A socio‐cultural approach to public sector corruption in Africa: key pointers for reflection

• Date: 01 August 2016
• Author: Issah Justice Musah‐Surugu,Kwame Asamoah,Emmanuel Yeboah‐Assiamah,Justice Nyigmah Bawole
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/pa.1587
• Published date: 01 August 2016

■Academic Paper

A socio-cultural approach to public sector

corruption in Africa: key pointers for

reflection

Emmanuel Yeboah-Assiamah

1

*, Kwame Asamoah

2

,

Justice Nyigmah Bawole

2

and Issah Justice Musah-Surugu

2

1

School of Public Leadership, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch Campus, South Africa

2

Department of Public Administration & Health Services Management, University of Ghana Business

School, Legon-Accra, Ghana

The public sector of many African countries is notoriously corrupt; cultural inclinations and socialization processes

largely have a tendency to lead public officials into actions that may amount to corrupt practices. Providing seven

(7) key pointers for reflection, this study explores public sector corruption in African countries by examining the

interplay between culturally acceptable norms and professional expectations of public officials. The public official,

by these two unparalleled expectations, tends to walk on a tight rope which often results in ethical dilemma and

conflict of interest. The study adopts Riggs’prismatic-sala model and uses the case of Ghana and traditional proverbs

to explain the cultural context within which Ghanaian public official ought to operate. How can one combine these

cultural expectations with professionalism? To what extent does the ‘collectivity culture’,‘culture of gift giving and

acceptance’,‘extended family system’,‘ethnic loyalty’and ‘unfettered respect of the aged’downplay professional

bureaucratic and ethical principles? Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

‘They said a man expects you to accept “kola”from him

for services rendered,and until you do,hismindisnever

at rest.... A man to whom you do a favor will not under-

stand if you say nothing,make no noise,just walk away.

You may cause more trouble by refusing a bribe than by

accepting it’(Okwonkwo, in Achebe, 1960)

…the extended family system with its web of relatives

gives rise to patronage: the official is expected to find

jobs for some members of the extended family either

his own outfit or elsewhere (Gyekye, 2013)

INTRODUCTION

Responding to an Afrobarometer Survey (2014) by

the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-

Ghana) which reports on public sector corruption

on sector-by-sector basis, the Deputy Commissioner

of Police (DCOP) KofiBoakye, Commander of the

Ashanti Regional Police greatly attributed public

sector corruption to the cultural setting of the

Ghanaian people. He explained that corruption lies

‘within that sentiment of gratitude and reciprocity

so we shouldn’t simplify it in terms of money collec-

tion…we should look at reciprocity, the issues of

nepotism [and] the issues of old-boyism and all

these things which are a bigger issue than collecting

bribes’

1

. The phenomenon of public sector corrup-

tion has received attention and been treated seri-

ously in the literature of public administration. It

*Correspondence to: Emmanuel Yeboah-Assiamah, School of

Public Leadership, Stellenbosch University,Stellenbosch Campus

Private Bag X1 South Africa.

E-mail: 19301537@sun.ac.za; yimmanuel@yahoo.com

Journal of Public Affairs

Volume 16 Number 3 pp 279–293 (2016)

Published online 5 January 2016 in Wiley Online Library

(www.wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/pa.1587

Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.