Free Essay Example: How Corruption Has Derailed Growth in Africa

Introduction

Corruption describes the distortion of the state of integrity through favors, bribery, and moral depravity. It mainly occurs when parties interact to change society's processes or structure or the functionaries' behavior to generate unfaithful, dishonest, or defiled situations (Lawal, 2007). Many African nations are making significant developments toward achieving the vision of a peaceful, prosperous, and democratic continent, as drawn in the African Union's Agenda 2063 (Duri, 2020). Nevertheless, the attainment of the vision is greatly threatened by high levels of corruption.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Other than petty bribery, which is the most prominent, the region is also characterized by high levels of poor governance, crony capitalism, and fragility, contributing to high corruption levels. Corruption poses substantial costs to African nations, including destabilization of development programs and plans, and altering resources that might otherwise have been devoted more efficiently. Additionally, corruption affects the markets in the African continent by discouraging foreign investments.

Corruption takes place in the administrative, economic, and political spheres. Mainly, Africa is the worst hit by corruption due to weak institutions such as the judiciary and the legislature. Moreover, corruption favors environments where; adherence to the rule of law is not thoroughly observed, where political benefaction is ordinary practice, where the civil society has no power to tolerate public pressure, and where professionalism and independence of the public sector are eroded.

Once corruption develops its roots, its negative impacts start spreading and affecting the population. Corruption undermines social values since people consider it more rewarding and more comfortable to participate in the vice than seeking legitimate procedures (Lawal, 2007). The vice corrodes governmental legitimacy as it obstructs effective service delivery. In Africa, corruption has been associated with limited economic growth, which for many years, has reduced public resources, discouraged local and foreign investments, and impeded the effective use of government revenues and funds. This paper provides a detailed discussion of how corruption has been a major obstacle to growth and development among African nations.

Corruption Situation in Africa

Africa represents an environment whose growth has been retarded and undermined by high levels of corruption. Though some reforms have been introduced in African countries to help make the existing systems result-oriented and efficient, the results have not been visible, primarily due to high corruption prevalence. The corruption situation in the continent is characterized by a violation of moral standards for personal monetary gains.

A corrupt environment is considered a discouraging factor because it ignores the country's development priorities in favor of those priorities that only generate personal gains for the selected few. It involves the theft of African resources and negatively affects the existing economies (Duri, 2020). It is ironic and sad that people bestowed leadership roles live their best lives (owning homes and attending classy hospitals) in Western countries. At the same time, ordinary Africans die of hunger and lack of infrastructure.

Local leaders embezzle vast amounts of financial resources that would otherwise have been used to provide infrastructural projects. The resources are then sent to Western nations for safekeeping. According to Awojobi (2014), around $30 billion in aid to Africa is sent to bank accounts abroad. The above statement has also been confirmed by the Africa Union (AU) and United Nations (UN), who indicated that approximately $148 billion is stolen in Africa annually by multinational organizations, political leaders, civil servants, and business executives with the help of financial institutions in North America and Europe (Awojobi, 2014). If such leaders (dictators) had ever considered using the stolen resources in building basic infrastructures such as hospitals, education, and roads, they would create employment opportunities and improve the national financial systems and economies.

High levels of corruption have derailed development in the African continent. One of the biggest contributors to reduced development is the misappropriation by the existing local governments. Most administrative institutions waste a lot of public money on white monster projects rather than people-focused programs such as education and health (Awojobi, 2014). Therefore, more opportunities are lost due to funds diversion or corrupt use. Most of the administrative systems have low ethical principles of governance, affecting the continent's political, economic, and social development. Promoting good governance and fighting corruption is, therefore, essential for Africa's growth.

Characteristics of Countries Affected By Corruption

Most of the African countries with high levels of corruption are characterized by low quality for high prices. The biases in making deals, awarding contracts, and performing economic operations lead to oligopolies or monopolies in the economies of most African nations (Mirzayev, 2020). Business owners who can penetrate using their money or connections to kickback government bureaucrats can influence market policies and mechanisms to be the sole providers of services and products in the market. The oligopolies or monopolies have no competitors and hence low-quality services or goods at relatively high prices. The high prices include the illegal and corrupt transactions that were used in creating the monopolies.

The majority of African countries are also associated with the inefficient allocation of resources. Most of the organizations that would otherwise not have qualified for tender awarding are usually awarded. Such companies bribe the officials to get such tenders leading to illegal or unfairness in the tendering process (Mirzayev, 2020). As a result, most corrupt companies and individuals use excessive finances to execute public projects and finally offer failed or substandard projects. Such practices lead to incompetence in resource usage, which translates to derailed development and growth in most parts of Africa.

According to Nduku (2015), most African nations are characterized by an uneven distribution of wealth. The majority of the countries have an excessively small middle class and a huge gap between the upper and the lower social classes. Since most of the nation's capital is accumulated by individuals who support corrupt officials, the utmost wealth also lies within these individuals. In these corrupt countries, small businesses are less dominant and are often discouraged. The small establishments experience illegal pressures and unfair competition from the big establishments connected to government bureaucrats (Nduku, 2015). Therefore, people with no connection to corrupt government officials face difficulties in sustaining themselves. As a result, the level of development is slow.

Most African nations are also characterized by low levels of innovation due to corruption prevalence (Mirzayev, 2020). The existing governments rarely support potential innovators in such environments. The innovators also fear that the corrupt regimes might not protect their inventions from being copied by other powerful parties within the same governments. Failure to promote and protect local inventions demotivates the local populations who rely on imported products and technologies (Nduku, 2015). With limited inventions and innovations due to corruption issues, such countries cannot achieve tremendous growth and development milestones.

Corrupt African nations also have low foreign trade and investments. Most foreign investors who strive for fair market environments tend to avoid investing in corrupt-torn environments. Though investors may be tempted to invest in emerging markets, they are often discouraged by the corruption levels, which may prove too risky for their establishments. Most of the businesses in such countries are small and just owned by local investors who might not have the capacity to offer bigger and better opportunities. Local investors also cannot create many job opportunities compared to foreigners hence leaving little room for development.

Another aspect of corruption in African nations is poor healthcare and education systems. Corruption negatively impacts healthcare and education quality. The vice raises the cost of delivering education, whereby connections and bribery play a leading role in the teachers' enrollment and promotion (Duri, 2020). Therefore, the education quality in such environments deteriorates, thus affecting the entire economy. Similarly, the recruitment and procurement of healthcare supplies are characterized by corruption leading to the provision of substandard healthcare. Due to such aspects, the education and health sectors tend to remain at the ground level.

Causes of Corruption in Africa

Distortion, discretion, and government spending are the leading causes of corruption in Africa. The majority of corruption cases involve kickbacks and bribes, especially concerning government-based services and projects. Corruption is driven by the discretion that policy lawmakers enjoy influencing the composition, type, size, and geographic location of service and project delivery (Ndikumana, 2006). A good example is when government officials manipulate expenditures on infrastructural projects such as road construction to obtain kickbacks. The corrupt officials often tender the development projects to companies that promise the highest bribes. The development projects are also not located in regions with high economic aptitudes but with powerful political figures.

The politically inspired decisions and pocket-seeking practices develop inequality and insufficiencies in the allocation of public resources. As a result, the disadvantaged regions are always discriminated hence no guaranteed growth. Consequently, private parties that gain from the corruption offer support to the corrupt officials against political pressure. Ndikumana (2006) provides an example of Burundi's bureaucracy, whereby President Nkurunziza's regime was characterized by biased allocation of public resources exclusively inspired by political interests. Some regions are left underdeveloped due to corruption.

The tax system is also a major cause of corruption and an obstacle to growth in Africa. The taxation systems in African nations tend to be complicated, making it hard for taxpayers to know their rights and tax liabilities. Tax collectors may exaggerate tax liabilities to obtain bribes (Duri, 2020). The only option for the taxpayer is to bribe the tax collector to moderate the burden. The plan only benefits the tax collector and raises the tax burden on private parties. However, it robs valuable resources from both society and the government, leaving most regions underdeveloped.

According to Ndikumana (2006), the tax system's exploitation establishes an evasion tendency for taxpayers while perpetuating an impunity culture for the tax collectors. Additionally, corruption in this system results in an irregular tax burden. Politically influential and wealthy individuals create channels to reduce their tax loads while the marginalized and the poor taxpayers incur a full tax load. Therefore, the taxation burden always befalls disproportionately on small and medium enterprises, which are the most dynamic sectors in developing nations.