THE PATRIMONIAL SHIELD Constitutionalizing Public Goods to Neutralize Corruption in Africa

Faced with the failure of behavioral approaches to fighting corruption in Africa, this article proposes a radical institutional innovation: the Patrimonial Shield Against Corruption. This mechanism is based on a simple but revolutionary conviction: it is more effective to neutralize the material effects of corruption than to indefinitely pursue its perpetrators. The article presents the complete architecture of this structural mechanism that articulates two inseparable pillars: (1) the constitutionalization of public goods conferring upon them a supreme legal status of inalienability, traceability and transparency; (2) the creation of a National Register of Patrimonial Assets ensuring permanent oversight of the collective patrimony. By reversing the burden of proof – all enrichment must be justified or face neutralization and reintegration into the public domain – the Shield transforms the relationship between the State, collective patrimony and citizen responsibility. This sovereignty engineering aims not to eradicate corruption through virtue, but to make its materialization impossible through structural coherence, thus substituting the logic of patrimonial coherence for that of aleatory trust.