Corruption

I am thinking hard these days about why this country, and more in general, this continent, can't seem to manage to get its act together. There are many explanations. Poor governance and corruption are part of it, but they can't be the only reason. Moreover I can't say I find this country more ccorrupt than others that I have seen in Central Asia for instance. There are countries in South East Asia with equally weak governance, but strong economic growth. I read something interesting in Jeffrey Sachs' The end of Poverty yesterday: it's not poor governance that creates poverty, but poverty that creates poor governance. I am not sot sure if one excludes the other, it may of course work both ways, but it's certainly thought provoking. Good governance, including strong institutions, civil society involvement and media in a watchdog role, costs money and a situation where basic needs are met.

I condemn corruption (small scale corruption, that is, the big scale greed of some leaders is another matter) as an economic problem, but am I, with the very secure material conditions I enjoy, in a position to morally judge a customs officer with nine months of salary arrears and 5 children - the average family size here, not counting the AIDS orphans and other children (from poorer family members for instance) often at the charge of whoever is lucky enough to have a job - at home when he accepts a bribe?(*) I honestly don't know. I would like to develop some clearer ideas on it (and how to remediate the problem) before I leave here.

Having said this, it seems that we are getting closer to some big fish through our technical assistance. Our two customs experts received mysterious phone calls and were pursued by a car without number plates two days ago after a little sting operation to purchase illegal diamonds had gone wrong (somebody from within the Customs services apparently informed the selling party).

While Chad and Sudan exchange niceties these days, our host country has closed its borders with Sudan in an act of solidarity with Chad. First of all good luck to them finding these borders, as they are unmarked. Secondly I don't think they stand much of a chance with no more than fifty unpaid and utterly demotivated soldiers supposed to keep an eye on hundreds and hundreds of kilometers of border and to keep out very bloodthirsty Chadian rebels, armed to the teeth and with a Janjaweed mindset.

(*) This is a dramatized picture of course, and Customs is actually not a very good example: as in many countries, these jobs are for sale and require a quick return on investment before the job is passed on to somebody else. I was told today about a local customs officer running 20 taxis and owning several houses. Apparently it's a girl's dream here to marry a customs officer...