Why anti-graft war is difficult in African countries – Expert
By Harrison Arubu
A U.S.-based management and anti-graft expert, Dr Mannixs Paul, has attributed the difficulty being faced in the fight against corruption in African countries to the lack of a rule-based culture.
Paul disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in New York.
According to him, the community- or relationship-oriented culture existing in such countries only drive corruption.
Paul, a Nigerian, is the founder of Afro Red-Flag Protective Shield, an anti-graft initiative launched at the weekend to check white-collar crimes in the private sector of African countries.
He said: “There are anti-corruption laws in African countries that are well crafted but fail at the point of implementation.
“Most of these laws and rules were borrowed from the western world where they are effective, and they fail in Africa because of the difference in culture.
“The western world operates rule-based culture, which emphasises explicit, objective, and externally made rules that forbid personal preferences or favoured relationships.
“But the developing world operates under the community-based culture where relationships or connections dictate application of rules.
“It is very hard to fight fraud and corruption in a community-based culture, and the very few who stand their ground end up as enemies of society,” Paul said.
He called for a paradigm shift, emphasising that Africans “cannot continue to sustain the status quo and expect a new result.”
Paul, who is a licensed private investigator, described Afro Red-Flag Protective Shield as a robust anti-graft initiative established with the aim of cultivating an ethical and rule-oriented culture among business organisations.
According to him, the programme is designed to strategically modify the behaviours of employees and employers alike to ensure honesty, transparency, and accountability.
“Afro Red-Flag Protective Shield is a collection of professionals in different fields such as law, business management, criminology, psychology, and forensics, among others, committed to helping in tackling organisational issues.
“We will be conducting corruption risk assessments, system reviews, capacity building for employers and employees, and business intelligence reporting, among others, in entities that need our help.
“Our mission is to help business organisations and agencies to achieve corporate goals, save cost and time, maximise human capital, and regain prosperity with fewer resources.
“Ordinarily, it is called consulting, which businesses and organisations are supposed to pay for, but we are doing it free of charge.
“All you need as an organisation to assess the services, is to be a member of the Afro Red-Flag Group,” he stated.
Paul said the programme, designed exclusively for the private sector, was launching its pilot phase in Nigeria and would be extended to other parts of Africa in due course. (NAN)
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