Corruption and public governance: implication for customer due diligence in Africa

Abstract

Certainly, corruption is not a new thing in human societies. It is an age-old menace which can cause tremendous harm to society. Corruption has attained the state of pervasive and phenomenal social behaviors in public service, which has not only eaten deep into the fabrics of African society, but also soiled the character of its people and is hampering the effective delivery of public governance in the continent. In this paper, corruption is principally examined as a governance issue, a challenge to African democratic functioning. It is a failure of both institutions and the larger framework of  social, judicial, political and economic checks and balances needed to govern effectively. Therefore, the paper sought to determine the causes and effects of corruption on service delivery in Africa. It is within this context that this paper explored Principal Agent Theory to explain the relationship between corruption, public governance, customer due diligence and the various aspects of development including economic growth and sustainable development. The paper recommended that the way and manner to encourage and assist individuals and financial institutions which work to promote and protect customer due diligence in Africa is to engage them with corruption issues and collaborate more closely with anti-corruption organizations. The paper also concluded that public-private technical assistance is needed for Africa to effectively implement anti-corruption interventions to reduce menace of corruption and recognize the value of good governance as roadmap to sustainable development.

Keywords: Corruption, Public Governance, Customer Due Diligence