Causes Of Corruption In Africa

Globalization did not bring the promised benefits people hoped to have. It brought poverty instead. “ The actual number of people living in poverty has actually increased by almost 100 million,” (Stiglitz 222). Africa has high expectation with colonial independence. The continent is in misery and is falling.

Sierra Leone is a small country found on the west coast of Africa. The country shares a border with the Atlantic Ocean, Liberia, and Guinea. Sierra Leone has a population of 5,525,000 people, and 27,699 square miles of land. In 1462 Freetown, Sierra Leone was founded by Pedro da Cintra, a Portuguese explorer from Lagos, Portugal. da Cintra originally named the country Sierra Lyoa , the Lion Mountains, but in 1787 the British officially adopted Sierra Lyoa changing its name to its modern day spelling- Sierra Leone. This small country has faced many horrors within its history. The Sierra Leone civil war is a major contributing factor to the country’s current state of poverty and corruption. Most problems that the country faces today all stem

In the late nineteenth century the European powers of the world began imperializing Africa. This annexation, occupation, and division of African territory has since led to much strife within the continent and has caused many struggles politically. This period known as the “Scramble for Africa” has led to the many problems that Africa faces today and has been the root of several wars in Africa to assume control. After World War II many European imperialists began to give African nations autonomy. This seemed like a step forward for African nations, but without any plan to transition into self governance many African nations have faced bloody civil wars and corruption. Along with political struggles, numerous African nations face rising debt and other economic problems. Many of these political and economic issues stem from the “Scramble for Africa”. Once the European countries left Africa had very little to support itself. To explain the issues left by imperialism the three African nations of Rwanda, South Africa, and Sierra Leone will be put under the scope.

Throughout human history, there has been corruption all over the world and of course different types as well, no doubt that each country has some form of corruption but it is at its worst in Latin America. This dreadful act is at its time high and it's not going down anytime soon, most of these Latin American countries lack of democracy, but instead have a dictator ruler. Corruption among official is abuse of power for their own self gain. According to Americas Market Intelligence “Latin American countries were characterized by having weak democratic institutions and authoritative governments, the perfect combination for the spread of corruption” they also mention the adverse effect corruption has on these countries, the high levels of corruption experience lower acceptance of established institutions, defaulted court system that cause a political instability,lower quality of public infrastructure and expenditures on education and health.There website also mentions that there is a direct correlation between corruption growth of the informal economy and the spread of illicit activity in the form of organized crime and illegal cartels.

This paper would contain a detailed overview of African Continent’s history and evolution. Social and cultural reformations and practices would be taken into consideration. It will carry a detail oriented research on the poverty and underdevelopment issues of the continent. A brief review to the history in the relevance of the topic would be included. Developmental crises would be analysed from several perspectives. The cultural and social norms and their relation to their relation to developmental crises would be evaluated. Possible solutions regarding the limitations and issues in the developmental social and cultural prosperity and well-being would be discussed. A meaningful conclusion would be evaluated on the research

"Corruption is an important cause of poverty because it promotes unfair distribution of income and inefficient use of resources." (The Link Between Corruption and Poverty) Americans enjoy a government that, although it has its flaws, looks out for its citizens and is geared for the benefit of the people as a whole. Leaders that are elected generally have the population's best interests at heart and fight for better lives for average Americans nationwide. Most countries in Africa do not have the luxury of such a government. The officials only care about themselves. They pocket a fair amount of the donated money and another significant portion is used for selfish projects that do not really benefit the country or the millions of poverty-stricken citizens. "The well-connected people don't have to pay the same taxes like everyone else; policemen and other junior officials seeking small bribes don't dare solicit cash from them. At the end of the day it is the poor and the weak who face the true brunt of corruption. This is a critical link between corruption and poverty." (The Link Between Corruption and Poverty) This also has an effect on the leaders that do have good intentions at heart. They have never been trained on how to be effective and they also, accidentally, use the money in many unhelpful ways. The money is squandered time and time again and the rest of the world does nothing but keep the supply of it coming. This is another area where something must

Modern African states have various problems ranging from corruption, to armed conflict, to stunted structural development. Africa’s ongoing political instability and economic crisis have hindered the improvement of Africa. Thus, the lack of money, advancement in technology, and climate has hampered economic development. Despite European mistreatment and oppression African’s have endured hardships that have encouraged economy, education, and political

Agents that affect Africa’s population are many: the temperature has an effect, cross-cultural interaction, and other oppressions all effect how the land is run. African culture has traits of power, whereas as American’s view money as power. People in Africa view food and stones, such an ivory and gold, animal’s skin all for power. From past centuries, what someone in leadership could bring to the community, tribe made him someone in power. For instance if a leader, killed a deer, or food for his community night after, night that man would become in power.

As many know through the news, Sub- Saharan Africa is not a wealthy nor financially stable

“This hampers Africa’s development by excluding the perspectives, skills and dynamism of half the population” (Takyiwaa Manuh).

In Besteman’s ethnographies, South Africa face the challenges of transforming its self after dealing with apartheid. In reality , I had expected more data on the post-war Sierra Leone , only because it has been a decade since the conflict ended. I believe that my frustration stems from me being originated from Sierra Leone. I would love for this country to pick up in terms of macroeconomics and microeconomics. But I now understand how detrimental civil wars are. My study shows one of the few concept discussed in class of African. It represents the most common problem the majority of African countries are facing , which is their corrupt government. The development for majority of African countries would be more of a constant growth if the government systems were firm and

Ultimately corruption takes away from the total resource pie, which essentially takes away from the common populace. When a nation’s resources are fraudulently diverted, societal development and progress suffer across the board. Accordingly, nongovernmental organizations such as Transparency International concur with this assessment and also depict corruption as an anti-poor mechanism. Hence, corruption feeds into the cycle of poverty in developing nations, leaving the majority of wealth for the elite minority, while the majority of the populace lives in abject poverty. In the end, corruption and poor governance, combined with an abundance of accessible and valuable resources throughout the region provide ample motive for the generation of a power grab.

The story of Africa is not new at all. Africa’s economic achievement is one of the biggest mystery to solve. Plenty of African historians have recorded destructive consequences that burdens Africa from inside and outside influences. It has been said over and over again but the status of the continent remains the same. The continent of Africa has been favored immensely with natural resources, human and economic diversity. Despite the resources Africa possesses it continues to remain underdeveloped and in poverty mainly because of outside and inside influences such as, climate, corrupted leaders, imperialism, and low rates of education.

The economy of Africa is a main reason of Africa’s poverty. The economy is corrupt meaning that the people controlling the money are being dishonest. The government is also in a lot of debt. For example South Africa is in 137,681,168,206 dollars in debt. This is just one of all the African countries that are in debt. Fifty percent of working people in Africa make an astonishing $1.25 a day. In total fifty percent of people in Africa

Modern African states have several problems ranging from corruption, to armed conflict, to stunted structural development. The effects of colonialism have been offered as a starting point for much of the analysis on African states, but the question of why African states are particularly dysfunctional needs to be examined, given the extent to which they have lagged behind other former European colonies in many aspects. In the first section, I will consider the problems with African states from the level of the state. That is, the nature of the states' inceptions and the underlying flaws may explain some of the issues that have been associated with African states today. Next I examine the development of, or lack of, civil