Tackling the problem of corruption
Responsible citizens have moral duty to help combat corruption GUEST COLUMN
Our current world has many forms and manifestations of corrupt systems: moral, sociocultural, political, governmental, corporate and others. (For those interested, a vast literature exists. Try Google.)
Some global perspectives: “Corruption is as old as human history. The First Dynasty (3100-2700 BC) of ancient Egypt noted corruption in its judiciary.” A form of bribery existed in households throughout ancient China where kitchen gods watched over families and reported to the Jade Emperor, Ruler of Heavens. In the 1400s BC, Greek families bribed the priestesses of Apollo and the Oracle of Delphi. Aristotle noted that even gods could be bribed.
More recently, Indonesia’s former President Suharto reportedly “siphoned off between U$15-U$35 billion. Recent presidents of the Philippines, Nigeria and Zaire each embezzled U$5 billion. In some cases, justice is done. Brazil’s past president is serving a 12-year sentence for the national oil company’s use of “slush funds” to support election campaigns. The same scandal forced a Peruvian president to resign when faced with an impeachment vote. Leaders of Malaysia, Guatemala, South Africa and South Korea have been forced to resign or be impeached. The U.S. president could potentially face the same fate.
Recently, the World Bank estimated that international bribery exceeded US$1.5 trillion annually, US$225 billion more than Canada’s Gross Domestic Product or 10 times more than the total of global aid funding. Canada, at No. 9, along with northern European countries, ranks in the top 10 of relatively low perceptions of corruption. U.S. ranks No. 18, China 79th and Russia 131st.
“Corruption — A Way of Life: Transparency International (TI)” has reported that two-thirds of the 176 countries studied had “endemic corruption in their public sector,” in addition to business corporations. In those countries, citizens face tangible effects of corruption on a daily basis. In 2017, TI found that one in four people had paid bribes in the previous year to access a public service. The World Bank estimates that per capita income could increase 400 per cent if developing countries controlled corruption and enforced the “rule of law.” China and many “rogue nations” need to live by that “rule.”
While corruption is considered to be unlawful, an insightful perspective is provided by a Canadian doctor who has volunteered in several developing countries. He claims that incomes those people earn are “inadequate for survival.” Consequently, a pervasive practice for lower-income earners is to take “tips.” As transactions increase in value, the scope of payoffs and crimes for beneficial decisions increases to bribes, fraud, extortion, even murder.
Such conditions and practices reflect harsh realities related to “people of power” and the absence of a civil society. The doctor states, “In too many countries, people are deprived of their most basic needs and go to bed hungry every night because of corruption, while the powerful and corrupt enjoy lavish lifestyles with impunity.” I have observed such wretched anomalies in many countries, including several African, Asian, Caribbean, European nations and North America, specifically “our home and native land.”
What can be done? As responsible citizens, we have moral and social duties to identify factually corrupt acts and communicate them to the appropriate authorities. Historically, professionals such as doctors, lawyers, accountants, teachers/professors have assisted aggrieved citizens in making credible representations to police, courts, government officials and other societal institutions. Like police forces, offices of the ombudsmen have legal authority to represent the public by investigating and handling complaints of rights violations. Traditional media, notably newspapers, radio and television discover, search and assess socially contrary situations. In this era of electronic social media, websites and their applications enable users to capture and communicate via social networking ... instantly ... globally.
On a larger scale, international tax havens need to be shut down. Prosecution of the rich and powerful, notably the leaders of countries, corporate tycoons and huge companies would be exemplary targets. Controlling corruption requires strengthening institutions and strictly upholding the rules of law as Singapore had done. Nobody should be above the law.
Al Barnhill has owned a management business for 42 years. He is a former professor of management at the University of Lethbridge and has three degrees in business administration, including a PhD from the University of Washington. Al has taught business administration courses for 20 years at universities in Canada and internationally, and in addition to consulting work in the private sector, has served as a senior consultant with the federal government and as a special adviser to the president of the federal Treasury Board.