Corruption: The Oil That Runs the Machinery
by When in 2002 our newly created company Tour d’Afrique went public with the announcement of planning to create a bicycle race and expedition from Cairo to Cape Town, the main reaction from the public was reflected by a letter to the editor: “You have obviously not spent one day in Africa, because if you had you would realize the obstacles and corruption and would not even dream of such adventure”.
Anti-corruption billboard in Malawi
We have just finished the seventh annual running of the Tour d’Afrique, and one of the main questions I am still being asked when people find out what I do and that we run similar tours in Asia and South America is ‘What about corruption’? and ‘ What about borders? How do you manage to get large groups across borders?’
It is not a new question. In the early eighties I ran a Canadian NGO called CPAR (Canadian Physicians for Aid and Relief) which set up projects in countries such as Ethiopia, Sudan, Mozambique and Angola. The question of corruption – both as a legitimate question but more often as a justification as to ‘why we should not be helping these countries’ was a major topic of most conversation.
Corruption existed in communist Czechoslovakia where I spent the first 13 years of my life. It existed in Israel (a rather nasty shock to my father, a holocaust survivor) where I first moved from Czechoslovakia, in spite of the fact that it was a young, idealistic country filled up with refugees from the Holocaust and Jews from Arab countries. Corruption exists in every other country I have worked, lived or visited. On my first endeavor in Africa I complained about corruption. My Sudanese counterpart who was running the food distribution and security in the refugee camp in 1984 would say “Henry, you poor soul, you do not understand. Corruption is the oil that runs the machinery. No oil, the machinery stops”. After I left Sudan I heard that he ended up in jail.
When accosted with the question of corruption in the developing world, my response has always been the same. Yes, there is corruption and yes it is often the petty corruption that is so noticeable. But do not be fooled- we have plenty of corruption here in Canada and USA, and though we may not see it, it has a tremendous impact on our lives.
Of course there are many reasons for corruption and even different types of corruption.
In many poor countries or in situations of disaster the circumstances are so dire that corruption is a mechanism for survival. Sometimes it’s the only way that a mandarin, policeman or a border guard can put a decent meal on the table for his family. Sometimes, as in communist Czechoslovakia, corruption was the way things got done – ‘you scratch my back I will scratch yours’ or simply to improve your status by getting an authentic pair of Levi’s jeans. Often corruption is simply a way to make an easy living or making a good living. And sometimes, as we see in the current outburst in North America and Europe, it is a way of becoming rich, becoming very rich.
In the past, my debating partners had no problems accepting that corruption existed and exists in communist countries. They were happy that I acknowledged that corruption is a problem in Africa or Middle East and in their eyes the main reason why these countries are poor. But when I tried to point out that corruption (though not necessarily visible) in North America exists and is a serious problem… well at this point I was overreaching. After all I am just a “do gooder”.
During and after Hurricane Katherina hit the USA, I secretly harbored a sick pleasure – my retribution for being humored for so long. I wondered how many of my compatriots who had worked in disaster areas in many poor countries felt the same way. The chaos, the incompetence and the overt sleaze in the USA must have warmed the heart of many who have struggled as best as they could in emergency situations around the world. After all, the country that prides itself in its competence, discipline and efficacy – the country with limitless resources and incredible technologies at its disposal – was now shown to be just like everyone else. Disorganized, panicky, corrupt and looking at their leaders as self- righteous and insensitive.
But it is the current outcrop of newsmakers:- the world famous Fonzi builder Bernie Madoff, the billionaire Texas financier Allen Stanford, the Harvard Law School graduate Marc Dreier who runs a law firm of 250 attorneys and the multifold exposes of how the financial, the banking system and many other “solid corporations” of the richest country in the world are being run puts, by comparison, every small time corrupt bureaucrat or official in any African country to shame.
Corruption, like poverty and sickness, is a state of affairs everywhere. Organizations such as Transparency International understands it and that is why they created a ranking of corruption for each country and even for countries’ industries, though I am sure the financial and banking industry will now jump several grades. And because corruption has many sources and reasons every society should strive to find ways to minimize it. If there is a main lesson that we should all be taking from the almost daily revelations that are being made in the media, it is that the world not only needs financial regulations but also other mechanisms to limit corruption and establish transparency. Just as we have learned that diseases can be minimized by prevention and by creating a high level of public health and hygiene – whether in food production, in hospitals or in waste disposal – so must we create a better system for limiting corruption.
When World Bank Institute announces that according to its research more than $1 trillion dollars (US$1,000 billion) is paid in bribes each year, it should also research the best way to empower whistle blowers and transparency. There is no doubt in my mind that if strong international organizations and foundations supported and protected whistle blowers, this would have more impact on the world than any billion dollar bailout. And it would be much cheaper.
My company, Tour d’Afrique Ltd, organizes bicycle races and expedition in 3rd world countries, which directly and indirectly benefit the countries through which we travel. Bill Gates recently defined this as ‘Creative Capitalism’. The tours also benefit each and every individual who participates often in ways they never expected. Some of them have now taken initiatives (to use a Kabalistic term) ‘in repairing the world’ and have made personal undertakings to help deal with the issues they observed while cycling through African villages, sleeping in tents and washing with a bottle of water a day, the amount that was allocated to them. But part of repairing the broken world, part of repairing broken capitalism is creating a more ‘hygienic capitalism’ and encouraging others to act when they see corruption and injustice.
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