Abstract
This paper explores the lingering effects of corruption within the context of weak or bad governance after African countries gained their independence. Within the African context, bad governance is characterized by dictatorial leadership, non-free media, policy manipulations, and undemocratic elections. Jespersen (1992) observes that African economies performed well in the early years of their independence, but they failed their performance test thereafter, and the region is now characterized by poor living standards, declining agricultural production, stagnating manufacturing, rising imports, and rapidly expanding external debts. Additionally, the continent is notorious for its coups d’état, civil unrests, ethnic violence, widespread bureaucratic corruption, administrative inefficiency, and institutional ineptitude or outright failure. Van de Walle (2001) states that the weakness of political institutions explains the region’s persistent crisis and that reform efforts will fail unless regional politics are reformed.
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Notes
- 1.
Osita Ogbu, a Brookings visiting fellow and professor of economics at the University of Nigeria.
- 2.
George Ayittey’s speech at Oslo Freedom Forum, 2012 at http://www.oslofreedomforum.com/speakers/george ayittey.html. Retrieved on 5/24/2012.
- 3.
See George Ayittey’s (2011) speech, titled “War on African Dictatorships.” He referred to these reforms as Ayittey’s Law. Retrieved May 24, 2012, http://www.ethiopianreview.com/content/33222.
- 4.
Note that it is possible to test the null hypothesis (H 0): CPI|0≤SCD≥1 = CPI|2≤SCD≥6 versus the alternative hypothesis (H A): CPI|0≤SCD≥1 ≠ CPI|2≤SCD≥6.
- 5.
We choose the last 5-year interval for simple illustration and to conserve on space. One can also conduct same tests for other periods: 1985, 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005, and 2010.
- 6.
There are other measures of corruption, and according to Svensson (2005), the corruption indicator published by the International Country Risk Guide (ICRG) appears to be the most commonly used because of its longer coverage across time and countries (see Ades and Di Tella (1999), Leite and Weideman (1999), and Svensson (2005)).
- 7.
For detailed descriptions and estimates of these governance-institutional variables, see Kaufmann et al. (2009).
- 8.
This is consistent with the methodology used in other empirical studies, such as Ades and Di Tella (1999, p. 989).
- 9.
The recent prosecution and conviction of James Ibori (the ex-Governor of Delta State in Nigeria) in the United Kingdom provides the strongest evidence to date of what the international community can do to help Africa countries from the clutches of their corrupt leaders who are rarely or never prosecuted in their respective countries. Retrieved from online on June 26, 2012 at http://odili.net/news/source/2012/apr/18/30.html and http://odili.net/news/source/2012/apr/18/1.html Oyedoyin (2012).
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Owoye, O., Bissessar, N. (2014). Corruption in African Countries: A Symptom of Leadership and Institutional Failure. In: Mudacumura, G., Morçöl, G. (eds) Challenges to Democratic Governance in Developing Countries. Public Administration, Governance and Globalization, vol 11. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-03143-9_15
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