The Inevitability of Corruption in Africa (PDF)

Essay from the year 2017 in the subject African Studies - Culture and Applied Geography, grade: A, , language: English, abstract: This essay deals with corruption and its inevitability in Africa. It argues that this devastating phenomena will not end because it is embedded in our political system and in the leaders that are supposed to stop it.

The famous saying still linger. "An apple does not fall too far away from the tree" and "no tree grows without its roots", so everything that has grown, it surely have its own roots from where it comes from, which are the basis and strength of such a thing, with a stem from the roots, to the branches and finally the fruits or whatever products such a tree is bound to bear, either positive or negative, good or bad, sweet or sour, harmful or not harmful.

This is exactly how corruption is. No one knows what a tree is going to bare or produce, just like corruption, if it's going to be good or bad, harmful or not harmful. After colonialism, different people, countries followed the evil practices of exploiting government for their personal gains just like the colonial leaders used to use state resources to build their home country (as its widely accepted that the West got rich at the expense of African people).

They did without knowing the negative impacts it might or does or would have on the people and the leaders themselves. During colonialism, people in African countries fought together as a collective unit, not only for themselves but for their countries, the lifeline and livelihood for themselves and that of their own countries, the land and its resources, mineral resources etc.

Nowadays, the collectivism has effectively disappeared and has been replaced by individualism, selfishness, nepotism and the mentality of "every man for himself", which above all disadvantages the poor, the unemployed people, and fail to take into consideration the youth and also disabled people or people in rural areas. The mentality of "every man for himself" or liberalism itself is the greatest fertilizer of conflict.