Bureaucratic Corruption and Poverty System - MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Bureaucratic Corruption and Poverty System. Answer: Introduction: Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the Royal African Society forum on corruption and bribery. I would first wish to thank your respective governments for allowing you to attend this auspicious forum and the U.S government for sponsoring this particular event. I have made numerous speeches on the impact of corruption and bribery in a countrys socio-economic and political governance. However, today shall be different. I would wish to candidly talk and discuss with you, and I look forward to hearing your varied opinions on our topic today. Indeed, most of you are from developing nations that are increasingly being swallowed by bad governance and extreme exploitation. Therefore, we must first understand where we are now if we are to successfully introduce decisive changes that can help us fight corruption and institute good governance. Given the scarce resources in our countries, can we really afford to siphon funds to foreign banks through corrupt deals or engage in any repressive corrupt deals? Can we afford to continually smug about corruption and bribery in our nations? And so, why is there an inherent need to effectively tackle corruption and bribery? And is it worth the effort? To start, these two acts are simply morally distasteful practices that must be fought from all fronts. According to the World Bank annual reports on governance, corruption and bribery resulted into an approximate loss of $1 trillion globally. Are you seeing the need for us to collectively silence these practices that are threatening our survival? In reality, we cannot afford to ignore the corrosive effects of corruption and bribery on our countries rule of law and general economy. For example, when proceeds from the Nigerian oil resources are exploited, service provisions are distorted. This is a serious threat to the quality of life and ability of the nation to flourish economically. We must all agree that corruption and bribery are major impediments to our collective efforts towards absolute eradication of poverty and introducing meaningful development. This is majorly because when taxpayers funds are embezzled, the governments ability to avail basic services is seriously curtailed. Consequently, we are all victims of corruption and bribery and must do everything humanly possible to tackle the crimes. I have subsequently summarized some of the actions that every nation should take to reduce or to completely eradicate these two challenges. First, every country must recognize that corruption and bribery thrives under fragile leadership that do not value accountability. With increased accountability, it will be extremely hard for unscrupulous political elites to loot public resources that could otherwise be used in other meaningful service deliveries. Therefore, I urge you to consider establishing and equipping independent institutions to augment the fight against corruption and bribery. Secondly, we should ensure that those institutions tasked with fighting corruption are resilient, reactive and responsible. The mentioned World Bank report accredit corruption and bribery to outright bad governance of the responsible organizations. Thirdly, there must be a political will from the ruling elites to adequately wrestle these challenges. There is an inherent need to ascertain the fact that it is the ruling elites that benefits the most from corruption and bribery related activities. Siphoning of public funds and looting a countrys tax base has become so normal in most African countries. Take for example Gambia, a country that has been wallowing in unimagined poverty because of corruption. It is rumoured that the former president together with his other close associates siphoned off the countrys scarce natural resources for personal gain. Such enormous waste of the countrys wealth over the past decades has left the country in economic despair. But for how long must such countries suffer because of corruption? We need to recognise that globalisation has increased the prospects for some ruling elites to make enormous fortunes from siphoning off a country's natural resources or its tax base. Only through transparency in our political systems and institutions we will be able to adequately address these challenges. In a special way, allow me to appreciate the Nigerian government for their efforts towards the same. In the past few years, they have been providing more information on the countrys oil revenue by conducting numerous audits and publishing such vital information for public consumption. The people now knows rough estimates of how much their government collect from the sales of this important natural resource, and for this, I appreciate their effort. In addition, we must aim at changing public perception of normalizing corruption and bribery particularly in service delivery. We should recognize the fact that the public need to be sensitized to help in addressing these challenges. For instance, various public campaigns should be initiated through the media to inform the public about the dangers that corruption and bribery related activities exposes our respective countries to, and encourage them to report such cases to relevant authorities. And finally, our governments should speed up the full recovery of stolen public assets, and prevent future looting of public resources. This will only be attained through establishing a countrys comprehensive financial management systems and increasing accountability. We must learn from our past mistakes and change our tactics and attitudes towards corruption and bribery. This means that we must develop more sophisticated responses to poor and frail governance of public resources. Ladies and gentlemen, corruption and bribery have become global phenomena played out and condoned on an international stage. And so, only through full and frank debate on the tenacity of corruption and bribery caused by years of misrule will we establish pertinent resolutions. We must all prepare to wrestle this menace through effective implementation of relevant legislations. I am certain that at this particular forum, we will be introduced to some common acts on bribery and corruption and effective enactment measures. Allow me to pay special tribute to countries such as Rwanda and South Africa for establishing necessary laws to combat corruption related crimes. I echo my strong support to such countries that are taking important steps towards tackling the problem. Only through such swift actions by our nations will we ensure good and responsible governance and socio-economic prosperity. I trust that by the end of this forum, we shall have established the socio-economic impact of corruption and bribery in our respective countries. I wish you a productive and an interesting discussion in the course of this event. Once again, thank you and God bless your nations. This reflection aim at assimilating existing and new ideas that are related to the main topic on corruption and bribery. Specifically, the reflection will enhance an individuals understanding and development based on creativity and critical discernment of facts on the advanced topic. Therefore, the reflection on the corruption and bribery speech will expose the perceived accomplishments and associated challenges using various critical thinking tools. Explaining key points in the speech using different critical thinking tools One of the key point that is principal in the speech is the recognition that corruption and bribery are global phenomena that are particularly predominant in most African countries. Under this point, the speech writer applies some of Grices 4 maxims, for instance, the maxim of quantity to provide as much information as possible on the topic (Vernon et al., 2016). This explains why the speech further provides comprehensive accounts and explanations on how these two menaces have thrived with impunity (Baker, 2010). Also, the speech applies he maxim of quality by stressing on truthful information that are supported by available evidence. For example, the speech questions the effectiveness of African countries self-capacity to prevent and fight corruption and bribery (Justesen and Bjrnskov, 2014). To support this assertion, the speech mentions various examples of countries such as Nigeria and Gambia are provided to further elucidate how countries have been affected as a result of these t wo challenges. The speech further uses the maxim of relation to describe how most African countries have for the last decades been a direct contrast of democracy and rule of law compared to other western and more developed nations (Vernon et al., 2016). Such comparisons are generally pertinent to the discussion as any kind of injustice in the form of corruption and bribery have been normalizes and sometimes even celebrated. Other information include the fact that despite the increased pressure from donor partners and international community to introduce meaningful reforms towards the same, little has been achieved (Krka?, 2013). However, there is still hope as most people are becoming extra knowledgeable and aggressive towards the fight against corruption. Lastly, the speech applies the maxim of manner that stresses on clarity and orderly organization and flow of information. Furthermore, the writer uses different argumentative tools to appeal to the readers and listeners. For example, the writer applies ethos to convince the readers that he has a deep understanding of the topic (Vernon et al., 2016). This has been attained through the provision of up-to-date research and specific personal experiences. For instance, the speech provides information on the current harsher anti-corruption legislations that Nigeria has introduced aimed at curtailing corruption allegations in the management of the countrys oil and gas revenue. The writer explains how such legislations are subjecting more cartels and crooked players to intense scrutiny and intensive observation (Asongu, 2013). According to the speech, these efforts aim at restoring public confidence in independent government institutions and instilling a sense of accountability and workmanship in the management of public resources. The writer further applies the logical appeal that offers credible evidences to support varied arguments and augment the audiences intellect (Vernon et al., 2016). To ascertain this, the speech explains that there is an inherent need for increased sensitization on the impact of corruption and bribery. The writer do not give details on how this can be attained and relies on the audiences intellect to discern. While this is largely attributed to the pressure from aid organizations to introduce meaningful reforms, individual countries efforts cannot be ignored whatsoever. A case example of how the Nigerian government is currently prohibiting any form of illegal oil and gas deals that are not duly recognized by the relevant state agencies are provided. The speech also uses an emotional or passionate appeal to capture the audiences attention and concerns. This has been attained through the use of strong sentiments and connotations to stress on the gravity of the issue being discussed. For instance, the stresses on the fact that corruption and bribery are complex issues that a society must get right if they are to attain any social or economic stabilities and progress. The writer attaches the readers dream of a better world that support the very precept of the survival of humanity to a corruption-free environments. The writer further appeal to the audience to take decisive actions today towards fighting corruption and bribery to attain such dreams because ultimately, government transparency can make a huge impact on peoples lives. To further appeal to the audiences emotions, the writer concentrates on such issues that directly affect their daily lives as a result of corruption and bribery (Athreya and Mouza, 2017). For example, the speech point at the procurement and recruitment processes in private and government agencies. While such processes must be based purely on merit, bribes, favours and other forms of corruption tend to thrive (Cleveland et al., 2009). The speech gives an example of Gambia where the former president condoned state corruption and together with his cronies siphoned off the countrys funds to international banks. The current president of Gambia have taken drastic steps towards improving service delivery and sealing loopholes in governance that may have helped in propagating the vice. Specifically, the speech writer aim at convincing the audience that just like the current Gambian government, they can participate in enacting and implementing laws that can govern procurement and manage state resources. Lastly, the speech writer applies three of the Kiplings 6 questions of critical thinking to explain various facts. For example, the speech answer the what question to explain the real problem, measures and postulate various solutions. For example, the speech clearly stipulates that the establishment of independent anti-corruption agencies has enabled most African countries to duly prosecute culpable individuals. The response to the why question is that bribery and corruption or any other form of related activity are majorly perceived to be disdainful in a just society (Cleveland et al., 2009). The speech answers the how question by specifying various actions that states should assume if they are going to effectively control any malpractice among fraudulent officials. For example, increased public sensitization campaigns on the dangers of corruption and bribery should be initiated. Also, according to the speech, when an individual is alleged to have committed any related act, appropriate legal redresses must be instituted immediately. Such positive actions have enabled most governments to reduce and weed out cases of corrupt deals that have had various detrimental effects on its efficient public service delivery. In addition, the speech recognize that every business transaction must be based on the acceptable legal precedents and other relevant procedures. Thus, countries should copy the actions that the Nigerian government established to ensure coherency in its accounts and auditing systems. This will enable effective check on any form of malpractices propagated by fraudulent state bureaucrats (Zgheib, 2015). In summary, the speech clearly answers most of the what, why and how questions by stipulating that organizations and individuals must strictly comply with the established integrity requirements in the management of public resources (Athreya and Mouza, 2017). Consequently, the information provided in this speech should encourage positive contribution towards efficacious control of corruption and bribery in African countries and globally. References Asongu, S.A. (2013) Fighting corruption in Africa: do existing corruption-control levels matter?International Journal of Development Issues,12(1), pp.36-52. Athreya, B.H. and Mouza, C. (2017) Introduction to Thinking Skills for the Digital Generation, InThinking Skills for the Digital Generation(pp. 1-10). Springer International Publishing. Baker, N. (2010) Bribery and Corruption, In-House Persp.,6, p.25. Cleveland, M., Favo, C.M., Frecka, T.J. and Owens, C.L. (2009) Trends in the international fight against bribery and corruption, Journal of Business Ethics,90(2), pp.199-244. Justesen, M.K. and Bjrnskov, C. (2014) Exploiting the poor: Bureaucratic corruption and poverty in Africa, World Development,58, pp.106-115. Krka?, K. (2013) Bribery and corruption, InEncyclopedia of corporate social responsibility(pp. 215-222). Springer Berlin Heidelberg. Vernon, D., Hocking, I. and Tyler, T.C. (2016) An evidence-based review of creative problem solving tools: a practitioners resource, Human resource development review,15(2), pp.230-259. Zgheib, P.W. (2015) Bribery and Corruption, InBusiness Law and Ethics: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications(pp. 144-158). IGI Global.