Petty corruption is petty; large scale corruption is big enough to destroy nations

I have been following The Sentry and some key writers, and have read enough books, to know that corruption is not something addressed by focusing on the symptoms of petty corruption. Petty corruption is termed petty for a reason - the corruption of greatest concern is large enough to destroy nations - nations such as Zimbabwe, and now a news report on Libya’s attempts to recover the money stolen by a former despot refers to a report estimating the amount stolen could up to US$120 billion (over a period of time, not annually). 

To give a sense of scale for that, oil rich Libya’s GDP in 2021 was US$42.8 billion, down from US$76.7 billion in 2017 and US$92.5 billion in 2012, the year after the former despot was killed.

Zimbabwe, with a GDP of US$28.4 billion in 2021, down from US$34.2 billion in 2018, was losing US$1 billion to corruption in 2016 - when the GDP was US$20.6 billion. 

That's almost 5% of that nation’s entire economy in just one year. 

Sarah  Chayes has been writing about problems, including corruption, in Afghanistan for decades (and more recently, the USA). 

An article attributes the US$55 million per month cost of corruption with causing inadequate power supply in SOuth Africa.

Managing corruption is not solely about the actions of individuals or small groups: it is also about nation destroying crimes. 

It needs to be approached accordingly.  

PS - I have just come a staggering example of corruption from a history video on World War (part) Two: a Chinese general who deliberately over-reported the number of troops he had so he could pocket the extra money ... - see here. 

PPS - from the UN: stamping out corruption could give the Sustainable  Development  Goals a US$3 trillion boost ... 

 

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Finally, remember: we need to be more human being rather than human doing.