Corruption: The Byproduct of Greed and the "Profit Motive"

Adal Isaw

adalisaw@yahoo.com

April 10, 2008

No one begins life in Ethiopia with an empty slate, and what was an attribute to the medieval Europe social organization a millennium ago still pervades Ethiopia to an extent of requiring an arduous collective struggle. For many of our citizenry, their destiny is foretold in melancholies of seemingly unending songs. Devoid of choice, these sons and daughters of our mostly agrarian society are likely to be married to each other, and keep on working on the same land for generation to come. To block such a scenario from taking place perpetually, we Ethiopians should overcome the various impeding forces and continue our struggle to better the lives of our people by rebuilding our country anew.

Rebuilding a country anew is more than a revolution; it requires the complete overhauling of an old and backward social organization, using a modern and independent world-view of our own making. Chewing more than we can handle into the western ideological view impedes our ability to sort what is fitting and what isn’t, say, in matters of our personal obligation. Keep in mind that, the western ideological view is centered around the individual "I" while ours is inclined to " We" more often than we are able to realize. " I" or "mine" is not that savory a word in the world where a collective effort rather than a singular trial to better a country of many is in demand. Why do I say this?

Consider the issue of corruption: the degenerating force that is impeding Ethiopia from continuing its struggle to better the lives of its people. Fighting corruption requires the collective will of our people including our government, and the ceasing of pointing fingers as if it’s only the duty of the government. The culture of the desire to bribe, in order to gain better, biased, and faster treatment for personal gain is as impeding as the behavior of those carnal office holders within the government.

The culture of corruption may not be abolished in its totality. However, it’s highly likely for us to control corruption if the will comes in one bundle, and we as people are aware of as to what is causing it. Corruption is the byproduct of greed and the "profit motive." As it has been argued by western economic specialists, "profit motive" is the good old engine that runs the "free" market economic system- a system under which masses of people are expected to enhance their life standard and become member of a vibrant middle class. Health care, educational opportunity, and nourishment to the body and mind are assumed to be achieved in plenty, to the point of giving these vibrant consumers the right to choose from many good choices they can ever have in life. Succinctly put, the "profit motive" is the engine that promotes the good of the whole than any other motive of any market system. Is it?

Consequent to learning the difference in capacity of those who can and cannot purchase the necessities of life, one wonders if the "profit motive" is promoting the good of the whole in Ethiopia. Jacking up the prices of commodities that are essential to life may be the consequent of the "profit motive," while stealing gold from the national treasury is, an on your face and very bold unrestrained greed. On both cases though, the intent is the servicing of one’s own interest first and foremost, by neglecting the needs of the Ethiopian people at large. The question then becomes whether greed is that different an aspiration from what "profit motive" entails? Or, whether "profit motive"is that different an intent of action than the intention that a greedy person harbors deep in his conscience?

Few weeks ago, I was of the conviction that greed and the "profit motive" are two separate aspects of a liberal capitalist market system. But now, I believe that, greed and the "profit motive" are the two faces of a single aspect of a liberal capitalist market system. In fact, greed and the "profit motive" are synonyms so close in action they’re almost interchangeable words. The "profit motive" is nothing more than the euphemistic description of what greed is all about. If you’re a person who is bent into choosing words carefully, you don’t say Adal is dead; you say Adal passed away ( I have forgiven myself for calling upon the inevitable sooner than most of us wish). In the same manner, you call greed the "profit motive" to make it sound acceptable.

The "profit motive" has been made benign to the extent that very few of us have raised our hands to question the goodness it all, let alone daringly to call for the imprisonment of those who are profiting unscrupulously by keeping the essential goods of life out of the market. We are acting in such a manner, in part, because of our misconception that greed is something that does have little to do with the "profit motive," while it’s really what the "profit motive" entails. What the "profit motive" entails comes as the result of the intent to benefit from everything and anything that is being consumed in ways that maximizes the moneyed interest of the "entrepreneur." Consequently, " profit motive" becomes the prelude to greed rather than that which promotes the good of the whole as it has been portrayed.

Greed is profound where the free exercise of the "profit motive" is the singular article of faith, and also where government regulation is rejected as impediment to what would be other wise " life changing market system." Fighting greed is a " catch-22" venture for a "third world" government such as ours. A government such as ours is torn between having to regulate and deregulate the same market system by two opposing forces. Forces within Ethiopia may rightfully ask a segment of the market to be highly regulated, while outside forces with some support from within Ethiopia are quick to point out that it is counter productive to do so.

The highly inflated price of grains, housing, and numerous commodities is the result of the "profit motive" going awry to greed in a market with few serious restraining regulations. If a certain grain is to be set aside till the price for it reaches the highest acceptable one for the holder, then, the trouble of paying the price being asked for that grain will be incomprehensible. Consequently, the Ethiopian consumer that stretches in its ability from minuscule to a nil purchasing power will suffer, and that should not happen under any circumstance. The "profit motive" seen from this vantage point is thus the giant burden of the Ethiopian economy that EPRDF should pay serious attention to.

There is also the sleeping giant "profit motive" that may vitiate EPRDF’s planned objectives- the men and women who join the front not so much for the love of their people and country but for their own calculated interest. These fellow Ethiopians may end up hurting our people and country more so than others for they are shielded by many layers of organizational and some other formal covers.

Ethiopia is at a crossroad, where curbing the degree of corruption drastically is a must do immediate course of action, before the sleeping giant "profit motive" is braided into a crushing chain of economic and political disaster. As a citizen of Ethiopia, I am earnestly asking EPRDF, to have a thorough rectification movement of some sort, to rid of itself, from those impersonators whose primary aim and interest is the betterment of their own life.

The nature of how democratic we’re as a society will be tested from now on by how far we go to facilitate the means of empowering, to the millions sons and daughters of the farmers of Ethiopia. EPRDF should not be the abode of those who are eager to first and foremost care for themselves, since EPRDF’s democratic endeavor is in essence mainly embedded in its commitment to furnish these sons and daughters of Ethiopia the choice to free themselves from a perpetual cycle of depriving stationary life. If we fail, as premier Meles asserted a while ago; it is worth doing a second round of a revolution. But then again, I would argue that, it is easier for EPRDF to rid itself of those who are backpedaling the movement by having a hidden "profit motive" than going back to do another round of a revolution.