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Ibrahim M Mead Political analyst
This has reached the end of the
rope in Somaliland! The Remnants there ransacked, robbed to the
penny and cut it to the roots thus left nothing, nothing! A major obstacle in the path of development In my opinion, corruption should
be approached from the point of view of the effects it has on
development. I say this because long professional experience has
taught that corruption is one of the major obstacles to progress,
and that its effects on development in both human and otherwise are
disastrous. Thus corruptive entities ought to be changed
If we analyse some of the effects that corruption has on development, the first thing we no tice is that it increases the cost of goods and services, and not insignificantly either. Although a 5% reduction in the profit margin might, at a pinch, be absorbed by the supplier, corruption levels of 10% to 20%, which have become commonplace, will inevitably be reflect ed in the price and will, consequently, be paid for through the national or foreign (in the case of foreign aid) resources of a country. It is therefore the national economy that ultimately suffers the consequences of an unjustified surcharge on the goods or services, (no services in Somaliland) with the difference being pocketed by some government official or politician who has abused his power for his own personal gain. However, the damaging effects of such practices do not stop there. The corrupt decision-maker may well be tempted to accept a substandard quality of service which will make his personal profit all the greater. Thus, with a road-building project for example, complicity between government departments and contrac tors may result in corner-cutting with regard to agreed standards of quality so that the savings made may be shared out between the two parties. At their very worst, the disastrous effects of corruption mean that the conception of a pro ject, and ultimately its very choice, are determined by corruption. As far as conception is con cerned, a good example would be the purchase of a technology which is wholly unsuited to the particular needs of a country or the choice of a capital-intensive project - more lucrative in terms of corruption - rather than a labour-intensive one which would nevertheless be far more beneficial to that nation's development. The absolute peak of perversion, however, is when the very choice of priorities - and there fore of projects - is determined by corruption. What we are referring to here are those situ ations in which the real development priorities of a country are neglected in favour of operat ions which generate the greatest personal gain for the decision-makers. Precisely that is wh at Riyaale and gang are doing to Somaliland from day one!
Corruption is one of the causes of underdevelopment and poverty, yet poverty is in part res ponsible for its continuation. If a person cannot earn an honest living for himself and his family, then he is more or less forced into earning it by less honest means. Hence corruption is both the cause and the consequence of underdevelopment. In order to break the pattern we must therefore combat large-scale corruption inasmuch as it is a significant cause of underdevelopment and we must work gradually to eradicate the reasons for its propagation in society, and in particular to remedy the notorious lack of adequate income to ensure a decent standard of living. But moral people must be there to do that, and not hoodlums of remnants who couldn’t be accepted any where except in where they are now! In general terms, we can say that corruption also kills off the spirit of development. Nothing is more destructive to a society than the pursuit of 'a fast and easy buck' which makes honest people who work hard appear naive or foolish. That is why, in the context of economic refor ms under the heading of 'structural adjustment', it is vital that the model advocated be one of a market economy based on a sound framework of legislation and on an efficient state. It should not allow free rein to the sort of corruptive means which is aimed at immediate profit at all costs. It should not allow “Al jaabiri monopolistic model” created by the gang in Hargeisa and Berbera and people call them government! The example of certain transition countries in the where a market economy has become synonymous with the law of the jungle, the Mafia and corruption, the “Al jaabiri and Total” in Somaliland really should make us stop and think.
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