Historical and Cultural Conditions of Political Corruption among the Hausa

Abstract

If we regard corruption as the use of public office or authority for private advantage and gain, then corruption is always latent in centralized polities; but even when manifest, it is not always easy to isolate from other conditions of its context for formal analysis. The Hausa of Northern Nigeria, whose history is fairly well known, and who have long traditions of political centralisation, provide data well worth study from this point of view. The Hausa language contains several terms denoting political conditions and practices of interest in this connection. Zalunci refers to oppression, tilas to compulsion, zamba to oppression and swindling, rikice to fraud and confusion alike, ha'inci to bribery, cin hanci to taking bribes, yi gaisuwa to making greetings or gifts, tara to fines, cin tara to taking (keeping?) fines, wasau to forcible confiscation of property, munafunci to treachery and breaking of political agreements, hamiya to political rivalry, kunjiya to a faction or group of supporters, barantaka to clientage, chapka to allegiance, loyalty, fadanci to courtiership, jekadanci to political agency, kinjibibi and kutukutu to differing types of intrigue, character assassination, and so on. Clearly if an extensive vocabulary describing cows indicates a people's preoccupation with cattle, this Hausa vocabulary indicates parallel preoccupation with political organisation; but to my knowledge, Hausa lacks a term for the concept of political corruption outlined above.