Bribery and corruption, a menace to society. Don't give, don't take
(Edited)
what factors predispose people to be corrupt
Bribery and corruption are what have been in existence for decades or better say time immemorial. Most people see bribery and corruption as synonymous with politicians, military personnel, and government parastatals, but it's far beyond that. Almost everybody in society one way or the other is involved in bribery and corruption. If Natasha collected chocolate from his brother all in the name of not telling their mother that he played ball at school, what do we call that? Well, that's just by the way
Bribery and corruption are almost similar but they are different. We can say bribery is the act of giving or receiving anything with the intention of procuring illegal action or taking illegal decisions in favor of the person who gives the bribe. Bribery can be in form of anything. It can be money, a house, a car, food, and so on. In fact, it can be in kind
Corruption deals with an intentional act or performance carried out with the intention of personal fulfillment or satisfaction.
In the case of corruption, the perpetrator doesn't necessarily take a bribe before acting. For instance, if a lecturer refuses to grade a female student because she refused to yield to his sexual want, that is corruption. Also, if judges ought to sentence a criminal to life imprisonment for committing murder, and set him free because they are related, that's corruption
Let me give a typical example that happen to me when I was about to enter high school. I went to a private school to write an entrance examination and I passed. When I went to check the list, my name was there, but when we went to pay for the acceptance fee, my name was no more on the list. Guess what happened? It was replaced. That is a high level of corruption
So we can define bribery and corruption as an act of receiving money or anything from someone, and also a person in authority giving a valuable consideration to someone that does not merit it.
What are the causes of bribery and corruption
Effect of bribery and corruption
Dealing with corrupt practices and bribery
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Conclusion
There are many factors responsible for bribery and corruption.
1. Lack of self-discipline: No one is wicked or a saint by birth, we decide to do good or evil when we come of age without anyone telling us the right or the wrong thing to do. We all know that bribery and corruption are against the law and besides, and they negatively affect the society at large, but because we could not discipline ourselves, we found ourselves in this mess
2. Poverty/low standard of living: When you are living in a society where the masses have no access to the country's wealth, and the standard of living is poor, bribery and corruption are bound to occur. Imagine a family of 5 living on less than a dollar per day. If an offer of $1000 is made for the head of the family to involve in corrupt practices, the probability of him yielding is super high. People are paid to vote for the wrong person, and yet see it as taking their own dividend of democracy
3. The principle of reciprocity: Let me use politics as a case study. There's what is called godfatherism in politics. Most people in power are supported by the powerful people in society, and as soon they attain that height, those godfathers would begin to ask for things that they don't merit. And as such, those in power would reciprocate the kindness which is against the law. Because you helped me, here, I need to reciprocate to make our relationship be at equilibrium
4. Expectation from family and relatives: Most times, if you are fortunate to work in a place where your salary is a little okay, families rely on you for anything. Many people because of the family pressure involve in bribery and corruption to meet up and maintain their status. When they esteem you so high and you want to keep showing off what you can't afford, you will definitely go further to double your income any which way
5. Weak law enforcement system: There are laws against bribery and corruption in society, but the enforcement is too weak for people to understand the gravity of this offense. A driver knows that once he beats traffic and he's arrested, a token squeezed in the hand of an officer would free him. This encourages them to keep breaking the law because they know they can bribe themselves out. Also, the manager of a company or anyone in power can conveniently employ anyone that does not merit a particular position because of familiarity or because he sold the seat at a certain price. Because this act isn't a checkmate, many people believe they can get all these high official jobs by buying their way in. You will hardly see a poor man's son or daughter working in an oil company and some government parastatals because the seat is always sold to the rich even though they are not qualified
6. Abuse of power: Some people in power believe they can do anything because they have the power to do so. In most cases, there's no one to checkmate their actions and this gives them the power to do as they wish
7. Poor access to essential to acquire essential services: This has been something disturbing. Recently, the Nigerian government-mandated every citizen to have NIN but the cumbersome procedure for acquiring it makes people pay some of the officials involved to help them get it on time without going through the stress. In a situation where the procedure and the organizing are made easy, no one would have the temerity to ask for a bribe to render quick services, and no one will be willing to pay as well
There's no way bribery and corruption can have a positive effect on society. The only positive effect people ascribe to it is the personal gain which is always to other people's detriment. Let's look at some of the effects of bribery and corruption
1. Negative impact on development: Bribery and corruption will always affect societal development. If for instance, a project is secured through a corrupt means, the quality of the job that would be delivered won't be standard because they have to remove the money used to secure the contract before executing the project and still look to make a profit
2. Creation of inequality: In some ways, bribery and corruption create inequality between the rich and the poor. Only the rich can buy top positions for their children. The poor keep submitting applications and those that don't apply for the job get it. This makes the rich get richer and the poor get poorer
3. Ruin of reputation: Bribery and corruption is against the law. Involving in it can cause people to lose interest in you and your reputation would be tanished
4. Corruption and bribery make people to be deprived of their human rights: Whenever a person in power is supposed to judge a matter rightly, he favors the person that should be convicted leaving the other party to his fate just because he was bribed. Unjust ruling to protect a certain fashion of the wealthy people in power is a violation of human rights, and they most times go scot-free with it
5. Corruption can lead to injury and death: My dad took over a contract from a contractor who found managing resources after collecting a huge amount of money. In the process of reshaping what he had done, the building collapsed injuring more than 20 people. No life was lost though. The supervisors connived with him to use substandard materials and that was the outcome. Corrupt practices most times make the innocent suffer
There are several ways to mitigate bribery and corruption
1. Proper enforcement of law: I mentioned earlier that weak enforcement of law contribute to bribery and corruption. If the laws are enforced in the right way, every citizen will be careful not to fall, victim. If Mr. A is severely punished and used as a scapegoat, others will tighten their belt and do the right thing
2. Civil service reform: This will go a long way in protecting the interest of the employees and it will allow the people at the helm of affairs to stop the unfair and bias treatment of employees and also stop them from unwanted practices. This will make the organization more productive
3. Social accountability: When there is proper accountability by every leader, corruption will reduce. If anyone/everyone in the position of holding someone accountable does it diligently, there would be changes. For example, if the masses practice free and fair elections without taking bribes from any politician, they have exercised their social accountability on the politicians. If the system of check and balance is truly practiced, no one would want to go into bribery and corruption
4. Transparency: When things are done openly for people to see, that's transparency. Bribery and corruption are always done in secrecy. Transparency would somehow reduce bribery and corruption
5. Don't give, don't take policy: Bribery and corruption start with us. If we can all imbibe the policy of don't give and don't take, people will start doing the right thing. Employers will not collect bribes to give jobs to certain people. Police won't take bribes to free offenders and rubbers, and so on
6. Good governance: If the government do the right thing for the citizens, bribery, and corruption will reduce drastically. Provision of employment for the youths, good infrastructure, diligent enforcement of laws, and so on will help the system improve
Bribery and corruption have become the order of the day in society. It's not limited to the wealthy alone or the government and the politicians. It's in every home. It starts with us. In other to stop or reduce bribery and corruption, all hands must be on deck. We must all help ourselves and the government to fight against it by playing our roles as citizens. I hope we live a life of transparency, maybe things will start getting back to normal
Thanks for taking the time to read this piece.
This is ckole the laughing gas.
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Transparency is key. Once people know that their actions can be seen by everyone and they will be held accountable, then people will be hesitant when they decide to commit these crimes.
Thank you fir sharing this with us.
Yes. when they see people being used as a scapegoat, they would by force couple their bras. That's the language we understand. Thanks for the comment bro. One love