CORRUPTION is a type of dishonesty or a criminal offence that is often perpetrated by a person or an organisation that is entrusted in a position of authority to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's gain.
It is a practice that may involve bribery, influence peddling and embezzlement, as well as other activities that are considered legal in other countries.
Political corruption occurs when an office holder or other governmental employee acts in an official capacity for personal gain.
It is generally widespread though there has been more attention on Africa. It assumes different names based on different contexts even though the practice remains the same.
In today’s instalment, we talk about two politicians who grew up in poor communities and developed interest in politics to access national resources in order to improve their personal lives.
Let’s call them Paul and Peter. They grew up in the village wondering how they could break out of poverty given that they did not acquire good educational qualifications to secure stable jobs.
They launched their political campaigns from the grassroots to become members of Parliament for neighbouring constituencies. They became members of parliamentary committees where they had access to and could influence tender processes. And on one occasion, they hit the jackpot that allowed them to swindle millions of dollars of State money. They also received bribes. The objective of getting rich had been met but that was not the end of the process.
Paul decided to move his looted cash outside the country and to ensure his tracks were covered. He knew that one day, theft of such a huge amount of money would be discovered and he did not want to go to jail. He also kept that money to ensure the future of his children was safe and secure.
- The tale of two criminal politicians
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On the other hand, Peter wanted to invest the money so that it could generate more income as well as use business ventures to sanitise the stolen money. After several consultations, he decided to build a huge hospital that had a public and private section.
The private section would be his cash cow, while the public department of the hospital would help poor people from his community to access healthcare services at an affordable price. He secured a deal which enabled poor patients with complicated medical conditions to have their healthcare costs covered by government.
Peter became a hero in his community for availing state-of-the-art healthcare services as well as catering for those who could not afford specialised medical treatment. He also became a hero for showing what the locals described as good leadership that demonstrated that the interest of the people can be taken care of.
As Peter was basking in the euphoria of being celebrated for delivering state-of-the-art healthcare services, a report from the audito-general’s office implicated both Paul and Peter for embezzling State funds and for accepting bribes and kickbacks.
They were taken to the parliamentary committee responsible for transparency and accountability before eventually handed over to the police for further investigations and arrest.
In the case of Paul, they did not find significant evidence to implicate him because he had covered all his tracks and his stolen loot was stashed in a foreign land. When he was acquitted of the allegations, he felt like a hero even though the money was being used in a foreign land to benefit the people in that country.
Nonetheless, he headed home knowing that his children’s future was secured as the stolen money was still safe. He could not wait for the right time to start moving the money into his children’s accounts.
This was not the case with Peter. He was hauled from one police station to another until his court case drew major media headlines. While he denied the allegations of corruption, he could not explain how he built such a huge hospital which was at the time generating massive amounts of money for him as well as benefiting the community.
In private conversations between the two, Peter accused Paul of supporting another country’s economy by saving his stolen money outside his own country. With the sudden turn of events, Paul blamed Peter, who faced the prospect of a jail term, for being naive. He also blamed him for not having taken his advice. He argued that should Peter be imprisoned, he would lose everything and his family would suffer.
This tale of two friends presents a common dilemma faced by many corrupt African politicians. Corruption is bad on all accounts.
Tapiwa Gomo is a development consultant based in Pretoria, South Africa. He writes here in his personal capacity.
