TAMING THE AFRICAN TRADITIONAL PERSPECTIVE IN THE FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION

Abstract

An understanding of the underlying root cause of corruption and probably the best way to combat corruption in Africa must require an appreciation of the conceptual issues and frameworks from purely African perspective, cumulatively acting in concert to produce a mental disposition, accommodating or not, a psychological predisposition to whether or not the fact that corruption should be criminalized, provided that the accused is properly so identified only if, the accused is located outside the ethnic hegemony of the perceived law enforcement agency or perhaps, the host society. These often times peculiar perspectives were systematically trapped and itemised as: convergences bordering on corruption of principles (ontic/spiritual/axiological corruption), corruption of moral behaviour, corruption of people (social corruption), corruption of organisations (institutional corruption), corruption of states (national/societal/cultural corruption), the social influence of the individual in the society which ultimately leads to the social and economic dualism, moral economy or economy of affection, Africa’s alien state disposition as well as the effect of division or schism in African state. It was against this backdrop that the author argued that a combination of the above identified African disposition to fight corruption will produce an impactful understanding of the rationale behind Africa’s tendency to fail in the fight against corruption. The paper therefore maintained that not until these factors are addressed, the fight against corruption will continue to be a herculean task.