Corruption

by SANJAY GOYAL (2910275) ECE
Corruption

In philosophical, theological, or moral discussions, corruption is spiritual or moral impurity or deviation from an ideal. In economy, corruption is payment for services or material which the recipient is not due, under law. This may be called bribery, kickback, or, in the Middle East, baksheesh. In government it is when an elected representative makes decisions that are influenced by vested interest rather than their own personal or party ideological beliefs.

Etymology

The word corrupt (Middle English, from Latin corruptus, past participle of corrumpere, to abuse or destroy : com-, intensive pref. and rumpere, to break) when used as an adjective literally means "utterly broken".

·         By field

·         Politics

·         Political corruption 

A political cartoon from Harper's Weekly, January 26, 1878, depicting U.S. Secretary of the Interior Carl Schurz investigating theIndian Bureau at the U.S. Department of the Interior. The original caption for the cartoon is: "THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR INVESTIGATING THE INDIAN BUREAU. GIVE HIM HIS DUE, AND GIVE THEM THEIR DUES."

Political corruption is the abuse of public power, office, or resources by elected government officials for personal gain, e.g. by extortion, soliciting or offering bribes It can also take the form of office holders maintaining themselves in office by purchasing votes by enacting laws which use taxpayer money. Systemic corruption is the complete subversion of a political or economic system. Governmental corruption of judiciary is broadly known in many transitional and developing countries because the budget is almost completely controlled by the executive. The latter undermines the separation of powers, as it creates a critical financial dependence of the judiciary. The proper national wealth distribution including the government spending on the judiciary is subject of the constitutional economics. It is important to distinguish between the two methods of corruption of the judiciary: the government (through budget planning and various privileges), and the private.

Police

Police corruption is a specific form of police misconduct designed to obtain financial benefits, other personal gain, and/or career advancement for a police officer or officers in exchange for not pursuing, or selectively pursuing, an investigation or arrest. One common form of police corruption is soliciting and/or accepting bribes in exchange for not reporting organized drug or prostitution rings or other illegal activities. Another example is police officers flouting the police code of conduct in order to secure convictions of suspects — for example, through the use of falsified evidence. More rarely, police officers may deliberately and systematically participate in organized crime themselves. In most major cities, there are internal affairs sections to investigate suspected police corruption or misconduct. Similar entities include the British Independent Police Complaints Commission.

Systemic corruption

Systemic corruption (or endemic corruption]) is corruption which is primarily due to a weaknesses of an organisation or process. It can be contrasted with individual officials or agents who act corruptly within the system.

Factors which encourage systemic corruption include conflicting incentives, discretionary powers; monopolistic powers; lack of transparency; low pay; and a culture ofimpunity. Specific acts of corruption include "bribery, extortion, and embezzlement" in a system where "corruption becomes the rule rather than the exception." Scholars distinguish between centralized and decentralized systemic corruption, depending on which level of state or government corruption takes place; in countries such as the Post-Soviet states both types occur.

Philosophy

Frequently in philosophical discussions, corruption takes the form of contrasting a pure spiritual form with a corrupted manifestation in the physical world. Many philosophers, in fact, have regarded the physical world as inevitably corrupt ( being the most famous example of this school of thought). The Book of Genesis 6:12 similarly describes a world before the flood where 'everyone on earth was corrupt' (NLT).

Another philosophical use of the term "corruption" is in opposition to "generation," as in Aristotle's book On Generation and Corruption also known as On Coming to Be and Passing Away. In this sense, corruption is the process of ceasing to exist and is closely related to the concept of dying given certain views about the nature of living things. In a moral sense, corruption generally refers to decadence or hedonism. In theological or political debates, certain viewpoints are sometimes accused of being corruptions of orthodox systems of belief, which is to say, they are accused of having deviated from some older correct view.

ERASE CORRUPTION AT WHATEVER COST

You may wonder how possible this can be?Who/which efforts are behind all this- the fight against corruption which has turned out to be cancer, to all the citizens of Uganda, in the Education sector- UPE funds are being embezzled, health sector the same applies and when it comes to electral commission matters worsen, it calls for urgent attention of everyone especially the those people who are financially unstable because with this, the poor will be poorer while the rich will accumulate wealth, this the reason why in Uganda at present someone can store sh.900m in the house while the neighbour is living below the poverty-line ie they sleep hungry.It calls for urgent attention especially those people who are more negatively affected, ie the poor since they are continuing to be poor while the rich are continuing to accumulate wealth.At NAFODU we believe its possible to erase corruption by sensitising the affected groups of people to practice their rights and utilise any chance of the 'dim' democracy in case it avails for a second.We teach them for example to attend budget reading at their subcounties, monitor the tendering boards of their districts by ensuring these people who are given tenders put the money to rightful resources in order to avoid the rampant damage of newly built city buildings, schools which collapse within a very short period of time simply because money and resources are put to private gain.

In Uganda, corruption has turned out to be a cancer unfortunately slopping down the ladder,ie top-bottom, the top government officials who are expected to have enough, they take the lead,talk of the Temangalo issue, the workers' money in NSSF which was embezzled, talk of the funds which were to cater for HIV/AIDS patients Tuberclosis and malaria.When it comes courts of laws, the files of people dissappear into thin air until the victim brings what we call 'kitu kidogo'- a bribe to the officer, the same applies to the magistrates courts where a case can spend 20 years in court once they realise the complainant has wealth and when it comes to the Local council courts Lc1 and Lc2 matters worsen because  they deliberately refuse to issue out judgements to people who in conflict until they pay a high some of money, is it because they are not paid by Government?How about the top rich officials, WHAT KIND OF GREED THIS IS? Reader, we strongly believe starting with you we can erase corruption from the families, communities and the country at large.

At NAFODU we ensure democracy is achieved begiinning with the family, neighbour as the circle widens.Someone asked, 'Is it really possible to completely erase corruption'?Believe me at NAFODU we know constitutionally that power belongs to people only that it is not being practiced because people do not know, we shall inform them and sensitize them on how to rule themselves since in democracy, its the masses to determine the way they want to be ruled, WHO WOULD WANT THE TAX PAYERS MONEY TO BE DIVERTED?AND WHO WOULD LET THE BUILDING BEFALL HIM OR HER BECAUSE FAKE CEMENT?

People are not to be led sheepshilly, the constitution protects them, therefore beginning with the grassroot villages we determined to make sure the funds of the government are allocated to the rightful resources.WHAT DO SAY?

Someone recently paused a question'Are you sure you will manage to fight and completely erase corruption'?The answer was 'YES', why at NAFODU we believe in empowering people and considering their decisions.

Abuse of Power

A person’s use of social and political power usually reveals the limitations of that person. The limitations reflect the moral boundaries of the person – narrow and bigoted boundaries often indicate little ability to handle power for the common good.

One limitation is the belief that there is one law for those who have power and another for those without it : the person with power respects only those who also have power. This gives rise to a common failing. When a person has power, that power is abused when it is directed into areas of society where the person has psychological problems.

For the person who has some form of political or social power, then when dealing with any sector of society of which he /she disapproves (for example, drunks, prostitutes, beggars, hippies), he /she will abuse their power in their interaction with these sectors. Authoritarian morality produces abuse in the sectors of society which are considered to be immoral or hateful or inferior.

Why does this abuse occur?  I consider a man’s difficulty. Abuse occurs because the person’s psychological problems undermine his moral principles and corrupt his exercise of power. Power is neutral but the person is not. So power magnifies both the person’s virtues and his vices.

Within the area of his psychological problems he has a weak self-image. So power becomes the means to achieve self-validation: the person uses his power to bolster this weak self-image. The deception within this stratagem is that, instead of basing power on proven abilities, the person bases power on his vanity. The possession of power has the effect of magnifying the intensity of his vanity. This way of using power as a means of validating himself signifies that he cannot use power wisely in situations that he finds unpleasant.

Unpleasant relationships that are manageable when he has no power become unmanageable when eventually he does have power.

If the person were wise enough to restrict the exercise of power to areas of relationships in which his virtues shone then power would present no problem – he would have no need to rely on power to give himself psychological support.