(JollofNews)- Thomas Jefferson — ‘When the people fear the government there is tyranny, when the government fears the people there is liberty”.
Ludwig von Mises – “There is no more dangerous menace to civilization than a government of incompetent, corrupt, or vile men.”
Definition of Corruption: “Corruption is the abuse of entrusted power for private gain. It can be classified as grand, petty and political, depending on the amounts of money lost and the sector where it occurs.”
“Corruption: dishonest or illegal behavior especially by powerful people (such as government officials or police officers): the act of corrupting someone or something.”
“The Corruption Perceptions Index: ranks countries and territories based on how corrupt their public sector is perceived to be. A country or territory’s score indicates the perceived level of public sector corruption on a scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean)”
Corruption is one of the most dangerous social ills of any society. This is because corruption, like a deadly virus, attacks the important sectors that make for the society’s progressive functioning. This is particularly true for developing countries, such as The Gambia. Funds that are initially earmarked for industries, hospitals, schools, and other infrastructures are either out rightly embezzled, misappropriated, or otherwise severely depleted through kickbacks and over invoicing by agents of government.
The Gambia is the 145 least corrupt nation out of 175 countries, according to the 2016 Corruption Perceptions Index reported by Transparency International, which means that The Gambia is considered as a corrupt state.
Corruption is, in its simplest term, the abuse of power, most often for personal gain, or for the benefit of a group to which one owes allegiance. It can be motivated by greed, by the desire to retain or increase one’s power. Corruption has become the one main social evils of the 21st century. Corruption is rampant in every aspect of our social lives.
The main cause of corruption or the practice of corruption is through “bribery”. In other words, bribery is the lethal weapon that individuals and firms use to practice corruption.
The state is the first institution that repressed its own citizens through corruption. The high ranking officials take advantage of their positions in the government to enrich themselves. This is one of the main characteristics of corruption in developing countries such as The Gambia. The lower-earning employees may also take advantage of their power and insist on bribes. This could be due to the fact that most of these lower-level officials are not well paid by their governments.
Thus, bribery and corruption become a way to “earn” more money. Bribery is practiced by every sector of the economy. Today, we can notice this evil practice of corruption in the terminals of seaports and airports where the employees accept brides from businessmen and travelers. The businessmen bride the officers in order to evade taxes, customs duties or regulations. Corruption is also common along the frontiers and borders.
Corruption is also rampant in the judicial system. Powerful government officials and rich businessmen influence the judiciary by giving huge sum of money to judges and lawyers to drop their cases, and even set them free when they commit horrendous crimes.
The businessmen also make payments to government officials to obtain major contracts. These may include payments of bribes to obtain import and export licenses, foreign exchange permits, and investment and production licenses. The biggest loser from corruption is society, as a whole. Corruption distorts economic incentives, discourages entrepreneurship, and slows economic growth.
Nepotism, tribalism and favoritism are also evil practices that facilitate or pave the way for corruption in the modern-day society. “The price of nepotism causes a complete failure of a country, or an organization to develop.” The government officials especially the presidents and ministers employ their close relatives and confidents in various sectors of economy in order to serve their interests through corruption.
In Africa, a president may “hijack” the whole government and institutions of the country by giving important positions to his clan members and friends. They get all the major contracts of the economy. In most developing countries, the governments have become private ownership of ruling family and its entourage. Massive corruption is done, without any law to stop the families from emptying banks of their foreign currencies and gold reserves.
Another cause of corruption is brides that buy political influence or votes. It is important to distinguish between political and bureaucratic corruption. While the latter involves efforts by civil servants to enrich themselves through illegal means, the former is used by political coalitions to capture the apparatus of the state or maintain a monopoly on power. Political corruption usually includes activities such as vote rigging, registration of unqualified, dead, or non-existent voters, purchase and sale of votes, and the falsification of election results.
The politicians and their political parties influence the electoral system by giving money and incentives to the voters in order to determine the outcome of the elections. It is a common practice that destroys the rules of democracy, good governance, accountability and transparency in the world.
Furthermore, corruption is not only about stealing funds from government coffers, and bribery. It is also about appointing unqualified and unskilled people in key positions. These people usually don’t have the zeal, sincerity and professionalism to perform the job.
“Corruption is worse than murder. It kills more than warfare, it takes land and moneys to build a hospital and buys a private jet, and condemning thousands of people over multiply generations to die of curable diseases.” Corruption is crippling the development of African countries.
In the African government office, it is common to find a department full of village friends. Many of these employees don’t have the qualifications to do the job other than being clan members. A leader should not be the richest man in the country, where he can use his leadership to get even more wealth. For example, African leaders have caused the continent to lose more than $1.4 trillion from 1980 to 2010.
In conclusion, I will advise the new Government of The Gambia to pay great attention to corruption. The Gambia is already ranked as one of the most corrupt countries in the world. The government has to create strong institutions that will combat corruption. Politicians need to know that the interest of their constituents and the country come first and foremost. One should not enter politics for personal gain.
Nepotism, tribalism, and favoritism have to be completely eliminated from our society. Corruption corrodes the fabric of society. It undermines people’s trust in political and economic systems, institutions and leaders. It can cost people their freedom, health, money and sometimes their lives. In sum, corruption has no place in any society, especially The Gambia which has inherited “empty coffers” from a dictatorship.
Dead to Corruption
Dead to Bribery
Dead to Injustice
No to Dishonest Politicians
Stop Corruption before It is late!
I am incorruptible. I rather die poor than be corrupted. Dishonesty has no place in my heart.
Be A Honest Gambian
Long live The Gambia
Musa Manneh
New Jersey, USA
This is all true and correct.
BUT, how do you change it?
How do you fix it?
I think it starts in ones DNA.
STOP UNILATERAL AND UNCONSTITUTIONAL ETHNIC GROUP POLITICS, THAT IS ALREADY RAISING ITS UGLY HEAD WITHIN THE OUSAINOU DARBO, MAI FATTY AND ADAMA BARROW REGIME. IT HAS ALREADY TURN THE COALITION GOVERNMENT OR PARTY APART. WE ARE JUST A MONTH OUT, SINCE THE OFFICIAL DATE THE THIRD REPUBLIC OF THE ABOVE THREE AMINGOS ASSUMED POWER IN THE GAMBIA. I HAD SAID THAT, GETTING RID OF THE FORMER PRESIDENT WOULD BE EASIER THAN THE COALITION GOVERNMENT UNDER UDP GETTING ALONG WITH THE OTHERS. THERE IS ENOUGH SAUCE! WHO KNEW?
Quarterly independent government audits, would be a good start.
Grim reaper, I support your suggestion however it will be very difficult to produce quarterly audits due to practical reasons. It is a good idea though to have regular audits of the accounts to make government more accountable and transparent.
Sanyang, please do us motal beings a favor and explain or inform us why “it would be difficult to produce quarterly audits due to practical reasons”? Can you please operationalize “practical reasons”. Could it mean or be a metaphor for “we can’t hold an already corrupt regime accountable”? Or is it, an attempt to sound knowledgeable about a subject matter you know little about? What is it Buba Sanyang? Buba Sanyang, bless his heart, the one who was followed hounded, and taunted by others in his London neighborhood for his Oddity and odd behavior? I am beginning to get an understanding of why and what contributed to your Extremists views with reference to the Second Republic and anything non mandinka. I am sorry for the post traumatic syndrome. Denial, Grief, Acceptance are the Steps to Sanity. It will help you overcome the trauma suffered in London. I hope my trying to help a fellow Gambian would be appreciated.
This is a story/article every Gambian need to read and understand….
Sidi, to start with you don’t know me so do not lie about me. If you want to know where I live just ask? Don’t fabricate lies about me. I have always thought of you as someone who has a very twisted mind but now I know for definite that you are a bold face liar. There are many Buba Sanyangs in Gambia and from Gambia in the diaspora it is therefore only an idiot who will associate a name to an incident without confirmation. You are nothing but an old bitter man who is trying to find someone to blame for his failures in life. If you can’t work out for yourself how it might not be practical to audit all government departments and parastatals every 3mths then I wont waste my precious energy on you. I will engage only with people who want intellectual discourse not with rambling twisted liars.
Please remember our unity, peace, security, and justice is the foundation of a lasting development and the reinforcement of our democracy. We should do our best to defeat CORRUPTION, without which we are bound to fail.
Folks, corruption. nepotism and bigotry can all be associated with structural failures that are largely the result of human frailties! So we can take stock all we want.
Systems, checks and balances in a given system are designed to keep structures rigid and workable to ensure accountability and competence in the performance of service obligations. Note that I did not include the word honesty as that is an attribute that is instilled in the human character by numerous factors. Also what’s in short supply in corrupt societies!
Systems can be designed with the best of intentions to provide checks and balances aimed at curbing corrupt practices in private and public service until humans, smart as we are, choose to throw a wrench in the works through sheer disregard for societal norms, regulations and tampering with data, equipment and physical structures (legislature).
Now, the inherent problems that serve to foster malpractices are the making of the very servants and custodians of the system that’s designed exactly to serve its intended purpose.
The blame shouldn’t be laid on the doorsteps of “the government” alone but everyone that forms the crux of that government. These are the citizens, that fill the roles in services of all sorts, that clearly know better but choose to act as enablers, aiding and abetting corruption and dishonesty at all levels.
Where systems are designed to work but custodians of that system choose to literally flout the rules, set documents ablaze, put documents through shredders, fry up computers or give their buddies and cronies a heads up on impending audit exercises in the unending effort to cover trails, there go checks and balances out of the window!!
Yes, the templates that we are all looking at and discussing on media of all sorts do work in nations that commit to making regulations work to ensure accountability and that those that break rules are punished. However, in most of the Southern hemisphere south of Milan, Italy, sadly anything goes!!
In The Gambia, whenever a huge scandal is exposed, it’s always, “Mbaring Landing, Borry Nang, Maasibo Le Keta Jang Bii”. So, Mbaring Karamo, armed with his Juju, Surahs and influence is expected to put out the fire at all cost. In Senegal, it’s Serign Bi, Le Grand Marabout, that puts out fires of all sorts. Why not? They do get their cut in the loot after all!
Andrew Pjalo, things look and sounds very bleak.
Sidi Bojang, you may want to reconsider the tendency to publish material that is clearly based on conjecture that you’ll be hard pressed to prove in a competent court of law. There are also dire consequences to not being able to stand behind your reporting aside from embarrassment.
So, my advice is to think twice or think well before putting stuff on the internet. Unlike letters that can be destroyed in a blink, what’s published on the web stays there forever!!
Ali Hako Boye Nyeh, Dowu Ma Ko Def Ati, is no longer enough in The New Gambia.
Isn’t this the era of accountability where one is totally responsible for his/her action?
And, I have no axe to grind here. I do have a thick skin too for an emotionless African!
Gambian politicians can not survive we without the corruption, never change poor people with luxury lifestyle what will you expect from???
Since no one of the coalition members, or government has voluntarily published their taxation position, it remains unclear, if Barrow himself, a business man, and former employee, and other cabinet ministers and government , army and judicial dinitaries have all got his own tax-houses in order, or if indeed running after tax cheats will not open a kind of pandorian box!
As Gambians, we have always acted as though, it only foreigners (aid money if paid by the fishermen, cleaners, army personnel, cabinet ministers, gardeners, real estate agents, and businesses in the aid giving countries), and the duty of the Gambian is only to take, take and take, and not to [voluntarily] contribute in the form of taxation of any kind. It can be even argued that avoinding, or dodging tax is one big industry in Gambia, and who can blame anyone, when confronted with a taxation rate of 32% – in my time it was 52% – plus VAT 10%, making it 42%, and without any dicernable benefit, not even protection under the law.
Witness, the release of drug dealers, murderers, thieve, holigans, and vagabone into the community without any condition, withour electronic tagging, and without any reasonable excuse other than the fact that the state is too busy politicking with our aid money (yes I pay some of the tax that Gambia receives in aid) – in massive hotel bills to even provide a decent judiciary (no judges and case loads through the roof) that can determine custody or otherwise for some seemingly real bad guys. I have no doubt that some of those released have already offended as they damn well know the state is too busy polishing it image, or just too bloody indifferent to people’s real (as opposed to perceived) suffering to try to apprehend them, having released them just the night before! Rapist will go back to raping, drug dealers will again tread the path they only know too well to easy money (no income tax, or VAT there), and murderers will be buying their time whilst everyone around them would be cowering, and forieners, once deported, will simply launder their image and be back on the streets of Gambia, doing what they have always done -all tax free of course!
It was wrong to release murderers, drug dealers, and rapist back into the community. May be they should all have been released to the State house or somewhere secure like that, and away from the ordinary citizenry where their victims live.