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Cultural reorientation versus cracking on corruptors
Fekadu Wubete
Woizero Sosina, neighbor of one of the suspected on probe and charge of corruption, said her suspected neighbor is talk of the village, even the town in her neighborhood.The living status of her arrested neighbor has become far-fetched and eye-watering. Neighbors who had witnessed the prompt change called him the tycoon-in Amharic ‘Ditaw’.
Earlier, before he got appointed as a higher official, his domicile was not conspicuously built and glittering from a far, rather it was a two-bed room ramshackle, as ordinary as the ones in the living quarters of majority of the people. Currently, fresh allegations are surfacing that he has built two villas and a five-storey building, used for renting purpose.
The story does not end here.Sosina said her suspected neighbor an employee turned a millioner business man who flew to Dubai three-four times a week. The luxurios cars being used and changed by his wife and relatives are innumerable and the living corner of the family looks like a busy market day tensed with a buzz of activities.
The deluxe cars coming and going out of the gate of her neighbor are eye-catching to ogling neighbors who cannot help peeping from a far. The endless clicking, bleeping and shrieking of cell phone calls are deafening. Rumors had it that the guy in the neighborhood has become a contractor over night and owner of many shares in known companies, disguised as innocent employee determined to win his daily bread.
How dare he become a millioner overnight splurging many thousand birr in a day, shamelessly and impudently stealing the lives of millions of poor people hopeful of better life sometime in the future? How dare he plunder millions from the coiffeur of his country while he is entrusted to undertake developmental activities eyed at extricating millions out of abominable poverty? Endless questions that need endless answers. She said myriads of questions were being speculated by neighbors.
Some say his brazen sense of contempt was induced by amassing millions of birr; notoriously planted the spirit of wanton disregard to the people in his surrounding- without any granule of remorse to be arrested. Wealth has blindfolded him to forget the Constitution of the country and the laws of the land publicly endorsed to appropriately rectify wrong doers and prevail peace in time of need.
Aster Asfaw (whose father’s name is anonymous) has a similar story with Sosina.She said her suspected neighbor used to earn less money than Aster’s and her husband combined.His house was not as attractive as their one-storey building.He was humble enough to join the villagers during occasions and festive seasons – organized to spice up social life and toughen the fiber of togetherness.
His queer and perplexing behaviour came along lately eroding away his down to earth personality and remarked sense of submission. Now, he never wanted to join his neighbors even during funeral ceremonies.He got puffed up and strut past his neighbors, usually speeding away with his roaring Mercedes. Aster said the villagers used to meditate about this of their neighbor turned spiv fortnight.Villagers are dead sure that he has commited corruption; otherwise no one could turn in to spruced millioner with a monthly salary, no matter how high it is.
Now, fortune and fortunate time came along the path of her neighbor. He speedily demolished his tent-like house, he used to call it home, and started to build three-storey building glazed with costly stones and imported porclain. Currently, allegataions had it he has owned alternative houses and cars to help him indulge in lavishing life. Neighbors along with Aster know that children of the suspected are being educated in European universities with exhorbtant payments, expenisive enough to draw off every dollar from hard-earned treasure of poverty-stricken country; may be paid by shrewd racketeer, siphoning off millions from the pockets of the greater public.
The ideas of Sosina and Aster converge at one point that rent-seekers and corruptors are heedless to fear and suspect that they may be nabbed one day by the far-reaching hands of police and be frogmartched to the arena of justice.Both individuals unanimously agree on the very fact that corruptors are oblivious of their crime enevitable arrest, due to their cocoon of hoarded riches and ostrich mentality.Now the anti-corruption law has started to be enforced and their evil deeds firingback on themselves, where to retreat?
With the sternest emotion of countenanace ever, Prime Minister HaileMariam Dessalegen had on August 23, 2017 stated that the government will nomore condone evil acts of rent seekers potentially inciting unstablity and injustice. According to him, unfounded opinion of some people that higher officials are well-insulated and immuned from prosecution is mere rehetoric.The government is merciless enough to strip corrupted officials off their immunity and bring them to justice.
He confirmed that the government will continue bringing corruptors to justice. The government will not be late to indict rent seekers and bring them to courts. However, he said, accusations have to be made basd on well-founded evidence helpful enough to facilitae investigation and win trials; earlier allegations were surfacing that the government has been lax, letting scourage of corruption spread far and wide.
It is believed that it may be nearly impossible to cleanse Ethiopia of pervasive corruption if we do not expand the current ferocious war against corruption to include strategic change management initiatives. A law enforcement based approach, as well-established as it is, even if redoubled, would not win the war against corruption.
If winning the war against corruption means committing to prison many of those who have acted corruptly, that is, those who enriched themselves by violating the rules of public leadership, then nation is about to win the war. All it needs do is to double its efforts in the ongoing prosecutions. If winning the war is ensuring that politicians who are alleged to have embezzled public funds for so many years are disgorged of their ill-gotten wealth, then nation may be in sight of victory. In that case, it just needs to enlarge the list of suspects and make prosecution more rigorous.
But this is not winning the war against corruption once and for all. Successful prosecution of corrupt officials obviously helps, especially, in the politics of the war against corruption. And the politics of that war is very important. But that is not winning the war. These ‘successes’ will not rid Ethiopia of pervasive corruption. Even in the regime of change, corruption is still well and alive, perhaps a little bit inconvenienced and frightened.
Corruption could not easily be shooed away as we do to birds with a scare crow because it relies on strong bolthole and is reinforced by entrenched culture of theft and disloyality (may be depending on easily proned institutional path). It is self-reinforcing and slyly systemic; compounding on the two regulatory principles of corruption: incentives and costs. Both of them leading to the socialisation that ultimately make corruption a social habit. Finally, corruption becomes recurrent and resilient because of exploiting institutional weakness and feeding on millions of dollars.
So, winning the war against corruption means dismantling this incentive structure and reversing the institutional path-dependency that sustains it, such that society begins to move in a new direction. If we succeed in dismantling the incentive structure and redirecting the evolution of our institutions towards accountability and transparency, efficiency, merit-based production and value-based public service, then we are winning the war against corruption.
In this regard, even after palpable victory, nation should continue cracking on corruptors and rent-seekers and punishing them. But punishing those who violate the new social compact is not ultimate victory. It is the act required to preserve final victory gainst corruption that is comprehensive and binding. So, success in the war against corruption is not measured by count of corpses and body bags. It is measured by how much transparency and ignored system of accounatblity is being reintroduced and reinforced in to the activities of instituitions which were once infested by corruptors. Victory against corruptors and rent-seekers is also measured by the degree to which we have rewired society to encourage and enable efficient, honest and public-spirited transactions.
This anomaly and anomic modus operandi has to be shattered if nation is to survive the cruel jaws of corruption (and intensify pro-poor development). Unleashing punitive measure on corruptors is good to pay them what they deserve. However, singular or overwhelming focus on law enforcement will not lead to lasting victory in this kind of war, but through Cultural Revolution, societal reorientation and reshaping mental-setting of citizens regarding corruption and educating them to abhor ill-gotten wealth. Patience and perseverance would win the race. Nation is confidently swearing that, in deed, bygone are days of impunity and immunity and no corruptor is beyond the discerning eyes of the law and the unmistakable observation of the greater public.
The constitution stipulates that every one is equal in the eye of the law; no one is above the law.The times when officials acting by their own consent and commiting injustice heavy-handedly and high-handedly are long gone. And times of rule of men have been replaced by the rule of law and perpetrator individuals will not go unpunished; the government is resolutely responsible not to let corruptors off the hook and slap on their wrists. No matter how far late, criminals await day languishing behind bars.
Thesedays people in every corner are discussing about anti-corruption struggle and whistle-blowing like Sosina and Aster.They are expressing commitment to back the efforts of the government to fight corruptors and help curb corruption. But if only the government sustain its commitment to continue its fight and spearhead the struggle against public fund abusers.
