A bribe is anything offered or given to someone to gain a favour. It brings an external influence to a decision. Whether the bribe is accepted or rejected, those offering the bribe are guilty of bribery.
SUNDAYWORLD BY PROSPER TINGINI
Likewise, those who solicit for a bribe are guilty, irrespective of whether those enticed to pay the bribe accept or reject the advances. In all such instances, the aim is to subvert the required justice. These are the seeds that give rise to corruption.
Corruption is the breach of trust and the loss of the integrity of a person, often involving bribery. It is an individual’s openness to bribery in order to alter the course of justice and fairness that brings corruption.
In the second book of Moses, Exodus chapter 23 verse 8, the Lord our God commanded the people through Moses; “You shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the officials and subverts the cause of those who are in the right”. Crucially, it is the people in positions of influence or power who are central to the issue. It is those occupying an office that can determine who holds the keys to anything. Only they can destroy, or promote corruption by their actions.
God knows that this practice cannot be eliminated completely. There are always bad apples in any given society and that is a fact of life. People will do anything to get out of a bad situation or to have a good result. We are at times willing to pay officials, who can determine an outcome in order to obtain the desired result.
It is the integrity of the officials that ultimately influences the success or elimination of practices of bribery or corruption, hence the Lord prefers to direct His attention to the officials, and not to the ones giving the bribe. He again reiterated on the same topic in the fifth book of Moses. In Deuteronomy 16 verses 9-20, He commanded; “You shall not pervert justice, you shall not show partially; and you shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of the righteous. Justice and only justice, you shall follow, that you may live and inherit the land which the Lord your God gives you.”
There are instances that do not involve an exchange of monetary things but involve an exchange of favours. An official can solicit for a promise to circumvent justice or to bring a desired result in return for a different kind of favour. It is common among male officials to bend the rules in exchange of sexual favours from women to fulfil their manly needs.
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Sometimes an official might want to give a favour in return for something which the other collaborating party can provide, apart from the social and financial things. There are many examples of this practice.
Corruption can at times involve one person. In such incidents, a person might seek to gain an unjust advantage over another by devious means. This can be done through deliberate extortions. Examples are when people knowingly seek to gain a profit by charging exorbitant prices for goods in short supply. Some workers even adjust set prices upward and pocket the differences themselves, individually.
At times, records are manipulated to conceal evidence. Substituting of goods, by the exchange of good quality goods with look-alike inferior goods and changing the same price is another case in point. It is an injustice to the person buying the goods.
Also, bringing down the measurements or weights of goods to obtain a gain by charging the same price as for the full weights or measurements is also an injustice to the customer. This is a form of corruption brought about by greed. Of this, the Lord our God spoke, “You shall not have in your bag two kinds of weights, a large and a small. You shall not have in your house two kinds of measures, a large and a small.
A full and just weight you shall have; that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you. For all who do such things, all who act dishonestly are an abomination to the Lord your God” (Deuteronomy 25 verse 13-16).
Acts of corruption can also involve groups of people working in co-ordination. In all such instances, there is an equivalent loss to someone else for every gained result, therefore there is an injustice for every successful co-ordinated evil effort. God forbids the collusion of people for unjust purposes. In Exodus 23 verse 2-3, the Lord commanded, “You shall not follow a multitude to do evil, nor shall you bear a witness in a suit, turning aside after a multitude, so as to pervert justice; you shall not be partial to a poor man in his suit”.
It is evident that God places the responsibility and accountability on bribery and corruption on the officials and those in power and not very much so on the ones paying the bribe. Efforts to eradicate the practices should be directed at the officials. Accumulation of wealth is the main reason why people engage in acts of bribery or corruption. Mankind has an insatiable desire to accrue wealth by whatever means, moreso by the people in positions of authority.
Authority starts at the very top, so God wants to eliminate the habit of greed from the very top. He found it necessary to address the rulers as their actions can influence the officials below them. He advised the people on the guidelines on choosing a leader and also spoke on what He expects the rulers to do or not to do. In Deuteronomy 17 verse 16-17, He directed the ruler at length; “He must not multiply horses for himself, or cause the people to return to Egypt in order to multiply horses, since the Lord has said to you, ‘You shall never return that way again’. And he shall not multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away; nor shall he multiply for himself silver and gold”.
As a basic solution to the problem, God directed the leaders and rulers to be of good morals, to learn and to teach others of the appropriate laws and commandments of the Lord our God. He therefore directed the rulers to keep a copy of the laws and commandments, so that they may be afraid to commit sin. He proceeded to speak; “When he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, from that which is in charge of the priests; and it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, by keeping the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them; that his heart may not be lifted up above his brethren, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right or to the left; so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children” (Deuteronomy 17 verse 18-20).
Prosper Tingini is a religious writer. He compiled a book titled, God’s Constitution For Mankind: The laws and commandments. His contact details are: 0771 260 195 or email: [email protected]
