In Africa and East Africa in particular, speaking on behalf of the poor and the oppressed has become the easiest tool to rise to political offices. The most unfortunate about this is that when politicians get to their dream political positions, they turn against the electorate. In East Africa for instance, we have witnessed ‘bad’ laws being enacted by parliamentarians to protect their interests, funds meant to for development projects and health being swindled by government officials and the populations being turned against each other by politicians. A review of the development progress in many countries around the world in the past few decades reveals that those that achieved growth did so through diverse policies and institutional arrangements with anti corruption policies being one the most important; That said,
Has any us wondered why the poor continue to get poorer even with their countries GDP increasing every other quarter? Why are food prices are rising and yet poor farmers never benefit? What makes the game funny is that even political players who struggle to keep them down blame the poor for their status. A case in a point is the Jigger epidemic in Busoga in Eastern Uganda. I first had about the Jiggers story from one funny friend who told me that the jigger epidemic was out of curses from Busoga ancestors. Funny myth! Then politicians exchanged accusations over undelivered promises. I was one of the many Ugandans surprised by the intensity of the jigger epidemic when the media unfolded it. I made a brief conclusion on the key players involved; politicians and civil servants embezzled money meant for water and health facilities, the curses tormented the folks that they even forgot to bathe and jiggers hit epidemic levels! Right? This is one case we have seen the poor being blamed for their problems yet what belongs to them is stolen by policy makers, literate and beuaracrats which pushes the poor further into the tunnel.
Our East African Community neighbors are not any better. Transparency International, still rates Kenya as one of the world's most corrupt countries, Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo feature on the same list. In 2005, Kenya’s Bribery Index suggested that the number of bribery cases reported by the public in dealings between public and private officials has dipped from 40% to 34% and the average bribe paid has soared, from 1,484 Kenyan shillings ($20) to 4,958 ($68). – The Economist Aug 11th 2005. Rwanda; even with the delicate political situation in Kigali and Kigali’s investment into international media to have it presented as corruption-free, 84% of the Rwandans told Transparency International that they believe Rwanda is slightly corrupt and 12%. Rwanda’s ‘white collar’ corruption mostly benefits the high political class and makes it more difficult for the ordinary folks to speak out about it. The News Line, July 13, 2010
Corruption in the health sector is a critical problem in developing economies where public resources are already scarce. Developing countries experience the highest level of under-table payments to doctors in order to receive treatment, unethical promotion, bribes, and bid rigging during procurement. All these and many other factors affect service delivery to the poor in such countries.
Health is an essential goal of development and growth of a self-sustaining population and economy. Health has direct influence on poverty and income levels in any country and therefore countries ought to ensure sustainable financing for health objectives and anti corruption policies to achieve health and development objectives.
Ahabwe Michael
Director ICOD Action Network
ahamitch@gmail.com
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