stability and security of societies, the values of democracy and morality, and to social, economic and political development.

CORRUPTION: THE ENEMY OF GOOD GOVERNANCE

The direct opposite or antithesis of good governance is the scourge of corruption, which has been defined by the United Nations as “the abuse of entrusted public power for private benefit”. (Boyle B “Holding themselves to a higher standard” Sunday Times 30th April 2006 p 4. The African Peer Review Mechanism Process was adopted at the 6th Summit of the NEPAD Heads of States and Governments, Abuja Nigeria in March 2006. A number of countries such as Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa has subjected themselves to such review).

For the purposes of this paper it is important to emphasise that corruption is a universal problem, “cutting across faiths, religious denominations and political systems (Mbonu C Corruption and its impact on the full enjoyment of human rights, in particular, economic, social and cultural rights E/CN.4/Sub2/2004/23 (7 July 2004) 4.).” It is endemic in all governments and is found in democratic and dictatorial politics, feudal, capitalist and socialist economies. It has been aptly described as “a cancer festering within society, enriching a few and impoverishing many”( Mbonu (fn 17 above) 4. E/CN.4/Sub2/2003/18 para 4.). The corrosive effects of corruption have been well articulated by Mbonu (Mbonu (fn 17 above) 4-7).

First, in relation to the exercise of state power, corruption weakens the accountability of state officials and reduces transparency in the work of state institutions. Corrupt government officials fail to offer citizens adequate and accurate information about government and policies, curtail the public’s opportunities for participation, and violate the public right to be informed about government activities and procedures (Office of the UN High Commissioner (fn 9 above) 59.).

Secondly, corruption is subversive of any country’s political system. In the words of John Ashcroft, a former United States Attorney General, “a corruption sap the legitimacy of democratic government, and in its extreme forms even threatens democracy itself, because democracy lives on trust, and corruption destroys trust” (ibid).

Thirdly, corruption is a threat to the rule of law and the administration of justice. ‘The implementation of a country’s laws as well as efforts to reform them are impeded by corrupt judges, lawyers, prosecutors, police officers, investigators and auditors. In this respect, corruption in the administration of justice compromises the right to equality before the law and the right to a fair trial, undermines the poor’s access to justice because they cannot afford to offer or promise bribes’ (UN High Commissioner (fn 9 above) 59.).

Furthermore, corruption in any legal system engenders a culture of impunity “since illegal actions are not consistently punished and the country’s laws are not consistently upheld”. Mbonu quotes, with approval, this most telling observation on the impact of corruption on the judiciary and law enforcement agencies: “a corrupt judge is more harmful to the society than a man who runs amuck with a dagger in a crowded street. He can be restrained physically. But a corrupt judge deliberately destroys the moral foundation of a society and causes incalculable distress to individuals through abusing his office, while being referred to as ‘Honourable’.”

Fourthly, corruption has a negative impact on the realisation of human rights in that corrupt practices divert funding aimed at social services. In the case of African countries, Mbonu cogently points to “the horrendous depletion of Africa’s scarce capital and investible surplus through systematic and official looting of the treasury for corrupt enrichment abroad”.

In similar vein, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights underscores the fact that corruption undermines the government’s ability to deliver an array of services, including health, education and welfare services (Office of the UN High Commissioner (fn 9 above) 59). To return to Mbonu:

“Think of the jobs, the infrastructure, the improved educational system and the enhanced democratic institutions the looted funds could provide if they were redirected from the personal enrichment of the corrupt to the public service of the people. It is widely acknowledged that as a result of the siphoning off of these huge sums from the coffers of the developing countries to developed nations, most of the States have been failed States, unable to perform even ordinary State functions, including providing water, electricity and adequate housing for their populations.” (Mbonu (fn 17 above) 4.).

It is instructive to note that corruption is not confined to the public sector. The well-known Enron and Parmalat debacles attest to similar decay in the corporate world. Furthermore, it is widely known that multi-national corporations from the developed world often bribe public servants in the countries in which they do business (ibid).

A.   The new face of corruption in Africa

In a 1989 piece that appeared in the American Journal of International Law, Professor Michael Reisman decried the preoccupation of traditional scholarship with the exploitation of the natural wealth of developing countries by transnational corporations while ignoring internal forms of wealth exploitation.  As he argued, the “ritual of condemnation of foreign corporations’ spoliations of the resources of developing countries and their elevation to the level of international concern have obscured the problem of spoliations by national officials of the wealth of the states of which they are temporary custodians (See W. Michael Reisman, Harnessing International Law to Restrain and Recapture Indigenous Spoliations, 83 AH.  J.  INT’L L.  56-57 (1989).”. 

Corruption is not a new phenomenon and “it is unlikely that there has ever been a ruling class which did not exploit its political power to further its private financial interests. (See European Parliament Resolution, Explanatory Statement No. 2 (b).”  But there is something extraordinary about the corruption that now blights the entire African landscape.  Three things stand out from this new generation of economic crimes of Africa’s ruling elites. First, unlike past depredations where the wealth remained in the territory for recycling, the modern context is characterised by “great mobility of wealth and the capacity to hide and disguise it.”

A second feature of the modern version of indigenous spoliation is the amount of wealth involved, usually in the billions of dollars. Indeed, so stupendous are the sums involved that one commentator (Darrel Delamaide, The Debt Shock: The Full Story Of The World Credit Crisis 60 (1984); see also Colette Braeckman, Le Dinosaure: Le Zaïre de Mobutu (1990).), was moved to describe these depredations as going beyond shame and almost beyond imagination. And, finally, the victims of these acts are, in the main, the citizens of some of the most economically impoverished countries in the world. (To be continued).

Thought for the week

“We have to be bold in our national ambitions. First, we must win the fight against poverty within the next decade. Second, we must improve moral standards in government and society to provide a strong foundation for good governance. Third, we must change the character of our politics to promote fertile ground for reforms”.

– Gloria Macapagal Arroyo