Corruption in
Africa is no different to corruption anywhere else on the planet, according to
a new book by the former chair of graft watchdog Transparency International.
The image of
Africa as a continent beset by corruption has dominated the popular imagination
for decades, reinforced by its consistently dismal performance in
anti-corruption league tables.
From routine
demands for bribes by policemen to grand scale looting of state funds by its
rulers, corruption has been blamed for stunting Africa's growth, keeping
millions in poverty and scaring off investors.
But now may be the
time for international investors especially to reconsider their perceptions.
In Global
Corruption: Money, Power and Ethics in the Modern World, Laurence Cockcroft
argues that the main drivers of corruption, including the informal economy,
political funding, the role of multinationals and organised crime, are common
to many countries and graft is not intrinsic to Africa.
"The pattern
of corruption which occurs in Africa is remarkably similar to that
elsewhere," Cockcroft told Reuters. "This is an international
phenomenon and it's certainly not a uniquely African issue."
Cockcroft does not
deny that corruption is a huge problem in Africa.
While average GDP
growth of around 5% over the last decade has led to higher urban living
standards, life for poor, rural dwellers in the bulk of sub-Saharan Africa has
not improved because governments cannot deliver basic services, he said.
The book has no
shortage of examples of African kleptocracy, from Mobutu Sese Seko in Zaire -
now Democratic Republic of the Congo - to Nigeria, where oil wealth has brought
prosperity to only a few.
Gloomy view
Still, Cockcroft
finds equally egregious examples in other parts of the world, and of the
"mega corruption scandals" over the last 25 years, not one has been
in Africa.
He cites former
Indonesian president Suharto, whose family amassed a fortune of at least $15bn;
the presidency of Alberto Fujimori in Peru in the 1990s, where corruption is
believed to have halved the revenue due to the government; and India, where a
2008 telecoms licensing scandal cost the government an estimated $30bn in lost
revenue.
More recently, he
points to Russia, where protests since December against President Vladimir
Putin's 12-year rule have focused on corruption, and the downfall of former
politician Bo Xilai in China after his wife murdered a British businessman.
"We can safely
say that these dramas in relation to corruption which are happening outside
Africa are at least the equal and in many cases on a grander scale than what
happens in Africa itself," Cockcroft said.
He reckons Africa
has been unfairly singled out when it comes to corruption in part because of
the legacy view of the late colonial period.
"People have
taken a very gloomy view of what's happened in Africa since independence,
sometimes with justification and sometimes not," he said. "Some of
that is built into this assumption that if you talk about corruption you're
talking about Africa."
It is true that
many African countries languish in the lower half of most anti-corruption
indices, although in Transparency's latest Corruption Perceptions Index, the bottom
10 has only two African states - Somalia and Sudan.
Huge shadow
economy
The annual index
ranks countries from 0, highly corrupt, to 10,
very clean. Most African nations score below 4.
The most urgent
priority for African governments, Cockcroft argues, is to reduce the size of
the shadow economy, estimated to be as much as 60% of GDP in Tanzania. He
describes it as "a huge reservoir for bribes" and payments that are
completely untraceable.
"It doesn't
matter what the legislation is," he said. "As long as you have a huge
informal sector, people can still buy off officials in city hall."
There are no clear
cut success stories in the fight against corruption in Africa, he notes, as
former opposition leaders who come to power on anti-corruption tickets are
often derailed by the desire to remain in power.
But he adds that
one leader who could buck the trend is Zambia's president Michael Sata, whose
government has reversed a number of privatisation deals initiated under the
previous regime.
Cockcroft says
Zambia and Ghana, which also seems serious about tackling graft, will be the
countries to watch.