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ABSTRACT
There is corruption in Africa, no doubt; but then again, there is corruption everywhere. However, when it comes to Africa the corruption discourse appears to take a different tone with assertions like these. Corruption is a big problem. It permeates every section of society. It is a way of life. Everyone is corrupt. Then certain descriptive metaphors follow, most of them pathological: cancer, virus, cankerworm, parasite, epidemic, and so on. But why does corruption appear to be a particularly African problem in a way that it appears not to be, in other places? This paper examines the way in which the narrative on African corruption has been framed, and argues that the discourse on African corruption is a Western invention that emerged as a post-colonial construct. It is discourse that has distorted and ignored the true nature of the problem, which has made a solution even more elusive.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes on contributor
Gabriel. O. Apata read philosophy at undergraduate and post-graduate levels at Birkbeck College, University of London. He obtained his PhD at Goldsmiths College, University of London. His areas of interest include Race, ethnicity and African studies, as well as philosophy of religion and aesthetics. He is particularly interested in the interface between black or African and Western cultures and how this interaction produces forms of knowledge. He is currently an independent scholar. He is co-editor of book review for the journal, Theory, Culture and Society.
Notes
1 Quoted in an article in Transparency International titled “Corruption in Africa: 75 Million people pay Bribes. 30 November 2015.