Interrogating the Phenomenon of Corruption as a Form of Violence Against National ‘Common Good’

Abstract

Corruption is a monster that defies any attempt to slaying it in many respects. Further, corruption is hard to define and isolate because it mutates into many forms in very short times. Many societies have suffered because corruption becomes rampant and almost into an everyday phenomenon. Where that is the case, corruption morphs into a type of violence which robs society of its access to what is commonly known as ‘Common Good’. Common Good is the ideal which every member of a society looks forward to enjoying without undue restriction, it is the un-inalienable right that every member of society expects by virtue of being human. In parts of the African Continent, corruption prevails as though the abnormal is literary normalized. In this article, I make an assertion that corruption is a form of violence which compromises access to human dignity and modest self-esteem. In itself, violence is bad enough as it makes life and enjoyment of life impossible. The conceptualization that is presented herein including the attempt that is made to prove the observations using various evidence weaves the statements into a legitimate concept that cannot be overstated nor gainsaid. The article perceives the denial of the common good at two levels, namely at the individual and at the national levels. Taking the evidence provided and discussed in the article leaves no room for doubt in respect to the assertion that corruption is indeed a brutal form of ‘violence against the common good’.