Collective failure..... the universal failed development paradigm (2)
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Africa's Culture of Corruption:
Africa is an interesting arena to study why public health interven-
tions often fail. For example, it is amazing the number of good-on-
paper programs that receive adequate funding and other resources, yet
produce almost no significant results after running for years. When
program evaluation is done in such cases, (if done at all), one often
fails to identify why the program did not succeed in its targeted
goals.
Accountability is a must, if we are to be anywhere near successful in
any intervention programs that are carried out anywhere in the world.
This pre-requisite for success is particularly important for Africa.
A continent rived by corruption to extents that cannot even be dreamt
of by some people living elsewhere. It is quite difficult to imagine
that in most cases almost 80% of the funding for intervention pro-
grams is often diverted into personal accounts right at the top (gov-
ernmental levels). When the meagre sums finally reach most implemen-
tation agencies, only salaries or office equipments can be shown as
proof that anything was done at all with the funds.
Of course, it would be totally wrong and unpardonable to claim that
this is the case with all intervention programs. Fortunately, there
are still well-meaning officials and agencies that have consistently
produced remarkable results even when faced with limited financial
means. However, such cases are unfortunately very rare.
The "Culture of Corruption" that permeates the African continent is
immense and deep-rooted. How many cases do we know of, where once
somebody is nominated for a post (no matter the importance of the
post), the whole family, or tribe starts rejoicing? Not only at the
success of one of their own but more often at the increased chance of
securing a job under such a person. How many Non-governmental organi-
zations are created for the sole purpose of squeezing money out of
donor�s pocket? It is even amazing that this practice is not only
tolerated by the society, but is very often viewed as a "role model"
for success! This "culture of corruption" affects all social levels.
Under such atmosphere, it is not difficult to understand why Africa
keeps piling debts upon debts, while the Swiss Bank accounts of some
individuals rise to dizzy heights.
If we are to hope for any improvement in our environment, we must
first recognize that there is a primordial problem with our own atti-
tudes: a ravenous greed for getting unaccounted dollars! We cannot
expect that such attitudes will change soon or change on their own.
Natural evolution is painfully slow. Neither can we hope for a cata-
clysmic social revolution, because a revolution is often an attack of
the corrupt ruling class by the oppressed masses. This is not the
case. Here, the masses are the oppressors, the corrupt!
As such, Burgess comments are both pertinent and extremely relevant.
Strict accountability imposed by funding agencies and built into the
program at all levels should become an integral part of the interven-
tion program itself. Every single franc or cent, should be totally
accounted for throughout the program (if not, at the beginning and at
the end of the program). Computers, as Burgess suggests, can be cost-
effective way of doing so.
Will this then solve all Africa's problems? Definitely no! However,
it will go a long way into solving ALL the problems that plague our
societies today. It is only one of the weapons that can and should be
used to fight corruption. It is no more sufficient, to talk of "good
governance" and not provide "stressors" to the system to ensure that
"good governance" will indeed result.
Sincerely,
Ntatin Amusa MD, LLM, MPH
Hopital Laquintinie
Douala, Cameroon
mailto:master_ntatin@yahoo.com
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