Corruption case studies

The following case studies are taken from the 2010 Tearfund Report: Corruption and Its Discontents – Assessing the impact of people living in poverty.

Zambia: ‘I was wrongly arrested and slapped with the wrong offence because I am a poor woman.’

‘I was wrongly arrested and slapped with the wrong offence, because I am a poor woman. ’The police told me ‘you know what to do’, but because I refused to oblige them, they locked me up in a cell. There were other women who were arrested at the same time as me. They let them go more quickly: I think the women did what they were asked to.

Mapolo, Ndola, Zambia – female respondent

Peru: ‘It is the end of my day and I am very busy. I cannot see to her.’

'I took my daughter-in-law to the hospital. She was really sick with appendicitis. She was initially taken to one hospital but then she was referred elsewhere because they needed to operate on her. When we arrived at the second hospital, the nurse who was supposed to be supervising her said to me: ‘It is the end of my day and I am very busy. I cannot see to her.’ I pleaded with her to take care of her, and to give her the injections that she needed. I had to take her a gift, to persuade her to take proper care of her. I told her, you are supposed to be in a caring profession, this is not right.'

Moyobamba, Peru – female respondent

Cambodia: ‘My children go to primary school, and they have to pay 5 Baht every day to the teacher.’

‘My children go to primary school, and they have to pay 5 Baht every day to the teacher. My oldest son was in Grade 6, but he has stopped going to the school now because I cannot support him.’

Kbal Spean village, Cambodia – female respondent

Zambia: ‘At the hospital here, you will find doctors just sitting in a room drinking tea, when they have patients to attend to.’

'At the hospital here, you will find doctors just sitting in a room drinking tea, when they have patients to attend to. A person may be really sick waiting in the queue outside, but they do not care if you have no money to pay them.'

Nakatindi village, Western Province, Zambia 

The following case studies are taken from the World Bank Report: Africa Development Indicators 2010; Silent and Lethal

West Africa:  ‘43% of analyzed fertilizers sold in the 1990s lacked the expected nutrients…’

‘Poor controls at the producer and wholesaler levels resulted in 43 percent of the analyzed fertilizers sold in West Africa in the 1990s lacking the expected nutrients, meaning that they were basically ineffective.’

Nigeria: ‘More than 50% of drugs sold in drugstores in the 1990s were counterfeit.’

More than 50 per cent of drugs sold in drugstores in Nigeria in the 1990s were counterfeit, according to some studies.