Michela Wrong on corruption in developing nations, at 5x15

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Michela Wrong on corruption in developing nations, at 5x15

15 Nov 2010

Speakers: Michela Wrong

Michela Wrong’s speech on the West’s facilitation of corruption in developing nations is informed by her own experiences as a journalist covering Africa, and by her relationship with those working to stamp out corruption across the continent, such as John Githongo of Kenya. The problems of corruption, and the West’s attitude towards it, are increasingly recognised as central to the effective allocation and just distribution of aid. Despite anti-corruption units becoming somewhat of a trend throughout Africa over the last ten years - often with support from Western governments - the problem has historical roots which are not so easily excavated.

Githongo is the subject of Wrong’s latest book, It’s Our Turn To Eat: The Story of a Kenyan Whistle-Blower, which takes its title from the mantra that has inspired Kenyan governments since independence to put their wealth and that of their fellow tribesmen before the needs of the country. The former journalist took it upon himself to expose the blackmail, coercion, and extortion rife within Mwai Kibaki’s government. Despite initially causing outrage, the leaks he risked his life to publish have had little long-term impact: many of the ministers who resigned in disgrace have now been reinstated, there have been no prosecutions to date and, crucially, Western donors continue to fund the Kenyan government.

The cycle, then, seemed destined to continue. But the violence surrounding the 2007 elections - which saw Kenya descend to the brink of a civil war, and from which it has not yet recovered - seemed symptomatic of an explosion of awareness that tolerating corruption among members of the same tribe was untenable, and was robbing the people as a whole. Wrong stresses that we must stop turning a blind eye to the ills of regimes in Africa - even if they deliver progress on paper, it is worthless if it is only benefiting a small, corrupt, elite.