Corruption in Africa

Corruption and Cruelty are human foibles and they have no relationship to race or colour.
Several years ago, whist travelling through Bulgaria I was held up at gun-point by two uniformed police officers. They took possession of my Wallet but they changed their minds when they came accross my International Drivers Licence which I told them was my Diplomatic Identification

I had to bribe the Spanish Police in order to cross the border into Gibraltar and I had to bribe the Customs Officer at the Tijuana border before I could cross over into Southern California.
And I could do very little business without the assistance of a good bribe whilst in India.
During the Apartheid days I could usually bribe the Traffic Officer who trapped me for speeding or for parking improperly. And a substantial bribe invariably enabled me to acquire a Trader's Licence even when it was contravening the Group Areas Act !
There is nothing like a full belly to prevent a fellow from becoming dishonest.
Race has nothing to do with it !

I agree corruption and cruelty are human traits, but my feeling is that if I give into or expect to or are willing to pay a bribe I am as guilty as the person wanting the bribe.

The way to stop people taking bribes is simply to stop paying them. I have been in situations where a bribe has been asked for or implied and I have stuck to my guns and not payed, "who is your superior" usually works as well as a steadfast I`m not paying attitude and threats of reporting them, wanting an official receipt, take me to the police station and I will pay, etc, are usually enough to be waved on.

Expecting to pay a bribe usually results in bribes being asked for and the first person to pay a border guard a bribe usually results in everyone following being pressed for a bribe.

Honestly I have stuck to my guns on borders and with traffic police and other so called officials and never payed a bribe.

Phil J
moderator

I have so far been travelling to 82 countries; 46 European, 5 North American, 10 African, 15 Asian and 6 South American, and I have only paid bribes three times; entering Viet Nam by train from China, leaving Viet Nam by car to Laos and entering Mozambique by train from South Africa.

We can dredge up myriads of anecdotes to show how honest we are and how we refuse to participate in bribery and corruption, but the indisputable fact is that the phenomenon permeates human institutions, including those that propogate Religion and Education and Justice !
We may not like it, but none of us are without a past history of this type of Sin.

Well, my point was actually not to tell how honest I might be, rather to show that the world isn’t as bad as it is supposed to be. When I have NOT paid bribes, it wasn’t because I refused to do so, but because I wasn’t asked to do it. So in 46 European countries, 5 North American, 9 African (Namibia, South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania, Kenya, Egypt and Morocco), 14 Asian and 6 South American countries nobody ever suggested a bribe.