HOW WAS THIS MONEY USED?

May 27, 2011 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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In March 2007, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) approved two loans totaling some US$25M for the improvement of Guyana’s Justice System. According to the public information available, the first loan to the tune of US$15M has been fully disbursed and implementation has been completed.
The second loan is for US$10M, of which only US$3.5 million has been disbursed. The full implementation of the purposes of this loan is not yet complete.
So far, therefore, some US $18.5 million or close to four billion dollars has been disbursed for the modernisation of the justice system. So what are the results?
Perhaps the government would wish to inform the nation on what has been the results and benefits of these loans, and how soon we could expect this project to be concluded.
The way these things work is that by the time this five-billion-dollar project is completed, new needs would be identified for the justice system and arrangements would have to be put in place for another few billion dollars to be borrowed again for further improvements to the justice system
After all these billions have been spent, the taxpayers of Guyana who are required to pay back these loans at an average between 1-2% interest, would have seen some physical improvements in court buildings but still a great deal of backlogs, sloth and inefficiencies in the functioning of the system. So was it worth it to have borrowed all these millions? Or could this money have been put to better use?
For one, there has been no discernable improvement in the backlog before the courts. Persons accused of murder still have to wait years for their trial to commence.
This also presents a problem for the prosecution, because by the time cases are ready to be called, witnesses may have moved to another area or to another country, or their memories may have faded.
The delays therefore do not serve the interest of justice, and after billions have been spent, the pace of trials is no better.
Judges also are still, reportedly, writing the notes for the trial, instead of these notes being taken by specialised persons. If there is one measure which can speed up the time for trials it would be removing this burden from the judges and passing it to professionals.
Many courts, too, do not have electronic public address systems, and sometimes if you are a witness and waiting to tender evidence, you may miss your name while it is being called. While there have been some improvements, the system overall leaves much to be desired.
The justice system in Guyana is one of the most important sectors in our country. From day one of the new administration it should have been accorded high priority. That it still today remains underfinanced, understaffed and inefficient, reflects badly on the incumbent administration. The government has failed in so far as justice administration is concerned.
Perhaps if they had to endure the daily frustrations of ordinary citizens they would act differently. But in Guyana you rarely see a top official of the ruling elite being dragged before the courts, and therefore they do not appreciate just how costly it is to have such a system operating in Guyana onto this day.
Within the next few years, if not sooner, more billions are going to be borrowed to restart the justice improvement programe and perhaps, too, the same situation will reappear where very little progress is made in the more substantive areas requiring reforms.
The government seems to feel that it can borrow its way to improved public institutions. It feels that these projects, often designed by foreign consultants, are an easy alternative to the hard decisions that are required. And so with each loan that is borrowed, the public is promised better.
But how are these funds helping the country? They are merely enriching foreign consultants who come here, often unfamiliar with the practical problems of the local judiciary, do a study and then pass it to the government who, overburdened and often lacking the technical skills to critically assess those reports, simply agree to some foreign-funded project in which a large share of the loans will go towards paying foreign consultants and procuring goods from overseas.
The justice system in Guyana is far from what it should be like.
And it is for the government of Guyana to detail for the taxpayers of this country how the US$18.5M dollars has been spent since 2008 and why it is that the remainder of the loan has not been disbursed.
And instead of asking the consultants connected to the loan agency to evaluate the benefits to the country of the amounts disbursed, it is time to ask the Guyanese people if better could not have been done with the close to four billion dollars expended so far.

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