Why Does Corruption Persist in the Middle East? Implications for Businesses and Higher Education

Why Does Corruption Persist in the Middle East? Implications for Businesses and Higher Education Institutions Published on October 13, 2019

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Ali Mansouri Writer, Researcher, Consultant

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"Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once."

Caesar, in Julius Caesar, Act II, scene ii, by William Shakespeare.

There have recently been some troubles and violent demonstrations in many countries in the Middle-East, including some oil-rich countries, against unemployment, corruption, poverty, and lack of basic services. Corruption has always been an epidemic in the Middle East and has been a major source of unrest and problems. There have also been many good analyses and discussions of corruption, but there are many very important areas that are hardly touched on or are completely ignored by these analyses and discussions. We will try to briefly touch on these areas which, we believe, need to be tackled if we are serious about combating corruption and its negative impact on all aspects of life, especially in the Middle East.

Superstitions The Middle East is rich in superstitions, some of which contribute directly to corruption.

Some corrupt businessmen like Abood Al-Sawafi, Hamed Al-Hajri, and Sheikh Abdullah AlHarthy wash their faces with camel’s urine and drink it for divine blessings. They think that camel’s urine will give them health and increase their wealth! Some mistakenly believe that stealing from the Government or the company they work for is a sign of “cleverness” and “bravery” and even a divine duty because all the governments, according to them, are nonIslamic and illegitimate. Regrettably, such people with pervert mentality and heads full of superstitions and nonsense are found in many countries in the Middle East. They are powerful and in control of many resources and financial means in the public and private sectors. So how can we expect corruption to come to an end by itself without a fierce fight against it?

Corrupt Governments Most, if not all, of the governments in the Middle East, are corrupt governments bearing in mind that the Corruption Perceptions Index 2018 of Transparency International reveals a very disturbing picture: almost all of the countries in the Middle East have scored less than 50% in this Index. This does not mean that everyone working for the government is corrupt. There are excellent citizens and very good public servants who are doing a great job of keeping their country going, though with broken legs. It means, however, that these governments are not doing enough to combat corruption either because they are unwilling or unable to do so or because its ministers, or at least some of them, and the politicians making up and supervising the government are themselves corrupt and protected by the privileges of their positions in the governments.

Immunity from Prosecution Corruption persists in the Middle East because corrupt people are “protected” by the public prosecutors who fear them and never dare to investigate their corruption, fraud, and thievery.

Corrupt officials and senior executives can do whatever they like and can steal money in different ways from the public sector or the private sector companies and institutions without being held accountable to anyone. They control almost everything in their companies and Page 2 of 8

organization as they control the two most important functions: administration and finance; though these two functions differ from one institution to another in terms of size and scope.

They also control, to a surprising degree, the public prosecutors everywhere in the country.

These prosecutors would turn against anyone who submits any corruption documents or try to file complaints against corrupt figures in the public or private sector. When I reported the corruption of Abood Al-Sawafi (former VC of A’Sharqiyah University) to Saif Al-Saltti, the Deputy Public Prosecutor in Ibra, Oman, he shamelessly said to me, “I am not concerned about the corruption of Abood Al-Sawafi; I am concerned about whether Abood Al-Sawafi has been insulted or not.” Imagine that! Can we really fight corruption with such a corrupt public prosecutor?!

Even if these prosecutors are given the authority and the power to investigate corruption of any sort, they are timid and afraid to investigate. A phone call from a powerful Sheikh like Abdullah Al-Harthy with or without a bribe is quite enough to stop the corruption investigation or divert its direction from the corrupt official like Abood Al-Sawafi to the person who submits the documents like the former Director of the Language Center and Foundation Program at A’Sharqiyah University in Oman. Corrupt officials and businessmen always act like thugs and bullies. They do not care about any laws, bylaws, charters or regulations in any public or private institutions. They always put themselves “above the law” because they have a bizarre immunity from prosecution! They are not held to account by anyone for anything illegal or harmful they have done to the company or institution or even the country.

There is, therefore, an urgent need to establish, in all the countries of the Middle East, strong and independent Anti-Corruption Commissions and Agencies with well-trained and wellselected special prosecutors specialized in local and international laws of corruption. These Anti-Corruption organizations and prosecutors must work independently from the police and the ordinary public prosecutors who may be themselves corrupt and cowards in many countries.

Corrupt Judiciary Corruption does not exist in a vacuum. It is usually committed by top officials and senior managers who cheat the systems of control and supervision and do not respect any laws or regulations. They are usually entrusted with a range of executive powers but they always betray this trust and go beyond these powers for selfish and wicked purposes.

Judges are human beings and most have families. They are mostly appointed by the governments as civil servants. They depend upon their work as judges for living. So they are under enormous pressure from many sides to pass the judgments in favor of the government or the Sheikh with daggers or Sheikh with swords! Many of these judges are timid and many are scared to death to lose their jobs and be sacked by the government. Some are even afraid of being assassinated or murdered by some powerful corrupt politicians and Sheikhs.

If two ordinary citizens or expatriates have a legal dispute before these judges, they may then pass judgment as they see fit and fair in the light of the evidence and the documents available to them in the court. There is no problem here to be fair and just. But when one of the parties involved in the dispute or case, especially if it is a corruption case, is a Sheikh or a powerful businessman or an influential politician, then the judgment will certainly be in favor of the Page 3 of 8

powerful Sheikh or businessman. It is enough for a top official in the government or a Sheikh with a dagger to call the public prosecutor or judge to “command” him to pass the judgment he wants. To talk about the independence of the judiciary in most of the countries of the Middle East is utter nonsense! I have first-hand experience of this sad reality with the Courts in Ibra, Oman and I will talk about it in detail in the future. For the time being, I would like to refer to my article, “CNN Freedom Project: Are These LinkedIn Articles a Cyber Crime?!” published on LinkedIn on 14 March 2018 for some information and insights.

Repression Most, if not all, the governments of the Middle East are repressive governments. There is no real opposition or democracy in any country and anyone writing about corruption or criticizing the government or the corrupt officials and businessmen for anything or for lack of seriousness in the fight against corruption will be severely punished or jailed for long terms.

There is very little or no freedom of expression in any real sense. Most of those who write and interact in the social media inside the country praise the governments for their fictional “great achievements” or are simply mercenaries or hired agents and spies. Those who write and criticize the governments from outside their countries are labeled as “traitors” or “foreign agents” or even “terrorists” just to discredit them and to frighten those who are inside the country from joining them.

There is another dimension for repression in the Middle East. Many countries enter into “security pacts” or agreements to chase their citizens when they opt to fight corruption in their home countries. These governments do not get together to fight corruption but to chase and fight those brave citizens and even expatriates who have chosen to write about corruption out of their experience as expatriate professionals in these countries. With such an atmosphere of repression and corruption even at the government level, how can we reasonably expect these governments to fight corruption?

Culture of Fear There is a very widespread culture of fear in most, if not all, the countries of the Middle East.

There are experts and specialists whose jobs are to advise the government and its agencies on how to control the citizens and the expatriates. Most citizens are concerned about their daily lives and struggle very hard to provide for their families. They are brought up to fear all “sources of authority”, especially the police, the security people, and their bosses a large number of whom work for the intelligence service, the security service, and other agencies and organizations that work diligently to control the population and suppress any form of criticism or dissent. So you can hardly find anyone criticizing, in public, the government or any official for any bad or failed project or corruption, but many people curse their own government and all its officials without mercy in private. They are too frightened to criticize or find fault with anyone or anything and they give you false excuses for their fear such as politeness and civility and for the sake of safety for themselves and their families. This is for the nationals. As for the expatriates, you do not need to do much to control them. They are self-controlled: they are too timid and too afraid to say anything or comment on anything.

They are too scared even to utter in public the name of the king or the name of their boss at work for fear of giving a bad impression and then losing their job. Their slogan is “just keep silent and shut up to keep your job”! They are too frightened to even read my articles or utter my name on campus at A’Sharqiyah University! How do we expect the countries of the Page 4 of 8

Middle East to achieve progress and prosperity when they treat their citizens and expatriates as sheep to be easily slaughtered when they make a noise? How does anyone expect corruption to stop and violence to end in such an unbelievable atmosphere of fear?! We need an overhaul “repair” of everything before we can succeed in fighting corruption. We need a real cultural revolution to encourage everyone to speak up their minds and say what they think or suggest to improve how things are to be done without fear or intimidation or harassment.

There is hardly any freedom of expression, academic or non-academic, of any sort at work The moment you disagree with your boss or give a different opinion, you should expect your work contract to be terminated or not renewed even if you are right and your opinions are in line with the official standards and guidelines and even if your skills and services are badly needed by your company or institution.

It is a very sad fact of life in many countries in the Middle East that people are brought up or even “instructed” not to think for themselves. Many governments, local officials and senior managers of all sorts and ranks would tell you, “We do not want you to think. We will think for you!” How disgusting! It is the more disgusting when people with this rotten mentality creep up into very influential positions in the educational system and in colleges and universities. You meet a corrupt dean of a college or a corrupt Vice-Chancellor like Abood Al-Sawafi or a corrupt Assistant Vice-Chancellor like Hamed Al-Hajri who would, in a vulgar and uncivilized language, tell you this to your face in official meetings!

There is no choice for you: Either you do things exactly as you are dictated to or you lose your job! There is no other option. The problem gets worse when you know, and they know, that what they are telling you is completely wrong, futile and even against the official policies and regulations of the higher education system. They should be ashamed of themselves for their vulgarity and uncivilized behavior.

Zero Mechanisms In most of the countries of the Middle East, there are no independent agencies or nongovernmental organizations to which you can report corruption without fear of retaliation from corrupt people. All the existing agencies and organizations are formed by the governments and supervised by them. They are there not to sincerely fight corruption but just to report those who may criticize the governments or the top officials. The public do not have trust in the anti-corruption commissions or agencies widely publicized by the governments and local newspapers because they know these commissions and agencies are really traps to catch anyone who challenges the status quo or they are there just as a formality to persuade the public and international investors that the government is really serious in its fight against corruption. You can hardly find any international organization or commission within or outside the UN which works against corruption freely and independently in the Middle East.

All of these countries claim that the work of such organizations is “interference into their own internal affairs”. This is utter nonsense. These organizations greatly help in eliminating, or at least reducing, corruption when it exists. So why are the governments and businessmen afraid and do not want independent anti-corruption commissions and agencies in their countries if they are clean and do not have anything to hide?!

Fighting Corruption

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Desperate people do desperate things. When you take away the rights of people and deprive them of their human rights and of the opportunity to live a decent human life with basic services because of corruption, fraud, and thievery, then you should expect them to fight you with all possible means even with a naked chest! This is what is happening nowadays in some countries in the Middle East where the fight against corruption uses rudimentary and violent means as most countries lack the mechanisms and the organizations through which people can fight corruption in a democratic and civilized manner.

We condemn all sorts of violence against anyone or against any institution or property: public or private. But as we always say: “Prevention is better than Cure”. Give people their rights as human beings and as employees in order to avoid troubles and problems; otherwise, you will be forced to take bitter medicines and remedies.

It is a grave misconception for corrupt people to think that they can do anything they want and get away with it, including the abuse of power and the termination of work contracts. If you mistreat your employees and try to smash them and their families, then you should expect them to fight back to the bitter end and try to smash you and smash all those who back you in your corruption. As you wanted to smash them mercilessly, they will try to smash you in the same way. This is what Abood Al-Sawafi, Hamed Al-Hajri, and Abdullah Al-Harthy should understand without any ambiguity.

Implications for Businesses and HE Institutions Employees in companies, higher education institutions, and elsewhere should be treated as human beings and to be given all their rights and dues. They need to live a decent human life in order not to make problems and troubles or sabotage the organization or its strategic goals.

Corruption does not exist in a vacuum. It is usually committed by senior managers who cheat the systems of control and supervision and do not respect any laws or regulations. They are usually entrusted with a range of executive powers but they always betray this trust and go beyond these powers for selfish and wicked purposes.

As we all know, corruption can be reduced, avoided or eliminated if we take care of two important things: the systems and the people who operate these systems. The systems must be effective and the people who operate them must be honest and efficient. If one of these two things is missing, then we should expect deception and corruption. This is why we have scandals and persistent corruption in businesses and higher education institutions. In many companies and higher education institutions, there are hardly any systems or mechanisms to regulate operations and report corruption to higher educational authorities. Corrupt top executives and senior managers like Abood Al-Sawafi and Hamed Al-Hajri at A’Sharqiyah University in Oman have taken advantage of this absence of systems and mechanisms and have manipulated this unfavorable work environment for their selfish interests and to get rid of anyone who differs with them in opinion or tries to stand on their way of corruption, fraud, and thievery. There are certainly some people in the Board of Directors, the Board of Trustees, and the Ministry of Higher education in Oman who offer them protection and cover-up when they steal or make blunders. Without this protection and cover-up, Abood AlSawafi and Hamed Al-Hajri would not have been able to continue with their reckless, mafialike actions of deception and conspiracies and would not have been inflicting heavy damages on the University’s reputation and infrastructure.

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They indulge in a very unprofessional behavior of deception, cheating, and lying, especially to the University teachers, students and members of staff. They never give correct and accurate information or respect teachers’ rights as specified in their work contracts. For them, the qualities of honesty, fairness, and justice do not exist in their lives or jobs. What is really regrettable is the additional cover-up provided by the Director of the Internal Audit Unit at the University. This Unit should report all the forgery, irregularities, and corruption to the Board of Directors but it has been silenced by Hamed Al-Hajri who fully controls the Unit and threatens everyone with the non-renewal of their work contracts if they ever reveal anything about his forgery and bribery. He is directly in charge of this unit due to his position as the Assistant VC for Administration and Finance.

When teachers and employees are unfairly treated or their rights are taken away, they would do a great deal of harm to the company or institution. They can damage the reputation and spoil the image of the organization in different ways; sometimes beyond repairs. The best

approach for managing people in businesses and organizations is, therefore, to be fair, objective and consistent following the codes of work ethics, moral values and international standards of management practice. Only bad, stupid, incompetent, reckless executives and senior managers like Abood Al-Sawafi, Hamed Al-Hajri, and Abdullah Al-Harthy who behave like mules do not understand this fact.

Conclusions Corruption is one of the major problems facing the Middle East and the world nowadays. It is very widespread and it penetrates every aspect of our lives and all sectors. It is destroying peace and stability and all sorts of daily activities. Life has been on hold for many years in many regions. It really hurts and makes us sad when the government announced policy is on one side of the valley and the real problem is on the other side. The policy is largely on paper only and the corrupt people get stronger and more powerful instead of being punished.

Demonstrators do not take to the streets in the Middle East because they are poor or there are just bad services or no electricity. Poverty, bad services, shortage of electricity, unemployment, are just symptoms. These people demonstrate against corruption which is the root cause of almost all the problems in these and other countries. Following the same argument, we do not write because we have lost our jobs or our work contracts have not been renewed. This is a grave misconception and false representation of the facts. We write against corruption and corrupt businessmen and senior executives like Abood Al-Sawafi and Hamed Al-Hajri because we strongly believe that corruption is a real danger everywhere and it is without borders: it negatively impacts everyone’s life and future even if they do not live in the same country.

Fighting corruption has become a very popular slogan among governments, officials, politicians, and others to promote their agendas, interests and consolidate their powers. We support all sincere efforts to fight corruption but we can very easily detect that these efforts are short-sighted and lack a coherent strategy to prevent corruption before it occurs: “Prevention is better than cure.” There is an urgent need for effective strategies, mechanisms, and procedures within well-defined systems that strictly block any corruption. We need to tackle the root causes of corruption as well as its symptoms; otherwise, it will persist forever.

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There is a well-known saying in Arabic: “Let the dog stay hungry so that it will follow you all the time.” But there is another saying, more powerful: “The dog may eat its owner if it does not find anything to eat.”

Beware of the hungry when they get desperate!

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