Our societies are just like human organisms: they fall ill and get cured. When handled badly, by selfish and greed officials, practicing all forms of corrupt actions, our society becomes ill, weak, and can eventually break down. Corruption is a cancer to our society. It undermines the growth and development of any society.

1. Corruption in Africa
Our societies are just like human organisms: they fall ill and get cured.
When handled badly, by selfish and greed officials, practicing all forms of
corrupt actions, our society becomes ill, weak, and can eventually break
down. Corruption is a cancer to our society. It undermines the growth and
development of any society.
Corruption in Africa is one of those cases where it affects the society of
Africa and its people. So, you want to know about how dangerous and
damaging corruption is to the society? The following are some of its
damaging effects on any society:
On Economy:
Corruption poses a very serious threat to the economy of a society. No
matter how economically powerful the society is corruption weakens the
economic growth of that society. Officials in a corrupt society mismanage
the economy, loot the public treasuries, and allow embezzlement and
inflation to take over. Contracts, which are meant for public services, are
diverted to service the private pockets of the officials.

2. What does this means to the masses and the nation's economic growth? It
means that the poor masses have nothing to enjoy and the economy
remain stagnant. In Africa; for example, economists are of the view that
one of the reasons why corruption is widely practice in the region is
because corruption has primarily taken the form of rent extraction.
Researchers from the University of Massachusetts estimated that from
1970 to 1996, capital flight from 30 sub-Saharan countries totaled $187
billion, exceeding those nations' external debts. In Nigeria, for example,
more than $400 billion was stolen from the treasury by Nigeria's leaders
between 1960 and 1999. This means that, for African countries like
Nigeria, the poor is in a very critical condition. This is because, aside from
the rising prices of commodities in consequence of inflation created by the
officials through the offering of "economic rent" -- bribery and
misappropriation-- the poor can hardly enjoy anything from his country,
and the consequences, as we have been seeing, is the continuing rage of
anger and violence on the part of the marginalize poor to overcome, by
any means necessary, the huge gap between them and the wealthy that
has left them almost into nothingness.

3. On Polity:
Corruption undermines democracy and good governance. In election, for
example, where the electorates vote the candidate that they think will
improve the quality of their lives, corruption damages this chance by
sabotaging electoral processes with bribery and fraud. Wherever we look at
it, whether it's in politics or in governance, corruption reduces
accountability, distorts representation in policymaking, and compromises
the rule of law in judiciary. In the Third World countries, where corruption
is more rampant, rule of law is breached in consequence of grave abuse of
power, making the checks and balances almost impossible. This is very
serious in the face of the nation's public administration and citizens'
survival.
On Societal Development:
Corruption discourages investment and slows down economic growth. How
can a society develop in a land tainted with corruption? Any society that is
willing to develop itself, engage itself in prudent practices and transparent
administration must avert corruption. But corrupt societies find it difficult
to avert looting public treasuries and, therefore, their development is
almost impossible.

4. Corruption in Africa is a lethal threat to any society. It destabilizes the
growth and the development of a society, weakens political culture and
ultimately kills the economic development of a nation. In the African
countries, where corruption is widely spread, the poor suffered the most.
Unless accountability and punishment is ensured, the authorities will
remain corrupt and the society will remain weak and ill.
You can browse through our website at Panafricanvisions.com to read on
different topic or on a totally different one.