there are cultural factors, for sure.
i remember an interview with a british foreign aid worker, describing a corrupt plant that was closed (cannot recall where, i think central africa) and the day after, the manager of said corrupt plant was in the unemploymen line and on the bus with the workers he had screwed over for years.
they didn't harass him at all.
the aid worker said this simple situation told him more than centuries of european colonialism had figured out aboot the dark continent.
i draw the conclusion that in many cases, in many countries in africa, the attitude towards corruption is not what it is here.
i know a kenyan guy that comes from a rich family that was on the government take, he is proud of the situation they were in. no shame, etc. like many might expect.
africa has a lot of problems, and every country is different, but the people in many countries there seem to tolerate corruption more, the old 'pitchfork and torch' mentality maybe is not as strong there, or the sense of responsibility.
perhaps centuries of imperial rule have slowly ebbed out, generation by generation, the feeling people have to become involved in government, i don't know.
i'm not here to say 'white people bad', 'indigenous people good' but there are factors behind behaviours and attitudes, that must be acknowledged when thinking of africa.
foreign aid going to the wrong places does not help, nor do weapons sales, multinational energy companies and their shenanigans, debts that are unreturnable, market domination due to isolation, farmers being conscripted / crops burned, and the lack of a serious african peacekeeping force that doesn't pick sides in conflicts.
troubled place, i kind of want to check it out, i'd imagine there are some bright glimmers of hope.
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