Strategic End to Corruption

When corruption has been institutionalized in the systems of governance, as in the case of Nagaland, the need for a vibrant people’s movement to confront the structures of corruption is imperative.  

Therefore, one needs to ask, where are the alliances and collaborations necessary to end corruption in Nagaland. How much longer can we as a people afford to have the vibrancy, viability and well-being of the Naga society compromised? Its survival depends on destroying our individual and collective dignity. People need to mobilize through using a common strategy developed to eradicate corruption at all levels of Naga society. Although inculcating sound ethical values in children who are the future generation is a crucial long term intervention, the current intolerable conditions require immediate intervention.  

Consequently, a call to end corruption can only be effective through demonstrating a unified political will through taking practical steps that can positively impact daily living. Corruption, after all, is embedded throughout all levels of Naga society. It is an economic, social, political and moral disease that requires a concentrated, committed collective effort and full participation to bring about transformation incrementally. This effort will create its own momentum that has the potential to uproot and alleviate corruption.  

Chronic corruption has become so alarming that most people have resigned themselves to it and have become overwhelmed by cynicism that thwarts exploring creative solutions to overcome it. Because corruption in the Naga context has assumed a collective and societal demeanor, initiating a public discourse around it becomes problematic, even though corruption is generally acknowledged to be enveloping the Nagas way of life. After decades of militarization, armed violence, dependency on the State, social crisis, etc., we cannot allow ourselves to be further encroached up and narrowly defined by unethical and deceitful practices.  

In fact, corruption may seem to be the least of the people’s worries against the backdrop of continuous armed conflict over many generations. Yet, the two go hand in hand as the conflict situation contributes to breeding corruption, and the corruption that is becoming the primary cause of Naga society’s moral decay which is currently imprisoning us.  

Public servants are called to be actively involved and respond positively using transparency and accountability in the fight against corruption. The Naga situation is embedded in a larger State structure rife with violence and corruption that increases our vulnerability to corruption, tricking us into believing that it is the norm. When the State system structures are inherently corrupt, the people are inclined towards corrupt practices in order to survive. Long term solutions are needed to reweave the fabric of Naga society and culture.  

In the fight against corruption, everyone needs to feel empowered to earn a livelihood through honest and fair means that are fulfilling. The people are at the heart of the fight against corruption that asks for the Naga society to transform at all levels. In essence, it calls for a consciousness in which the Naga heart responds to the struggle against corruption.