Prof Munasinghe links Africa’s bad governance to corruption

Prof Munasinghe links Africa’s bad governance to corruption
By Joan Chirwa-Ngoma in Bonn, Germany
Fri 24 June 2011, 17:00 CAT

POLITICAL leaders in Africa fail to act in the best interest of the people because of corruption, observes University of Manchester Professor Mohan Munasinghe.

Prof Munasinghe, who specialises in sustainable development and chairs the Munasinghe Institute for Development in Sri Lanka, said many political leaders in Africa were recipients of bribes from multinational companies in the hope of getting financing for their political parties instead of prioritising the interests of the majority.

Due to corruption, according to Prof Munasing he, multinational companies end up not being accountable in the countries they invest in.

“Africa has great leaders, but there are some instances where multinational companies have bribed local officials and leaders end up not acting in the best interest of the people. These multinational companies are so powerful and they finance politicians.

This makes them not to be accountable to anyone in the countries they invest in, and sometimes even in their own countries,” said Prof Munasinghe in an interview. “They multinational companies are the people funding our governments. The same interests that these companies have are the same interests that political leaders have; that is to make money.”

He noted that the current political scenario in Africa had the potential to cripple the global system if corruption was left to continue.

“The current system is controlled by the elites. The rich have a responsibility to change the system to become more sustainable, to make sure the poor benefit economically, socially and environmentally,” Prof Munasinghe said. “There has to be a way to manage change. If we don’t manage the change, we will have unpredictable change which is often unpleasant.”


Prof Munasinghe further noted that unexplained market forces had created a lot of problems in developing countries.

“...This is what led to the economic crisis. It is not only the economic dimension that is being affected, there is also the degradation of the world environment,” said Prof Munasinghe. “Globalisation has brought with it positive and negative effects. Globalisation is driving consumption and production. Unfortunately, the more the rich consume, the less there is for the poor.

20 per cent of the world’s rich account for 80 per cent of consumption, and consumption also accounts for a large share of carbon emissions at 75 per cent. The rich therefore can do a lot to control their consumption to ensure that it is sustainable.