Administrative Ethics In An African Society

This chapter examines administrative ethics in an African society using Zimbabwe as a case study. It should be pointed out from the outset that there is a paucity of specialized literature in this area of public administration in Africa. ¹ This, however, is not surprising in view of the fact that administrative scholarship tends to be contextual, following the political environment of the country under analysis. In this regard, the subject of administrative ethics in Africa is better examined and understood in the context of the rapidly changing political experience of the Continent which, for better or worse, has been dominated by colonialism and neocolonialism. This domination has meant that Africa is yet to be understood in its own terms. Otherwise, since the decolonization process in Africa which started in 1957 with the independence of Ghana, most of what has passed as “administration” in Africa has been based on the administrative history of the colonizing countries, mainly Britain, France, Germany and Portugal.