Reply-To: dialogue <USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com>
Date: Monday, June 13, 2016 at 8:34 AM
To: dialogue <USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Fwd: Fwd: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: WHY NIGERIANS ARE CORRUPT
again, this bounced earlier. a response to cornelius's heartfelt message
ken
cornelius,
the solution to corruption is not purity, is not personal purity. there is a large-scale economic system in place that functions with the powerful making arrangements to suit their own interests; if you bribe a cop or not you aren't going to change that. whether what you did is right or wrong is between yourself and your conscience. i would not condemn you for it, by no means
ken
Just a peripheral aside, avoiding any frontal collision with any of the ogas and alagbas.
I know that Björn Beckman ( a personal friend) is very serious about Nigeria. We are of course, all on the same side. In my humble opinion, every atom of effort against corruption counts.
The money wheel,, the main currency of corruption , is still turning. Some people call it "dirty money". As far as I know, I have never given or taken a bribe - although on one occasion in 1981 travelling by road from Ahoada to Port Harcourt, Richard Nsiah at the wheel of his Nigerian assembled Peugeot , we were stopped by the traffic police and - it sounded like an emergency - Richard asked me sitting in the back seat if I had ten naira on me; I did, and handed it over to him and he handed it over to the police. Let the pastors be the judge. I thought he was going to ask the police constable for some change but he didn't. He later apologised and explained that in the circumstances – we would have been delayed endlessly so, it was the most practical thing to do - and refunded my money. In very similar circumstances , Mr. Prasad my Telugu neighbour at the wheel of his Volkswagen on the road to Ahoada from Port Harcourt was stopped by the traffic police. Mr. Prasad asked him, " Are you hungry?" and he replied , " Yes, I am hungry" whereupon Mr. Prasad opened the back door to and told him " hop in" which the policemen did. When we arrived, Mrs Prasad prepared a nice vegetarian dinner which we devoured and with great satisfaction….
Somebody – I don't remember exactly who - said that when Reagan wanted to recruit more Black People to join the army and to go fight his wars, it was then he would say, " We are in trouble" - and then could follow, "what have you done for your country lately?" and patriotic slogans such as , "ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." In searching for his exact words, I came across this . Did Trump really say that?
Unless asked by the omniscient and omnipotent , such as when He asked Cain who had just murdered his brother Abel, " What have you done ?", the question is an irritant and is bound to rebound on the accuser – because it's an enormous question and we all know that with regard to corruption it's not a mere matter of scholarly research and erudite tomes that may eventually filter through to at least partially corrupt decision-making bodies and their judiciaries, in corruption-ridden countries - or some miraculously redemptive conclusion such as "or to take up arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing end them?" - or the second coming of Jesus of Nazareth (after the trials and tribulations of Hitler and the next anti-Christ - according to Christian and Islamic apocalyptic literature when the final showdown will take place at the Battle of Armageddon - the defeat of Satan and his apostles to be followed by one thousand years of peace and a world liberated from corruption. Until then, as the tribe of Shabazz would say, a luta continua !
In the political dialogue on a national scale it can sometimes be ironic, such as one non-corrupt person asking another non-corrupt person, or indeed asking a thieving chief of staff/ commander-in-chief himself, " What have you done and what are you doing to kill corruption?"
Like Caesar, some African president or the other could well say and mean it too: "Danger knows full well
That Caesar is more dangerous than he.
We are two lions littered in one day,
And I the elder and more terrible."Some of them the guardians and protectors of corruption.
Whereas Tom Ikimi decided to go on the offensive with the etymological approach – where did the word "corrupt" begin – the then President of Sierra Leone Ahmed Tejan Kabbah tried to dodge the question by pretending to be helpless. The question that Tim Sebastian asked him on the same BBC Hardtalk programme was, " People are saying that you are like a toothless chimpanzee in tackling corruption" - to which Kabbah replied - " You cannot eliminate corruption 100%!" Here's a partial transcript of that dialogue
The questions about corruption equally apply to other ECOWAS countries, including Kalabule Ghana and Sierra Leone, where significantly the current two term president Koroma campaigned on a platform of "ZERO tolerance for corruption" and won. Since then, some big heads have rolled , but if we are to believe Emerson, some sacred cows are still roaming free, along with rumours as to who is the king of corruption.
Kelfala Kallon : The Political Economy of Corruption in Sierra Leone ( 2004)
kenneth w. harrow
professor of english michigan state university department of english 619 red cedar road room C-614 wells hall east lansing, mi 48824 ph. 517 803 8839 harrow@msu.edu--
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