missionary bribes

The article on missionary bribes was thought provoking. It is certainly worth pointing out that local advice from Christians is always worth pursuing. When I was in Tanzania the Anglican church took a stance against the giving of bribes, even those that were payments to facilitate things happening quickly.

It was often the case that hospital workers could not 'find' the results of examinations unless money changed hands. The doctors were generally honest - and some were horrified to find out that this took place, but the lower workers were very poorly paid and they controlled access to the files.

I recall waiting a long time to clear containers through the ports too as while the church was prepared to pay customs and import duties where they were required it did not want to pay workers just to do what they were supposed to do.

The question of granting visas was also mentioned. I made regular visits to immigration in Dar es Salaam on behalf of missionaries waiting to come out to Tanzania. I was never required to offer a bribe. However, on one occasion when I knew that visas were inexplicably taking over a year to be processed for church workers, I asked the official how long the visa was likely to take. "Ah!" he said, "there is a problem." "What problem?", I replied. "Well, to start a new application we need to open a file, and we have to put the papers in a manilla folder, and we have no manilla folders". Further enquiry established that there had been very little government money coming in to the department and that was the hold-up. So I asked if they could process it if I brought them a manilla folder. "Oh, yes. No problem". I went straight to the stationers, bought a pack of 50 and suggested they process a few more applications at the same time. The visa only took about 2 weeks!

There is always a temptation to pay a bribe just to make a 'problem' go away, but we tried to be honest in all our dealings. Once, a house-girl took my wife to a tribunal for unfair dismissal. It was clear from the official that a sufficient payment would make the case disappear, but fortunately we never got that far as a Tanzanian friend went round to the girl's house and pointed out that it was hardly 'unfair' as he could see the things she had stolen from us.

On another occasion an immigration official came to tell us our eldest child would not be able to continue at school without paying for a separate student visa, even though she was on our visas and had a right of residency. The visa was over £200 at that time and many expatriates just paid up as we were threatened with our own visas being withdrawn unless we complied. That was one time when I really had to cry out to God for help as I could not see the justice of it. We were willing to pay if it was a legal requirement, but nothing I could find gave me to believe it was. In the end I was vindicated when an undercover police operation exposed the official for fraud. The visa requirement was a scam to get cash for himself - he issued duplicate receipts from a book with similar numbers and paid the government a small percentage of his take and kept the rest for himself.

Another time I came up against officialdom was when I was involved in an accident and a child was knocked down and killed. I had followed correct procedure for the country at that time by reporting at the nearest traffic police post that I could find. I was taken back to the police for the region where the accident had occurred and once the other officers had left I was told in English (though we had been speaking Swahili) "I am taking you to court". This was clearly intended as a request for a bribe, and the officer was somewhat frustrated as I didn't react the way he expected. I ended up with my passport confiscated and about 6 months of travelling to and fro to several sittings of the court case - entailing a days journey in each direction and one or two overnight stays for me and a diocesan official and the lawyer I had to engage. Even then I was not sure what the outcome of the court case would be as I was still unwilling to pay a bribe. I was eventually acquitted of causing death by dangerous driving when a witness gave evidence that I had not been driving too fast (and he was related to the boy that was killed). Having got my acquittal signed I did then give a gift payment to the judge and a compensation payment to the boy's family as both the Diocesan Secretary and the lawyer indicated that this was an appropriate gesture. Most of the expatriates that I knew thought I was mad to have gone to court rather than pay a bribe (some even thought I was mad to report it in the first place), but I knew that it was the right thing for me to do.

See: article on bribes

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  • I totally agree, in 10 years in Uganda we have not paid a bribe. We too have a policy of not paying people to do things they should do. When some officials ask for money for fuel we either put fuel in their vehicle or take them to the site in our vehicle. A few things take a little longer but our consciences are clear

    Alan
  • Thanks for sharing your stories, Ian. I'm sure it will be a real encouragement to others to do the right thing. The legacy we leave is not how quickly we got things done but how we acted in the process.

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