Corruption has had a good few weeks. Public protests in India against corruption led to India’s corrupt politicians promising to crack down on their own thieving. Now the protests have stopped, the politicians have blocked any legislation limiting their ability to steal as much as they want. In Pakistan, the PM is blocking attempts by the Supreme Court to investigate several leading politicians, including the President (affectionately known to his people as “Mr Ten Percent”) for corruption. Corrupt Pakistani polticians have called the investigations “an attack on democracy”. At least they’ve got a sense of humour.
In Nigeria, the corrupt government removed a fuel subsidy claiming they would use the money saved to build schools, hospitals, roads etc. But the people were not as stupid as the politicians hoped and went on strike. They know the billions�saved will be stolen by corrupt politicians and their business associates and precious few schools or hospitals will ever see the light of day. But it looks like the corrupt politicians have won – only a small part of the fuel subsidy has been restored leaving a huge pile of money for Nigeria’s ruling�elite to plunder at will.
In India, Pakistan and Nigeria corruption is king. Long live corruption!