The latest list of most corrupt countries in the world has been released in the Transparency International Report (2017). Transparency International is a human rights watch organization that reports on matters of governance. In its current report, it has faultily indicated Somalia and Southern Sudan as the most corrupt countries from Eastern Africa.
Reasons for their corruption were cited in the report to be lack of media freedom and independence of the judiciary. In this type of cosmetic and casual reporting about two African countries that are in a deep military and political crisis the TI missed a point of governance and professional responsibility.
First, we only talk of corruption when there is an effective organization of government, a reliable nation and the reliable state in any given country. Without the three then there is no social system that helps you to establish and justify claims of corruption.
The TI report (2017) did not see this and this is, of course, the expected mistakes Western-funded organizations make when dealing with a political issue in Africa. Southern Sudan and Somalia are merely strongholds from which the Western Powers fight Al-Shabaab and other terrorist groups allied to the Islamic state. They are not a modern political system with basic ingredients of correct nationalism, correct organization of government and correct state machinery.
According to Mahmood Mamdan (2016) in a paper about Peace in Southern Sudan and the Khartoum, Sudan published in Boston Review, Southern Sudan was not given time and proper structural adjustments to go through the required processes of Nationalism, state management education, organization of government and territorial definition before being separated from the main Sudan to be formed into an independent and sovereign political unity.
Britain, America and the U.N. selfishly took advantage of the moment to establish southern Sudan as a military stronghold for fighting terrorists allied to the Islamic state in Khartoum. Invariably, Khartoum cannot miss to arm itself if Southern Sudan was formed for such purposes.
And truly, Britain, America, and the UN left Southern Sudan to go on using tribal guerrillas as the national army. There was no change in command structure, retraining and demobilization in preparation for military service that goes with a modern state. This was the first failing of Southern Sudan.
Similarly, Somalia, an African country is shamefully used as a strong-hold of the Arabic countries, a safe battle-field away from home in which the Arabic countries fight the West in the wars of Islamic state. Many other countries like China, Britain, India and Russia, have been faulted by Palmer (2017) in his book The New Pirates for being behind state failure in Somalia so that the Indian ocean coastline and territorial waters of Somalia can be used by the disingenuous business dealers from these countries for global piracy and buccaneering, human trafficking, arms testing, ships-hijacking, oil-swindling, human organ harvesting and many other nefarious business deals. We don’t have to blame Somalia for what it is.
If Transparency international was transparent enough it could have petitioned China, Britain, the US, African Union, Russia, Japan and India as well as the UN to stop pretending so that they become serious and help Southern Sudan to achieve peace and modern statehood, the same case to Somalia. Labelling and blaming Somalia and Southern Sudan of being corrupt is technically misplaced, it is a very cosmetic approach to matters of governance, the (TI) should learn.
