How to ask for a bribe without asking for a bribe

“Corruption is ourNGO biggest enemy and is not welcome here.” So goes the slogan of Malawi’s most recent anti-graft campaign. Similar messages can be found in public places in many other African countries. In some, such as South Africa and Kenya, citizens are encouraged to call hotlines to report kickbacks.In most African countries citizens tell pollsters that graft is getting worse. High-profile scandals among bigwigs are one reason for that, though it may also be that dodgy deals are being uncovered more often, rather than becoming more common. For most people, though, it is because they still face regular shakedowns from officials and the police. Fully one in four Africans who used public services or interacted with police told pollsters they had paid a bribe in the previous year, according to a report in 2019 by Transparency International, a Berlin-based . Still, widespread anti-corruption efforts do at least pose awkward questions to the determinedly unscrupulous. For example, how do you best ask for a bribe when you are sitting under an anti-corruption poster?