Let’s Beat Corruption

Guest Editorial by Michael Shackleton – CORRUPTION is an ugly word. It means doing something dishonest for ones personal gain, and Africa, unfortunately, is well known for it.
Ordinary people resent their representatives or civil servants behaving corruptly, yet too often they shrug as if there is nothing anyone can do about, as if it is simply a fact. This attitute is absurd because it implies fatalism rather than the ability of a democratic society to steer its own course towards justice for all its citizens.

The fact that people are concerned at the way in which tax-payers money is squandered by bandits in the guise of state officials, is surely a sign that their tolerance level is not flexible. In 2004 a survey by Afrobarometer, which has measured attitudes to the public service since 1995, found that 45% of South Africans believed that all or most government officials were corrupt. A more recent measurement may be even more appalling. Are almost half our civil servants crooks? How can we run a democratic country in which the strong exploit the weak and individual rights are crushed?

In his letter of a mere five chapters, St James gave us a practical guide on how to live in a community in which the needs of all are justly served. He had some harsh words for the rich and powerful who use fraud and cheating to enrich themselves at the expense of the poor and weak.

In succeeding centuries, global society has seen countless changes and new systems of social control. Historically, popes have issued warnings and encyclicals, notably when socialism, capitalism and fascism began to dominate Europe and beyond. Their constant message has been justice for all. The common good must prevail so that each individual in society works for that good, and in return society protects the rights of each individual.

Pope John XXIII and Vatican II took the matter further, teaching that the common good must spread from local societies to the whole of humanity. They pointed to the shocking lack of a common denominator between First World affluent nations and Third World societies where million are ravaged by poverty and starvation. In its document on the Church in the Modern World, Vatican II upheld the equal dignity of persons. However, it said, the excessive economic and social differences between members of the one human family cannot be called social justice.

Clearly the problem is on two levels. The first is the local one in which corrupt officials exploit their authority for their own gain. The second is the exploitation by the powerful nations of the poor nations  resources, both material and human.

When the AngloGold Ashanti company announced its plans to mine for gold in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the bishops of England and Wales appealed to it to ensure that the local peoples had a say in the mining venture and share in its profits.

On the local level, our bishops keep abreast of developments through their various agencies, such their justice and peace office. Their work should give some encouragement to ordinary Catholics to be fair and honest in all their dealings. Employers must be certain that their workers are not defrauded. Workers must do a full days work to earn their wages honestly.

We all know these things. They are the basics of Christian living. Let us follow St James admonitions and uproot corruption by our good works, faith and prayer.