Reorientating Values: An Ethical Approach to Combating Corruption in Africa

Abstract

In Africa, as the consequences of corruption become more tragic, people still have increasing tendencies towards material gains. For these reasons, the issues of corruption and materialism have become a great concern due to their adverse effects. However, the need to explain the role of values and ethics in shaping and moderating individual or collective behavior becomes more imperative. This is because existing anti-corruption efforts in Africa aim at institutional reform and positive measures, with a limited understanding of how value reorientation can be used to prevent corruption in Africa. It becomes important to address how reoriented values can be used in combating corruption in Africa. The relevant question here may be: In the course of teaching socio-civic education, can ethical reorientation be used to reduce the trouble created by corruption as a result of materialism? This question becomes relevant based on individual, societal activities, and human relations. This paper focuses on clarifying corruption and materialism to root out the usefulness and practicability of ethical re-orientation in tackling corruption in Africa. The methodology of approach is conceptual clarification, which is the format into which philosophical explanations are fitted for proper presentation. The paper affirms that ethical reorientation can be used to build a society where individuals lead a kind of life that promotes the welfare of others. The justification tenets are that ethics, as a facilitator of civil activities, concerns itself with what makes actions or policies right or wrong and describes how things ought to be.