By Aiah P. M. Sourie. Head, External Outreach, ACC
Those who have an appetite, whether budding or voracious, for corruption are self-assured that the ‘gains’ that come with deviant conduct in public office or private business far outweigh national aspirations and development efforts. This hunch waters greed for personal aggrandizement and virtually crosses out whatever is ideally considered as the common good. But the truth is that whatever is rationalized as ‘profit’ in the vicious game of corruption cannot and should not be flaunted as merit in the truest and most natural sense of the word. The ‘benefit’ if ever there is one, is but fleeting like a wisp of wind. This essay therefore attempts to supplant the assumed gains of corruption with the real, altruistic, and soul-healing option of integrity and ethics in a nation that is grappling with many challenges.
Many people including those involved in the practice claim that corruption fetches great advantages. It is argued, and vociferously so, for example, that the phenomenon is a fast lane to get things done easily and quickly as it transcends rigid bureaucracy. This is particularly viable in an emergency where X person is desperately seeking Y public service in the face of cumbersome or seemingly cumbersome procedures. But as a fat brown envelop passes from one hand to the other, the rules are neutralized and the desired service is delivered with practised stealth. Unarguably, in such situation, corners are cut with grave implications for the masses and the country.
What also emanates from the situation where official protocols are frozen or kept at bay is comparatively cheap cost for the corrupt. An entrepreneur whose greed is accelerated by profiteering connives with a tax official to either evade due tax payment or pay a lesser fraction of the tax at an agreed commission for the tax collector. By this means, the business person makes extra profits and ironically calls it ‘a good deal’. In truth, the two are complicit in the commission of an offense against the State and masses but remain tightly clung to the perception that they are making wealth – with no shred of scruples nevertheless.
Furthermore, a corrupt public officer counts his practice as beneficial when he contrives to grab additional income his employer cannot afford at all. As he lines his pocket with the ill-gotten wealth, he builds magnificent houses and buys sleeks cars. He now feels confident and accomplished and, sadly, the unsuspecting public, mostly the youth whose future is easily slaughtered on the altar of pompous greed, sing him songs of praise and fawn over him. The paradox of the ‘noble servant’ playing the ‘rich master’ now becomes an uncomfortable reality but overshadowed by the desperate cry of his victims to survive.
Drawing from the scenarios or instances set above, this wealth-grabbing can be easily construed as solid achievements but a closer attention will prove otherwise. Without tending to pontificate, people who have grabbed wealth by stealth suffer from deep-seated hollowness – there is a yawning vacuum in their conscience that is quite aware of the source of their abundant wealth, and it taunts them constantly by quietly reminding them of the consequences of their hitherto hidden actions. While the cruise in their expensive vehicles around the city or town, they are confronted with sprawling communities sleeping and awaking up in a futile desperation to survive and poor ragged children, aged as theirs, plead for coins from them.
The corrupt cling unto one slender hope, however; that if the bear the bangs of a troubled conscience permanently, and it is often so, their children will enjoy the loot after passing away. This may seem an escapist route out of torment but certainly not a guaranteed one. The case of Luckner Cambronne is evident. Cambronne, sometime Minister of Interior and National Defence, served under President Jean-Claude Duvalier (1957-1971) of Haiti and became immensely rich by corrupt means. When a new regime came, however, he lost most of his unaccounted wealth and sought refuge in Miami in the United States of America. His family did not benefit from his loot as much as he had anticipated. There is certainly no paucity of similar homegrown experiences.
The safeguard here, then, is integrity. This is paraphrased as conduct that signifies careful judgement devoid of a self-seeking tendency, to do what is right, reinforced and enhanced at the same time by the love of country. The spirit of integrity in public service is aptly echoed in our National Pledge: ‘I vow to serve her faithfully at all times…And put her interest above all else’. Thus, the main concern is to wholeheartedly serve the country. Those who have been chosen to serve in trusted positions should, therefore, understand that the choices they make in executing their duties should be guided by the desire to serve and not to deceive and exploit. The real benefits and gratification of serving in a public or private entity rest with the positive impact you create, not with the gathering of unexplained or hidden wealth.
Corruption is a poisoned chalice and its perceived gains are ephemeral as they are not rooted in virtue and the spirit of national altruism, a concern for the welfare of one’s compatriots and country. It is therefore important that public officers do not get blinded by a façade of the ‘benefit’ of corruption, for there is truly none. The Anti-Corruption Commission’s intervention to raise awareness about corruption with tailored and timely public education is phenomenal in that regard, as it crushes the profaned ‘gains’ of corruption for honest public service delivery, in an attempt to heal the soul of nation for the true benefit of all its citizens.
