Few years ago, truth be told, I wouldn’t be in the position to sincerely implore Nigerians, Africans or just about anybody to take a case such as that of the Panama Papers seriously owing to the futility of efforts to make fellow citizens to be aware of the existence of corrupt practices. But few years later, I now belong to the school of thought that Nigerians should give the leaks such as the Panama Papers more seriously.
Leak or whistleblowing
I first heard of Panama Papers on CNN and responses from those indicted suggested that their opposition to the revelations were largely based on the way the documents were leaked. Initially the documents were said to have been whistle-blown but the latest explanation pitched it as a leak masterminded by the United States government-owned Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) which was recently the focus of recent altercations with Apple over privacy and encryption matters.
Those accusing the United States government of its involvement in the Panama Papers leak include the Russian government and several others. Followers of developments in the whistleblowing space would understand why Russia pointed accusing fingers at the US. It could be a payback for Russia’s decision to provide a safe haven to American whistleblower Edward Snowden. That’s just by the way, let’s focus on what truly matters – Africa’s response.
While the revelations recorded in the Panama Papers didn’t really reveal anything surprisingly new about African leaders, it however brings the way that stealing Africa’s collective wealth are legally going about hiding their ill-gotten wealth – and why it’s been very difficult for those trying them to get affirmative convictions.
Africa’s deafening silence
Many African leaders have been indicted including South African president, Nigeria’s Senate President and top leaders in Ghana, Kenya and elsewhere – yet citizens are not taking to the streets to protest and to demand for the resignation of indicted officials as they did in Iceland. Nigeria’s and South Africa’s cases are probably the most interesting considering the fact that the top indicted officials are already being investigated and tried for corrupt practices yet they continue to hold public places and are somehow in charge of the system that is expected to try them.
One of the consensual reasons why many Africans are less worried about the Panama Papers is their “nothing new” appearance.
“It’s not a new thing that our leaders are corrupt, we all know that they are corrupt. We are just hoping that some of them will be moderately corrupt,” a Nigerian observer said.
“The vast nature of the corruption in the African system is another reason why it pays to be quiet. We’ve had cases where there are obvious evidences yet the accused was not convicted. Corruption has swallowed the entire system. Even the judges are corrupt, so what do you expect?”
Bigger fishes to fry
In addition to haplessness of the citizens in the fight against corruption, the citizens also have bigger challenges to contend with – challenges such as putting food on the table, security, potable water and getting the basic things of life.
“You cannot protest on an empty stomach. Even when you have food in your stomach, you wouldn’t want to waste that energy on protests that may not yield any results since the people named in the Panama Papers are the ones that will make the policies. We also have trigger-happy law enforcement officers that disperse protests with live bullets and are on the payroll of the corrupt and powerful rich men and women in the society.”
Even when people are scared to protest, the social media platforms are available to air the views and opinions of the citizens – yet Panama Papers only trended in few African cities suggesting that it is not a topic that everyone wants to talk about. On the overall, the circumstances surrounding Panama Papers in Africa is a clear picture depicting how Africans now see the fight against corruption – a lost cause that is off course – but all hope is not lost.
There are brilliant attempts to make Africans see why they should be concerned about the Panama Papers, one of such is the video below entitled The Panama Papers: Victims of Offshore. Watch it and let it sink in. Even if we fail to act, future generations will have something to act on since they are the real victims of offshore and onshore corruption.
