Chapter 4: Anti Corruption

After practising the activities in this chapter, you should be able to:

1. Know about different types of corruption.
2. Form personal opinions based on media accounts.
3. Use connective and interrogative clauses.
4. Carry out a survey on people’s attitudes.
5. Use modal verbs.
6. Use direct and indirect speech.
7. Appreciate a manifesto.
8. Use the future tense to write a manifesto.
9. Construct and use a template.

Keywords
manifesto
dishonesty
phenomenon
criminal
attitudinal

Introduction

In this chapter, you will learn about Anti-corruption, the dangers of corruption and talk about their dangers. It is important to know what corruption is and understand its destructive nature. Corruption needs to be stopped, and this can only be done by citizens who refuse to become part of the circle of corruption.

Different forms of corruption

Corruption is a form of dishonesty and a criminal offence. It is a social evil that leads to
dishonesty and personal gain. It occurs in most countries, in the judiciary system, business, politics, government, law enforcement, education, the healthcare system, and in the country’s administration. Any corruption is criminal, but the worst is the denial of justice to those who need it most.

Citizenship and patriotism will help us all become aware of the environmental and health concerns of our country, help us to tackle the socio-economic challenges fairly and make sure everyone is involved in keeping our country corruption free

Cause and effect

When you talk about a situation that makes another situation happen, you talk
about cause and effect.
You can use because, due to, since, consequently, as a result, and as to talk about causes and effects.

Activity 4.1 Brainstorm
Work in groups.

1. Brainstorm what corruption is. Use the questions below to help you.
   What do you know about corruption?
   What causes corruption?
   What are the effects of corruption?
   How can health services and education be affected by corruption?
   How you and your family can be affected by corruption.
2. Research the different types of corruption, and make a list of them.
3. Take turns to tell your class what your group discovered.

Activity 4.2 Identify different forms of corruption
Work on your own.

1. Listen to a recorded text about corruption.
2. Discuss the questions about the recorded text.
   Make a list of the examples of corruption that are mentioned in the recorded text.
   According to the text, what is the most common form of corruption?
   How do people who work with government tenders commit corruption?
   How do corrupt officials’ activities impact road safety?
   Who ends up paying for corruption? Explain your answer.
3. Write the answers to the questions in your exercise book.
4. Exchange books with a partner to mark each other’s work.

Activity 4.3 Use appropriate vocabulary related to corruption
Work on your own and in groups.

1. On your own, write down all the words related to corruption that you
2. Share your list with your group, adding new words to your own list. Share your group list with the class.
3. Share your opinions of corruption with your group. Do you all feel more or less the same about corruption? If not, on what aspects do you differ?
4. In your exercise book, write your own opinions on corruption, using the new vocabulary.
5. Exchange books with a partner to mark each other’s work.

Activity 4.4 Find reports on corruption and form your own opinions on
these accounts
Work in groups and on your own.

1. Use the local newspaper and the Internet to find reports on corruption in
   Uganda.
2. Look through at least two reports on corruption. Discuss what you have learnt from the reports.
3. Summarise the information from the reports.
4. Make a list of the examples of corruption you have read about. Sort them into the types of corruption they represent.
5. Work on your own. Write two paragraphs on corruption in your country.
   Share your work with the class.

General attitudes towards corruption
Not all people regard corruption as a serious offence. Some people think that it is a person’s good fortune to be appointed to a high position and to be able to enrich themselves and provide opportunities for members of their family to be appointed to posts with good salaries.

What is your opinion on corruption? Can it be justified that individuals enrich themselves from the hard-earned money that others themselves, mainly at bor expense of the poor people who have the greatest need of government support?
Do you believe such people should be punished for their actions?

Activity 4.5 Read about corruption in your country, and express opinions
on the phenomenon
Work in groups.

1. Read newspaper articles or website articles on corruption. It could be about a person who was imprisoned because of being found guilty of corruption or embezzlement of public funds.
2. Discuss the corruption mentioned in the articles.
   Does this form of corruption occur widely in our country?
   Give examples of the corruption you have read about.
   Should corruption be punished? Give reasons for your answer.

3. Each group is to report their opinions to the class.

Connective clauses

A clause is a group of words that contains at least a subject and a verb.

• A main (independent) clause can stand on its own as a complete sentence. For example:
  I will play in the football match on Saturday.
• A subordinate (dependent) clause also has a subject and a verb, but
  cannot stand alone as a sentence. For example: if I can find my football boots.
• A connective clause is a subordinate clause that is connected to the main clause by pronouns (whose, which, who, whom) or conjunctions (and, or, but, although, etc.) For example:
  who stole a great deal of money from his company,

This is a dependent clause because it needs a main clause to make sense. The use of who in the dependent clause makes it a connective clause. For example:
The corrupt financial officer, who stole a great deal of money from his company, appeared in court last week.

Activity 4.6 Use connective clauses to react to media articles
Work on your own.
1. Read the extract from a report on corruption.

Corruption includes the private use of public resources, bribery, and improper favouritism by those who should serve their country. Many African countries have slid down the corruption slope in recent years.
This downward trend in ranking represents an increase in corruption, which will steadily increase the suffering of the poor. Recent scandals that have surfaced in several countries since 2016 have drawn the world’s attention to corruption in Africa.

Some countries have a robust anti-corruption framework, but laws are inadequately enforced and accountability in public sectors such as healthcare, remains low. In others, negative sanctions have been put in place to discourage whistle-blowers from reporting corrupt activities in both the public and private sectors. Complaints against leaders include their lavish spending of state funds, which they treat as their own private source of income.

2. Rewrite the extract in your exercise book.
Underline the main clauses in the extract.
Draw a circle around the connective clauses in the extract.
In pairs, take turns to explain a connective clause, using the circled words in the extract as examples.
Write three sentences, each containing a main clause and a connective clause.
Exchange books with your partner and mark each other’s work.

Activity 4.7 Role-play court appearances of people accused of corruption
Work in groups.

1. Designate roles to each learner of your group: judge or magistrate, accused, state prosecutor, and attorney for the defence of the accused.
2. Select a corruption charge from the list provided:
   a traffic officer accepting bribes
   a government official awarding a tender to a family member who does not satisfy the criteria for it
   a clerk who has created ghost beneficiaries of state funding, with the money being paid into the clerk’s own account

• someone in the education department creating false appointments of teachers who are paid a salary, but do not really exist, to get hold of the extra money
• a business person that accepts a tender to deliver books to schools, asks for an advance, and then does not deliver the books.

2. Formulate the charge that has been laid, which will be presented by the prosecutor. The accused must plead guilty or not guilty. The attorney for the defence must prepare his or her client’s defence. The prosecutor must prepare a few questions to ask the accused, and the accused must be prepared to answer the questions. The judge may ask additional questions to get more information

3. Take turns presenting the role-plays to the class.

Activity 4.8 Complete a dialogue
Work in pairs.
1. Copy and complete the dialogue in your exercise book. Use interrogative clauses and differ politely with the opinion expressed.
Bbati: Corruption is part of business practice. How else can one make it easy for people to do business?
Achen:
Bbati: But what else is there to do? People who work for the government or big business are surely entitled to a share of the profits!
Achen:
Bbati: What is the good of having a senior position if you don’t use it to make more money?
Achen:

2. Exchange books with another pair, and mark each other’s work.

Activity 4.9 Carry out an attitudinal survey
Work in groups.

1. What questions should you ask, to find out what a person’s attitude to something is?
2. Draw up a questionnaire for an attitudinal survey on how corruption can be stopped in the community and the country. You may use the example below to start you off.
3. Create ten statements that have to be rated according to the rating scale you choose.
4. Exchange your questionnaire with another group. One group member reads the statements aloud, and all the members write down their ratings on a piece of paper, making sure not to write their names on their survey page.
5. Once the groups are finished, sort the answers from the survey pages collected.

Interrogative clauses
Interrogative clauses, like other main clauses, must have a subject and a verb.
The difference is that an interrogative clause asks a question. It can also be affirmative or negative.
For example:

• It is wrong to do this. (Declarative clause)
• Is it wrong to do this? (Interrogative, affirmative)
• Isn’t it wrong to do this? (Interrogative, negative)

Attitudinal survey on corruption
Please respond to each of the following statements, using the following rating scale:
5 = Strongly agree
4 = Agree
3 = Undecided
2 = Disagree
1 = Strongly disagree

1. Corruption should be treated as a crime against humanity

Direct and indirect speech
Find information in grammar books and on the Internet about direct and indirect (reported) speech. Here is a brief guideline/introduction.
Direct speech uses the exact words spoken. They are usually placed in inverted commas. For example:
“We are taking action to stop corruption,” said the minister.
When someone else (perhaps a journalist) reports what was said, the structure changes. We remove the inverted commas and call it indirect or reported speech. For example:
The minister said they were taking action to stop corruption.
The tense of the reported speech is determined by the introductory verb.
The reporter could also have said, The minister says they are taking action to stop corruption.

A manifesto

A manifesto is a written statement of beliefs, aims and policies. It is often issued by a political party or a candidate before an election. The purpose is to persuade voters to vote for them by offering them a manifesto that clearly states what the party/candidate wishes to achieve. It is also used to convince voters that the policy is their best option. The government can also issue a manifesto before making government posts available in schools, the local community or in the national government to make the criteria clear to the public and possible applicants. It is an important form of communication and is not necessarily a long document, just a brief declaration.

Future tense
A manifesto is written in the future tense because it is what a person or political party will do in the future. For example:
We will change things for the better.
We are going to change things for the better.

Passive voice
The passive voice is most often used in a manifesto, because it sounds more formal, and is less direct and personal. Look at the difference between the active voice and the passive voice:
Active voice: We will change things for the better.
Passive voice: Things will be changed for the better.
Active voice: We are going to change things for the better.
Passive voice: Things are going to be changed for the better.

A formal report

A formal report is usually written at the request of a committee or commission, but may also be the result of personal research, or the work of a whistleblower.
A ‘whistle blower’, is someone who has discovered corruption in an office or department, and has decided to make it public because it is in the public interest to reveal what is going on. A formal report usually needs:

• a title page
• an index
• terms of reference (the purpose of the report or instruction)
• the report under specific headings
• analysis and conclusions
• recommendations
• a reference list.