Greed, an exception to the rule?
In his book, Animal Farm, George Orwell allegorically illustrates one of the most destructive vices in human behaviour: GREED. For those that are unfamiliar with the story, Animal Farm portrays how absolute power begets greed that leads to corruption. History is full of lessons on how the pursuit of more control over resources by man can become an obsession that turns into greed. So far, almost all stories about serious corruption or criminal cartels can be nailed down to greed by people in public positions or those connected to positions of privilege.
Last week, we mused on why powerful public positions can turn ordinary people into instant criminals who believe that they can succeed based on impunity, sense of entitlement and utter contempt of the law. This week, I would like to emphasize that in Malawi, just as in other parts of the world, we do not suffer from ignorance of the typical drivers of corruption. Further, we have all the basic weapons to fight corruption such as institutions, legal instruments and, perhaps, the anger. I would also want to stress that cases of fraud and conspiracies to defraud public institutions will remain rampant if we cannot start to “criminalise” greed.
Let me illustrate my point by recalling the story of one case of maladministration and irregularities in the procurement and disposal of public goods. In the year 2010 the Malawi Government secured a loan for the purpose of purchasing various farm machinery to assist in drought mitigation for small-holder farmers. Around mid-2016 the Office of the Ombudsman received complaints over the procurement and disposal of the machinery by government officials. Cutting the long story short, 177 tractors and 144 maize-shellers were sold off to senior government officials and some politicians posing as farmers in clear breach of the law.
Looking at the list of people that benefited from the disposal of the farm machinery it is quite easy to suspect that this was a calculated scheme by highly placed officials exercising their sense of entitlement and greed over public resources. However, while the Supreme Court ruled in support of the Ombudsman’s determination, none of the responsible government officials and the beneficiaries of the disposal process have been held personally liable and the incurred loss shall never be recovered.
The story narrated above is not an isolated case for our country. One time it was a whole presidential jet that got disposed of in very controversial circumstances. We have also heard about government houses and land sold to politically exposed persons in very dubious processes. The story is always the same. Not many get to be punished and the circle is never broken. New scummers come into the fore knowing that the system can accommodate a few more of their kind.
Unfortunately, the demon of greed has not spared any sector of our society. Even those that occupy powerful positions in the private sector, civil society organisations, chieftaincies and religious circles are possessed! The reason we struggle so much in fighting corruption is because greed has perhaps become an exception to the rule, as in George Orwell’s Animal Farm.
