The public good is still ignored by African elite

As I leave Ghana after the most extended visit I’ve paid in decades, what’s most revealing about the country — and indeed Africa as a whole — is the disdain of the power elite for the concept of the public good.

Whether it is politicians and their penchant for graft or the delivery of public services at a price, the common good counts for very little. The national interest used to be a shared value, but wherever you look today the rule of thumb in public life is personal gain — not public good.

The evidence is not just in the looting of state coffers, fire-sale of state assets to family and friends, countless stories about government kickbacks and inflated contracts whose proceeds end up in private pockets, but in the corruption that has seeped into the body politic. The utter disregard for the larger interests of the country and the people is so embedded in the ruling class, it may take a mass revolt to redress.

Whatever country you name in Africa, you’ll find that the public interest — the idea of working for the collective well-being, doing something because it is good for people and for country — has become an alien concept. And it starts with politicians, whether in government or opposition.

In Ghana as elsewhere, people go into politics not to serve or make a difference, but to line their pockets. Politics is where the easy money is, and that’s where those looking to make it flock. There is really no love for country and few, if any in public life, care about the collective good. Power is money, and in most African countries today, you’ll find that the nouveau riche are largely politicians, party and top government officials, their families and those close to them. People in power or in a position of authority act in their own personal interests, regardless of the impact on others.

This is why you had in Nigeria, for example, senior government officials stealing millions of dollars of anti-terrorism funds, at the very time Boko Haram was killing and terrorizing thousands of people in the country. It is this lust for money that drives a Ghanaian or Zimbabwean police officer or judge to take a bribe and let off a criminal to go and commit yet another crime.

It is also why a Kenyan or Nigerian building inspector certifies a shoddy building that later collapses and kills dozens of people. The same lack of commitment to the public good can also be found in the contractor who takes the money and runs off without completing a road that’s vital to the lives of rural farmers.

What it has come down to is that everybody who can, grabs as much as they can, from whomever they can. When I challenged a taxi driver who charged me more than three times the fare, he said unabashedly: “If I go to renew my licence, I pay a bribe so why can’t I take as much as I can from you?” The common thread in all this is the complete lack of consideration for other people.

It matters very little to the government official who steals money meant to fight the brutal Boko Haram that many more will die as a result. He knows what will happen — he just doesn’t care. The contractor who vanishes with public money without building that vital road is not the least concerned about what happens to the farmers who might lose access to the markets they need to sell their produce.

And the same attitude drives the politician who steals money that could be used for a hospital, school or to provide potable water, and stashes it abroad. The trouble with Africa today is that the political landscape is dominated by a power elite, whether military or civilian, that cares for itself and little else. There is little evidence that this attitude will change anytime soon.

Africans are not known for staging popular revolts, but that may their only salvation.

If I go to renew my licence, I pay a bribe so why can’t I take as much as I can?