Intercultural Ethics

My experiences over the two years I have lived in Africa have taught me to laugh off many interesting situations, so I wasn't particularly shocked or surprised about the following episodes.

Is it okay for government officers to request money or goods?
When I arrived at the Accra airport on my second trip to Ghana, one of the security guards demanded the book I was reading (Fahrenheit 451). I said I was still reading it, but I gave him the book I finished instead.

When I arrived in the Accra airport during my third trip, I brought an enormous box full of supplies for New Life orphanage in Cape Coast. The customs official there decided to do an extremely thorough search of that box, selecting some items such as pens and clothing for further inspection. She asked what the items were for, and I informed her they were donations for an orphanage. She finally resealed the box without putting the selected items back in, said, "I like these things, and my kid will like them" and motioned for me to go.

It wasn't the first time I'd encountered the "give me" mentality, but it caused me to pause and reflect. To me, it is not appropriate for an airport security guard to essentially steal from orphans. It reminded me of a story I heard in which a nonprofit donated many diapers to an orphanage. They went in the front door and straight out the back door for the orphanage staff to sell on the streets and keep the money for themselves. Yet, some argue this is okay, because it provides various perks to the low-paid orphanage staff, allowing them to commit more to their job.

I often grapple with the 'rightness' and 'wrongness' versus the 'cultural' nature of these types of transactions.

So what does one do when confronted with this kind of situation? When I am pulled over by a policeman in Ghana and he demands a bribe, do I stay on my mountain and refuse to give in, thus allowing the officer to delay, inconvenience, and generally make trouble for me? Or, do I play the cultural game and consider it as a tip for an underpaid official's services? If I do take the second view, is it only encouraging corruption?

In Ghana, I was told that senior officers will often create a bribe quota junior officers have to fulfill. This puts pressure on policemen out in the field to get money from people because they have to pay a certain percentage to their superior. I've also heard that in Nigeria, some citizens fight back by discretely ripping the currency in half before offering it to policemen. The policemen don't find out it is torn until the car is already gone.

So, is it play along and go about your life, refuse and get yourself in trouble, or feed the hog? What do you think?