Corruption
Senior 4 · General and Religious Studies
Corruption
Lesson 3 of 4
25 min
Consider an illustrative district road with a budget of 500 million Frw, designed to last ten years. In version A the contract is awarded fairly and the work is inspected: the road lasts ten years. In version B, officials take kickbacks worth 20% of the budget; the contractor recovers the money by laying a thinner surface, and the inspector is paid to look away. The road lasts four years.
Cost per year of road in version A: . In version B: , two and a half times as much, even though only 100 million Frw was stolen. Corruption costs more than the bribe. Transparency International sums up the damage: corruption "erodes trust, weakens democracy, hampers economic development and further exacerbates inequality, poverty, social division and the environmental crisis".
Definition
Kickback: a secret payment returned to an official by someone who received a contract or payment from the official's institution.
Monopoly (in this context): a situation in which only one office or person can provide a service or make a decision, so citizens have no alternative.
Discretion: freedom for an official to decide, without clear rules, how to act in a case.
Accountability: the obligation of those with power to explain their decisions and to face consequences for misuse.
Impunity: escaping punishment for wrongdoing.
The economist Robert Klitgaard, in his book Controlling Corruption (1988), summed up the conditions for corruption in one line:
Corruption (C) grows with monopoly (M) and discretion (D), and shrinks with accountability (A). It is not a law of physics; it is a checklist. An official who alone decides who gets a permit (monopoly), with no published rules (discretion), and whom nobody checks (no accountability) is in the most tempting position. Add competition, clear rules and checks, and the temptation shrinks.
| Level | Causes |
|---|---|
| Individual | Greed; weak personal values; pressure from family or friends to "help our people"; desire to look rich |
| Institutional | Monopoly and discretion; slow, complicated procedures that tempt people to pay for speed; weak internal controls and audits; low pay |
| Social | Tolerance ("everyone does it"); confusing gifts with bribes; fear of reporting; poverty and unemployment |
| Political and legal | Impunity; weak or slow courts; lack of transparency in public spending; political pressure on officials |
| Area | Effects |
|---|---|
| Economic | Public money stolen or wasted; worse and costlier infrastructure (the road case); higher prices; investors avoid countries where contracts can be bought; taxes go unpaid through illegal exemptions |
| Social | The poor suffer most, because they cannot pay for services that should be free; jobs and scholarships go to the connected rather than the able; health and education decline |
| Political | Loss of trust in institutions; elections and policies bent; the rule of law weakened |
| Cohesion and security | Unfairness breeds resentment between groups; in NURC's 2020 survey, 1.58% of respondents named "corruption among the local leaders at the cell and village levels" as a factor hindering reconciliation (Unit 1) |
| Environmental | Permits bought for illegal logging, mining or building in protected areas such as wetlands |
| Moral | Young people learn that rules can be bought and that honesty does not pay |
Warning
"Low pay causes corruption" is only part of the truth. Low pay can add pressure, but highly paid officials also commit grand corruption, and many poorly paid people refuse bribes. Raising salaries without adding accountability often changes little. In an essay, treat pay as one cause among several, and use the formula to show why accountability matters most.
Tip
Use the formula as a plan. For "explain the causes of corruption", write one paragraph each on monopoly, discretion and accountability, with an example; then add one paragraph on individual and social factors. For "suggest solutions", reverse it: reduce monopoly, reduce discretion, increase accountability (Lesson 4).
Important
Discuss. Which group suffers most from petty corruption: the poor, the middle class or the rich? Which group suffers most from grand corruption? Use the road example and the table of effects to argue your answer.
Transparency International: "How does corruption affect you?", about 1.5 minutes. Note the areas of everyday life the video says corruption touches, and add one Rwandan example for each.
Practice
Key points
Sources and credits
Written by Ganzaa: the road example (illustrative figures), Figure 3, the tables and the exercises.
Quick check
Match each term of Klitgaard's formula to its meaning.
Tap one on the left, then its partner on the right.
