Corruption: if it were home

Bigamy (having more than one wife) is a crime in Canada and United States. I wonder why Canada should allow homosexuality but ban polygamy. Since I am neither their citizen nor a law-maker, I therefore leave the matters as they are.

One Anthony Owens, 35, who was a traveling minister, served two years in prison on bigamy charges. This happened after four women testified that he proposed to them. Before then, he had divorced eight wives he had married before going to prison.

I still remember my own rave and rant at Paul Wolfowitz, the former World Bank President. Now it has come to the agora that the man is done. For it is the history that he shamefully hit the road last June. This, if anything, has, for the first time, touched the world. The Holier-than-thou behaviour that the Western world applies on others this time did not save Wolfowitz. One thing though is important: the White House shamelessly stood behind this disgraceful cash cow for his girlfriend. This indeed is a first step towards equal-accountability in World Bank’s circles. Such a marionette supported by white house succumbed before the pressure exerted especially by Europe.

What would one expect if Wolfowitz were an employee of our financial institutions at home in Dar, Kampala and Nairobi? I think he would have survived just like one former Tanzanian Attorney General, Andrew Chenge, who ruined the country but is still a powerful minister in the current scam-laden regime! This is how I view it. It is not necessarily right though: I may be right given to the situation at home speaks volumes. How many Wolfowitzs do we have in our offices? This is your home work today.

Today’s epistle is no common though. I will be jumping from one issue to another. This is how I have decided to write today.

Nearly a third of Canadians see themselves as workaholics and they are more likely than others to be dissatisfied with their work-life balance, says a Statistic Canada study released recently. The study, ‘Time escapes me: Workaholics and time perception,’ found that nearly one-third, or 31 per cent of Canadians aged 19 to 64 identify themselves as workaholics. About 39 per cent of self-identified workaholics reported that they work more than 50 hours a week. Only 20 per cent of non-workaholics reported working that amount of time.

A full 65 per cent of workaholics, however, expressed concern that they do not spend enough time with family and friends. Only 45 per cent of non-workaholics reported this worry. As well, 56 per cent reported that they did not have time for fun. Only 34 per cent of non-workaholics said they felt the same way.

If this research were conducted in any African country, the term workaholics would change into anti-workaholic. The figure for work dodgers would swell. Africa has a leaf to take here shall we ambitiously deign to advance and prosper.


By Nkwazi Mhango
Mhango is a Tanzanian living in Canada. He is a Journalist, Teacher, Human Rights activist and member of the Writers' Alliance of New Found land and Labrador (WANL)

Sources The Citizen Jan. 6, 2008.

The African Executive Magazine Issue no. 140