Blame graft on electorate

The absence of democracies, particularly in Africa and Latin America, opened avenues for mass corruption. But when it happens in democratic states, the electorate, caught napping, has to take full responsibility for allowing graft to take place.

In other countries where no tax regimes exist, as in Pakistan or in many developing countries, as well as a few of the bankrupted European nations that have sought bail-outs from the EU, similar situations exist where the fiscus reaches unsustainable levels due to pressures bought about by poor tax revenues.

All in all, any nation that has as its head sleazy characters to whom the welfare of a state does not take precedence over personal aggrandisement, will be left devoid of growth, international trading partners and myriad problems that stunt both nation-building and morale. Past despots — the Sese Sekos, the shoe-loving Imelda Marcos’s, the Khan land-owning barons, the Kabilas — all were apprentices compared to the capturing South Koreans and South Africans.

A year in power, a commission to investigate the collapse of a bread basket state, no culpability, no arrests, just talk. A nation skating on thin ice!

AR Modak Robertsham