
Fortune News | Feb 09,2019
Jan 25 , 2020
By Asseged G. Medhin ( Asseged G.Medhin, deputy CEO of Global Insurance Company. )
There is a great deal of effort going into strengthening institutions. Much of it needs to go into improving our value system, writes Asseged G. Medhin (kolass799728@yahoo.com), an insurance veteran and business advisor.
The theory is relatively simple. If we are following a healthy and honest path in our personal lives, then we would also collectively make up a healthy nation. If we are as disapproving of corruption in our individual lives, then we must be fairly objectionable to it as a nation.
More than anything else, attitudinal change is the best defence against corruption. Centring on a strong will to see a just nation with principles, a society that is adamantly against it is the best defence against a government lacking checks and balances.
Why the attitudinal change?
Institutions have long been believed to be the best defences against tyranny. When multiple individuals with diverging political interests share power, they serve as the best defences against each other’s thirst for power and money.
But as the last five years of the past decade have shown, when populism rises and polarisation is the rule of the game, the institutions have become almost useless. And this is in countries with mature democracies. The only thing standing against a complete slide into the old days of authoritarianism is an informed public that still wants to see a just and uncorrupted state.
That is why Ethiopia ought not to only look at institutional reforms. There needs to be societal progress, a change in attitude to ultimately shape resource management. This change in attitude needs to occur in our value system.
Value systems are the seed of individual and national character. By establishing the foundations of the nation’s growth, it advances the capacity of participants that absorb changes in the value system.
Corruption should not be viewed from the perspective of greed. We have to see it as an unwitting decision by individuals to get ahead, usually within a system that is itself broken. It is not a coincidence that corruption is prevalent in countries where, although punishment is severe, poverty and poor socioeconomic structures are rampant.
If we ask even the most corrupt person in the society whether he is happy with the way he conducts himself, the reply would most likely be a big "no". She will explain that she is corrupt, because everyone else is, for without it she cannot survive. He is just trying to do his fair share of “hustling” to get ahead in life.
People that commit corruption are not especially terrible people. They have merely calculated their odds and determined that the best way to get ahead is to take “short cuts”. Deep down in their hearts, they would rather not get their hands dirty.
I am not just saying this because they spend liberally on charitable organizations, contributing to churches or taking in a relative or two. My conviction comes out of the understanding that presented with a better and legal means of getting ahead, most of us are likely to take it.
This though does not mean that we should condone corruption. A growing trend where people we all know to be deeply corrupt but at the same time get our respect is rising. There was a time when people like this were looked down upon and called out for their bad deeds. This is no longer the case.
People that have stolen continue to be respected if they are able to get themselves cleared from the charge irrespective of whether or not they managed to bribe judges. Worse, people may continue to be respected even after having been found guilty, provided they have amassed a good amount of money and if they happened to spend some money for charitable causes.
Although we need to understand the cause of corruption, we do not have to condone these people. In fact, we need to call them out. We need to have the change in attitude to collectively fight against corruption because our institutions are not yet capable of doing that, and nor would they ever be unless an informed public is not created.
If a strong value system is diluted, corruption becomes a common practice as it has now. Our institutions will not be strengthened, and we will fail as a nation. We will continue to reap the bad seeds we have sown.
Changing society is no easy task, but it can be accomplished with good governance. People will always be encouraged at the transparent and honest work that is done at the top. It requires commitment and determination, but in time we will have a more progressive society with a mature sense of justice and a higher value system.
PUBLISHED ON
Jan 25,2020 [ VOL
20 , NO
1030]
Fortune News | Feb 09,2019
Fortune News | Oct 19,2019
Verbatim | Dec 07,2019
Agenda | Jul 27,2019
Radar | Dec 05,2020
Fortune News | Nov 13,2021
Commentaries | Dec 19,2021
Sunday with Eden | Mar 27,2021
News Analysis | Jan 05,2020
Radar | Feb 22,2020
Photo Gallery | 76915 Views | May 06,2019
Photo Gallery | 68910 Views | Apr 26,2019
Fortune News | 55835 Views | Jul 18,2020
Fineline | 54817 Views | Oct 03,2020
Dec 24 , 2022
Biniam Mikru heads the department of cabinet affairs under Mayor Adanech Abiebie. But...
Jul 2 , 2022 . By RUTH TAYE
On a rainy afternoon last week, a coffee processing facility in the capital's Akaki-Qality District was abuzz with activ...
Nov 27 , 2021
Against my will, I have witnessed the most terrible defeat of reason and the most sa...
Nov 13 , 2021
Plans and reality do not always gel. They rarely do in a fast-moving world. Every act...
Sep 16 , 2023
The Ethiopian economic narrative oscillates between pockets of resilience and signifi...
Sep 10 , 2023
Earlier this Ethiopian fiscal year, the heralding of a peace deal became synonymous w...
Sep 2 , 2023
An unfolding horror story revealed the human cost of desperate migration in the arid...
Aug 26 , 2023
In the rain-drenched streets of Addis Abeba, there was a distinct ripple of optimism...
Sep 16 , 2023 . By BERSABEH GEBRE
Schools are back in session, but parents find themselves burdened by the rising education costs. Some have opted for public schooling for th...
Sep 16 , 2023 . By BERSABEH GEBRE
Ethiopia's Jubilee Palace is opening its doors to a medley of upscale restaurants and hotels, a transform...
In an audacious bid to attract investment to a country experiencing diminishing forex inflows, the Nation...
Sep 16 , 2023 . By AKSAH ITALO
A rising trend in defective commodities and pretence advertisement has prompted experts at the Ministry o...