The Africa Review in Five highlights African current affairs from a Christian perspective. Listen and subscribe through Youtube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.Today is Friday, September 1st, A.D. 2023. This is The Africa Review in Five, written by Paul Schlehlein and presented by Yamikani Katunga.
Why It’s Always Good to Resist Bribes
Late last year, Malawi’s President Lazarus Chakwera vowed to crack down on the corruption and bribery so common in his nation. Chakwera took office in 2020 after becoming the first African opposition leader to defeat an incumbent in a return of a fraudulent election.
Bribery is not uncommon in Africa, just as in many other places around the world. Billboards dot the landscape with statements like: “Give corruption a good knock. Don’t give or take bribes.” Such signboards wouldn’t be necessary if bribery weren’t an issue. Transparency International’s Global Corruption Barometer—Africa 2019 has found that more than half of the 47,000 citizens in the 35 countries surveyed believe their nation is becoming more corrupt. And this bribery is hurting the poor.
There’s a difference between being extorted and paying a bribe. Extortion is the practice of demanding something, usually by someone in authority, through force or threats. On the other hand, someone who pays a bribe is trying to get an unjust advantage. For example, suppose a Zimbabwean man follows all of the necessary paperwork to cross the border but still has to pay an official under the table in order to move from point A to point B. This is not paying a bribe. Rather, he’s being extorted. He’s not trying to receive an unjust benefit. He simply wants that to which he is entitled.
Scripture is opposed to paying bribes. Exodus 23:8 says, “And you shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and subverts the cause of those who are in the right.”
When a driver blows through a stop sign and then pays a police officer to overlook the offense, this is bribery. When a teacher is caught molesting a child and then pays a judge to look the other way, this is bribery. When a salesman uses cash to persuade a government official to buy his goods rather than the goods of another company, this is bribery.
When customs officials insist on payment for products farmers are seeking to export, this is bribery. When a government examiner finds random inconsequential health and safety infractions in a company and thus seeks to shut down that school or business unless they are paid a hefty price, this is bribery.
Bribes may be a way of life in many countries, but they are bad for society in a plethora of ways. First, bribes pull down the economy by making every product more expensive. A farmer plans to sell coffee at $3 a kilogram. But now that he has to pay a bribe, he must sell it at $5 a kilogram to cover his costs. Second, bribes discourage honest businessmen who refuse to pay them. As a result, a car dealer, for example, may have to leave the town or the country altogether to a more honest place, meaning the residents there have to pay more money to buy a vehicle from a faraway location.
Third, bribes encourage low standards. A restaurant may make no effort to follow health standards with their food because they know they can pay off the officials that check their establishment. Civil engineers that design paved roads make little effort to design the streets in a quality way because they know that a bribe will make certain officials look the other way. The result is a nation full of potholes.
The argument is that bribery at least enriches some people, like the officials that stand at the checkpoints and demand that each passing car greases their palms. But even this isn’t accurate because those people that take these bribes will end up having to pay more money in the stores where they buy products. This is why bribery is bad for everyone.
The solution to this is twofold. First, government should install laws that curb bribery. A nation’s laws should reflect the teaching of Deuteronomy 16:19: “You shall not pervert justice. You shall not show partiality, and you shall not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of the righteous.”
But government force can only do so much. National officials cannot monitor the thousands of transactions made by their people every day. This leads to the second solution: heart change. Citizens must take personal responsibility to refuse bribes, even if they know they won’t be caught. They should despise the offering of gifts for unfair advantages.
This is the idea of Proverbs 15:27 which reads, “Whoever is greedy for unjust gain troubles his own household, but he who hates bribes will live.” Bribery will evaporate in a society that obeys this verse.
Of course, a change of heart does not come naturally but only through the transforming power of the gospel. God gives new hearts to those that call upon the Lord Jesus to save them from their sins. Thus, the more a society is shaped by Christianity, the more that society will flourish in every way.
And that’s it for The Africa Review in Five on this Friday, September 1st in the year of our Lord 2023. Subscribe to the Missionary Minds podcast on Spotify or Apple podcasts. I’m Yamikani Katunga. Be not weary in well-doing.