Wolrd Famous Nigerian fiction writer, Chinua Achebe wrote in his novel, ‘Man of the People’, that so entrenched was corruption in his society that when one challenged an incumbent legislator they were considered jealous of the wealth the other possessed.

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Over and above, communities considered the ascendency to power of one of their own as an important thing as it signaled that it was now their time to ‘eat’. In fact, a guy who held a high position but did not remit ill-gotten wealth to his own village was considered somewhat inadequate. If Botswana is not careful, we easily will get there. Corrupt officials would not be corrupt unless they adequately believe they will not be caught with their dirty fingers in the till and if society in general was not so corrupt then corruption levels would be far less.

The saga that is unfolding at the Botswana Development Corporation if proven to be true and many other scandals of late including clear signs of corporate greed illustrate a growing trend that will prove those who have always said ‘Africa is all the same’ right. For decades now we have been receiving consistently high rankings for transparency and accountability. 

These however, face prospects of serious reversals. Corrupt tendencies and unaccountability have become so serious a sub-culture that the ordinary man on the street practices it daily with aplomb while the rich guy out there also does it with amazing regularity. Truth be told, most of us were never taught accountability as kids. 

Today, Tswana society does not have much of a moral code that guides children. Growing up, the child has to find his own feet and define reality for themselves mostly. This is even true for the kid who grows up in a gated neighbourhood; is shipped to school and back home in the evening with very little discretionary contact with other kids on the street. 

In that scenario, kids know they are responsible to no one else but themselves. As they grow in to young adults, they become young adults who take along their social underdevelopment to society. Such people care not about anybody else; they get what they want either way as they often have someone to go through to get what they want. 

Before you conclude that I am saying corruption is a result of the sins of the rich, notice that poor kids also develop motivators for corruption. Seeing situations where others are receiving advantages because of their last names, they are ready to pay a little fee to get what they want. This leads to a huge question: do Batswana generally shun corruption?

One would not want to be negative about a whole nation but the daily stories told of how one did this and that points out to us as condoning of corruption. Ordinary people going about their lives tend to keep change when one forgets to collect it. They make no effort to return the cash to the owner even when they can. 

Years ago, two taxi drivers found a lost tranche of cash in Francistown. The two taxi drivers found it within their minds to alert the authorities of the money they had found. These guys never became heroes: the nation across board does not even know where they are today. They returned whole ‘loot’ in the millions and reports are that they were given several thousands. You possibly use their taxi services everyday not knowing that these are the guys who possessed millions shortly. 

The response to the actions of these guys was varied, a few people said they had done the right thing and they would have done the same in their position. A good number of people say they would taken a good chunk of the money before returning it: to this number of people, it is about the thinking that if they kept all the millions then they eventually would be caught failing to account for their new found wealth: as such, they would have returned it out of fear of being found out. It is not a matter of ethics for them, it is just for the sake of saving their skins. 

A huge number of people keep saying the guys were foolish to return the cash. They would have kept it and pretended nothing ever happened. Doing the right thing, for the majority of such people then is not worth one’s salts. Money buys a lot of things and honesty can only get you to heaven-possibly, they say. 

As well, on a daily basis, ordinary people skip queues, bribe security guards to help them jump queues at banks, have relations with bank tellers that only see them walk in and out without queuing up, a good number of people as well withhold a five thebe from the taxi driver when they have it and could have paid it; even more people lie about their whereabouts on their cellphones; a great number of people incriminate others through blatant dishonesty-how many people do you know that have knowingly claimed damages over things they know not to be true? Also, for the worker, many times one takes a break and goes onto facebook or some other applications even if the employer may not sanction such. 

Part of the reasoning is that what one does not know will not harm them or that some lies do not change the world. This is not without justification: we routinely lie about things-how many times have you been asked how you are doing and answered ‘fine’ while in actual fact you are anything but fine? It is a subtle lie that does not hurt anyone but it is a lie. Or rather, as we popularly say, it is some sort of harmless bending of the truth. At times it is a case of ‘what they don’t know won’t hurt them’. 

Now, if ordinary people routinely do these; how about if they were to be entrusted with power and custody of immense wealth? Such a person would be equally corruptible as those currently so corruptible, when they choose to steal from the national coffers, most believe they have adequately covered their tracks. If we agree on this, as we are compelled by both circumstantial evidence and human logic, then we agree that imprisonment is not a good enough deterrence. 

To deal with all these problems and to avoid scandals of people who loot public coffers, a new culture must be engineered. A new person must be created who shall shun corruption. To illustrate this, take the American political culture. Whenever you get a president from Texas, such a person is likely to be a Christian conservative. That individual puts conservative ideals before all and could go ahead and cut taxes for the rich and also be anti-abortion. They are also likely to be anti-homosexual unions. This becomes a descriptor of that person but the society from which they hail values those ideals. Such people may not be perfect but they will pursue those ideals with gusto. 

In that instance then, if we are to win the fight against corruption, we must be able to question the social setups that produce our intellectuals. At home do family ideals emphasize kids being accountable? If a kid comes home with their homework do the parents do it for them or do they guide the pupil to do it better? In many instances, the pupil may even sulk and have parents do the work and sign up as though their kid did it. 

As well, when the kid wants all sorts of expensive things parents go to the extent of downsizing on everything else that the family holds dear to give the kid what they demand. It need not be something useful, the kid just needs to want it and sulk if not granted their wish to get it. This kid is not taught that one must work hard and smart to achieve certain things in their lives. Hard work is not admired; effort is not romanticized. Bred and raised in that environment, that dangerous breed of a child then joins society where he/she meets equally combustible kids. They seek the easy way out and the easy way out is romanticized. Out of this, ‘harvesting’ from the public coffers is seen as just another little act. 

Faced with these, society needs to be a little more cultured. Family values must be emphasized and parents must be held accountable. Institutions such as schools and churches must also be held accountable. The parents raised a kid who later became deviant, the church and the school too and this must point to those institutions as lacking at some instance. Promulgate all laws and protocols to curb corruption but if the cognitive/psychological element does not change then this is a losing battle. Lengthy bans and jail terms do not work because people steal largely believing they will not be caught. They know there are chances but they rate such chances as low or non-existent.

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