advantage and extract as much as they can from public resources and
convert it for private use. Although legislationagainst corruption is
important, it should supplement rather than substitute for education.
Raising awareness against corruption should be presupposed in the
values, norms and attitudes of the entire education system. Hard
work should be praised and rewarded while laziness and underhand
deals are condemned. Individualism, which schooling encourages,
works against the common good in a social environment whose legacy
is divisive. Communalism, which traditional education presupposes,
operates as an alternative social security apparatus and as a sub-stra-
tum of the official, formal social structure. Under these circum-
stances, it is very difficult to eradicate corruption. Many members of
the elite do not recognise as corruption the strategies often used to by-
pass the established bureaucratic procedures in various sectors of gov-
ernance and industry.
Goran Hyden in his book No Shortcuts to Progressobserves that it
is difficult to synchronise tropical Africa into the global market while
the majority of the population presupposes rural communitarian
norms and operates a mode of production and consumption which he
calls the economy of affection. Campaign against corruption in tropical
Africa has not yet taken seriously the fact that the norms and values
presupposed in economic globalisation are incompatible with those of
local economies which have no terms of reference for corruption.
Cheating, disguised as profit, seems to be the foundation of the market
economy. There are no limits of how much profit should be made. The
market economy values a person only as a customer who purchases
goods and services. In contrast, the market-place in rural Africa is
very different from the main shopping centre in the heart of a town
or city. In addition to the exchange of goods through monetary trans-
actions, a village market is the place where the villagers meet to
exchange views and sustain their social identity. A prosperous busi-
nessman who exploits his customers and makes huge profits is likely
to be regarded as an enemy of the people, rather than a ‘patron’ of the
village.
Traditional Post-Colonial
African Education African Schooling
Place of Learning : Place of Learning :
Home School and College
Teachers : Teachers :
Parents and Relatives Professionals
88 Responsible Leadership : Global Perspectives