Corruption in Somaliland is at its height

Wednesday 17 March 2010 SMC

Introduction: The aim of this essay is to zero in on the root causes of corruption in Somaliland and how it has become widespread, and what measures need to be taken to remedy such a social evil.

Corruption is one of the social evils found in all the societies of the world. In some societies, it is more rampant than some others. Unfortunately, Somaliland is regarded as one of the countries in which corruption has become very much widespread during recent years the Riyale administration has come into office. Corruption is one of the factors that contributed to the degradation of Somaliland politics.

Corruption in various forms has become the mainstay of our national polity in the recent past. It is needless to say that evil of corruption meaning bribery and graft is not conductive to social stability and equilibrium

Meaning and definition of corruption

The dictionary defines corruption as “an inducement to wrong by bribery or other unlawful means; a departure from what is pure and correct.”
Corruption can be understood as “an improper or selfish exercise of power and influence attached to public office or a special position in public life.” It can also be defined as “a misuse of public office or position for a personal gains deliberately.”

                                  Corruption has Become Pervasive

Corruption in Somaliland has not only widespread everywhere, it has innumerable forms and dimensions. With the passage of time, corruption in the country has become a ‘convention’, a ‘tradition’, ‘psychological need and ‘necessity’. It is a regular practice, in business transaction or deal. It manifests itself in a variety of shapes varying in heinousness.

Corruption is there at the very root of our social life. “There is not a single individual who has not been lured into corruption, if corruption is accepted in a wider perspective; exploitation of any kind is corruption: shirking work is corruption; waste of time, energy and money is corruption; mismanaging of public or private funds is corruption; undue use of authority, force or power is corruption; smuggling is corruption.

Most of the people are guilty of corruption in one way or another; at one time or another, for one purpose or another. “ Again the milk; vendor, who adulterates milk; the sanitary inspector who connives at it; the grocer who uses false weights; the contractor who does a shoddy job of road building; the engineer who puts the seal of approval on it and the city father who ‘cut’ in the contractor’s ill – gotten wealth, all these are corrupt.

 Causes of corruption

Corruption is like blood cancer. It has taken deep roots in the country. Corruption in Somaliland public life is “all pervasive” and the businessmen, bureaucrats, contractors, journalists, teachers, professors, doctors, nurses and the politicians all come under suspicion. As the time moves more and more people are being swept by the move of corruption. Corruption is a complex phenomenon and various factors and forces have conspired to cause it and spread it everywhere. The causes that responsible for corruption are:

  Low Salary Being Paid to the Government Employees

 Employees in the government departments are paid meager salary. This scenario is said to be the cause of corruption. Clerks in the court and employees in the government agencies, police constables and such other employees draw poor salary. It may be true that it is more difficult to stay honest, hard-working and trustworthy on a low salary, but it is also true that most people with low salaries are still able to do so and that many corruption officials are people in high, responsible positions, earning good salaries.  

Culture

A gift culture exists, particularly in Somaliland in which it is tradition that a small reward is paid for services rendered. Gratuity or tip becomes part of cultural environment. For instance, in Somaliland it is normal to reward the service rendered either in the form of cash or in Kat (a narcotic mild leave that is widely chewed in the Somali inhabited territories).

High Rate of Tax

Since tax rates are comparatively high in Somaliland even the honest people are often tempted to escape from by making returns of their property and income. Many of the officers in the customs are equally corrupt and they thrive on bribery.

Emergency of New Sources of Wealth and power

The modern political economic set up provides a chance for the politicians in power to make money through illegal means. The politicians took bribes because businessmen give them and businessmen give them because they had to. This unholy understanding between politicians and businessmen always encourage corruption.

The System of Democracy and High costs of Election

Present style of functioning of democracy in Somaliland, also contributes to corruption. All parties, especially the ruling party spends great deal of money on each election for the purpose of retaining power. The government supplies large amounts of money to the supporters of Udub. The supporters are given tax relaxation by the incumbent government in order to remain faithful to the ruling party. Others who are not supporters of the ruling party meted out unfair treatment.

The absence of rules, regulations, policies and legislation

All the organisations, be it  public or private sector, must have rules, regulations and policies that guide management and other employees in terms of acceptable behaviour and conduct within the organisation. Rules, regulations and policies are instrumental in organising people, steering them towards a common goal and ensuring that everyone is treated fairly and equally.

 The absence of transparency

Where there is no transparency in an organisation, i, e., where tasks and functions are conducted in secret and are not open to examination by other government officers or the public, the opportunity for corruption increases. Transparency is a prerequisite for democracy in which sovereignty is vested in the people and the conduct of civil servants must be open to examination. It is therefore vital that citizens in general and media( radio, television, newspapers and electronic media) in a particular are guaranteed the right to freedom of speech; the media can inform citizens of any action by a civil servant that might be corrupt in nature and appropriate calls for action be made.

The absence of accountability

In a democracy, public leaders and civil servants must be accountable to the people they serve. Accountability means that public leaders and officers must provide logical and acceptable explanations for their actions and decisions to the people they serve. Civil servants and officers in responsible positions must at all times adhere to the principles of transparency and be accountable to the people they serve. However, accountability is dependent on the enforcement of rules, regulations and policies, if there is a lack of effective institutional mechanism civil servants cannot be held accountable and corrupt practices can flourish.

Range of discretion

No system can exist unless one person or authority is used, to some extent to make decisions. Such a person is said to have the power to exercise discretion – the freedom to act within certain limits. Corruption takes place in institutions where public officials:
  
 Have great authority; can exercise discretion with respect to interpretation and application of regulations; are not required to be accountable to anyone; and are driven by greed.

Therefore, an environment with a higher range of discretion without accountability is more conducive to corruption. In conjunction, political office is one of the primary means of gaining access to wealth in Somaliland. If corruption occurs on the top level and the political leadership of the country does not set a good example with respect to honesty, credibility, transparency, integrity and the persecution of offenders, citizens become disillusioned and offenders are not deterred from entering into corruption.

The absence of a watchdog institution

If there are no internal or external institution or bodies that investigate cases of corruption or that act on complaints relating to corruption, employees may take advantage of the fact that the chance of being caught doing something corrupt is remote. Even if the offender is caught, the consequences would probably be minimal if the system has no watchdog function.

Conclusion

Although corruption is a universal phenomenon and exists in all countries, it is a more rampant in less developed countries. The condition of Somaliland is such that corruption is likely to have been instututionalised by the incumbent government and has reached at its height and has become the order of the day. The Riyale administration is dragging its feet to address the pervasive corruption that is the stumbling block to the development of the country rather it seems be encouraging the public to steal the state fund for their personal benefits.

The socio-economic conditions in low income countries like Somaliland are more conducive to the growth of corruption. Corruption is a symptom of deep –rooted economic and political weaknesses and shortcomings in the legislative and judicial system of the country. To aggravate the situation, accountability in Somaliland is generally weak, the chances of being caught are small and the penalties when caught are light.
The only mechanisms to minimize the rampant corruption in the country is that the present administration set up a watchdog institution with full authority to apprehend any one found guilty of corruption regardless his stature and prominence. If a watchdog institution is established and at the same time the government employees are given a decent salary and the public are sensitised about the seriousness of the corruption then there will be a possibility that the corruption which is social evil can be curbed and minimized.  It can also be slackened by giving the general public an Islamic preaching on the gravity and consequences of corruption; as a Muslim we should all know that corruption is nothing to do with our religion and that our decent religion has addressed at length its ramification.

Mukhtar Mohamed Abby
India, Karnataka State
The writer can be reached at mukhtarcabi@hotmail.com  

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