The prevalence of bribery in Sub-Saharan Africa

Global Development Indicators - Grado en Global Studies

By Ana Domínguez, Blanca Correro and Victoria Bicos

20 May, 2023

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Introduction

(Source: Further Africa, 2023)
Corruption is a long-standing problem that has afflicted many parts of the world. These issues have been particularly significant in Africa, impeding progress by affecting social and economic development. It creates and exacerbates poverty and exclusion, depriving millions of Africans of necessities like food, health care, education, and housing while corrupt politicians live opulent lives (Transparency International, 2023).

To fight against problems such as corruption, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were created by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development accepted by all United Nations member states in 2015. They are meant to combat poverty and other forms of deprivation by enhancing health and education, diminish inequality, promote economic growth, and combat climate change (DESA, 2023).

This report seeks to analyse corruption and bribery in Africa through the lens of SDG 16, which aims to promote access to justice for all people, the creation of effective, responsible, and inclusive institutions at all levels, and the promotion of peaceful and inclusive societies. Focusing on corruption and bribery, specifically SDG 16.5 “Substantially reduce corruption and bribery in all their forms” for our case. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, corruption is the destruction of something, as well as the perversion or debasement of integrity in carrying out official duties by bribery or favouritism. Bribery being the crime of giving money, gifts, etc., to someone, especially in a position of authority, so that they will do something for you, something illegal or dishonest (Cambridge Dictionary, 2023).

In order to do this, SDG indicators 16.5.1 and 16.5.2 were used. Indicator 16.5.1 is ‘bribery prevalence’, which is “the proportion of persons who had at least one contact with a public official and who paid a bribe to a public official, or were asked for a bribe by those public officials, during the previous 12 months” (SDG Tracker, 2023).

Indicator 16.5.2 is ‘bribery in business’, which is “the proportion of businesses that had at least one contact with a public official and that paid a bribe to a public official, or were asked for a bribe by those public officials during the previous 12 months” (SDG Tracker, 2023). These indicators were calculated from 2018 to 2022.

The data collection of the indicators used might not be complete. The World Bank has provided surveys to population and firms in order to elaborate the information. The samples are completely random and and have equal weight, taking into account possible variations. Specifically for indicator 16.5.2, surveys were carried out using the Enterprise Surveys methodology, which aims to eliminate corruption from companies and improve business conditions (World Bank, n.d.). The lack of data in certain countries can be due to the clandestine aspect of bribery, people won’t usually admit publicly to have bribed someone; same with firms, no firm wants to be publicly associated to illicit activities; at the same time, countries might not have high enough participation numbers on the surveys, so the data was not stable enough to be considered representative of a country. In the end, this analysis will be carried out with the data provided, the reader should not excusivly consider our conclusions as the ultimate truth, but corruption works progressively, and every day new advances and information are coming to the light.

In the table below (16.5.1 Latest prevalence rate of bribery, by both sexes (%)), we can see the percentage rate of bribery in different regions throughout the world. The top bribe-paying countries are from Sub-Saharan Africa, followed by East Asia and the Pacific. Bribery rates in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are the highest (80%), 64% in Kiribati, 61% in Micronesia, 54% in Papua New Guinea, and 53% in Liberia.(see Apendix 1)

Global governance indices rank Sub-Saharan Africa as the most corrupt region in the world when it comes to the public sector. In several African nations, particularly those in the Sahel and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, corruption is intricately linked to persistent conflict and state fragility (U4, 2020). 58% of Africans believe Corruption increased over hte past year, in South Africa in particular, where more than four out of five individuals (83%) said to have experienced so (Transparency International, 2023). People are not happy with their governments’ anti-corruption efforts, and 18 out of 28 countries are thought to be failing entirely in this regard (U4, 2020). It’s also important to notice that those who use public services in poverty are twice as likely to have paid a bribe as people in wealth (Transparency International, 2023).

Table 1: Where is bribery more prevalent?


In the table below (16.5.2 Lastest bribery incidence (% of firms experiencing at least one bribe payment request), we can observe which regions have countries with the greatest percentage of firms experiencing at least one bribe payment request. The Middle East and North Africa, East Asia and the Pacific, Europe and Central Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa are the regions with the highest percentages. Iraq has the highest percentage of enterprises facing at least one bribe payment request (50.47%), followed by Lao PDR, Ukraine, Albania, Kyrgyz Republic, and Chad (see Apendix 2). When compared to the first table regarding Indicator 16.5.2, the rates are lower and the countries are different. However, among the top ones we can find. Chad, a Sub-Saharan African country.

In Chad, nepotism and cronyism are common manifestations of systemic corruption.Therefore, there is a very high risk of corruption for businesses looking to invest in Chad. This leads to the deterrence of the economy, which is sustained by the weak rule of law and a lack of security. Hence, the majority of Chadians labor in the informal economy, making Chad one of the poorest nations in the world (Gan Integrity, 2020).

Table 2: Where do firms experience higher rates of bribery?

As we can observe in this map, bribery is mostly widespread in South Asia, Latin America, and Africa. Regarding Africa, this map shows that not all countries have data, which is due to a lack of transparency and information. South Africa - in yellow - which has a rate of bribery that ranges from 7.5% to 18.0%, has the lowest rate on the continent. Madagascar, Nigeria, Niger, Morocco, the Sahwari Arab Democratic Republic, and Sudan are the nations with bribery rates between 18.0 and 31.0 percent; colored in orange. Mozambique, Cameroon, and Liberia have bribery rates between 31 and 54 percent; colored in deep orange in the map. Chad (54–80%) is the nation with the highest percentage of bribery; colored in red in the map.Next to Chad, we can find Venezuela, India and Nepal.

Transparency International is also useful regarding this topic. It helps understand global corruption, which i useful for our analysis. Transparency International uses a scale of 0 to 100, with zero being severely corrupt and 100 being exceedingly clean to demostrate how corrupt are countries all over the world. The results are: Denmarks (90), Finland (87), New Zealand (87), Norway (84), Singapore (83), and Sweden (83), according to the 2022 assessment, were the least corrupt, with solid institutions and functioning democracies. Somalia (12), Syria (13), South Sudan (13), Venezuela (14), and Yemen (16) were the most corrupt, with conflict and limited personal and political freedoms (Transparency International, 2023). We can see how this information is similiar to what the map is showing, and the importance of bribes in corruption.

Indicator 16.5.1:

(Source: World Bank) Graph 1: Where is bribery more prevalent?
Eurasia and Africa are the two regions with the highest incidences of firms bribery compared to the first map. Iran (40–50%) has the largest percentage, followed by Laos (27–40%), Kirghistan, and Ukraine. Russia, Mongolia, India, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Chad, Kenya, Mozambique, and Madagascar make up between 16.9 and 27.4 percent of the population. A few of these African nations also have high rates for indicator 16.5.1. In contrast to other continents, however, there is less information about this indicator in Africa.



Indicator 16.5.2

(Source: World Bank) Graph 2: Where does firms experience higher rates of bribery?
In conclusion, one of the main causes and effects of the deterioration in world peace over the preceding 15 years has been corruption, which has an impact on the capacity of the government to protect citizens. It can also give a nation’s elites the opportunity to exercise illegitimate influence, stir unrest, and weaken political institutions abroad. It leads to inequality, organised crime, undermines state legitimacy and the rule of law (Transparency International, 2023). This hinders development regarding Sustainable Goal 16, therefore, it’s crucial to fight against corruption.




Bribery in Africa
When African countries acquired independence, they transitioned from a bureaucratic to a political-sovereignty-focused government (Dia, 1993). Leading to countries where patrimonialism and centralised economic decision-making became prominent, resulting in the establishment of political bureaucracy. As a result, these states became political and economic monopolies, without accountability, transparency, and the rule of law (Dia, 1996). The entrenchment of the use of personalism and patronage as the means by which authority and influence were exercised was made possible by the immoral politicisation of the bureaucracy (Kempe Ronald, 2000). In other words, corruption. Incumbent leaders are encouraged by corruption to oppose change, especially institutional reforms that would revoke their advantages and make it more challenging for them to extract illegal income from the economy. Such governments have stepped up their repression, attempted to dismantle civil society, and manipulated transition. Thus, corruption poses a threat to African and its citizen participation. Due to corruption, Africa has not been able to advance in development at the same rate as many other nations (Mbaku, 2010).


(Source: Transparency International, n.d.)

## Mean bribery incidence in Africa: 21.87027

## Mean bribery incidence in Sub-Saharan Africa: 30.62667

## Mean bribery incidence in North Africa: 14.85375

To dive a little deeper, as Africa is formed by many different Nations, the mean in the several regions helped to realize the extreme gap between North Africa (with 14.85375%) and Sub-Saharan Africa (with 30.62667%). The incidence of bribery in Sub-Saharan countries practically doubles North Africa’s, leading to the conclusion that corruption and bribery are at concerning levels.
Global governance indices rank Sub-Saharan Africa as the most corrupt region in the world when it comes to the public sector. In several African nations, particularly those in the Sahel and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, corruption is intricately linked to persistent conflict and state fragility (U4, 2020). 58% of Africans believe Corruption increased over the past year, in South Africa in particular, where more than four out of five individuals (83%) said to have experienced so (Transparency International, 2023). People are not happy with their governments’ anti-corruption efforts, and 18 out of 28 countries are thought to be failing entirely in this regard (U4, 2020). It’s also important to notice that those who use public services in poverty are twice as likely to have paid a bribe as people in wealth (Transparency International, 2023).

Sub-Saharan Africa’s paths to democracy, security, and prosperity, are eroded by corruption. Moreover, a higher cost of living and the COVID-19 epidemic have a negative impact on the region’s ability to recover. Therefore, funds are needed to address the consequences of economic, ecological and healthcare problems which can also be in danger due to corruption.

Based on estimations, 75 million Africans paid bribes in the past year to obtain access to essential services and necessities or to avoid facing legal or police punishment. Bribes can cause violence and put society in danger in addition to impeding progress. For instance, when a guy in Zimbabwe who was detained after raping a nine-year-old girl on the way to school and giving her HIV managed to get out of jail by paying a bribe to the police. Hence, the largest rates of bribery are found in the courts, the private sector, and the police, and the perception of business executives as corrupt is a recent phenomenon (Transparency International, 2023).
The table is a way to show more clearly the state of the several countries that form Sub-Saharan Africa. The mean is added for comparison purposes, but it does not quite refect on the region, as one can see in the table, there is high differences between a State and another. A graph was done to visually highlight the differences betwen the countries, looking for the highest peak. This was done with both indicators.

Indicator 16.5.1:

Table 3: Where in Africa is bribery more prevalent?

## Mean bribery incidence in Sub-Saharan Africa - Indicator 1.2: 30.62667

(Source: World Bank) Graph 3: Table 3: Where in Sub-Saharan Africa is bribery more prevalent?

For indicator 16.5.1. It can be seen that some of the countries have lower rates of bribery, such as Gambia and Cabo Verde, but others’ data is alarming. Nigeria, Mozambique or Cameroon still remain under 50%, nevertheless Sierra Leone, Liberia and Democratic Republic of Congo pass this threshold. Unfortunately the Democratic Republic of Congo greatly singles itself as having the highest bribery prevalence (80%).

Indicator 2

Table 4: Where in Sub-Saharan Africa do firms experience higher rates of bribery?

## Mean bribery incidence in Sub-Saharan Africa - Indicator 2.2: 14.49625

(Source: World Bank) Graph 4: Where do firms experience higher rates of bribery?

For indicator 16.5.2. It can be seen that some of the countries have lower rates of attempted bribery to firms, such as South Africa and Rwanda. Only 3 countries pass the 20% mark, which are Mozambique, Kenya and Chad. In this case Chad has been found as the country with the highest percentage for this indicator (27.41%).

Both indicators helped to demonstrate a concerning problem that is bribery. Democratic Republic of Congo and Chad have serious numbers, and it is important to find out why, and to find the root causes and the elements that might affect the data. Following, an individual assesment of each country will try to make sense on the results achieved

Bribery in Democratic Republic of Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is one of the ten least peaceful countries (Institute for Economics and Peace’s Global Index, 2022). Moreover, according to the Corruption Perceptions Index 2022, the Democratic Republic of the Congo is ranked 20/100 (on a scale of 0 to 100, with zero being severely corrupt and 100 being exceedingly clean), indicating that it is a highly corrupt country. 85% of respondents from Congo believe that corruption has increased in the last year, and 80% of public service customers said to have paid a bribe in the last year (Transparency International, 2023).

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, national defense forces with poor governance find it difficult to address security threats, due to their susceptibility to corruption. For instance, deeply ingrained corruption supports illegal armed groups operations, including through the trafficking of minerals, endangering public safety. This can destabilize nations, as seen with the March 23 Movement and the Islamic state that has ties to Al-Shabab militia in Mozambique (Transparency International, 2023).

Moreover, the Congo Hold-Up investigations, which were completed in late 2021, shocked the whole Democratic Republic of the Congo. Former president Joseph Kabila’s close circle was accused of stealing money from the tax authority, a state-owned mining business, the central bank of Congo, and other institutions. Journalists received documents from the Gabon-based BGFIBank Group’s DRC subsidiary, which was used to transport US$138 million between 2013 and 2018 (Transparency International, 2023).

(Source: Le Journal de l’ Afrique, 2021)

Bribery in Chad
As shown Chad is one of the countries with higher rates of bribery in Africa. Low wages for most government personnel, along with weak institutions, excessive bureaucracy, and a shortage of educated professionals, has fueled corruption and bribery. Diversion of public funds, as well as irregular payments and bribery, are frequent practices, according to the 2013/2014 Global Competitiveness Report. This comes of relevance in 2018 when it was found that a respected Hong Kong financial mogul allegedly arranged a secret meeting with Chad’s president in the Sahara Desert and gives him a $2 million gift in exchange for oil rights for a Chinese company. Prosecutors claim Chi Ping Patrick Ho instructed the energy company to pay a $2 million bribe to Chad’s president, Idriss Deby, in return for exclusive oil rights in the nation in 2015.The US charged former Hong Kong Home Secretary Chi Ping Patrick Ho and former Senegalese Foreign Minister Cheikh Gadio with allegedly sending bribes to high-level officials in Chad and Uganda. Chad has denied this claims.

There is many ways corruption flowrishes in Chad. Construction and infrastructure projects in Chad face significant corruption issues. The size and scope of development projects, the complexity of supply chains, the number of contractors involved, and the high level of government involvement all increase the risk of bribery, corruption, and fraud in a context of weak governance, ill-functioning institutions, and endemic corruption. Bribery is common in the industry. According to the World Bank/IFC’s 2009 Enterprise survey, 58.6 percent of the firms surveyed expect to make an illegal payment to obtain a construction permit, and 47.3 percent expect to make a gift worth 4.3% of the contract value to secure a government contract.

Corruption and bribery affect judicial systems as well. Bribery impacts court judgments, and according to a 2009 poll, 80% of respondents believe the country has two judicial systems, one for the affluent and one for the poor. Within the scope of the 2009 IFC/World Bank Enterprise survey, 36.2% of the enterprises interviewed cited the judicial system as a serious impediment to conducting business in the nation.

Chad has manifested attempts of anti-corruption legislation, however, it not seems to be enough to decrease the numbers.

(Source: SFO, 2018)

Conclusion

Corruption and bribery continue to impede Africa’s growth and development, specifically hindering the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 16 (SDG 16). SDG 16 aims to foster peaceful and inclusive societies, ensure access to justice, and establish effective institutions. Corruption carries significant consequences, undermining social and economic progress, perpetuating poverty and marginalization, while simultaneously rewarding those engaged in corrupt practices and obstructing the delivery of public services. Africa faces significant challenges in addressing corruption, with Sub-Saharan Africa being recognized as the most corrupt region in terms of bribery. The persistence of corruption can be attributed to weak governance, a lack of accountability mechanisms, and pervasive patronage networks. Its negative impact is observed across various sectors, including public administration, judicial systems, law enforcement, and private enterprises, resulting in weakened rule of law, increased inequality, and limited improvement in socioeconomic indicators.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo serves as a prime example of the detrimental effects of corruption. With a high corruption perception index score and widespread bribery, the country suffers from political instability, conflicts, and an inadequate security infrastructure. Corruption enables the diversion of public funds and facilitates criminal activities, endangering public safety and hindering efforts towards stability and development.

Chad, another African nation grappling with corruption, faces similar challenges. Low wages, weak institutions, and bureaucratic barriers create an environment conducive to bribery and embezzlement. The construction industry, in particular, is vulnerable to widespread corruption and irregular payments. The lack of transparency and accountability, coupled with the dominance of the informal economy, exacerbates poverty and hampers economic progress.

Addressing corruption requires comprehensive measures at both the national and international levels. This entails strengthening governance institutions, enhancing transparency, and enforcing robust anti-corruption legislation. Establishing robust mechanisms to monitor and report corruption, fostering a culture of integrity and accountability, are critical steps toward eradicating this pervasive issue. International cooperation and support are crucial in assisting African governments in their efforts to combat corruption.

By effectively tackling corruption and bribery, African nations can pave the way for long-term growth, social cohesion, and economic prosperity. The success of SDG 16 is not only essential for Africa but also has global significance, as it contributes to peace, stability, and inclusive progress.

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Apendix 1

Apendix 2