Defining Corruption in the Cultural Context of Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

This study analyzes the phenomenon of corruption in the cultural context of sub-Saharan Africa. After 50 years of independence, most of the sub-Saharan African states have made little progress regarding economic development, eliminating poverty, and creating more jobs for their populations (Ochulor 2001; World Bank 2006). This situation stems from the historical and colonial legacies that were inherent to Europeans’ colonial exploitation of Africa. The historical and colonial legacies of Africa made it impossible after the independences to create a rapid basis of functioning modern states across the continent. These legacies resulted in lack of infrastructures, schools, hospitals, and modern judiciary system, in addition to a plethoric bureaucracy and a system of cronyism of local chiefs for pacification of different and hostile tribes. These conditions then led to corruption in many of these states, and today it has become an integral part of the social fabric and how business is conducted.