A prominent business leader has expressed regret that bribery and corruption have become part of the country’s culture and way of life.
It’s something you can’t do anything about. You shrug your shoulders and say that’s the way it is. But that’s not the way it needs to be. That’s not the way it is moving forward.
The reason for the abject poverty of many is that so many resources go to waste.
“If you look at our poverty index, it looks like it’s gone down from the mid-20s long, long ago. We’re now at about 15 percent or so, which looks like progress, but it is deceiving because when you look at these numbers, it’s gross domestic product (GDP) divided by population,” the business giant told Nosy Tarsee.
He said that on a per capita basis, income has gone above the minimum you need for sustainability. “But the problem is the income in our country is not well distributed. All of that growth in our economy has gone to a few people.”
The few rich people who have amassed unconscionable wealth are lording it over the millions of people who continue to be very poor.
“I think we’ve got to wake up as a people and say we deserve better than this, and we start again. We’re focused on the national budget because that’s where our resource allocation starts,” he said.
He stressed it is so infuriating when you see the magnitude of corruption taking place and who the people are that are benefiting from it, even displaying it on television in lifestyle programs and people admiring them.
This has resulted in a twisted concept of justice, one that favors the well-off.