Evolution of Corruption in Sub-Saharan Africa - from Nkruma to Mutharika The 2nd

Abstract

Since Sub-Saharan Africa's first independence in Ghana, the region has experienced massive and costly political and bureaucratic corruption within public service and administration. The causes of the corruption, its nature and form are wide and intertwined. In Sub-Saharan Africa, efforts to curb corruption have failed to discard it. The paper focused on the period from Nkruma in Ghana to Mutharika the 2nd in Malawi. This paper reviewed existing literature on political and bureaucratic corruption in Sub-Saharan Africa while on the other hand the paper employed key informant interviews to gather the required data to investigate, analyse and profile the genesis and evolution of corruption in Sub-Saharan Africa. The key informant interviews were employed to solicit public views and opinion from nineteen key informant participants (n=19) selected from 11 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. The paper found that corruption is legendary; has entrenched itself to becoming some sort of culture in the region, and has become the most difficult socio-economic challenge to resolve in the region despite the various anti-corruption efforts employed by stakeholders to curb it. It emerged through the study that law-enforcement efforts against corruption need some reinforcement in order to be effective and eficient in uprooting corruption in the region. If Sub-Saharan Africa fails to address its corruption challenge, its development prospects would seriously curtailed.

Keywords: {'name': 'Bribe'}, {'name': 'Corruption'}, {'name': 'FDI'}, {'name': 'Political Entities'}

Authors & affiliations

Mavhungu Abel Mafukata
Affiliation not supplied

Deposited references

Supplied references, not a list of publications citing this article.

debayo, A.A. (2013). The nexus of corruption and poverty in the quest for sustainable development in Nigeria. Journal of Sustainable Development in Africa 15(7):225-235.

DOI: 10.1080/09720073.2005.11890876

DOI: 10.1017/S0022278X04000084

Alo, E.N. (2014). Independent Commissions in ant-corruption fights: The Nigeria, Uganda and Botswana examples, 2000-2007. Journal of Sustainable Development in Africa 16(2):47-66.

DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9701.2006.00758.x

Ayodeji, G.I. & Odukoya, S.I. (2014). Perception of judicial corruption: assessing its implications for democratic consolidation and sustaiable development in nigeria. Journal of sustainable Development in Africa 16(2):67-80.

Bailey, C. (2014). Ex-MEC allegedly received kickbacks from two companies. The Sunday Independent 27 July:1;6.

Baqwa, S. (2001). Anti-corruption efforts in South Africa. The Journal of Public Inquiry. Fall/Winter 2001:21-24.

DOI: 10.1016/0165-1765(86)90068-6

Biko, H. (2013). The great African Society: A plan for a nation gone astray. Jonathan Ball, Cape Town.

Bond, P. & Manyanya, M. (2002). Zimbabwe's plunge: Exhausted nationalism, neoliberalism and the search for social justice. Weaver, University of Natal: Pietermaritzburg.

Boraine, A. (2014). What's gone wrong? On the brink of a failed state. Jonathan Ball, Jeppestown.

DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511617324

Cakata, N.W. (2011). An analysis of service delivery challenges in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa: The case of Mnquma Local Municipality (2005-2010). Unpublished Masters Dissertation, University of Fort Hare, Alice.

Camerer, M.I. (2009). Corruption and reform in democratic South Africa. Unpublished Ph.D Thesis, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.

Campos, N.F & Dimova, R. (2010). Corruption does sand the wheels of growth. Sourced from: http//www. Voxeu.org. Accessed on 14/06/2014.

Chipkin, I. (2012). The Politics of corruption: Two competing definitions. PARI Long Essays/ Number 3. Public Affairs Research Institute.

Demas, R.R. (2011). Moment of truth: Development in Sub-Saharan Africa and critical alterations needed in application of the Foreign Corrupt Initiatives. American University International Law Review 26(2):314-369.

Dintwe, S. (2012). The African national Congress led government

(In) ability to counter public corruption: A forensic criminological perspective. Africa's Public Service Delivery and Performance Review Journal 1(2): 1-88. Dolan, K. & Marques de Morais. (2013). Daddy's girl: How an African "Princess" banked $3 billion in a

country living on $2 a day. Forbes. [Online] Sourced from: Http//www.forbes.com [Accessed 23 June].

Dreher, A. & Gassebner, M. (2013). Greasing the wheels? The impact of regulations and corruption on firm

entry. Public Choice 155:413-432.

Dziva, C. 2014. Achieving MDGS under the inclusive government in Zimbabwe: successes, challenges and

prospects. International Journal of Politics and Governance 5(2): 11-23.

DOI: 10.4000/books.ifra.1588

reform. West African Politics and Society Series 1:1-218.

Faull, A. (2007). Corruption and the South African Police Service: A review and its implications. ISS Paper 150. Institute for Security Studies: 1-20.Friedman, T. (2007). The world is flat: A brief history of the twenty-first century. Picador, New York.

Gukurume, S. (2011). Transactional sex and politics of the belly at tertiary educational institutions in the area of HIV and AIDS: A case study of great Zimbabwe University and Masvingo Polytechnical College. Journal of Sustainable Development in Africa 13(3): 178-193.

Gumede, S. (2014). State Bank “will be cash cow for the corrupt elite” New Age 31 July.

DOI: 10.1080/02589346.2010.492151

DOI: 10.5430/ijba.v3n5p1

DOI: 10.4102/sajems.v15i3.301

Holtzhausen, N. (2007). Whistle blowing and whistle blower protection in the South African public sector. Unpublished Ph.D Thesis, University of South Africa, Pretoria.

Huntington, S.P. (1968). Political order in changing societies. New Haven: Yale University.

Jackson P; Muzondidya, J.; Naidoo, V; Ndletyana, M. & Sithole, M.P. (2009). South African governance in review: Anti-corruption, local government, traditional leadership. Cape Town: HSRC Press.

DOI: 10.2307/2010277

Khunou, S.F. (2011). Traditional leadership and self-governing bantustants of South Africa: Through the eye of the needle of constitutional democracy. International Journal of Business and Social Science 2(18):237-252.

Leff, N.H. (1964). Economic development through bureaucratic corruption. American Behavioral Economic Review 82(4): 942-963.

DOI: 10.1016/0165-1765(86)90093-5

Lowenstein, A.K. (2013). Letting the big fish swim”: failure to prosecute high-level corruption in Uganda. Human Rights Watch, Yale University.

Mafukata, M.A. (2012). Commercialisation of communal cattle production systems in the Musekwa Valley. Unpublished Ph.D thesis, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein.

Mafunisa, M.J. (2003). Separation of politics from the South African Public Service: Rhetoric or reality? Journal of Public Administration 38(2): 86-101.

Magahy, B; Scott, D; & Pyman, M. (2009). Building integrity and reducing corruption risk in defence establishments. Transparency International.

Mashego, A. (2014). Selebi saga hunts NPA: Prosecutors of former police chief “now facing probe”. The New Age 149:1.

Mashele, P. & Qobo, M. (2014). The fall of the ANC: What next?. Picador Africa, Johannesburg.

Mbaku, J.M. (1996). Bureaucratic corruption in Africa: The futility of cleanups. Cato Journals 16(1): 99- 118.

Mbeki, M. (ed). (2011). Advocates for change: How to overcome Africa’s challenges. Picador Africa, Johannesburg.

DOI: 10.1007/s11127-005-3988-0

DOI: 10.1177/0741713608314087

Mills, G. & Herbst, (2012). Africa's third liberation: The new search for prosperity and jobs. Penguin, Rosebank.

Moyo, D. (2012). Winner take all: China's race for resources and what it means for us. Penguin, London.

Nemudzivhadi, M.H. (1978). The conflict between Mphephu and the South African Republic (1895-1899). Unpublished Master of Arts Dissertation, University of South Africa, Pretoria.Outa, G.O. (2001). The dramaturgy of power and politics in post-colonial Kenya: A comperative reading of “Forms”, in Texts by Ngugi wa Thiong'o and Francis Imbuga. Nordic Journal of African Studies 10(3): 344-365.

Persson, A; Rothstein, B. & Teorell, J. (2010). The failure of anti-corruption policies: A theoretical mischaracterisation of the problem. QoG Working Paper Series 2010:19. University of Gothenburg. The Netherlands.

Quina, J.G. (2008). Essays on corruption in Sub-Saharan Africa. Unpublished Ph.D Thesis, University of Warwick.

DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2003.12.002

Sadiq, M.Y. & Abdullahi, M. (2013). Corruption as the bane of Nigeria's Development: Causes and remedies. International Journal of Economic Development Research and Investment 4(1): 83-93.

DOI: 10.5787/41-1-1053

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n7p208

Sindzingre, A.N. & Milelli, C. (2010). The uncertain relationship between corruption and growth in developing countries: threshold affects and State effectiveness. EconomiX, Working paper 2010-10.

Sithole, A. (2013). Corruption in Zimbabwean Urban Local Authorities: A case of Gweru City Council. Asian Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities 2(3): 26-33.

DOI: 10.1177/000203970904400206

DOI: 10.56021/9780801878312

Tamukamoyo, H. (2010). Independence in South Africa's anti-corruption architecture: Failures and prospects. The journal of the Helen Suzman Foundation 71:10-19.

DOI: 10.1017/S0022278X05001436

Tiscornia, L. (2011). On corruption in South Africa: An alternative for the case of the police service. Institute of Justice and Reconciliation, Cape Town, Policy Brief 2: 1-9.

Uneke, O. (2010). Corruption in Africa South of the Sahara: Bureaucratic facilitator or handicap to development? The Journal of Pan African Studies 3(6):111-128.

Van Rensburg, G. (2007). The leadership challenge in Africa. Van Schaik, Hatfield.

Van Rensburg, G. (2009). Leadership thoughts: Inspire yourself, inspire others. Van Schaik, Hatfield.

DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2009.11.022

Indonesian evidence. World Development 3895):693-705.

Von Benda-Beckmann, F. (1981). Some comments of the problems of comparative relationship between

traditional and state systems and administration of justice in Africa and Indonesia. Journal of Legal Pluralism 19: 165-175.

Wilson, G. (2014). The Nigerian State and oil theft in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria. Journal of Sustainable Development in Africa 16(1):69-81.

DOI: 10.1080/030570799108803