Excuses: Cover-up for corrupt behaviour

And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?” then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.” And the LORD God, said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” — Genesis 3:9-13. NKJV.

Imagine what life would be for humanity if Adam and Eve resisted the temptation to eat the fruit of the tree in the garden of Eden. Imagine a world where people resist doing wrong and even when they unintentionally do so, acknowledge their shortfall and amend their ways rather than give excuses. Adam and Eve disobeyed God and justified their actions by apportioning blame to their object of influence as though they had no control over their actions.

It is evident that their disobedience corrupted humanity.

The Holy Scriptures paint a vivid picture of the origin of the use of excuses by humans as a cop-out for their corrupt actions. How Adam and Eve handled their disobedience in their time is ingrained in current human behaviour. The cascading effects of their disobedience led to their firstborn—Cain—killing his younger brother—Abel—with the excuse that “he is not his brother’s keeper” (Genesis 4: 3-12).

Corrupt individuals have similar traits as they fail to consider the effects of their actions on the common good.
This article, therefore, throws light on the many excuses corrupt individuals give to cover up their corrupt acts and escape related consequences.

Excuses

In the context of this article, excuses are reasons given to justify one’s right or wrong deeds. In the case of wrong deeds, the reasons are expressions of regret of disobedience to convince others to be exempted from corresponding punishment. Thus, excuses are explanations offered as justification for particular acts.

Corrupt acts attract consequences, and excuses do not make them right. An example includes the story of King David’s act of adultery and the consequences (2Samuel ch.11 & 12). It is a fallacy for a corrupt individual to assume his/her wrong ways of amassing wealth will go unnoticed. There is always a day of reckoning, with or without excuses, for one’s (in)actions.

Alliance for Integrity identified 10 common excuses corrupt people give to justify their deeds. They include: 1) I didn’t know this was corruption; 2) I didn’t do it for myself, but for my organisation; 3) It’s a win-win situation. No one will get hurt; 4) You don’t understand how business is done here; 5) If we don’t do it, someone else will; 6) We cannot make a difference on our own; 7) We need local partners to get the job done; 8) We cannot afford an anti-corruption program; 9) They are only going for the big companies anyway, and 10) I don’t know how to respond to corruption.

These excuses are mostly given by people engaged in business activities. What about excuses people give for committing atrocious acts? For instance, multiple sales of land to unsuspecting buyers, adulterating food items for more profit, engaging in promiscuous activities that destroy families, murder for money and properties, acts of envious people that lead to the destruction of innocent people, etc.

Managing excuses

It is all about resisting the temptation of engaging in corrupt acts that make it easy for achieving results or amassing quick wealth for society’s approval. The same society one tries to satisfy often becomes the offenders’ prosecutors, judges, juries, and prison officers. Why then do people spend time and effort to satisfy them? The key to managing excuses for corrupt acts is obedience, diligence, and vigilance.

It is not easy to be upright in a perverse society where truth is gradually being seen as bad and lies as good in most quarters. The ethical individual may be tagged with many tags such as “too difficult”, “too principled”, “weird”, “unreasonable”, and “uncooperative”, among others, but beyond these tags are better prospects for those who persevere and maintain their ethics.

Eschewing corruption or minimising its occurrence depends on one’s ability to adhere to the norms of society, laws, and acceptable behaviour. Individuals’ level of maturity, empathy, selflessness, self-discipline, and diligence in society for the common good lays the foundation for a sustainable world with less poverty and corruption.

At the same time, one should be assertive enough to provide feedback to significant others. Importantly, it is prudent to be empathetic. Empathy, in this context, refers to walking in people’s shoes the extra mile to experience their situation and take the appropriate steps to address them. We ought to be mindful of our dealings, providing no opportunity for cover-up excuses to lay down the best foundation for posterity to build on.

The writer is a lecture at Ashesi University