Interrogating Our Past: Colonialism and Corruption in Sub-Saharan Africa

One of the major impediments to economic, social and political development in African is corruption. Although there is an extensive literature explaining the entrenchment of this pandemic for the most part, the explanation ignores the role of colonialism in the genesis and sustenance of corruption in Africa. In this paper, we try to establish a link between colonialism and corruption, its genesis and institutionalisation. We argue that the incidence of corruption could be best understood in the context of colonialism- its systematic use of material induce-ments to compel African chiefs/administrators to collaborate with them in the pursuit of their colonial project of dominating and exploiting their own peoples. The practices of post-colonial Africa's political and bureaucratic elites are merely an extension of such colonial policies and practices which have served to entrench it