In Sweden corruption is regarded as a rather delicate issue, but it did not have to be. During all the years that I have spent in Mocambique - or other African countries for that matter - there has always been a slightly hesitant feeling from Sweden regarding how to react when corruption is exposed. Quite often it has been covered up. And that can never be justified since it is a betrayal towards the Swedish tax payers who in the end are those footing the bill for Swedish foreign aid. I have had the distinct feeling that those responsible among the Swedish politicians and civil servants seem to be under the hypocritical impression that you have to count with some losses. That is despicable! If you do not react you condone the fraud. Swedish civil servants, quite often employed by the Swedish International Development Agency, have frequently proven themselves to lack the moral courage needed to speak up.

However, there is another perspective to this discussion, which is far more important. The Swedish Minister for International Development Cooperation Gunilla Carlsson writes on Newsmill, a Swedish news site, about what has happened in Zambia. Among many other things she states that "[Poverty] and corruption often go hand in hand. At the same time corruption is an expression- as well as a result of underdevelopment [...]".

Well. I try to find something in the article that proves that she is aware of what corruption is really about. I cannot find it. Either she is silent against her better judgment or she does not understand the context. If the latter is the case her position as Minister is in doubt.

If you discuss corruption it is important to stick to the fundamentals: Follow the money. The very same thing that "Deep Throat" urged Woodward and Bernstein to do when they started their long investigation about Watergate. In the end it resulted in President Nixon having to resign. Follow the money! And that is exactly what we need to do as well.

Because it takes two hands for corruption to exist. Certainly a hand that receives the money and puts them in its pocket. But it starts with the hand that is willing to give the bribe in order to gain advantages.

In this context it is important for me to make a short reflection: How come corruption did not exist at all when a country like Mocambique was liberated from Portuguese colonialism in 1974 and 1975? Nor did it exist during the ten years that followed. And many of the Swedish people who lived and worked in the country at that time can testify that that is true. So what made the Mocambiqan society become infected with the disease we know as corruption?

There is not one single answer to such a complex issue. However, one thing is important to establish. We brought the corruption with us. The Mocambiqans could see what we did. They could see how wealthy foreign experts were able to make the goose lay its golden eggs. And that at a time when the poverty in the country was extreme. Hence, we were very much involved in polluting a society with a more trivial corruption than the one that means that millions and millions are lost.

This is undoubtedly a moral dilemma. One time my car was stolen in Maptuo, the capital of Mocambique. A car that was found by the police, to everyone's amazement. When I went to the Police Station to pick up my car I knew what would be expected of me. In order to get my car back I would have to pay a "tax" to the policemen who found the car. I paid half of the amount that they demanded. The policemen moaned and sighed. But when I threatened them with going public they gave me my car back. If I am stopped on my way to Teatro Avenida by a traffic policeman who takes forever to find something wrong with the car, which naturally does not exist, it would be easy for me to give him some money so that I can continue.  On some occasions I have done just that. But most often I manage to prevent myself from taking the easy way out.

The "small" corruption is a result of the "big" corruption. The people do what their leaders do. Not the other way around. The corruption that primarily must be fought is the one that the political elite of a country is involved in. And the money involved normally comes from big corporations based in the US or in Europe or - as it is nowadays - in China or India. They are the ones who are willing to hand out the bribe.

Thus, it is with ourselves we have to begin. Especially when we are dealing with poor countries where the structures of society are too weak to be able to resist the temptation.

That discussion should be as important to the EU as finding ways to prevent the horrendous bonuses of greedy bank managers.

This is what I hope Gunilla Carlsson will focus on now that Sweden is able to decide the agenda for EU during the next couple of months.

Use the time well!

Henning Mankell

PS. On previous occasions I have tried to invite Gunilla Carlsson to visit Teatro Avenida in Maputo. To see a play and discuss Swedish foreign aid in the country. I would now like to extend that invitation yet again. DS.